The American Cancer Society and Breastcancer.org host online chat on breast cancer pain

American Cancer Society
Thursday, 4 April 2002

Survivors Ask Questions About Managing Their Pain

Dealing with breast cancer often means dealing with physical pain: discomfort in the breast and underarm area after surgery, skin irritation from radiation, joint pain and mouth sores after chemotherapy and back pain from metastatic disease. Pain can make life seem unbearable. But with recent advances in pain treatment, no one should have to suffer from persistent, intolerable pain.

To this end, as part of their continuing collaboration, the American Cancer Society, the nation's leading voluntary health agency, and breastcancer.org, a Web-based nonprofit breast cancer organization, are hosting an online chat on managing breast cancer pain. The chat is also being provided in collaboration with the Health Library at Stanford University.

The chat, "Ouch: This Pain is Keeping Me From Being the Person I Used to Be", is on Thursday, April 18th, at 9:30 p.m., Eastern Time and will feature medical oncologist Ann Berger, R.N., M.D., chief, Pain and Palliative Care Service at the National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C. Dr. Berger will answer questions from women currently undergoing breast cancer treatment about how recent advances in pain treatment can help them manage the effects of their disease.

Marisa Weiss, M.D., breastcancer.org founder and president, will join Dr. Berger. Dr. Weiss is a Philadelphia-area oncologist specializing in breast cancer and author of the book, "Living Beyond Breast Cancer".

During the 90-minute live online discussion, (9:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m.) Dr. Berger will help survivors answer such questions as: What's causing the pain? How long will it last? What are the best pain medications? Are they addictive? Are there good alternative medicine treatments for pain?

"Breast cancer patients need to know that they are not imagining their pain. It is real, and it can be treated," said Dr. Berger. "Today there are many options for pain management, and patients need to discuss all the available methods with their physicians."

Dr. Berger is a member and former chair of the Continuing Medical Education Committee for the Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care, and a member of the Multi-National Society for Supportive Care in Cancer and the American Society of Clinical Oncologists.

To join the chat, users can go to www.breastcancer.org and click on the "Join Chat" button or go to www.cancer.org and find a direct link under heading "This Month". No special software is required. To receive an e-mail letting you know when the transcript is available, click on http://www.breastcancer.org/res_news_signup.html and sign up for our free e-mail alerts.

Breastcancer.org is a Web site that offers discussion boards, live chats, and monthly research updates. It also offers more than 500 pages of medically peer-reviewed information devoted to helping each woman and her family make sense of the complex medical and personal aspects of breast cancer.

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy, and service.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org