This booklet has been written to help you understand more about some of the symptoms that may occur with cancer. Some are caused by the cancer itself, others are a result of treatment. You may have one or more of these symptoms, or none at all. But they can usually be controlled with help from you, your family or friends, and members of the medical and nursing team who are caring for you. A better understanding of the causes of pain and effective ways of treating it, mean that there is rarely any need for anyone to suffer uncontrolled pain.
People feel pain differently, and even people with the same illness have very different experiences.
Your experience of pain is unique and, like any other symptom of cancer, it should be treated according to your own particular needs. It is important to tell the doctors and nurses looking after you if you are in pain, so that it can be treated. It is important to know that the amount of pain you have is not related to how severe your cancer is. Having pain does not necessarily mean that the cancer is advanced, or more serious than if you had no pain. And pain does not necessarily get worse as the cancer progresses.