Cancer pain may be acute or chronic. Not everyone who has cancer, however, reports symptoms of pain. Cancer patients may have pain for a variety of reasons. It may be due to the effects of the growth of the cancer itself, or it could result from some treatment methods such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery. Some of the symptoms accompanying cancer pain may include: nausea, headache, dizziness, weakness, drowsiness, constipation, diarrhea, perspiration, and problems sleeping or eating. Anxiety and/or depression do not cause physical pain by themselves but these feelings can make the pain seem worse.

Since there may be other scientific evidence that is not reported in the major U.S. biomedical databases, this list of treatments cannot be considered comprehensive.