The three-step pain relief method for cancer is a method of pain relief based on the principle of using different levels of pain medication depending on the patient’s pain level. As one of the most common and effective pain relief methods, it is highly recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been widely used in the treatment of various types of chronic pain. The prerequisite for using the three-step pain relief method is to learn how to assess the cancer pain level. To classify a patient’s cancer pain into mild, moderate or severe, the most common method is to use the 0 to 10 pain evaluation scale. The doctor asks the patient to answer the question: “If 0 is no pain and 10 is the most pain you can imagine, what is your current pain level? What is the worst pain level? What is the mildest level?” Grade 1 to 4 is mild pain, the patient has pain but can tolerate it and can live normally; grade 5 to 6 is moderate pain, the patient has obvious pain, cannot tolerate it and affects sleep; grade 7 to 10 is severe pain, the pain is severe, cannot sleep, and may be accompanied by passive body position or vegetative nerve dysfunction performance. After clarifying the pain level of patients, drugs should be administered according to the 5 main principles of cancer pain treatment proposed by WHO: a. Oral administration. It is simple, non-invasive and convenient for patients to take medication for a long time, which is applicable to most pain patients. 2. Give the medicine on time. Note: it is given “on time”, not only when the pain is present. Third, according to the three-step principle of drug administration. According to the different degrees of pain, different steps of medication are given to patients with mild, moderate and severe pain. Here we list the drugs commonly used in each ladder. The first step is to give non-opioid (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) plus or minus adjuvant analgesics for mild pain. Note: There is a maximum effective dose (ceiling effect, note) for non-steroidal analgesics. Commonly used drugs include paracetamol, aspirin, diclofenac, plus Hepatitis B, ibuprofen, fenpropathrin (ibuprofen extended-release capsules), anti-inflammatory pain, indomethacin, Isidin (indomethacin controlled-release tablets), etc. Weak opioids plus or minus NSAIDs and adjuvant analgesics are given for moderate pain in the second tier. Weak opioids also have a ceiling effect. Commonly used drugs include codeine, prednisolone, tramadol, chimantin (tramadol extended-release tablets), diclofenac (codeine controlled-release tablets), etc. Third order severe pain is given with opioids plus or minus NSAIDs and adjuvant analgesics. Strong opioids have no ceiling effect but can produce tolerance and require appropriate dose increases to overcome the tolerance phenomenon. In the past, morphine was thought to be addictive for pain relief, so patients were reluctant to use morphine, but this view has now been proven wrong – very few patients with cancer pain who use morphine develop addiction. Commonly used drugs in this ladder include morphine tablets, Mefecam (morphine extended-release tablets), and Mescaline (morphine controlled-release tablets for rectal administration), among others. However, dulcolax, a previously commonly used analgesic, is not recommended for the control of chronic pain due to factors such as the high toxicity of its metabolites. In addition, the use of some adjuvant drugs has increased the efficacy of pain relief, reduced the dose of analgesics, and provided good pain relief. These drugs include the corticosteroids dexamethasone and prednisone, which can reduce pain caused by peripheral nerve edema and compression; the antidepressants amitriptyline, doxepin, Mysore, and Prozac, which are used for analgesia, sedation, and mood improvement; the anticonvulsants carbamazepine and phenytoin sodium, which can treat tearing and burning pain and post-radiotherapy pain; and the hydroxyzine antihistamines, which are used for analgesia, sedation, and antiemesis. Fourth, individualized medication. The dose of medication should be determined according to the individual patient’s condition, and the purpose is to be painless, so that the dose of medication should not be too strictly limited and lead to underdosing. V. Closely observe the changes of patients after medication, promptly deal with the side effects of various drugs, observe and evaluate the efficacy of drugs, and promptly adjust the dosage of drugs. Note: There are some pain patients who take painkillers for a long time and have long exceeded the limited dose; there are also many pain patients who are in a hurry for pain and take one kind of painkiller that does not work, and then take another kind of painkiller soon, sometimes taking several kinds of painkillers in a short time. Although the chemical composition of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers is different, but the mechanism of action is the same, and they also have a characteristic called “ceiling effect”, that is to say, no matter how many of these painkillers are used together, beyond a certain dose, even if the dosage is increased again, it will not increase the effect of pain relief, but will significantly increase the toxic side effects. Once drug dependence is caused, it will not only become more and more painful, but also more and more difficult to treat.