How to get relief from cancer pain

Not every cancer sufferer experiences pain but some people do. If you complain of pain, you must work with your doctor to find out the best pain management plan for your pain and discomfort. Like mentioned before, not every cancer patient feel pain but if the disease has spread from its origin site or has recurred then your risk of having pain increases.

The intensity of cancer pain varies from person to person and it can be present in any form. Some people have dull pain while some have it sharp. It also can be consistent or discontinuous, and mild or moderate and severe. Also, it depends on which organ is affected, what type of cancer you have and which stage the disease is into. The concentration of pain also depends on your pain tolerance level. Though it sounds a little horrifying knowing that you have a life threatening disease, the pain of cancer is manageable. You can control it with the help of right kind of treatment plant. Talk to your doctor and you surely will find a way to manage cancer pain.

What are the reasons behind cancer pain?

Cancer is uncontrolled growth of cells which cause a tumor. Cancer causes pain at the site it is growing from or from damaging the nearby tissues. If the tumor puts pressure on the organs or bones or nerves, it leads to pain and discomfort. Also, chemicals secreted by the tumor cause pain. It can also arise due to your body’s reaction to those chemicals. While treatment options are available to ease cancer pain to greater extent, cancer treatment involving surgical procedures, chemotherapy, and radiation also responsible for causing pain.

How does cancer pain affect daily life of people?

Pain, regardless of its underlying cause, has potential to disrupt your daily life. Some day you manage to do you routine things while some days you prefer to stay in bed because you just cannot move due to pain.

Having cancer pain means no participation in day-to-day activities, not being able to go to work or school/college. Eating food or sleeping seems like a challenge when you are down with cancer pain. It also affects people emotionally and psychological too. People get frustrated and tend to get annoyed with the people they love. They also get angry or sad for no reason. It can be challenging for family and friends to understand what you are going through. Some people isolate themselves due to the pain they are experiencing. Here, taking help from psychologists and talking to your doctor helps to manage pain and associated consequences of cancer pain.

How to manage cancer pain

The first and foremost way to manage cancer pain is to talk to you doctor about it. Your doctor may not always ask you if you are having pain. You need to be vocal about it. Do not worry about being judged or sharing how you feel is a sign of weakness. Remember, you have to win the fight against cancer and for that you need to tell your doctor how you feel.

Before making an appointment, you may like to keep a track of your pain. Prepare a set of questions based on the intensity of pain and how it is affecting your life. You may create questions like:

1.      Which body part is affected?

2.      Is the pain dull or sharp? Intermittent or constant?

3.      On the scale of 1 to 10, how strong is your pain?

4.      Does it last for a few minutes or hours or days?

5.      What do you do to feel better?

These are basic questions to be asked to your doctor. You can form more questions based on your situation and severity of pain.

How can your doctor help you with cancer pain management?

Your doctor will assess your situation and prepare a treatment plan for managing the cancer pain provided it is not associated with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.

You doctor might give you oral pain killers which are categorized as follow:

Over-the-counter and prescription

These medicines are given to manage mild pain along with for swelling or fever. Ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen are a few examples.

Weak opioid

If the over-the-counter pain medicines won’t work, your doctor might ask you get weak opioid medicines.

Strong opioid

As the name goes by, these are the strongest pain management drugs which include methadone, morphine, hydromorphone, oxycodone and fentanyl.

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