What is Cancer Pain? Why suffer from it? – Part 2

…Continued What is Cancer Pain? Why suffer from it? – Part 1  

Causes of Cancer Pain The two main causes of pain in cancer patients are due to:

1. The cancer itself and its complications
2. The cancer treatments, as some of the treatments are less pleasant.

  Cancer itself: –  Pain could be due to the pressure of a tumour on organs, bones or nerves. –  When blood vessels become obstructed by tumour, hence causing pain. How much pain you might have?   Cancer treatments: –  Medications used in chemotherapy might cause mouth sores, pain and numbness over feet, legs, fingers, hands and arms, constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps, joint pain. –  Surgical treatment will produce pain after surgery. –  Procedures might cause some pain such as biopsies, blood draws, lumbar punctures, laser treatments. Radiotherapy may cause burning sensation or painful scars.     What about the amount of pain you have with cancer? That depends on: – The type of cancer you have – Where it originates from – Which stage it is at – The involvement  of the nerves due to the cancer or the treatment – Your psychological state- lack of sleep, anxiety, depression and fear     Prepared by: Dr Thiruselvi Subramaniam Helped by IMU students: LEE RUEY-YI, CHONG SHWEN NEE, SIVASANGGARI A/P SELVANATHAN, VIDHYA A/P VIJAYAN

What is Cancer Pain? Why suffer from it? – Part 3 What is Cancer Pain? Why suffer from it? – Part 4 What is Cancer Pain? Why suffer from it? – Part 5 What is Cancer Pain? Why suffer from it? – Part 6