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Symptoms managed through palliative care
By Eden Ali | June 15, 2007
Some of the common symptoms managed through palliative care include:
- pain;
- fatigue;
- shortness of breath;
- dry mouth;
- loss of appetite;
- gastrointestinal problems;
- anxiety/depression;
- skin problems.
Pain
Managing pain is one of the most vital areas of palliative care. Due to this medical consideration, mesothelioma patients should see an experienced doctor in managing pain, if your present doctor is not well experienced in pain management.
Non-pharmacological therapies, that is the ones who don’t depend solely on medication to accomplish efficiency, include therapeutic exercise and cognitive behavioural methods of means such as muscle relaxing, deep breathing, imagery, biofeedback therapy, meditation, and distraction.
Complementary and/or alternative treatment of mesothelioma cancers include acupuncture and massage therapy. Integretive medicine is known as the combination of conventional treatment of mesothelioma cancers such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation with complementary therapies that has been established to have good scientific evidence as to their safety of use and efficiency.
Shortness of breath
Shortness of breath, or medically known as dyspnea, affects about 20 to 80 percent of palliative care mesothelioma patients.
The major causes of this symptom may include fluid in the lung cavity, lung disease, infection, psychological factors such as anxiety, anemia. Some medications or oxygen are possible uses for treating this symptom (shortness of breath), but at times techniques such as using relaxation techniques, changing position, or improving air circulation could be of great assistance in the treatment of mesothelioma cancers in mesothelioma patients in need of palliative care.
Topics: Mesothelioma symptoms |