Hearing complaints about pain may make you feel annoyed or increase your helpless feelings. Consequently, it may be easier to deny the situation, or minimize it. If these feelings are occurring, it is possible that the person with pain is sensing this, and not talking about the pain, or minimizing it. Additionally, as pain is not a tangible thing you can see and touch, it is sometimes hard for caregivers to comprehend. All of these feelings are normal and understandable.
Many people think that medications such as morphine are only given to people who are dying.
Morphine is not reserved for the dying. It is a very effective medicine for many types of cancer pain. Pain can only be controlled if the person in pain is able to talk about it to you and the doctor. You can help by giving the him or her permission to talk about the pain, asking often about pain and encouraging them that there are solutions to it. You can also share your feelings of fear and of helplessness so the person in pain understands better why it is sometimes hard to talk about.