Welcome to Cancer Chat Sam2016!

I am so sorry to hear about the pain your dad is experiencing in all his joints. It is awful too that it is affecting his sleep. I am surprised you haven't been given advice on this and that your dad hasn't been prescribed any painkiller. It might be worth going back to your dad's medical team and asking them for help with that so that your dad's pain is under control and he can regain some quality of life.

I hope you will get to talk to some of our members here who have experienced similar symptoms and that they have some good tips for you. Our nurses are also available on this free number 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm if you want to have their guidance on how to deal with this situation.

Best wishes,

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi Sam,

Im sorry to hear about your dad being in pain. As a terminal person myself that is suffering from distressing and dibilitating aches and pains i understand what you father is going through.

First of, im not a medical expert so all my comments here will be anecdotal, but as much as possible i'll try to suggest some stuff that are more practical than remedial.

Background: I was diagnosed with a metastatic RCC, 5 months after without undergoing any conventional treatment, ive got lumps growing all over me, one hard painless lump in my neck (which makes swallowing and breathing little bit difficult), one marble size painful lump on my right shoulder bone, an irregular thumb-size mass on my midsection thats really painful when pressed, painful lump on the right abdominal area where the liver is supposed to be located, no palpabale lump yet, but my knees, shins, pelvis, my entire left hand fingers, my spine are pretty pretty painful too, ive also got headaches specially in the morning, visual anomalies like red/white flashes of light, my entire left side is weakening, and my muscles are all twitching and contorting involuntarily like crazy. 

Well i okay i think you get the picture. My point is that im not taking any pain meds but i have manage to control my pain quite effectively via positive thinking meditation and doing things that really excites me (which is playing an old deer hunting games on my pc - ive never hunt in my entire life, but i kinda enjoy the thrill of chasing a virtual quarry) kinda boost up some natural anti-pain chemicals in my body (i read they are called endorphins which was said to be almost similar to opioid in effect) - at least thats what i believe. I used to walk and jog a lot (not anymore though) and induced a so called "runners high", that managed my pain issues too for a while.

Long story short... boosting the bodies natural high drugs helps me a lot somehow to feel better. So basically not feeling distressed, depressed, hopeless, and still finding the motivation to enjoy life is helping me a lot in managing my symptoms even to a cancer patient like me who is almost at the end of my ropes (i think).

Hope that your dad will get the help he needed to feel better soon.