Cancer pain

One of the most distressing issue about cancer is the pain cause by the disease. However, now with the better understanding of how cancer causes pain and new ways to treat the pain, cancer patients do not need to suffer from extreme pain anymore.

There is a good article on cancer pain at :

http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=5883

Causes of cancer pain
Most cancer pain is caused by the tumour pressing on bones, nerves or other organs in your body. Sometimes pain is related to your cancer treatment. For example, some chemotherapy drugs can cause numbness and tingling in your hands and feet or a burning sensation at the site where they are injected. Radiotherapy can cause skin redness and irritation. Remember – pain may have nothing to do with your cancer - you may just be feeling the general aches and pains that some people get from time to time.
Acute and chronic painCancer pain can be acute or chronic. Acute pain tends to only last a short time. Chronic pain is more long term. For example, having an operation can cause acute pain. The pain goes when the wound heals. In the meantime, painkillers will usually keep it under control.Chronic pain can range from mild to severe. It can be there all the time. You may hear chronic pain called ‘persistent pain’. Painkillers or other pain control methods can successfully control chronic cancer pain in about 95 out of every 100 people (95%).If you have chronic cancer pain, you may also have episodes of acute pain that are not controlled by the medication you are taking. This is often called ‘breakthrough pain’. If you are on regular painkillers but still have episodes of pain, let your doctor know. He or she can prescribe extra 'top up' doses of painkillers for you to take when you need to. There is more information about how your cancer pain can be managed in Treating Cancer Pain.Whatever type of pain you have, it can affect your quality of life. Chronic pain can make it hard for you to do everyday things such as bathing, shopping, cooking, sleeping and eating. This is sometimes very hard for your close friends and relatives to understand, as they are not feeling your pain. There is more about how your pain can affect you and your loved ones and how to deal with this in support when you have pain.
Types of cancer painIt is extremely important for your doctor to find out the type and cause of your pain in order to treat it in the right way. Different pains are treated differently. You may have one or more of the 3 main types of pain. These are
Nerve pain
Bone pain and
Soft tissue painAnother type of pain can come on after amputation of a limb or other part of your body. This is really another type of nerve pain and is called phantom pain. Nerve painThis is caused by pressure on nerves or the spinal cord, or by damage to nerves. Your doctor may call it neuropathic pain. It is usually more difficult to treat than other types of pain. People often describe nerve pain as burning or as a feeling of something crawling under their skin. Nerve pain is not usually widespread. You often feel it in a particular place, or perhaps along the path of a nerve. Nerve pain is the one type of pain that can sometimes go on for a long time after an operation. Nerves are cut during surgery and they take a long time to heal because they grow so slowly. Nerve pain is particularly common after an operation to the chest called a thoracotomy. Some people may have pain around their scar for 2 years or more after their surgery. It does eventually go, but can be difficult to treat while it lasts.
Bone painBone pain can affect one specific area or several areas, depending on how much the cancer has spread. People often describe it as aching, dull or throbbing. Bone pain is very common in people who have breast, prostate or lung cancer. The cancer spreads to the bone, and it is the growth of the cancer within the bone that damages the bone tissue and causes the pain. You may also hear bone pain called somatic pain.
Soft tissue painSoft tissue pain means pain from a body organ or muscle. For example, you may feel pain in your back caused by tissue damage to the kidney. You cannot always pinpoint this pain, but it is usually described as sharp, aching or throbbing. You may also hear soft tissue pain called visceral pain. Some soft tissue pain comes from the covering of an organ, rather than the organ itself. The liver does not contain nerves. If it contains cancer, it is usually bigger than it should be. The enlarged liver stretches the fibrous covering, called the capsule. The capsule does contain nerve endings and that is what causes the pain. This type of pain is called liver capsule pain.
Phantom painPeople with sarcoma or osteosarcoma sometimes have to have a limb amputated. You may feel pain in an arm or leg after it has been removed. This is 'phantom pain'. But it is very real and people sometimes describe it as unbearable. You may also have phantom pain after having a breast removed. Doctors are still trying to understand why phantom pain happens. One theory is that the 'thinking part' of your brain knows that you have had a part of your body removed but the 'feeling part' of your brain cannot understand this. Other possible causes of phantom pain are
Changes in the air pressure or temperature
Stress
Not moving around enough and poor posture
Other illnesses such as flu and infections
Having your surgery done by an inexperienced surgeonBetween 6 and 7 out of 10 people (60 - 70%) who have had an arm or leg removed feel phantom pain. About one third of women who have had a breast removed to treat breast cancer feel phantom breast pain. The pain usually lessens after the first year, but some people can still feel phantom pain after one year or more.Phantom pain is quite common. It is real and you are not imagining it. In most people it will go away after a few months. It is as if your brain has to realise that part of your body has gone. Be sure to let your doctor know about phantom pain as it does respond to painkillers.How much pain you might haveThe amount of pain you have with cancer depends on
The type of cancer you have
Where it is
The stage of your cancer
How much pain you're able to tolerateHow much pain you can stand is your pain threshold. Everyone has a different pain threshold. It isn't related to how weak or strong you are. It is just one of those things.