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Coping With Pain Related to Cancer and Chemotherapy

image for chemotherapy articleChemotherapy drugs can cause some side effects that are painful. The drugs can damage nerves, leading to burning, numbness, tingling, or shooting pain, most often in the fingers or toes. Some drugs can also cause mouth sores, headaches, muscle pains, and stomach pains.

Not everyone with cancer or who receives chemotherapy experiences pain from the disease or its treatment. But if you do, it can be relieved. First, keep a journal of your pain. It will help you and your family detect pain patterns, or possibly triggers that you may be able to avoid. Talk to your friends and family about how the pain makes you feel. This will help them to better understand the pain, and how and when to help you.

When you have pain, take note of the following:

Stay in contact with members of your healthcare team. It should include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals that can help you with your pain.

Using a pain scale is helpful in describing how much pain you are feeling. Try to assign a number from 0 to 10 to your pain level. If you have no pain, use a 0. As the numbers get higher, this means that your pain is getting worse. A 10 means the pain is as bad as it can be. You may wish to use your own pain scale using numbers from 0 to 5 or even 0 to 100. Be sure to let others know what pain scale you are using and use the same scale each time, for example, "My pain is 7 on a scale of 0 to 10."

Preventing and Treating Pain

The goal of pain control is to prevent pain that can be prevented, and treat the pain that can't. This is usually accomplished by taking a combination of long- and short-acting pain medications with a variety of co-analgesics (medications that have been traditionally used for conditions other than pain, but have been found to be effective for pain control). For example, some antidepressants and antiseizure medications may be effective in treatment of cancer-induced nerve pain.

Also, opioids may cause constipation. Make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day and eat foods that contain fiber, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. If you have problems, your doctor may recommend fiber supplements, stool softeners, or laxatives.

There are many different medications and methods available to control cancer pain. You should expect your doctor to seek all the information and resources necessary to make you as comfortable as possible. If you are in pain and your doctor has no further suggestions, ask to see a pain specialist or have your doctor consult with a pain specialist. A pain specialist may be an oncologist, anesthesiologist, neurologist, neurosurgeon, other doctor, nurse, or pharmacist. Many cancer centers have a pain specialist on staff.

RESOURCES:

American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org

National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov

CANADIAN RESOURCES:

BC Cancer Agency
http://www.bccancer.bc.ca

Canadian Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.ca

REFERENCES:

Buchanan A, Davies A. Breakthrough cancer pain: the current situation. Int J Palliat Nurs. 2014;20(1):6-8.

Cancer pain. EBSCO DynaMed Plus website. Available at:https://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T113832/Cancer-pain. Updated September 7, 2017. Accessed November 14, 2017.

Chemotherapy and you. National Cancer Institute website. Available at: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/chemotherapy-and-you.pdf. Updated June 2011. Accessed November 14, 2017.

Opioids for chronic cancer pain. EBSCO DynaMed Plus website. Available at:https://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T474224/Opioids-for-chronic-cancer-pain. Updated September 11, 2017. Accessed November 14, 2017.

Managing cancer pain at work. American Cancer Society website. Available at: http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/physicalsideeffects/dealingwithsymptomsathome/caring-for-the-patient-with-cancer-at-home-pain. Accessed November 14, 2017.

2/14/2011 DynaMed's Systematic Literature Surveillance http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed: Paley C, Johnson M, Tashani O, Bagnall A. Acupuncture for cancer pain in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011;(1):CD007753.

Last reviewed November 2017 by EBSCO Medical Review Board Michael Woods, MD, FAAP