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From OncoLog, June 2006, Vol. 51, No. 6

House Call: How to Deal with Pain

One of the most distressing symptoms of any disease is pain. However, many people do not report their pain or seek treatment for it.

The pain may be short-lived or long lasting, mild or severe, and have a variety of different causes. Each patient’s pain is unique. Therefore, patients must have a treatment plan that addresses their individual needs depending on their type of pain.

The more you know about your pain, the more you can help your caregivers plan the best treatment for you.

STEP 1: Talk about your pain

Telling your care team in detail about your pain is the best thing that you can do to assist them. Patients may not want to complain, they may fear becoming addicted to pain medications, they may fear the side effects of pain medicine more than the pain itself, or they may want to save their pain treatment options until they really need them. Each of these attitudes will hinder pain treatment.

Describing your pain

Answering the questions below will help you communicate with your healthcare provider about your pain.

Where is the pain? You may have pain in more than one place. Be sure to list all of the painful areas.

What does the pain feel like, specifically? Does it ache, throb, burn, or tingle? You may wish to use other words to describe your pain.

How bad is the pain? You can use a number scale to rate your pain from 0 to 10, where 0 means no pain and 10 means the worst pain you can imagine. Or, you can describe your pain with words such as “none,” “mild,” “moderate,” “severe,” or “worst possible pain.”

What makes the pain better or worse? You may have already found ways to make your pain feel better (for example, using heat or cold, or taking certain medicines). You may have also found that sitting or lying in certain positions or doing some activities affects the pain.

If you are being treated for pain now, how well is the treatment working? You may want to describe how well the treatment is working by saying how much of the pain is relieved.

Has the pain changed? You may notice that your pain changes over time. It may get better or worse, or it can feel different. For example, the pain may have been a dull ache at first and has changed to a tingle. Describe how the pain was before and how it is now.

STEP 2: Create a plan with your doctor or nurse

In a pain control plan, you and your doctor or nurse plan your pain control activities, including when to take your medicine, how and when to take extra medicine, and other things you can do to ease and prevent your pain. Your doctor or nurse may also list medicines and other treatments that will help with side effects or other aches and pains, such as headaches.

It may be helpful to keep a record of how the medicine is working. Sharing that record with your doctor or nurse will help them make your treatment more effective.

When to take your pain medicine

Take your medicine exactly as your doctor tells you. This will help to keep pain under control. Do not skip a dose of medicine or wait for the pain to get worse before taking your medicine. When taking “as needed” pain medicine, do not wait too long to take the medicine as it is more difficult to “catch up” with the pain than it is to keep it to a tolerable level.

Your doctor may give you pain medicine for “breakthrough pain” (a pain that occurs between regular doses of your pain medicine). If some activities make your pain worse (for example, riding in a car), your doctor may advise you to take more pain medicine before these activities. Ask your doctor or nurse how and when to take extra medicine.

If you continue to have bothersome pain, your medical team may wish to consult a specialist to assist in managing your pain.

For more information on pain management, visit the following Web sites:

For more information on this topic or for questions about M. D. Anderson’s treatments, programs, or services, call askMDAnderson at (877) MDA-6789.

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