You Don't Have to Suffer: A Complete Guide to Relieving Cancer Pain for Patients and Their Families - Hardcover

Lang, Susan S.; Patt, Richard B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195084187 ISBN 13: 9780195084184

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1994

Synopsis

On March 2, 1994, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (a division of the Public Health Service) made headlines by releasing new cancer pain management guidelines. That report revealed that pain is frequently undertreated, and that relief is not only possible for most patients, but actually aids in recovery. For many cancer victims, the agency's guidelines offered new hope; for Dr. Richard B. Patt and coauthor Susan S. Lang, it was a resounding vindication of the findings they set forth in You Don't Have to Suffer.
Written by one of the country's leading cancer pain experts and science writer Lang, You Don't Have to Suffer provides an invaluable, no-nonsense handbook for anyone with cancer, for anyone caring for a loved one with cancer, and for the doctors and nurses who treat these patients. The authors first 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. In a careful argument now taken up by the AHCPR's guidelines, Lang and Patt demonstrate that properly medicated patients are better able to resume active lives and marshall strength to fight their disease--while those in chronic pain not only suffer, but also may jeopardize their potential for recovery.
You Don't Have to Suffer explores all 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. Detailed chapters discuss the medications that can fight cancer pain or relieve the undesirable side effects of chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and other cancer treatments; anesthetic and neurosurgical options for pain that has not responded well to simpler techniques; ways to prevent or relieve constipation, nausea, drowsiness, and other complaints of cancer patients; and mind/body techniques and other ways of coping with depression and various psychological symptoms that contribute to the relief of suffering.
Pulling together a wealth of long-needed information on the latest medical advances, You Don't Have To Suffer is a volume for the growing numbers of patients, family members, and health-care professionals who are determined to relieve needless cancer pain.

About this title

About the Author

About the Authors: Susan S. Lang is a senior science writer at Cornell University, and the author of six previous books. Richard B. Patt, M.D. is the former medical director of the Pain Treatment Center at the University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, and current deputy chief of the Pain Service at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Reviews

For the millions of Americans who will be diagnosed with cancer, Lang, a Cornell University science writer, and Patt, the deputy chief of the Pain Service at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, have written a handbook for those seeking respite from cancer pain. It is estimated that relief can be achieved in 90 to 99 percent of cancer patients if the correct treatments are applied. This book, clearly written for the consumer, is intended for anyone who has cancer or is caring for a loved one with the disease, as well as for the professionals who treat patients and their families. Lang and Patt examine the physiology of cancer pain and how not fighting it can get in the way of healing. Among the reasons the authors cite for why cancer patients are undermedicated for pain: doctors are not well-informed about pain medication and dosage, and fear that patients will become addicted to pain relievers; patients feel they must tough it out. The book also explores our culture's fear of narcotics, one of the cornerstones in the treatment of moderate to severe cancer pain. By exploring all of the pain-relieving options available--from over-the-counter drugs and high-tech medical techniques to home nursing tips to make patients more comfortable--it enables cancer patients to make informed decisions about their care and offers them a way to improve the quality of their lives.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Every year one million Americans are diagnosed with cancer and must endure the pain that often accompanies it. Patt, one of the country's leading cancer pain experts, has teamed up with science writer Lang to produce a sensible, much-needed handbook for patients and caregivers on aspects of cancer pain. Undermedication is one of the primary problems; this stops many patients from resuming active lives and having the strength to fight their disease. The authors explore options--drugs, high-tech medical procedures, psychological techniques, and home nursing tips--to help relieve pain and give comfort. Fears of addiction are addressed, as is the "stiff upper lip" syndrome. Medications for accompanying health problems are also discussed. Recommended. See also Jane Cowles's Pain Relief!: How To Say "No" to Acute, Chronic, and Cancer Pain , LJ 11/1/93.--Ed.
- Janet M. Coggan, Univ. of Florida Libs., Gainesville
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195084187
• ISBN 13: 9780195084184
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384