Cancer pain

Cancer and its treatment cause various pain. Pain is the most common and cancer-related symptoms, which is the most important from the viewpoint of quality of life. About half of all cancer patients feel pain

The majority of pain caused by cancer can be treated by direct and regular medical care. Regular and appropriate analgesics are an important aspect of cancer treatment

Pain may also be the first symptom of cancer. However, the onset of pain or the increase in pain does not necessarily indicate that the disease has developed.

There are many reasons for cancer pain. Cancer pain can be either harmful (affecting tissue) or neurologically (affecting nerves). Tumors can cause pain by pushing the membrane around organs. Bone metastasis can also cause pain

Cancer patients experience a lot of general pain that is not related to their condition, such as back pain or headache. Early pain also can cause muscle cramps or bad posture and cause stress pain.

Cancer pain usually begins with an acute condition and becomes chronic over time. In many cases, as the disease progresses, the pain of people spreading cancer is exacerbated. Pain that lasts for a long time causes a change in the normal pain circuit that may last even if the original cause disappears.

Pain can also cause stress hormone, which can exacerbate pain and cause other symptoms. Pain can cause stress, concern, pain, and other psychological problems. Mental conditions such as anxiety and fear may also exacerbate cancer pain. Long-term pain may also affect your social relationship and quality of life

If possible, treatment of cancer pain always tries to eliminate the cause of pain. If you can not resect the tumor, you can usually reduce the tumor by radiotherapy or chemotherapy. If you can not do anything due to pain, it is best to relieve pain in the most effective way. Treatment should be as simple and direct as possible. Almost all drugs are currently orally administrable and as effective as muscle injections.

Special techniques: analgesic pumps, catheters and nerve blocks, neurosurgical methods, electrical neurostimulation techniques, radiotherapy and cytotoxic drugs

Other methods: Pain management and relaxation, auxiliary equipment, physical therapy / rehabilitation, home therapy

As part of the nationwide counseling service, the Finnish Cancer Society operates Syöpäkipulinja to support the pain management of cancer patients. Patients, relatives and medical staff were asked about cancer pain as a cancer pain telephone service for pain clinics at Helsinki University Hospital.

1 Drug opioids, particularly powerful opioids commonly involved in overuse of opioids, have historically been limited to the treatment of acute pain and cancer pain as recommended by the WHO Cancer Pain Ladder. Over the past decade there has been a tendency to use opioids to treat chronic noncancerous pain such as low back pain.

Prescription opioids play an important role in the treatment of cancer pain and end-of-life pain. However, over the past two decades, their use has proliferated, especially in many other clinical settings for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. Between 1999 and 2012, the number of prescribing opioids has increased by more than 400% and by 2012, enough opioids have been assigned to supply all the adults in the US a full day all-day pill. The increase in these uses is accompanied by an increase in poisoning, injury and excessive mortality and makes drug overdose the current major cause of death among Americans under the age of 50. The United States, where a slight decline in opioid sales has been reported since 2010, is still far from adequate for opioid prescriptions, but there are major differences in the opioid usage across the country.

Prescription opioids play a very important role in the treatment of cancer pain and end-of-life pain. Nonetheless, their overuse, especially for chronic noncancerous pain, remains a major public health problem in the United States. Heroin and illegal use of illegal fentanyl have also attracted attention, and since 2010 a significant increase in the lethal dose of these drugs has resulted in a drastic increase. Approximately 64,000 people in the United States died in overdose 1 and 2 of drugs in 2016, prediction data 3 and 4 show that the number of deaths from opioids will increase further in the next few years.