How to Find out What Pain Management is Available for Skin Cancer

Experiencing pain while undergoing treatment for skin cancer can be detrimental to the healing process, and can cause such side effects as insomnia, depression and increased feelings of anxiety about your cancer treatment. The best methods of pain management available for people with skin cancer depends upon the type of pain and its causes.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer with Internet access
• Oncologist or dermatologist

Define What Type of Pain You are Experiencing

1. Know the difference between acute pain, which is usually the result of the healing process after surgery or biopsy, and chronic pain, which lasts three months or more and can be the result of the ongoing treatment or the disease itself.
2. Ask your oncologist questions about the possible cause of the pain. Give information about the location of the pain, its relative intensity, other factors that could be causing the pain, behaviors that you associate with the pain and the overall effect the pain has on your well-being.

Decide Which Pain Management Technique is Right for You

3. Consider using an approved prescription pain killer for acute pain, since the discomfort is temporary because it is associated with the healing process.
4. Use behavioral techniques to treat chronic pain. Meditation, biofeedback and other alternative approaches can be very effective in managing chronic pain.
5. Be prepared for a surgical solution to your pain, if your oncologist finds that the source of the discomfort is a complication of your skin cancer treatment.
6. Give your healthcare team plenty of feedback concerning each pain management solution by consistently following up with them.

Tips & Warnings

• Understand the legal rights you and your loved ones have to control the type of health care you get, and to know all of the available treatment options at any given time. You can also designate someone to make these decisions for you if you are unable to do so.
• Experiencing pain can also add to the psychological and emotional trauma of dealing with cancer treatment. Discuss with your doctor the available methods for coping with these issues, including prescription drugs such as anti-depressants, a variety of counseling solutions and lifestyle changes such as meditation.