Your doctor will want to find out more about what is causing your pain because that will affect how the pain is treated. Drugs, procedures, cancer treatments, or even surgeries may be used in special ways to manage your pain.

If you have severe pain, your doctor or your cancer team will want to find treatment that best relieves your pain with the fewest side effects. You will need to stay in touch and let the doctor know how the pain treatment is working and how you are doing day to day. The goal is an effective pain control plan that works for you.

Cancer pain is usually treated with drugs that are called analgesics. You can buy some very good pain relievers without a prescription or doctor's order (for example, aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen). These medicines are also called non-prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics. OTC pain medicines can be used alone for mild pain, and along with other medicines for more severe pain. For other medicines, you will need a prescription. Ask your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist for advice before you take any medicine for pain. Medicines are mostly safe when they are used properly, but they can be very harmful if not managed carefully.

For some conditions, medicines and non-medical treatments may not work well. But there are special pain treatments that can often be used for these kinds of cancer pain. For instance, doctors may use radiation to shrink the tumor; surgery to remove all or part of the tumor; nerve blocks in which medicine is injected into or around a nerve or into the spine to block the pain; neurosurgery, where nerves are cut to relieve the pain, and more.

You may also use non-medical treatments such as relaxation techniques, biofeedback, guided imagery, and others along with the medicines.

You need to develop a pain control plan:

The first step in developing a plan is talking with your doctor, nurse, and pharmacist about your pain. You need to be able to describe your pain to your family or friends too. You may want to have your family or friends help you talk to your health care team about your pain, especially if you are too tired or in too much pain to talk to them yourself.

Using a pain scale is helpful in describing how much pain you are feeling. To use the Pain Intensity Scale below, try to assign a number from 0 to 10 to your pain level. If you have no pain, use a 0. As the numbers get higher, they stand for pain that is getting worse. A 10 means it is the worst pain you can imagine.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0- no pain

10-worst pain

For example, you could say, "My pain is a 7 on a scale of 0 to 10."

Tell your doctor, nurse, pharmacist, and family or friends:

* where you feel pain

* what is the nature of the pain,how does it feel like? is the pain sharp, dull, throbbing, gnawing, burning, shooting, or steady?

* how strong the pain is (using the 0 to10 scale)

* how long it lasts

* what eases the pain

* what makes the pain worse

* how the pain affects your daily life

* what medicines you are taking for the pain and how much relief you get from them

Your doctor, nurse, and pharmacist may also need to know:

* the medicines you are taking now, including vitamins, minerals, herbs, and non-prescription medicines

* the pain medicines you have taken in the past, including what has worked and not worked for you. You may want to keep records of this information.

* any known allergies to medicines, foods, dyes, or additives

When you go to the doctor, bring all your medicines, vitamins, minerals, herbs, and non-prescription drugs with you. Show them to the doctor and explain how you take them. Questions you may want to ask your doctor or nurse about pain medicine:

* How much medicine should I take? what is the normal dose?

* If my pain is not relieved, can I take more?what is the maximum dose that i can take?

* If the dose should be increased, by how much?

* Should I call you before increasing the dose?

* What if I forget to take it or take it too late?

* Should I take my medicine with food?

* How much liquid should I drink with the medicine?

* How soon will i begin to notice the effects of these pain medications?

* Is it safe to drink alcohol, drive, or operate machinery after I have taken pain medicine?

* Are there some other medications that are safe to take with these pain medications?

* What medicines should make sure i avoid while i am on these pain medications?

* What are the likely side effects of the drugs and how can they be prevented ? and how can they be managed?