I NEED HELP QUICK! How do caffeine and morphine react with one another?

my grandfather is suffering from esophageal cancer and the doctors have discontinued use of his pain medications since he can no longer swallow the pills. He is now recieving small doses of morphine throughout the day. the nurses told us to not give him any coffee, however my aunts are trying to give him coffee to make him happier. he has also been given thick fluids to prevent any liquid from entering into his lungs. what are the effects of these two substances in use together (besides pneumonia)? i need help immediately! I just do not want to see him suffer more than he should just because my bitchy aunts dont know how to listen to the doctors.

esophageal cancer, recieving MS thru IV [?] , being given thicking agents to prevent aspiration, not allowed to have coffee

Ok, not sure about the interaction of caffeine [coffee] and morphine [MS] within the body...

However, if the coffee is not being thicken, and the man is drinking coffee without the use of a thickening agent, then the man is going to aspirate, that is, the coffee will go down into the lungs and drown the man...

...and drowning is such an uncomfortable way to go...what with instant pnuemonia, and fevers, and malaise ....

as for those "bitchy aunts", that is what a nurse is for...she is the authority figure and she has other methods for making the patient comply with Doctor Orders....Like the Security Department....they can escort the aunts out if they are being a threat to the patient well being...

So, your first step is to get the Nurse involved in the patient's care....Also, if you need to be educated on "comfort care", you need to realize that there is nothing more that the patient wants done and you need to trust that who ever has responsibility for his care is doing what is right by the patient....

Caffeine counteracts the pain reliever of morphine. There can also be breathing problems when this happens. Although you just said they stopped giving him pain meds...Morphine is a pain med. If he is passing away, let him die happy.

thoughs are a bad mix

If he is suffering from cancer and is probably going to die, then you need to leave your aunts alone and let them make him happy for his remaining time. You are such an arrogant person.

No interaction. The nurses told you no coffee because he will aspirate it. That's also why he's on thickened liquids. Since he's receiving hospice care, give him coffee if it makes him happy. Aspiration and pneumonia are the expected means of death in your grandfather, whether he drinks coffee or not.

as you know coffee is a upper it has lots of caffiene in it and morphine is a downer because it makes u sleep . so two combined may effect his heart in some small way . if he is not used to coffee trhat much there might be a small problem. why don;t you sneak and put decafe in the old container they may not know the diff but i know i would . good luck
ps, you can put thickner in the coffe as well

Morphine.is a central nervous system depressant, the same as alcohol and barbituates. Coffee is just the opposite, it's a stimulate of the central nervous system. So the effect of the morphine will be weakened if your grandfather drinks any caffeinated drinks. You can try "decaffeinated" coffee but even that has a small amount of caffeine in it (2-3 mg per serving). A mix of the drugs morphine and caffeine could cause heart or breathing problems. Too, if the coffee was served too hot, it would further irritate his esophagus. Your description reads as if he is now restricted to only thick fluids and, generally, coffee is not considered "thick". He could aspirate it.

In the rat, theophylline has been shown to potentiate the effect of morphine on the threshold for vocalisation after withdrawal of stimulation. This response to painful stimulation is considered to be integrated at the level of the thalamus-hypothalamus-rhinencephalon. Naloxone antagonized the effect of the combined treatment with morphine and theophylline, suggesting pharmacological specificity for morphine. Moreover, the theophylline-induced enhancement of this pharmacological response to morphine was attenuated after pimozide pretreatment, indicating an underlying dopaminergic mechanism.

I agree with rave....except I don't think you're arrogant :).Give and do for him whatever you can to make him happy. He's going to die so he's probably miserable. I would imagine the coffee thing is because he may not be able to tell you if it's too hot or if it spilled on him could cause severe burns (as his skin is probably thin like paper).Definitely tell the aunts they could scald him without knowing it plus it will make him poop and someone will have to clean it up! Coffee is a natural diuretic and laxative! I would go with the cold coffee drinks you can buy at the store. For now, just let him enjoy what time he has left. Just protect him from harm but be sweet in doing so. God will bless you for your good deeds but they should be done with a good attitude!