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There
are many ways to address pain without drugs, surgery or other medical
interventions. Some may work, some won’t. Some will work for others
but not for you. But all
should be discussed with your physician. Here is a sampler ...
Relaxation
or meditation techniques relieve pain or keep it from getting worse by
reducing tension in the muscles. These techniques include simple
breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and visualization
that reduce tension and anxiety. They can help you fall asleep, give
you more energy, make you less tired, and possibly make other pain
relief methods work better. Some people, for instance, find that
taking a pain medicine or using a cold or hot pack works faster and
better when they relax at the same time.
Distraction
involves focusing your attention on something other than your pain.
Many people use this method without realizing it when they watch
television or listen to the radio to “take their minds off” the
pain. Reading, cooking, or talking to family and friends can all work
just as well.
Distraction
may work better if pain is sudden and intense or if it is brief,
lasting only 5 to 45 minutes. It may also be useful during procedures
that may be brief but painful or when you are waiting for pain
medicine to start working. If pain is mild, you may be able to
distract yourself for hours.
Imagery
for pain control is a method of allowing your mind and powers of
concentration to focus on soothing images. It is a way of further
extending the benefits of relaxation and distraction for your own
benefit. Imagery can be thought of as a deliberate daydream that uses
all of your senses—sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste. Some
people believe that imagery is a form of self-hypnosis, but the way
imagery relieves pain is not completely understood.
Skin
stimulation
includes massage, heating pads, ice packs or other similar methods to
alleviate pain. It is usually done either on or near the area of pain.
For pain relief, massage is most effective when using slow, steady,
circular motions. You can massage over or near the area of pain with
just your bare hand or with any substance that feels good, such as
talcum powder, warm oil, or hand lotion. However, if you are having
radiation therapy, avoid massage in the treatment area.
Exercise
can help relieve tension, depression and fatigue. Exercise such as
swimming or walking can be comforting, can increase your energy level,
and can provide a welcome, healthy distraction from your pain. An
exercise program should only be started after your doctor gives you
the go-ahead.
Drs.
Kerry Courneya of the University of Alberta and Christine Friedenreich
of the Alberta Cancer Board in Canada, writing in the Annals of
Behavioral Medicine, noted that physical exercise can improve
cancer patients’ quality of life by reducing pain, fatigue, nausea
and other side effects. They analyzed 24 studies of exercise in cancer
patients published between 1980 and 1997 and found that “the studies
have consistently demonstrated that physical exercise following cancer
diagnosis has a positive effect on quality of life, including
physical, functional, psychological, and emotional well being.”
Biofeedback
involves learning to voluntarily control certain body functions such
as heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension. How people use
biofeedback to control pain is not understood, but some researchers
believe that imagery helps. Cancer patients sometimes use biofeedback
techniques to reduce anxiety and help them cope with their pain, but
results are mixed. Biofeedback usually is used with other pain-relief
methods.
Hypnosis
is a technique in which an individual’s susceptibility to suggestion
is heightened. To relieve pain, the hypnotist may suggest that pain
will be gone when the person “wakes up.” Some cancer patients have
learned methods of self-hypnosis that they use to control pain. The
role of hypnosis in treating chronic pain is uncertain, however. Some
studies have shown that 15 to 20 percent of hypnotizable patients with
moderate to severe pain can achieve total relief with hypnosis. Other
studies report that hypnosis reduces anxiety and depression—by
lowering the burden of emotional suffering, pain may become more
bearable.
In
the News
According
to researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston,
patients who used self-hypnotic relaxation techniques during surgery
needed less pain medication, left the operating room sooner, and had
more stable vital signs during the operation. Writing in the British
medical journal The Lancet, Dr. Elvira Lang called the
self-hypnosis “a simple method that decreases pain and anxiety and
makes the invasive procedure safer and faster.”
Results
from a pilot study at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in New York showed
that inpatient treatment with massage, acupuncture or guided imagery
reduces pain associated with bypass surgery. According to lead
researcher Dr. Gregory Fontana, the results were so promising that 60
percent of the massage group, 70 percent of the acupuncture group and
100 percent of the guided imagery group said they would have been
willing to pay for the therapy out-of-pocket. Fontana suggested that
these techniques might be equally successful for other surgeries as
well.
Let
Your Doctor Know
A
study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco
found that over 70 percent of breast cancer patients are combining
traditional medical treatments with alternative therapies such as
acupuncture, herbs, prayer, or nutritional supplements. But the same
study noted that two-thirds of these women did not inform their
physicians of their use of such therapies.
While
many complementary treatments can be beneficial, some can have
interactions with conventional treatments, mask test results, or
possibly even cause direct harm. A growing percentage of physicians
are welcoming complementary treatments along with traditional
approaches, if for no other reason than to empower patients in their
own healthcare.
It
can’t hurt to simply communicate such treatment decisions to your
physician. However, it can hurt if you don’t.
SOURCES:
This page was last edited
on 11-14-07
Written by Richard
Zmuda, senior writer, cancerpage.com
Edited by Rachael Myers Lowe, cancerpage.com
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