When appetite declines and your loved one is refusing food, it's quite difficult to accept. We all know that you have to eat to live, but what many of us don't know is that if your body can't process the food because of a terminal illness, forcing nutrition in will not prolong life. In the catabolic state, food is not absorbed, tissues no longer heal well, infection is difficult to cure and an irreversible downward spiral is set into motion. However, there can be some very important things to be done which can improve appetite in those who have not reached the catabolic state.
Constipation is a very common side-effect of narcotic pain medications such as morphine.
That's why laxatives are commonly ordered at the same time a narcotic medication is started for pain. The minor discomfort many know as constipation, becomes a severe problem with possible extreme pain, gas, bloating, total lack of appetite, nausea and vomiting. A complicating factor in determining the cause of the lack of appetite and abdominal pain may be the patient's reluctance to even discuss his or her bowel problems. It can be quite upsetting or embarrassing for some patients to admit to these types of problems. Some patients feel humiliated by their need to discuss or deal with these problems.