Visit Cancercare's Practical Tips on Coping with Nausea for more information. Radiation treatment affects normal cells while damaging cancer cells. Sometimes this effect on normal cells and tissues can cause pain and discomfort. Skin dryness, difficulty swallowing or skin sores may occur. Your radiation therapy nurse can recommend a program to care for your skin to alleviate these reactions.
Fatigue can be a disabling side effect of cancer, cancer treatments and dealing with pain.
It restricts a person's ability to manage their usual activities. Visit Cancercare's How To Deal with Fatigue for more information. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can lessen and control pain caused by tumors because of their ability to remove or reduce the size of the tumor, thus removing the source of the problem. What you think about your pain can affect how you react to it. Others may consider pain a punishment for past sins or evil thoughts.