The St. Christopher's Hospice Regimen for drug control of common symptoms in the dying.

Abstract

Pain and other symptoms in advancing cancer are usually chronic and constant in nature, even if variable in intensity. Chronic pain, unlike acute pain, is a situation rather than an episodic event. It usually grows worse rather than better, and often expands to occupy the patient's whole attention, isolating him from the world around him. Depression, anxiety and other unrelieved symptoms tend to exacerbate the total pain experience. These factors must all be considered in relieving terminal pain. In terms of the general practitioner's commitment to total care, the patient must be managed in the traditional modalities of physical, psychological and social care.