Pain Management

While many patients fear that pain goes along with a diagnosis of cancer, having cancer does not always mean that you will have pain. Because of advances in both treatments and medicines, there are now many ways to relieve pain that a patient may have. The most important thing is know is that you have a right to pain relief and that you need to let your doctor know if you are in pain so that action can be taken.

When you discuss your pain with the doctor, you will need to let him know details about your pain – where it hurts, what it feels like, how long it lasts – and other information so that he can help you. It may be helpful to keep a pain record of when you have pain and what helps to ease it.

Cancer pain can be caused by a number of things:

The cancer itself may press on other organs, nerves or bones
Certain procedures to diagnose or treat cancer may cause pain
You may have pain that is unrelated to your cancer – i.e., you will still have some aches and pains that you had before

Cancer pain may be treated in several ways:

With medicines, either prescription or over the counter
With non-drug treatments such as biofeedback and other techniques
With surgery or radiation to shrink or remove the tumor

Medication, both prescription and over the counter, is frequently used to combat cancer pain. If you are taking pain medication, it’s important to remember the following:

You may not need prescription pain medication. Regular acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) or aspirin are effective against many types of pain and may be all you need, especially if you take it as recommended. But, do not take any of these on your own without consulting your doctor, because they may interfere with your cancer treatment.
Take your medicine on the schedule that it was prescribed – do not skip doses or try to “last” longer between doses. If you are taking narcotic pain relievers, you will not become “addicted” if you are taking the medicine for pain, and if you wait for the pain to become worse, it may be harder to control.
Let the doctor know if your medicine does not work for the length of time that it is supposed to, or if you are having side effects.

Pain medications work differently for different people, so the doctor may adjust your dosage, or give you a different medication if you still have pain. The important thing is to let your doctor know if things aren’t right for you.

Non-drug treatments may be used in addition to or instead of medication to help you with cancer pain. Many patients find that they are able to take less medicine if they use relaxation, acupuncture, hypnosis, or participate in support groups. Your doctor and his team can help you find experts on these topics that can help you. Some of the more well known non-drug treatments are:

Imagery – using your imagination to be in another place or situation, much like a focused daydream. By “being in a different place”, imagery can help reduce pain and anxiety, and may help you sleep.
Distraction is focusing your attention on something else besides your pain. Many activities can be used to distract you from pain, from praying or using a mantra in your head, to doing crafts or reading a good book. Some patients find it helpful to listen to music through headphones as a distraction.
Biofeedback is a technique that requires training from a licensed biofeedback technician. Using biofeedback, people can learn to control some body functions such as heart rate, and tension to ease pain and to help them relax.
Hypnosis is another technique that requires training – you can be trained to hypnotize yourself to be able to block out your pain.
Relaxation helps to relieve pain by reducing tension in your muscles. Just like imagery, relaxation can help you sleep better and can also reduce anxiety. Relaxation methods to try include breathing exercises, visual concentration (staring at an item while in a quiet place at rest), and massaging the area of pain.
Acupuncture uses thin needles inserted into specific points of the body to relieve pain in another part of the body. Acupuncture, which is now widely accepted for use in pain treatment, should be performed only by a licensed acupuncturist.
Support groups and counseling can help people with their pain by helping to calm the emotional upheaval that comes with a cancer diagnosis. Joining a support group may help in hearing how other people with cancer are able to cope. Our Support Group Calendar provides information about groups meeting in Corpus Christi.

Sometimes pain can’t be relieved by medication or through other techniques, so additional treatments must be explored:

Radiation therapy can be used to shrink tumors that are pressing on something to cause pain. Unlike regular radiation therapy treatments which may take weeks, only one or two treatments may be required to shrink a tumor enough to relieve pain.
Surgery may be used to eliminate pain by either removing all or part of a tumor that is causing the problem, or by cutting the nerves that are affected by the tumor. Once these nerves are destroyed, you can’t feel pain in that location because the brain no longer “feels” it.
Nerve blocks are less permanent procedures than nerve surgery but with similar effect in that the brain no longer can “feel” pain from that area. Temporary agents such as local anesthetics are injected into nerves to block pain.

To summarize, although some cancer patients do not experience pain with either their cancer or treatment, some do. If you are among the patients who do have pain, there are many things that can be done to relieve your pain – you do not need to suffer. But, you need to speak up and let the doctor know if you have pain, and once you’re receiving pain treatment, whether it’s working or not.