Pain Management

Cancer patients have to contend with many fears. These include not only the fear of death, but also the suffering of severe pain. To relieve pain is one of the most important tasks for a physician. Our goal is to create an individualized therapy concept for each patient. The therapeutic focus here is mostly on drug therapy in combination with osteopathy, acupuncture, Reiki, cranio-sacral therapy and massage.

The oral drug therapy is based on the “Pain Relief Ladder” of the World Health Organization (WHO) with non-opioid and opioid analgesics. Standard non-opioid analgesics (painkillers) are acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and diclofenac. Mainstay treatment of moderate or severe cancer pain are morphines and morphine-like analgesics. Here we put special attention to new, low side effect drugs, like Palladon, Targin, etc.

In Pain Management, drugs are also used that were not originally developed to reduce pain. Examples are antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants and corticosteroids. For instance, anticonvulsants are indicated to treat the so-called burning or neuropathic pain. Corticosteroids reduce swelling and thus the pressure on the nerve tissue. So they indirectly relieve the pain.
In our hospital we can control almost every pain. However, the patient can assist in this as well with the help of various relaxation techniques such as Reiki, meditation and muscle relaxation. Patients often report that the analgesic effect of these sessions can last for a few days. Targeted acupuncture treatments, neural therapy, massages, osteopathy, and cranio-sacral therapy round out our pain management program.

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