Managing cancer pain
Managing cancer pain
Some patients may have a cancer journey that involves little to no pain, but for those who do, this is an article that may help allay some concerns and address any misconceptions.
Pain management
‘‘Will I get addicted?’, this is a common question people ask when they need to take pain medicines. The answer is no, we do not always expect this. Your healthcare professionals recognise the risk associated with the pain medicines and prescribe accordingly with regular monitoring and evaluation your need for pain medicines to be in a position to adjust dosing and the amount given to you.
The pain is what you say it is
The best approach to pain management is always to be open and honest about your pain. Never compare yourself to anyone else. We know pain is an experience that is unique to each of us and also depends on what you have experienced in the past. Previous pain, anxiety and stress can all impact how you feel pain and how it can be managed.
Pain Assessment
Your pain is usually assessed on a score between 0 (no pain) to 10 (extreme pain) and how also it impacts your function. There are many different pain assessment tools your team will use one that is the most suitable for your situation. Pain scores are a guide to help assess your pain management. aim of pain management is help ensure your pain has the least impact on your life and daily activities.
Multimodal pain management
Pain management is often undertaken using more than one pain medicine or other mean to manage your pain (multi-modal approach).This way of managing pain can be used both when you are having systemic treatments such as chemotherapy or after surgery where pain medicines may be given as infusions directly into your bloodstream alongside oral pain medicines.
Treatment of pain usually starts with a low dose and slowly increased as appropriate to your need. Starting at a lower dose is a good way to see if the medicines are effective for your pain and to monitor for side effects. Over the counter medicines such as paracetamol and ibuprofen are often used on their own or alongside other pain medicines that contain morphine.
Sometimes with cancer treatments, the nerves in and underneath the skin are affected and cause pain. This may require an assessment from a pain specialist and specialist medicines can be prescribed for this. These medicines may be in tablet form, or they can be as a topical treatment, something that is put onto your skin, in a plaster form or a cream you apply on top of the painful area.
Focusing on other things
Things that bring you joy and may distract you from focusing on the pain such as reading, listening to music etc. can also be helpful and remaining active is an important part of managing your pain. These are all part of multi-modal pain management techniques.
Summary
Pain management is such an important part of your treatment so don’t hesitate to inform your healthcare team of your needs and your previous experiences. If further specialist input is needed it is also possible for your team to refer you to a pain management specialist.