How family and friends react to a patient s expression of pain can affect how and whether they talk about his or her pain. Hearing about your loved one s pain may cause you to become anxious about his or her condition. It may increase your feelings of helplessness. The person in pain may sense your efforts to deny the situation and may then have trouble talking about his or her pain. Recognize that pain does not always mean things are getting worse.
Many people think that medicines such as morphine are only for people who are dying.
This simply is not so. Morphine is a very effective medicine for many types of cancer pain, regardless of the stage of disease. Don t panic. Focus on getting help for your loved one. While help is on the way or a medicine is taking hold, you can provide comfort through massage, music therapy, or just being physically and emotionally responsive to the person.