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Dealing with Cancer Pain
by Debra Sully
http://www.fpaino.com

Many people with cancer experience pain; in fact 30% to 50%
of people who are undergoing cancer treatment are in pain
due to the treatment itself while 70% to 90% of patients
with an advanced stage of cancer are in pain.

What is pain and how does pain surface in cancer? When the
brain receives a message from the nerves about a problem,
the body wants to react to whatever is causing the damage.
Different treatments bring about different pain signals.
For instance, in chemotherapy, the cancerous cells are being
killed and this action may signal pain. The damaging force
of pain may trigger chronic pain, which is a major stressor
attacking the entire person's well-being from the body to
the mind. Another version of pain is breakthrough pain.
This style of pain spikes and temporarily increases the dose
of pain. Pain does not have to exist and 95% of cancer
patients find relief from prescription drugs and other
methods.

However, while cancer patients should not be experiencing
pain, surveys of cancer patients conclude that pain is not
treated aggressively enough for many patients. There are
several factors for this. First, patients may not be
accurately reporting their pain and prefer to "suffer in
silence" rather than be perceived as complaining about
their condition. Some doctors may be more focused on
treating the cancer than about asking the patient about
pain and aggressively pursuing it. A third factor is that
both doctors and patients may be uneasy about prescribing
or taking powerful painkillers like morphine, which may be
addictive.

While cancer pain responds well to pain medications, there
are also a number of non-drug alternative therapies that
work to relieve cancer pain. Some techniques that can be
effective when coupled with pain medication are biofeedback,
acupuncture, massage and hypnosis. If the cancer is a type
that presents with a tumor, surgery or radiation therapy
that shrinks the tumor may help if the tumor is impinging on
nerves or organs and causing the pain.

Managing pain is always more preferable to the reactive
approach. In managing pain, the medication is taken on a
regular schedule, such as every eight or twelve hours, and
maintains a fixed dosage. If breakthrough pain does occur
while on a management plan, the dosage can be increased.
However, if the patient waits for a severe attack and then
takes medicine in a reactive manner, the pain is much harder
to overcome. Thus, the best time to start a pain management
plan is once you discover the cancer. At this stage, you
have more time to find the right painkiller treatment for
you.

Cancer is a complicated disease and it may take more than
one pain medication or technique to control the pain it
causes and the medical team may need to try several
combinations of pain medications to find the right mix for
an individual patient. Also, as the disease changes over
time, so can the medications that are required to control
the pain. Finally, the patient should not feel
overmedicated or "out of it" on their pain management
regimen.

Don't let pain take over you or a loved one when cancer
rears its ugly head. Rather than taking a back seat to
pain, meet with your doctor and find a pain relief plan that
is suited to you.

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