Information for patients


Definition of pain

Varied unpleasant sensations that can range from discomfort to agony and can be short lived or constant.

Who manages my pain?

Your primary doctor or the doctor who is treating the problem, which causes the pain, will manage your pain with the help of consulting doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. In order to live pain free, the doctor needs to know why you have pain, and have a detailed description of the pain. Your active participation is necessary for effective pain management.

Non-Drug Pain Treatments

How to talk to your doctor about your pain

The more information your doctor has about your discomfort or pain, the better he will be able to treat it. The kinds of information he needs are:
    Where is the pain?
    How long have you had it?
    How does it vary?
    What does it feel like? Describe it.
    How intense does it get? Can you rate it?
    What makes the pain worse or better?
    What medications are you taking and how often?
    Are you getting relief from the medications?

Most importantly, he needs to know if the pain management is not working! You should see improvement within hours to 2 days of a medication change, depending on the schedule and type of medications you are taking. If you are following the directions and you are not satisfied with the relief of pain you need to call your doctor to get further direction.

Do I need to worry about addiction?

Addiction is a common fear of people who take narcotics for cancer pain but it is very rare. Addiction is a dependence on the use of narcotics for the side effects of the medication, not for the pain relief it provides. When narcotics are taken for long periods of time, people do build up a tolerance to the medication which sometimes requires an increase in dose in order to get the same pain relief but this is drug tolerance, not drug addiction.

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