ACS Guides to Pain Control
PAIN
Posted by: "Rita and Bill"
Sat Sep 15, 2007 9:45 am (PST) YAHOO Prostate Cancer Support Forum
"When it comes to pain, I believe we all have our threshold and being very different animals... some can tolerate more than others. And some respond to treatment better than others.
The Am. Cancer Soc. prints a booklet describing cancer pain Version II/August 2005.. which says ..' There are three main types of pain: visceral, somatic, and neuropathic.
Viceral pain involves organs. Pain caused by tissue damage in an organ such as the liver is usually pain that cannot be pinpointed and may be described as gnawing, cramping,aching, or sharp.
Somatic pain involves the skin, muscle, or bone and is usually in a specific area. It is described as stabbing, aching, throbbing,or pressure.
Neuropathic pain is caused by injury to, or compression of, the structures of peripheral or central nervous system. Nerve injury or compression can be due to an injury of a peripheral nerve, injury to the central nervous system such as the spinal cord, or a combination of injury to both a peripheral nerve and central nervous system. It is often described as sharp, tingling, burning, or shooting.'
It is important to know the type of pain present because different pain is treated differently. '
I believe that medical doctors have been well schooled about pain and therefore are adequately prepared to treat patients ( with everything given to their disposal) to assure the paitent that he/she will respond and get easement of their discomfort.
What is percieved with several comments made on this site.... that if someone here needs to ask if someone out there knows of a way to ease their pain, then someone else is not doing their job.
From what has been defined here, a conclusion could be reached that says your doctor IS qualified and can respond but he first has to diagnose just what kind of pain you are experiencing before he can prescribe the proper drugs etc.
How each of us is able to communicate our pain to our doctor becomes the critical point.
Most people have different ways of saying, ' it hurts like hell here when I try to move', I get a stabbing pain right here that lasts for over a half hour, my head seems like it wants to explode.....and on and on.
The pain association of: cancer drugs, radiation, surgery and specifically anything associated with Prostate Cancer should be easy for Radiologists, Urologists, Oncologists and those treating cancer to understand and to administer proper treatment. Sometimes they do not.
When it comes to 'treatment procedure' side effects, the describing of pain or discomfort associated with differing procedures then seems to be something very difficult for some doctors to understand, and they tend to rely on things that had worked well for others and prescribe drugs that have been well established as they know them to be.
You may want to say, ' Doc. I really don't have a throbbing pain (in my groin, my leg, my back -( or wherever else place you may have a cancer) ' but there is this,' sometime nausea I get after I drink water or eat certain food', and 'when I lie down I become very agitated,' ' end up with wandering pains in my body and need to sit up and try and walk them off----sometimes that works. but it does return', OR ' I have pains in the soles of my feet when walking that does disappear after sometime but also returns after sitting or lieing down for awhile and then again walking,' and I cannot get to sleep at night because of the hot flashes and the nagging discomfort of trying to find a restful position in bed.' ' I get this really bad pain in my hip sometimes, more often than not. and it is very difficult to shake. .....and I am sure... there are lots of other pains or discomforts you too can describe?.
It is a given that certain type pain 'killers' can also give you severe constipation and that for me when that occurred, I just stop taking the drugs and try to live with the discomfort up to when I an forced to take some tylenol which does give a bitt of diversion. At present able to withstand discomfort and do not want to return to the constipation (that too is pain...isn't it?)
All I can say is, keep on asking and whining if necessary and if something given does not work...let them know immediately and keep on persisting.
Get a copy of the above mentioned pamphlet and read it. It does also say in part 'Although most cancer pain can be relieved, controlling cancer patients' pain effectively continues to be a problem. The reasons for this are related to knowledge, beliefs, and fears. ' . There it is....it is a problem and with a lot of hollering I think we can solve it., or at least make a good stab at it.
Bill."