Breakthrough Pain
When a cancer patient has severe pain, he or she will receive treatment, usually with narcotics. If a patient is taking pain medicine, the pain can be so severe that it breaks through the treatment. There are a number of ways to handle this. One way is to give pain medicine regularly regardless of how much pain the patient is feeling at the moment the dose is given. Instead of waiting for the pain to be bad, and then waiting for the medicine to work, the patient gets medicine all around the clock. Another method is patient-controlled pain medicine by intravenous devices. The patient has the ability to inject more pain medicine when needed. There is a locking device preventing overdose. Even with these methods, there may be breakthrough pain. Many doctors will add a very fast acting narcotic to be given for breakthrough pain.
Dr. Kaplan