This video describes some ways we treat cancer pain and when to call your provider.
This video describes some methods used to treat pain and when to call your healthcare provider.
The goal of pain management is to ease your pain so that you can do more of the activities you enjoy. There are many ways we can treat cancer pain.
One way to treat pain is with medications. When you use pain medication the way it’s prescribed, it should ease your pain enough that you can increase your activity levels.
Pain medications can be over-the-counter, which means you don't need a prescription. Or, pain medications may be prescribed, which means they need to be filled by a pharmacist.
Both prescription and over-the-counter medications come in many forms and strengths. Your healthcare team will work with you to find the medication that's best for you.
For pain that only happens once in a while, your health care provider may tell you to take a short-acting medication only as needed. If you find yourself having to take the short-acting medication often, tell your healthcare provider. You may need a long-acting medication. Long-acting medication is taken less often because it releases a little bit of medication into your system all the time.
Depending on your pain, you may need to take both long-acting and short-acting. For example, if you're taking long-acting pain medication, the pain may still break through. If this is happening, talk with your healthcare provider. You may also need a short-acting medication.
Different kinds of pain may need different treatments. A common example is neuropathic pain, also called nerve pain. Nerve pain is often described as burning, pins and needles, or shooting. This kind of pain sometimes requires special medications to calm the nerves down to stop them from short circuiting.
Pain medications can cause side effects, such as constipation, nausea, fatigue, and drowsiness, which may affect your daily activities. If you're having side effects from pain medication, talk with a member of your healthcare team about how you can manage them.
It may not be safe to drive or operate heavy machinery when you take certain pain medications, so talk with your health care provider about how this could affect your life.
It’s important not to stop taking your pain medication without talking with your healthcare provider, and never take more than what the doctor prescribed for you.
Medications aren’t the only treatment for pain. There are other options, such as nerve blocks. Nerve blocks are injections of steroids, local anesthetics, or other medications around the affected nerves. A pain specialist performs nerve blocks.
When other pain treatments do not control your pain, or if they cause too many side effects, your health care provider may recommend an intrathecal pump. An intrathecal pump is a small device that delivers pain medication. Because the medication goes directly to the nerves in your spine, it stops you from feeling pain.
If you have chronic back pain, your health care provider might recommend a spinal cord stimulator. A spinal cord stimulator relieves pain by delivering electrical signals to the area where you're having pain. These signals provide relief by interfering with the nerve impulses that make you feel pain.
There are other ways to treat pain that can be done alone or in combination with other methods. Physical therapy is one way to treat some types of pain. Its goal is to increase your activity levels. Your doctor can refer you to a physical therapist if this is right for you.
Your nurse can also talk to you about treating your pain with hot or cold packs or focused breathing. Our integrative medicine department can also recommend other ways to treat your pain with methods such as acupuncture, acupressure, and guided imagery. To learn about these and other complementary therapies, visit our integrative medicine website at www.mskcc.org/integrativemedicine.
If you're having pain, or if you don't feel like you're getting the relief you need, talk with a member of your healthcare team.
For more information about pain and other information about cancer, visit our website at www.mskcc.org/pe.
