Cancer pain or the statement of a doctor declaring this disease is nothing more than a nightmare. It could be one of the most devastating conditions you could feel throughout your life. Coming under the heading of a cancer patient, if you think to relax yourself with a pill or with any other unprescribed treatment then the relief would definitely seem impossible. Relief is surely possible if an appropriate cancer pain management specialist is approached. These specialists only can assist to overcome the discomfort and the overwhelming sense of feeling bad.
Causes of cancer that result in Cancer pain
Symptoms and treatment of this disease depends on the type of cancer and how advanced it is. Cancer grows from the normal cells in the body. When the body needs them the normal cells multiply themselves and they die when the body is in no need. When the growth of cell is out of control in the body and cells divide too rapidly then cancer appears. It can also occur when the cells forget to die. The start takes place when the changes appear in the mutation of the DNA, due to which the cells keep on growing. As a result, the cells reproduce in an uncontrolled manner producing a lump of tissue known as the tumor.
Relief from Cancer
Usually lungs and pancreatic cancers are the worst. They can even cause death within a year. But the good news is that, not all cancers are untreatable. Proper cancer pain management will surely lead to the ways of fighting and curing this disease. The objective of cancer treatment is either to cure the disease, to control it or to reduce the symptoms. Because treatment for cancer can also damage healthy cells and tissues, including the side effects as well.
Cancer Pain Treatment
- Surgery
This is the most common way of treating a cancer pain; that is by operating. It rarely happens that the disease spreads during operation. Cancer does not spread when it is exposed to the air.
Side effects:
- Terrible pain
- Tiredness and weakness
- Radiotherapy
It is a treatment that kills cancer cells in an infected area. It can be done externally by a machine that aims the radiation at the targeted area. It can also be done internally by needles, seeds, wires and so on. The biggest advantage of this treatment is that it is absolutely painless. Some people often fear that with external radiotherapy, the body might get radioactive as well. But actually nothing as such happens. On the other hand, the internal treatment will require a patient’s day to day visits in the hospital until the permanent implant goes down a safe level.
Side effects:
- Feeling tired after treatment
- By this process most of the white blood cells are killed that usually protect the body against infection.
- Hair loss
- Skin becomes red, dry, tender and itchy.
-
Chemotherapy
This is a method that uses drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. But, by this treatment the healthy cells may also be harmed. The cancer pain management specialist might use one drug or a combination of drugs to control the cancer cells from spreading. As a result after chemotherapy, body starts producing the normal cells.
Side effects
- Hair loss
- Temporary fatigue
- Poor appetite, nausea and vomiting
- Hormone Therapy
As its name suggests, it is a method of treating cancer by preventing certain hormones from growth. This is done with the use of drugs. Some hormone therapies even involve the removal of hormone producing organ in order to restrict the hormone from secreting.
Side effects
- Tiredness
- Having fluid retention
- Weight gain
- Bone loss in premenopausal women
Biological Therapy
This method uses our body’s own immune system to fight the disease or to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment. This is the most suggested way of treating cancer.
Side Effects
- Causes flu-like symptoms
- Bleeding or bruises occur easily.
What should be done? The first and foremost step of overcoming cancer pain is to seek help from a pain management specialist. A specialist would not only offer solutions but also tips and an elaborate treatment that would bring a depressed and ill person back towards life.