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Pain Management

It has been estimated that at some time during the diagnosis, treatment and recovery from cancer about 99% of patients will experience pain. Further it is believed that up to 90% of patients will have SIGNIFICANT pain.

The purpose of this section is to give you useful information on the different types of pain that can be experienced and also on the treatments that may give relief and their side effects. We will describe not only pain drugs that are available but also other treatments that may be used such as nerve blocks, spinal cord stimulation and surgical procedures.

The following is the AHCPR Cancer Pain Guidelines scoring system. It will allow you to see the amount of pain that you are presently in using a numbering system. It will also allow you to see how well your pain medicines are working towards making you as
pain free as possible.

1- If used as a Graphic rating scale, a 10 cm baseline is recommended.
2 - A 10 cm baseline is recommended for VAS scales.

Remember you should NOT have to be in severe pain, but at the same time your condition may not allow for you to be totally pain free. If your expectations are too high about your pain relief you may be disappointed by the results.