Breakthrough cancer pain
Most cancer patients will, from time to time, experience pain which is normally treated by pain medications. Pain which lasts for up to 12 hours a day is called persistent cancer pain, and this, too, can be treated, with stronger pain relievers.
However, from time to time, a patient will experience BTCP, or Breakthrough cancer pain, in which the pain "breaks through" the normal doses of pain treatments. Such pain usually strikes without warning.
External links
- The American Chronic Pain Association http://www.theacpa.org
- Pain.com http://www.pain.com
- BreakthroughPain.com http://www.breakthroughpain.com
- American Pain Society http://www.ampainsoc.org
- National Pain Foundation http://www.nationalpainfoundation.org
- American Academy of Pain http://www.painmed.org