Non-Drug Treatments for Pain
Your doctor or nurse may recommend that you try certain nondrug treatments to supplement your pain medication. These treatments will help to make your medicines work better and relieve other symptoms, but they should not be used instead of your medicine.
Non-drug pain treatments include:
Biofeedback: A technique that makes the patient aware of bodily processes that are normally thought to be involuntary (such as blood pressure, skin temperature and heart rate). The technique enables the patient to gain some conscious voluntary control of these processes, which can influence a patient's level of pain.
Breathing and relaxation exercises: Methods used to focus the patient’s attention on performing a specific task. The patient concentrates on the task instead of their pain.
Distraction: A method used to divert the patient’s attention to a more pleasant event, object or situation.
Heating pads and hot or cold packs: Using temperature to facilitate pain control.
Hypnosis: A focussed state of consciousness that allows the patient to better process information.
Imagery: A method used to teach the patient to make mental images of something soothing. Focusing on these positive images allows the patient to relax.
Massage, pressure and vibration: Methods that physically stimulate muscles or nerves. These methods facilitate relaxation and relieve muscle spasms or contractions.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): A technique using a mild electric current applied to the skin at the site of the pain.
Rest: A basic tool that allows the body’s immune system to help in the recovery process.
Talk to your doctor and nurse about these treatments. Your family members may want to help you use them. Alternative treatment professionals at M. D. Anderson’s Place...of wellness may also be able to give you more information.
When Medicine Is Not Enough
Some patients have pain that is not relieved by medicine. In these cases the following treatments can be used to reduce pain:
Radiation therapy:
This treatment reduces pain by shrinking a tumor. A single dose of radiation may be effective for some people.Nerve blocks/Implanted Pump:
Certain nerve blocks, temporary or permanent, may help relieve some painful conditions. Implanted pain pumps are also available which can be of great benefit in some instances.Neurosurgery:
In this treatment, pain nerves (usually in the spinal cord) are cut to relieve the pain.Surgery: When a tumor is pressing on nerves or other body parts, operations to remove all or part of the tumor can relieve pain.
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