Obsessive fears

Relaxation is a behavioral technique, especially useful for women, dreading forthcoming procedures and unpleasant side effects. In some women, nausea and vomiting caused by treatment cause anxiety and conditioned reactions, that is, only thoughts about the upcoming procedure can cause symptoms. There is a case where a woman who successfully recovered from cancer ten years ago began to vomit every time she drove past the hospital where she underwent chemotherapy.
To help women cope with this, an experienced therapist helps them relax and, while they are in such a relaxed state, create in their imagination a picture of a calm, peaceful life. If you do this often enough, it turns out that many women undergoing treatment are experiencing anxiety and discomfort associated with it.
Doctors believe that to relieve pain in cancer patients, you can use drugs such as morphine. Unfortunately, many women and some clinicians are worried about addiction. As a result, some patients do not receive an effective medication or receive it at doses insufficient to relieve pain.
"Basically, morphine is given to people who are already dying," Dr. Kassilet believes. It effectively relieves the strongest pains. And addiction in such cases is not a problem. "
* Fortunately, doctors have a rich arsenal of preventive measures that can reduce or even completely eliminate the side effects of treatment. For example, nausea, which is common in chemotherapy, can be reduced if you take antacids, introduce more potassium into the diet, rest after meals and eat more often, but in small portions.