Thankyou that is so helpful.

Lorraine

Hi Ed.  It is almost 2am and the pain is keeping me awake.  I have a hospital appt. later today, so I will ask my oncologist my o[toons for controlling the pain.  My question is HOW do you cope with it?  A stupid question I know, but  I feel so desperate.  I have just taken another paracetamol, which seems to have helped slightly, but not enough that I can get to sleep.  Sorry if I appear to be weak and pathetic, but the pain is driving me crazy.  

Hello Violetgirl

You are certainly not weak or pathetic Violet, this awful disease reduces the strongest of people to desperation. Torture (and that is what cancer pain is) 24 hours a day every day will break everyone eventually. Your question on HOW do you cope with it. Is that I don't cope with it very well, the ache is constant. I use distraction techniques like going out for a walk while I still can, do a few hours work, try to do my hobbies. I also learned some techniques from meditation. (I know it sounds corny as Im not a meditation Yoga sort of person) but I can get some temporary relief especially at night. Plus help from mild pain killers.

Hopefully your oncologist can get you the pain relief you desperately need and as it your appointment today you may already have new pain relief. Cancer pain seems to get worse as the disease progresses and over the counter remedies no longer have any effect. The problem that we face is that our bodies get used to painkillers and they need to be taken in ever higher doses to acheive the same effect. Yes you can be in zero pain but it may mean you have no meaningful life if you are turned into a zombie. So there is a careful balance for the doctors to achieve when prescribing. 

I hope you can get that balance right.

Ed