Question: Does a person who is terminally ill have to suffer excruciating pain, or can it be controlled?
This can be a very difficult problem for doctors, patients and their families particularly when the patient is dying from a very aggressive form of cancer. There are undoubtedly medications available that will control the most sever pains, but the patient may be so stuporous from the side effects that they are unable to function effectively, and may end up completely unconscious. To keep a patient alert and pain free is the challenge.
Medications, including self-administered doses of narcotics by tablet or injection, can play a part in this process, but in many cases there are other options. The use of a TENS (trans cutaneous electrical nerve stimulator) machine, which through pads on the skin stimulates nerves in a way that blocks pain, may give some patients relief.
The most radical options include injecting into the nerves that are responsible for the pain to temporarily shut them down, or permanently destroy them. Surgery ro cut these nerves may also be undertaken. The wishes of the patient must always be taken into consideration by doctors, and a discussion of the available options allows the patient to remain in control of his/her pain in the way that s/he desires.

Question: Several members of my family have had cancer of different sorts, and this scares me. What causes cancer? How can I avoid it?
Cancer, the crab of astrology, is so named because the ancients could see the cancer clawing its way into the normal tissue, destroying everything in its path. Doctors now understand a great deal about cancer, but we do not fully understand what starts the process.
Although the specific cause of cancer is unknown, sun exposure, a low-fiber diet and smoking are well-known precipitating factors.
Cancer occurs when otherwise normal cells start multiplying at an excessive rate, and the cells made by the rapid process of reproduction are abnormal in shape, size and function. Although they may have some slight resemblance to the cells around them, cancer cells cannot perform the correct work of that type of cell, and they prevent the normal cells around them from working properly, thus enabling the cancerous cells to spread.
Cancer is not just one disease process; dozens of different types of cancer occur in different parts of the body, and each type causes different problems and responds differently to treatment. Several different types of cancer can be found in the lungs for example.