Talking With Your Health Care Provider
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Pain isn't the same for any two people. It can be hard to describe. But there are ways to treat pain from cancer, including flares of breakthrough pain.
When discussing your cancer breakthrough pain with your health care provider, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Tell your health care provider about any persistent (ongoing) pain as well as any breakthrough pain
- Try to describe your pain on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst possible pain
- Try to describe the type of pain you experience. For example, is it burning? Sharp? Throbbing? Shooting?
- If you are experiencing cancer breakthrough pain, tell your health care provider how long it usually lasts
It may be helpful to ask yourself the following questions before you talk to your health care provider:
- What is your average pain?
- What is your worst pain?
- When does your worst pain occur?
- Does that pain stop you from doing things you want or need to do?
In order to understand how severe your pain is, your health care provider may show you this scale and ask you to rate your level of pain from 0 (no hurt) to 10 (hurts worst).
Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale*
* From Hockenberry MJ, Wilson D, Winkelstein MK: Wong's Essentials of Pediatric Nursing, ed. 7, St. Louis, 2005, p.1259. Used with permission. Copyright, Mosby.
