Keeping Your Pain Journal

I want to always have a record of my pain levels. Having this Pain Journal with me when I see my pain doc is valuable information that I could not recall easily or at all when I visit him without it.

Think of one day in your life. The ups and downs of your pain levels can vary by the minute. The peaks and valleys must be recorded, all of that information will be so helpful when you visit any doctor, especially the one that manages your pain. Your symptoms may speak specifically of one issue, and help with a doctor's diagnosis.

What spikes your pain? How long does it take after a certain activity for the pain to get bothersome? What do you take for your pain medicinally, and how long does it take for that medicine to be effective?

What helps your pain? Are there specific exercises that your doctor has approved for you? Stretching, swimming, etc.? Do they really help?

What other modalities do you use that have been effective/non effective for your pain? Heating pads, ice packs, Thermacares (Activated by air-heated charcoal), for on the go heat; Icy Hot Packs, tinted with Menthol for a cooling feeling in a to go pad also. Capsicum patches are made from hot pepper and this is for some helpful. Cramps? Try some Thermacares for Menstrual Cramps. Very effective. The heat in Thermacares last for 8 hours up to 12. Great for hurting backs at work or out doing something we probably are pushing ourselves to do! Chart all of this. Remember, just a few jotted down notes is all you need to do.

Your daily Pain Journal should consist of your pain levels, when and possibly why they were exacerbated, what helped, what did not, how long it took for relief, and all this with times of the day written in. It may sound tedious, yet after you get used to doing it, you will feel odd when you don't 'chart' for the day!

A small notebook but with enough room for your extra notes works fine, as does a specifically-made pain journal. I have one from the American Pain Foundation. It was a few years ago, and I found it to actually be more tedious to follow their way of charting it. I feel more comfy just noting it down in a notebook and keep it by my bed. Kind of like a dream journal!!

Each day, make a note of your pain level when awakening. If the day goes by without anything out of range happening , or not much unusual in what is normal for you pain wise, note that; and happily!!! If the day begins to take a turn for the worst, start by noting the time, your symptoms, what you were doing prior to the pain, and what action you take. Then make a note of if your action was effective.

Do whatever works for you! When you have your next doctor appointment and you bring that journal, you will have with you many moments out of the month or two months since you've seen the doc, that are significant and important for her/him to know. And when you look at a month's worth of moments, you will realize there is no way you could have remembered each of them to tell the doc. Many have a tendency to go with the most recent pain levels in their mind, they may have had a basically good month, but not connecting that every time the dog poop is picked up, or a drive longer than an hour escalates pain levels. If these seemingly small events, but so important in our lives as Chronic Pain/Illness sufferers because they cause pain; are not noted down ever, the connection may not be made, and there is another reason for pain flare-ups that could have been identified. Even standing while washing dishes for me is HUGE. The use of my arms at Thoracic level and standing flares up my pain fast.

We all know, as the patients, what things make our pain worse. The obvious things. The ones we can connect immediately to pain. Then there are the days that we feel good enough to do 'some things' around the house, work a little extra, drive a little further, stay a little longer. We know that the next day, we are likely to 'pay' for our over doings. Today I am in a lot of pain and need to get out of the computer chair and my positioning, and go sit using the heating pad with my legs up. It doesn't take a smart one to look at the fact I vacuumed last night, something my doc and other docs have told me not to do. I even did the attachment thingy and started on the couches. Of course I had to stop before I would have liked to, but I knew I was going to hurt last night, and today very bad-- if I didn't stop. And I do. :-(

So, I overdid it. But what about the day I worked on the computer, and emptied the dishwasher? Why did my pain level rise so quickly? Which of those events caused the spike? I was able to narrow it down to the computer time, having made a note for that day when I came home what my pain level was. I was going to attribute it to the computer chair, but I have a really great ergonomic chair, and then I must look at the position of my hands that starts to put my back into spasm. And what do you know? Aside from standing, it is just like doing dishes to my back. Thoracic level, arms working, holding them away from my body, reaching out.

Identifying your triggers are an excellent thing to jot down in your journal too. I put my list of triggers in the front and seriously have to look at them when I am in pain, but have things to do staring at me, like wash, (oh, just the word hurts,) to remind myself of the things I just can not do at that time. Oh well, who said a heating pad, an old Rosalind Russell film, and a diet coke is not too bad of a deal when I have the time to rest and do some self-care. Or, (this is for Jeanne & Mckay) , when I make the time to rest!

Duly Noted!!