This is something that I came across recently in one of the forums and am reproducing with the author's permission (hence the thanks Chele!) Funnily enough it wasn't until recently, when I had to keep a diary for someone else for a completely different reason, that I had ever monitored my pain levels at all. I was horrified at how often in the average week or month I had to restrict my activities because of pain - even weeks when I thought I was just fine I would lose a day or two. Eeek! Anyway, because of this, I think the idea of a pain diary is fab and everyone should do one (well everyone with pain that is...!)
This was Chele's Post:
A Pain or Medical Diary is something that can be taken to appointments with you. It means that when you see a doctor and are trying to explain how frequent and bad the pain levels are or what medication you are on, all your information is to hand.
It holds the following information:
* Health Insurance Policy Number (or NHS Number/Hospital Number)
* A day-today account of pain levels
* Description of the pain levels
* Methods of pain Management
* Lists of questions
* A brief outline of medical issues
* Contact information of each doctor / consultant
* A list of what medication.
How to set-up a Pain / Medical Diary:
You can chose to use an ordinary notebook and layout each page accordingly, but simpler is to use and an actual diary. Each day is already marked out for you. While the space for each day need not be very large, it is useful that it has a few ordinary pages to write other information in. An A5 diary should give you plenty of space and many of them have a plastic pouch at the back which can be used to store appointment cards. Use the diary to record the following stuff:
CONTACT INFORMATION:
At the start of the diary write contact information & medical insurance details & in
In the notes Section the following pieces of information are written:
PAIN LEVELS / DESCRIPTIONS:
* 1 Mild - No Medication Required
* 2 Bad - Over the counter medication assists pain
* 3 Strong - Prescription medicine relieves pain
* 4 Severe - Medication offers little / no relief
* 5 Chronic - No relief regardless of measures taken
The above are just examples of how pain can be measured on a scale of 1-5.
PAIN RELIEF METHODS
A list of the types of Pain Relief used such as:
* Types of over the counter medication: Panadol, aspirin
* Prescription meds: Tylex, Co Codamol etc
* Exercises (swimming, strolling)
* Rest & Heat
MEDICATIONS LIST:
Use plain pages to assign a page to each month and list any medication taken, including dosage levels. This includes inhalers, antibiotics, pain relief.
MEDICAL HISTORY:
A brief account of when some conditions were diagnosed and treatment received.
QUESTIONS:
You will always have and think of questions to ask, so make notes in the diary. That way you have any concerns to hand.
DOCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION:
There’s always an address section in a diary so here you can list your G.P's name and contact information, consultant, hospital etc ..
DAY-TO-DAY DIARY SECTION
Each day write what number pain levels seem to be on that day, with a brief description of where the pain seemed to be. It also helps you to see if there are issues that seem to trigger the pain off and see if there's a pattern to when it's at its worst.
There, that's that! A long post (and a serious one), but excellent advice that I wish I could own up to thinking of myself. Instead, I have just copied it (pretty much word for word). Isn't cutting and pasting brilliant - it means I still have room in my typing fingers to bash out some more stuff... but maybe I'll do it later!
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