Charting Your Course : Seminar I - Taking Your Bearings : Managing Pain

Pain

The symptoms of cancer and the treatment for cancer can be as confusing as they are overwhelming. Patients sometimes feel lost in the midst of the pain and discomfort. Pain is often the aspect of cancer that patients fear most. Cancer pain can be related to the tumor itself, surgery to remove the tumor, or from the tumor's effect on another part of the body, such as a bone or pressure on a nerve. However many cancer survivors do not experience pain during their treatment.

Pain is more than hurting. Pain decreases your well-being in many ways. It affects you physically, mentally, and emotionally. You may: You may erroneously equate your pain with advancing cancer and begin to feel hopeless. Because you need all your energy to get through your cancer treatments and get healthy again, living with unnecessary cancer pain is ill-advised.

It's helpful to keep a journal noting your experience of pain or other symptoms as they happen and recording their intensity along with the date and time of day when you are first aware of them. It's also useful to record what eases those symptoms and the time at which they are relieved. Some words to describe pain: Note down a history of your symptoms, as best you can remember. Just make a list of all the symptoms you can remember since your diagnosis in one column. In a second column, jot down what you did or what medications you took to relieve them and how successful they were.

Symptoms & What relieves these symptoms?:

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When you next visit your doctor, take along a copy of your list to be kept in your file. Continue to keep a record of your symptoms and what relieves them. Keep sharing this information with your physician. When you talk to your doctor be prepared to answer these questions about pain:

A Bill of Rights for People with Cancer Pain

  1. I have the right to have my pain believed by health professionals, family, friends, and others around me.
  2. I have the right to have my pain controlled, no matter what its cause, or how severe it may be.
  3. I have the right to be treated with respect at all times. When I need medication for pain, I should not be treated like a drug abuser.
  4. I have the right to have pain resulting from treatments and procedures prevented or at least minimized.
- Developed by Cancer Care, Inc., in cooperation with the Iowa and Wisconsin Cancer Pain Initiatives to encourage patients, their loved ones, and caregivers to learn the facts about and its treatment.

Pain Relief

To feel pain does not necessarily mean that your cancer is getting worse. Living with untreated cancer pain saps your energy and can take your focus away from getting healthy.

Your physician can prescribe a pain reliever appropriate for your case. Oral pain relievers are generally used for pain that varies during the course of the day. A slow-release method, such as a skin patch, can be used for constant pain. You may have to take medications at regular intervals, both day and night, to control persistent pain. It's important to take your medication as scheduled even if you are not in pain at that particular moment. Sticking to the schedule means that each dose becomes effective just as the previous dose wears off. In general, this makes for a lower total dosage than if you wait to treat your pain until it becomes severe.

Common side effects of pain relievers are drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. Your physician can advise you of the specific side effects for your medication. There are often ways to minimize the side effects.

If the pain medication isn't working as well at it used to, it may be because you are developing some tolerance to it. Tell your doctor, who may increase your dosage or prescribe a different regimen. Acquiring tolerance to pain medication is not the same as becoming addicted. Addiction to pain medicine is rare.

You should definitely not take over-the-counter medication, herbs, or other health supplements without your physician's knowledge. Some medications interact with each other or with non-prescription medications or herbs. If more than one doctor is prescribing medicine for you, make sure that each knows everything you are taking. Let your physician know if you plan to drink any alcohol, including beer and wine. Alcohol interacts with many medications. It may not be safe to drive or operate machinery while taking some medications. Ask your doctor's advice.

Although pain medications are useful, there are other methods to relieve pain, often in addition to pain medication. Your doctor or nurse can advise you on these methods.

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This content is derived from the "Charting Your Course Seminars: A Whole Person Approach To Living With Cancer", provided by Norris Cotton Cancer Center.
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