How do you sleep with severe pain?

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I currently have covid and my throat is full of razor blades, but I also have cancer so I frequently have pain so severe I can't sleep. I take paracetamol regularly and have morphine I can take on demand, but try not to. It's so excruciating when my body desperately needs rest but I'm just lying in bed all night only able to think about the pain. I'm sure many mumsnetters have chronic pain, so can anyone give my any tips?

A few caveats: I can't have baths or showers due to my picc line, I can't use supplements or creams due to chemo. Bedtime routines are tricky since I have to get my two special needs children to sleep and anyway I tend to fall asleep ok at 9-10pm, the problem comes a couple of hours later. I'm not keen on sleeping tablets since my children wake in the night, and anyway my team has refused in the past since I need to monitor my temperature & symptoms overnight.

Another vote for double checking about the morphine as that is really strange. Saline nebulisers can help with covid if that’s ok with your tumour

I have chronic pain.

I have an electric blanket on my bed which helps me warm up if I'm cold. I've got various blankets for the same reason.

I also have a Japanese blanket which cools me down - helps with heat dissipation.

I have various pillows - wedge shaped to raise my head, a U shaped one to give some pressure, also weighted blanket.

Eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/PinkFroggie-Pregnancy-Pillow-Maternity-Boyfriend/dp/B095CCZ23D/ref=mpssa114?keywords=body+pillow&qid=1695801579&sr=8-4

These all help make me comfortable.

Drugs are also good - SSRI's including amytriptyline help with nerve pain. I'm on duloxetine rather than amytriptyline but same class of drugs.

Also, there is a BIG jump between paracetamol and morphine in terms of pain control.

Maybe ask for something in the middle if you are not happy with using the morphine?

Other possibilities are:

Paracetamol with codeine (co-codamol)
NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen sodium
Codeine 30mg or 60mg (can make people nauseous)

I get chronic pain but not at the level you have so I’m another that says take the drugs though I do understand why you don’t want to. I’m in a period now but have only taken painkillers for about a third of the time. I don’t have an answer that adds much but wanted to send love and best wishes to you.

Thank you all, I'm definitely going to ask my team to discuss the medication options

Japanese blanket is interesting! I get terrible night sweats so anything heated or weighted is out but I will take a look at these

Another vote for amitriptyline. Unfortunately after you've been on it for years you start getting weird side effects. I'm currently dose reducing and although I don't get it knocking me out I don't sleep as well on the nights I don't take it.

Ask your oncology team to refer you to the pain management team. There are so many ways of managing pain, and the specialist team know all of them (though obv it can take some working out exactly what works for you and your specific pain) - bony pain vs nerve pain are very different. Sometimes a very short bit of radiotherapy can make a massive difference in managing pain as they can shrink down a specific bit off a nerve, or there are other procedures which can help similarly.
But don't worry about dependency. The pain team can explain it better, but when you are in severe pain it doesn't happen.

Amazon don't seem to have the cooling blanket I have in stock any more but there are quite a few others

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=zonli+cooling+blanket&crid=3CV84RETJZNBE&sprefix=zonli+%2Caps%2C166&ref=nbsbbssts-doa-pp3_6

Both my dds have chronic pain due to two different conditions. My youngest has JIA and uses one of these for when she can't move in her bed through pain but so she isn't just stating at a blank ceiling.
Ceiling light projector

They both use electric heat pads for areas which need a bit of comfort, and use tv series and YouTube videos for distraction. I hope you find something that will help you💐

Are you allowed aspirin for the sore throat? I found with sore throats soluble aspirin far better than ordinary painkillers though I haven't tried pp's suggestion of the sprays. Hoping you find something to help.

I took the morphine and slept all night. I feel like a new woman and honestly can't thank you all enough!

So glad you had some sleep after taking it!

Came back to thread just to see how you were doing- so pleased!

Keep up the good fight- you sound like a total warrior (even though you probably don’t feel like it)

I'm so pleased you took it and had a good sleep, I wish you well.