Your Treatment Options for Cancer Pain

Not only can cancer itself cause pain, but treatments to combat cancers like chemotherapy and radiation can cause mild to severe pain. Not everyone with cancer has pain, but if you do there are treatment options to help achieve pain relief.

Board-certified interventional pain management physicians Stuart Hough, MD, and Ramani Peruvemba, MD, along with their team at Pain Management Specialists in Rockville, Maryland has extensive experience in treating cancer-related pain.

If you’re experiencing cancer pain, a pain management specialist can help.

Work with an experienced provider to manage cancer pain

Patients diagnosed with cancer or undergoing treatment for cancer commonly experience painful side effects. Cancer pain isn’t something you have to live with. In most cases, cancer pain can be relieved by working together with a pain management specialist experienced with managing cancer pain.

Talk openly with your provider about your pain. It’s helpful to keep a record of your pain. Sharing this information helps your provider and health care team best manage your pain. Your provider will create a treatment plan to stop your pain from starting, as well as stop pain from getting worse if it does start. For many people, managing pain is part of cancer treatment.

Pain specialists can help

The pain management specialists at Privia Medical Group are experts in pain control. Your pain management provider will treat your pain symptoms so you feel and function better as you maintain your regular daily routine. Pain that is effectively managed can improve your quality of life. Although pain isn’t always completely relieved, it can be greatly reduced in most cases.    

Types of cancer pain that can be managed

You may experience different types of pain depending on the type of cancer you have and the type of treatment you’re undergoing to combat cancer. Our pain management specialists have extensive experience in managing a full range of cancer-related pain. Our pain management program can address:

• Post-operative pain
• Muscle pain
• Bone pain
• Inflammation
• Localized pain flares
• Joint pain
• Radiation therapy-related pain syndromes
• Medication-related pain
• Skin pain

Treatment can relieve pain related to peripheral neuropathy as well. Peripheral neuropathy results from damaged or dysfunctional nerves. It causes abnormal sensations such as tingling, burning, numbness and pain, typically in the hands and feet. Chemotherapy treatment can cause pain in some patients. Additionally, this type of pain may continue after chemotherapy treatment.

Your provider will work closely with you to create a pain management plan that best addresses your cancer pain. 

Cancer pain treatment options 

Pain is different for everyone. Your individualized treatment plan may include drug therapy to ease the way your body communicates pain. Other common treatment options include:

• Nerve blocks
• Pain medication
• Neuromodulation
• Physical therapy
• Intrathecal pumps

The treatments work in different ways to treat cancer pain. For example, nerve blocks interrupt pain signals sent from nerves.

It’s important to feel empowered to speak up about cancer-related pain. Some patients are hesitant to discuss cancer pain with their doctor for various reasons, such as fear of being seen as a narcotic seeker, or the notion that dealing with pain is just part of cancer treatment. You may also believe that pain treatment may cause you to feel overly tired and prevent you from functioning normally. 

The goal of cancer-related pain treatment is to ease your pain so that you feel better. Your pain management team is specially trained to devise an appropriate treatment plan to address your pain and monitor you closely to ensure that your pain is controlled. 

If cancer-related pain is affecting you, rely on Privia Medical Group Pain Management Specialists to get you the relief you deserve. To get started give us a call to schedule a consultation or send your request online today. We have offices in Rockville, and Frederick, Maryland.