Sometimes individuals with cancer have a lot of pain. Cancer pain may be due to tumor growth or nerve damage. It can result from operations or other invasive procedures. The side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy or infection can be painful.

Pain relief is called analgesia. In most patients, cancer pain can be controlled easily, and all of us should expect good pain control as part of our care. When pain is severe, strong pain-relieving drugs such as narcotics are often used. Regular therapy, rather than giving drugs only when they're needed, may provide better control of pain. This results in a lower total daily dose of the drug. When oral doses of narcotics don't provide relief or are not possible, intravenous (IV) or skin patch therapy can be used.

A device that allows "patient controlled analgesia" permits you to treat your own pain by directly activating doses of intravenous narcotics. By simply pressing a button on a pre-programmed device, you can control the drug dose to meet your needs. This lowers anxiety about pain. Patients using this technique report good pain relief. There is a minimum of sedation and few side effects. They feel more in control of their situation. Enabling a person to be more independent, improves that person's quality of life. This is especially important for individuals with a chronic condition.

To learn more about patient controlled analgesia or on pain control in general, call the American Cancer Society at (800) ACS-2345 or the National Cancer Institute at (800) 4-CANCER.

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