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Tumors put pressure on nerves, organs, and bones causing cancer pain. Cancer also harms surrounding tissue and can even release irritating chemicals in the area surrounding the tumor. 

Another indirect cause of cancer pain can result from the very treatment used to solve the problem. Certain types of chemotherapy drugs can cause the extremities to tingle or become numb. Skin irritation and discoloration can result from radiotherapy. Injections cause a burning sensation. Of course, there’s also the pain resulting from surgery.

Cancer pain treatment in Pocatello can be found at Pain & Spine Specialists of Idaho. At our clinic, you will find doctors and resources to help manage your pain and improve your quality of life.

Types & Locations Of Cancer Pain

There are different factors that contribute to how your cancer pain manifests. They include the form of cancer, the stage of cancer, and your own personal level of pain tolerance. 

We break cancer pain into two basic categories:

• Acute pain: This is the kind of sudden, sharp pain that arises immediately after an injury. It subsides over time as the injury heals.
• Chronic pain: This is prolonged pain that continues even after the injury has healed. Chronic pain usually results from nerve damage. This happens when tumors put pressure on the nerves, chemical damage from the tumor, or a combination of both. Cancer treatment also causes nerve damage.

By providing cancer pain treatment in Pocatello, we can help keep your pain levels as low as possible. We’ve seen patients with pain in various areas of the body as a result of cancer. This pain can take many forms, including:

• Nerve pain: Also referred to as “neuropathic pain”, nerve pain is usually caused by nerve damage or from pressure on the nerves and/or spinal cord. Nerve pain feels like a shooting, burning, tingling, or crawling sensation. Spinal cord compression causes nerve pain. It feels like back and/or neck pain ranging from mild to severe. 
• Bone pain: Cancer can spread into bone tissue and cause damage. The resulting pain is usually a dull, aching, throbbing sensation.
• Referred pain: Pain in one area of the body can be transferred to another area. This is due to the structure of nerve pathways – a swollen liver can cause the right shoulder to hurt because it is pressing on nerves that end in the shoulder.
• Phantom pain: This form of pain is still mysterious for doctors, as it is pain associated with an organ or part of the body that has been removed. Some theorize that despite the “thinking section” of the brain knowing an area of the body is missing, the “feeling section” has yet to catch up. Phantom pain affects a majority of those who have an arm or leg removed. And about ⅓ of women who get a mastectomy experience phantom breast pain following surgery. Phantom pain is not just “in your head” – it is 100% real and something our Pocatello pain doctors take very seriously. 
• Surgical pain: Many hospitals where cancer surgeries are performed do not have an effective solution for long-term pain beyond pain-killing medication. If you’ve had surgery for cancer and need cancer pain treatment in Pocatello, we can provide it. 
• Pain as a side-effect of chemotherapy and radiation treatment: One of the most common side-effects of chemotherapy is peripheral neuropathy, a condition in which damaged nerves cause feelings of numbness, tingling, and burning in the extremities. There is even a term for this when it specifically results from chemotherapy – chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Chemotherapy causes painful mouth sores (stomatitis or mucositis), making it difficult to eat, drink, or speak. Direct exposure to radiation can also cause skin burns. And scarring. 

Treatment

There are many ways we can treat the pain listed above at our Pocatello pain management clinic. Possible treatments include:

• The injection of medication that blocks nerves from sending pain signals to the brain
• Physical therapy

 

Choose Pain & Spine Specialists Of Idaho

You don’t have to live with chronic cancer pain. If your quality of life has diminished, we can help you recover it. The pain doctors in Pocatello at Pain & Spine Specialists of Idaho are Board Certified physicians. We implement leading treatments and procedures to help resolve or manage pain. You will find treatment options at our clinic that you won’t find anywhere else in Idaho. Don’t let pain or discomfort dictate how you live your life and hold you back from the things in life that matter most. Contact us for cancer pain treatment in Pocatello today.