Pain is unpleasant, and uncontrolled pain can have a great effect on all of the activities of daily life. Uncontrolled pain makes it difficult to function normally, and to cope with the stresses associated with having cancer and undergoing cancer treatment. Indeed, uncontrolled pain may prevent the giving of cancer treatment.

Breakthrough pain varies from patient to patient, and so there is no standard way of treating this type of pain. Every patient needs a full assessment in order to determine the best options for treatment of their breakthrough pain. The aims of treatment are to reduce the number of episodes, the severity of episodes, and the interference with daily activities (without causing significant side effects).

A number of actions you can take include:

Many patients find non-drug treatments useful in managing their breakthrough pain; some patients use them in addition to drug treatments (while waiting for the drug to start working), whilst some patients use them instead of drug treatments.