DEFINITIONS OF SOME EXPRESSIONS YOUR DOCTOR MAY USE – YOUR CANCER, YOUR LIFE (PAIN) PART 1

This is the symptom that you probably worry about the most, even if you don’t have it! Here are some facts that may surprise you. Cancer is not always painful, not even at the end. Cancer pain reacts to painkillers just like any other pain. When people with cancer do get pain, it is always possible to greatly relieve it, and sometimes even to get rid of it completely.

I know why you are anxious and frightened about the possibility of pain. You have read about, heard of, or known people who did have pain with cancer and whose pain was not controlled. You, yourself, may even have pain which is not being controlled right now. It doesn’t have to be that way for you.

We can do something about it. The most common reason for unrelieved cancer pain is simply ignorance— ignorance on the part of many doctors and nurses, as well as on the part of many people with cancer. Many doctors and nurses simply don’t know enough about the individual painkillers and how to use them most effectively. They don’t know how small the risk of addiction is when painkillers are used simply to control pain. Sometimes they don’t even know that it is realistic to aim for good control of cancer pain with painkillers.

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VITAMINS – INTRODUCTION

Vitamins and their place in human nutrition are very poorly understood by most people.

Sold and swallowed in large quantities to give instant energy, restore potency or prevent colds, they represent an expensive, but also a probably useless fad.

The vitamins are organic chemicals present in small quantities in food, and are necessary for the normal nutrition of the body.

Vitamins are divided into two groups — the water-soluble vitamins (the  group and Vitamin C) and the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K).

The body requires a certain minimal amount of these chemicals daily for the proper maintenance of health. If the diet contains less than the required amount for long enough, then signs and symptoms of a deficiency state will occur.

However, taking an excess quantity of vitamins — above that necessary for health — provides no extra benefit. In fact, with some of the vitamins, such as A and D, definite disease states may occur from excessive intake.

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