Most patients who are suffering from breast cancer will experience pain on some level. Both breast cancer itself can cause you to experience pain as well as the treatments. You may especially experience pain if breast cancer spreads to your bones. However, there are several pain management methods that are available.

Common Causes of Pain During Breast Cancer

You're most likely to experience pain when your cancer has spread to other areas of your body. You may also experience pain that is unrelated to the pain that results from breast cancer and you might misinterpret it as being caused by your breast cancer. Therefore, it's important to find out where your pain is coming from.

If you have undergone surgery on your breasts for breast cancer, one of the risks is that you'll suffer pain. It is important to communicate with your breast cancer treatment services about any pain you are experiencing because there might be pain relief treatments available and your pain might be indicative of a larger problem. While breast cancer treatments will inevitably involve some pain, it's important to not assume that pain has to be a part of your experience.

How to Treat Pain Associated with Breast Cancer and Your Treatments

Most patients will experience some relief from their pain and some patients are even able to engage in activities that they previously enjoyed. There are several pain relief options including:

• Painkillers
• Nerve blocks
• Massage
• Relaxation techniques
• Physical therapy

It's important to try different pain relief treatments until you find one that works for you. This is because everybody responds differently to breast cancer and to the various treatments.

How to Keep a Pain Journal

Make sure to keep a pain diary where you write down all of the details about the pain you experience. Make sure to write down when and where you are experiencing pain, describe the type of pain you're experiencing, and rank the pain on a scale of one to ten. Write down how long the pain lasts and whether there are any activities that are associated with the pain.

If you take a medication, write down which one it is and whether it worked. Write down whether the pain went down, went away, or didn't change at all. Also, write down any other pain relief strategies you used. Then, your doctor can provide you with advice on how to best proceed.