
The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering
Published on 14. December 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
464 pages
978-0-19-531202-7 (ISBN)
Description
Every day a tragedy is played out in hospitals and homes around the world - the tragedy of needless cancer pain. And while modern medical techniques can bring relief from pain to an extraordinary 90 to 99 per cent of cancer patients, pain continues to be undertreated. Cancer patients are too often caught in the middle of society's strong anti-drug message and fears about the use of opioid drugs. But cancer pain experts assert that relief is not only possible for most patients, it actually aids in recovery. Yet, millions still endure unnecessary, and sometimes agonizing, pain.
In The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering, Dr Richard Patt, one of the USA's leading cancer pain experts, has teamed up with science writer Susan Lang to produce a much-needed, sensible handbook for patients and caregivers on all aspects of cancer pain. Thoroughly revising and updating their widely-praised 1994 book, You Don't Have to Suffer, the authors illuminate the reasons why patients are so often undermedicated, including unfounded fears of addiction, patients thinking they need to tough it out, time-consuming paperwork for doctors who prescribe narcotics, and laws that fail to distinguish between drug abuse and the legitimate employment of narcotics. Lang and Patt demonstrate that properly medicated patients are better able to resume active lives and marshal strength to fight their disease - while those in chronic pain not only suffer, but also may jeopardize their potential for recovery.
The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering helps patients and families cope with the practical problems of dealing with cancer pain, from mild to severe. It discusses the medications and techniques that can be used to fight cancer pain or relieve the undesirable side effects of chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and other cancer treatments. It describes all of the pain-relieving options available in the modern medical arsenal - from drugs and high-tech medical procedures to psychological and cognitive techniques and home nursing tips to make a patient more comfortable. The book compiles in detail all of the pain medications on the market - over-the-counter medications and prescriptions - along with their generic and brand names, side effects, dose ranges, and precautions. It also provides extensive information on anaesthetic and neurosurgical options for pain that has not responded well to simpler techniques, and directly addresses ways to prevent or relieve constipation, nausea, drowsiness, and other complaints of cancer patients.
The authors also discuss depression and other psychological components that contribute to suffering in detail, and explain how psychological, cognitive, and mind/body approaches and techniques can help relieve pain and suffering associated with cancer. The book concludes with detailed information on how to cope with the myriad of problems that may occur with the advanced stages of cancer, the ever-changing and sometimes difficult process of dying, grief, and helping a patient die with grace and peace. The book's detailed appendix charts all of the medications and lists resources such as pain specialists, group support, hospices, biofeedback, acupuncture and home care.
The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering enables cancer patients to make informed decisions about their care and gives numerous, concrete suggestions on how patients and their families can work most efficiently and effectively with doctors. This volume will be of enormous value to the growing numbers of patients, family members, and health-care professionals who are determined to relieve needless cancer pain.
In The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering, Dr Richard Patt, one of the USA's leading cancer pain experts, has teamed up with science writer Susan Lang to produce a much-needed, sensible handbook for patients and caregivers on all aspects of cancer pain. Thoroughly revising and updating their widely-praised 1994 book, You Don't Have to Suffer, the authors illuminate the reasons why patients are so often undermedicated, including unfounded fears of addiction, patients thinking they need to tough it out, time-consuming paperwork for doctors who prescribe narcotics, and laws that fail to distinguish between drug abuse and the legitimate employment of narcotics. Lang and Patt demonstrate that properly medicated patients are better able to resume active lives and marshal strength to fight their disease - while those in chronic pain not only suffer, but also may jeopardize their potential for recovery.
The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering helps patients and families cope with the practical problems of dealing with cancer pain, from mild to severe. It discusses the medications and techniques that can be used to fight cancer pain or relieve the undesirable side effects of chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and other cancer treatments. It describes all of the pain-relieving options available in the modern medical arsenal - from drugs and high-tech medical procedures to psychological and cognitive techniques and home nursing tips to make a patient more comfortable. The book compiles in detail all of the pain medications on the market - over-the-counter medications and prescriptions - along with their generic and brand names, side effects, dose ranges, and precautions. It also provides extensive information on anaesthetic and neurosurgical options for pain that has not responded well to simpler techniques, and directly addresses ways to prevent or relieve constipation, nausea, drowsiness, and other complaints of cancer patients.
The authors also discuss depression and other psychological components that contribute to suffering in detail, and explain how psychological, cognitive, and mind/body approaches and techniques can help relieve pain and suffering associated with cancer. The book concludes with detailed information on how to cope with the myriad of problems that may occur with the advanced stages of cancer, the ever-changing and sometimes difficult process of dying, grief, and helping a patient die with grace and peace. The book's detailed appendix charts all of the medications and lists resources such as pain specialists, group support, hospices, biofeedback, acupuncture and home care.
The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering enables cancer patients to make informed decisions about their care and gives numerous, concrete suggestions on how patients and their families can work most efficiently and effectively with doctors. This volume will be of enormous value to the growing numbers of patients, family members, and health-care professionals who are determined to relieve needless cancer pain.
Reviews / Votes
The text adds to the limited resources available to help service users become active partners in decision-making around their treatment and care...[it] will be helpful to people affected by cancer who wish to gain insight into the biomedical perspective on pain and its management. * Journal of Advanced Nursing * They say that turkeys wouldn't vote for Christmas, so it came as a bit of a surprise, as a cancer patient, to be asked by the editor to review a book on cancer pain . . . I cannot imagine a more complete treatment of the subject, written in truly accessible language, and with open discussion of contentious issues. The book is aimed at patients and carers, and I would also strongly recommend it to those who support and advise patients. This is a book that every informed patient and carer should know about, and which should be on the library shelves of every cancer support group. * Annals of Oncology * . . . a much-needed handbook for patients and carers on all aspects of cancer pain . . . This is a book that I wish had been available several years ago at a time when I was looking for straightforward advice and inspiration. * Palliative Medicine, 19 * . . . a well-written and comprehensive handbook for cancer patients and their caregivers . . . This will be an invaluable resource for people caring for patients with cancer and pain, particularly if they are being managed at home. The information is well set-out and clearly explained, and there is a glossary of medical terms included. * IAHPC Website *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
5 Zeichnungen, 5 Tabellen
numerous tables
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
705 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-531202-7 (9780195312027)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Richard B. M. D. Patt | Susan S. Lang
The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering
E-Book
05/2004
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€27.49
Available for download

Richard B. M. D. Patt | Susan S. Lang
The Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain and Suffering
E-Book
05/2004
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€27.49
Available for download
Persons
Richard B Patt, M.D. is the Medical Coordinator of Inpatient Services at the world-renowned Hospice at the Texas Medical Center and is the President and Chief Medical Officer of the Patt Center for Cancer Pain & Wellness (www.cancerpain.org) in Houston. He served as the Deputy Chief of the Pain and Symptom Management Section of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and was the founder of the Cancer Pain Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
Susan S Lang has been a senior science writer at Cornell University for almost 20 years and the author/co-author of 11 other books including the forthcoming OUP publication Beating the Blues: New Approaches for Overcoming Dysthymia and Mild Depression, and hundreds of articles in the areas of psychology, health, medicine and veterinary science for national publications.
Susan S Lang has been a senior science writer at Cornell University for almost 20 years and the author/co-author of 11 other books including the forthcoming OUP publication Beating the Blues: New Approaches for Overcoming Dysthymia and Mild Depression, and hundreds of articles in the areas of psychology, health, medicine and veterinary science for national publications.
Content
PART I: CANCER AND ITS PAIN; PART II: THE PAINKILLERS; PART III: OTHER APPROACHES