Pain and Chemotherapy
The side effects of chemotherapy depend on the type of chemotherapy and the amount given. Anticipating and managing side effects can help to minimize them and provide the best possible experience for the person receiving chemotherapy.
Pain and chemotherapy:
As each person''s individual medical profile and diagnosis is different, so is his/her reaction to treatment. Side effects may be severe, mild, or absent. Be sure to discuss with your cancer care team any/all possible side effects of treatment before the treatment begins.
Chemotherapy drugs can have painful side effects. If the drugs cause nerve damage, you may experience burning, numbness, tingling, or shooting pain most often in the fingers or toes. Mouth sores, headaches, muscle pains, and stomach pains can also result from some chemotherapy drugs.
The goal of pain control is to prevent pain that can be prevented, and to treat pain that cannot be prevented. It is possible that you will not have pain from chemotherapy treatments, but if you do, you can take steps to relieve it. The first step is to talk with your physician, nurse, or pharmacist about your pain. Give them as many details as possible. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recommends that you describe your pain to your family and friends so that they can help communicate with your caregivers if you are too tired or in too much pain to talk to them yourself. Be sure to describe the following:
- location of the pain
In what parts of your body are you experiencing the greatest pain?
- description of the pain
Describe what the pain feels like. Is it sharp or dull, throbbing or steady? Describe the intensity of the pain by using a numerical scale, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the greatest pain.
- length of the pain
How long does the pain last?
- pain aggravators
What types of activities or positions make the pain better or worse?
- medication history and profile
List the names of the medications you are currently taking and their effectiveness.
For chronic pain, take your pain medication on a regular schedule (by the clock). Do not skip doses. If you wait to take pain medication until you feel pain, it may be more difficult to control. To lessen tension and reduce anxiety, it may also be helpful to use relaxation exercises when you take your medication.
You may find that your usual pain can be controlled by medication, but occasionally a more severe pain will “break through” for a short time. In some cases, your physician may prescribe a short-acting medication.
Many different medications and methods are available to control cancer pain. If you are in pain and your physician has no further suggestions, ask to see a pain specialist or have your physician consult with a pain specialist. A pain specialist may be an oncologist, anesthesiologist, neurologist, neurosurgeon, another physician, nurse, or pharmacist.
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Rush Pain Center
The Rush Pain Center offers a full range of multidisciplinary diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for patients with chronic pain. Our goal is simple: Treat the whole patient using a multidisciplinary approach in pain management that includes modalities from traditional medical fields such as anesthesiology, internal medicine, psychology and pharmacology, as well as alternative medical techniques such as acupuncture, chiropractic and medical massage therapy. By combining resources, our doctors are able to provide state-of-the-art pain management care with the latest in technology and treatment choices. As colleagues, our professionals are always working together to provide the newest and medically proven options.
Click here for more information on the Rush Pain Center.
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Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Programs at
Rush University Medical Center in Chicago
At Rush, we offer a range of standard and investigational therapies for the treatment of cancer. We have more than a dozen programs specializing in the treatment of specific cancers, including:
Rush cancer programs are approved by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. Only one in four hospitals that treat cancer receive this special approval.
Click here to visit the home page for Cancer Programs at Rush.
Cancer Screening and Prevention
Cancer screening and prevention are priorities at Rush. Through genetic testing, counseling and advanced techniques for early detection, Rush helps people with a strong history of breast, ovarian, colon and other cancers. And in our state-of-the-art mammography center, we have one of the city’s finest teams of radiologists dedicated to early detection of breast cancer.
Cancer Support Programs at Rush
Cancer is not only a physical ordeal, it is also an emotional one, affecting cancer patients, their family and friends. To help address the whole person, we offer a number of resources to help patients and their loved ones cope in this difficult time.
For information on the cancer support programs at Rush click here.
Clinical Trials
Rush offers a number of clinical trials of experimental cancer treatments. Use the links below to search for studies for a particular form of cancer. If you are interested in exploring your eligibility for one of our open trials, please call (312) 942-8312. If we do not list trials for a particular type of cancer, please feel free to call us to discuss other treatment options.
For information on cancer clinical trial programs at Rush click here.
Find a Specialist at Rush
To find a cancer specialist at Rush, click on one of the following links:
To find specialist at Rush in other cancer-related areas, click on one of the following links:
Or make an appointment with a doctor at Rush by calling our toll-free physician referral number:
To reach the hospital operator, call (312) 942-5000. If you have difficulty hearing, call (312) 942-2207 (TTY/TTD).
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Click here to view the
Online Resources page of this Web.
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Bone Marrow Transplant
Cancer Center
Prostate Cancer Study
Cancer Treatment