Pain Journals

Chartreux

Veteran Member

Joined : Aug 2006

Posts : 9664

Posted 5/15/2008 9:50 PM (GMT -6)

My Doctor recently brought up the subject of pain journal. Others have had questions on them too, and I hope y'all don't mind me bring this subject up as I have a lot of questions too...
1. How do y'all start your pain journals?
2. Do you write in it everyday or just weekly?
3. Do you write it or type it?
So sorry this is new to me and the doctor didn't explain it to me.
Any help would be appreciate and I sincerely hope it helps others here too...
Lots of soft Hugz to everyone and lots of well wishes for a painfree day.
Thank You
and I hope not to offend anyone with this, my apologies if I have!

************************
* Asthma
* Allergies
* Osteoarthritis
* Spinal Stenosis
* Mild DDD
* Enlarged
Pituitary Gland
* Fibromyalgia
*************************
Patient: "I always see spots with my eyes"
Doctor: "Didn't the new glasses help?"
Patient "Yes, now I see the spots clearer"

Freya

Regular Member

Joined : Apr 2008

Posts : 164

Posted 5/15/2008 10:38 PM (GMT -6)

I havent ever written in a pain journal but would assume that you write in it daily so that you can track your pain as much as possibe
I think as long as you have goof handwritting you could write it yourself(then again DR's make us work for our pain management, why not make them work to read it:):):) I'm kidding, sort of

I would start by saying what your pain was like in the morning, before you took your medication and when you went to bed (those are the questions they alwats ask me) and also if you do certain activities that increase or decrease your pain. I'm guessing they want to know exactly how your daily activites effect your pain.

They sound like a good idea, i wonder if my new DR will suggest one.
Hope that helped. I'm sure others know much more than me about it!

Freya

In suffering, we are given the key to a door which most rarely

get to open. Behind it lies the ultimate gift which is only visible

in our darkest hour.

True strength.

Mochiah

Regular Member

Joined : Dec 2007

Posts : 450

Posted 5/15/2008 10:56 PM (GMT -6)

I was hoping Chutz was going to chime in pretty quickly here.....she outlines it perfectly.

I do keep a pain journal, but I don't do mine every day (I find that my depression is worse if I focus on my pain like that too much). I will keep it for 10-15 days. (The doctor never reads the full thing anyway, it is mostly for me to be able to point out things to him).

I mark my pain level at baseline, what I did (or didn't do) to make it worse that day, what have I tried (ice/heat/stretching/TENS), did it help? What medication did I take, how much did it help? Then I have one last entry for TODAY'S PAIN SCALE 0-10.

By doing this, I found that on average my pain had actually been an average of 6-7, although I had been reporting "oh, I don't know, probably a 4 or sometimes 5." It seems we (or maybe its just me) minimize our pain to others, even the person who is helping us with the medication.

Mochiah/a.k.a. Sue

cervical fusion 2006

L4-5 surgery with cages, plates, and screws in 2005

MEDS: Fentanyl patch, Norco, Celexa, trazodone, and Flexeril

To handle yourself, use your head...to handle others, use your heart

I'm going to smile like nothing is wrong, act like everything is perfect, and pretend its not hurting me.

Twiggy2

Veteran Member

Joined : Jan 2006

Posts : 703

Posted 5/16/2008 4:44 AM (GMT -6)

Hello nice too meet you. I too keep a journal at first i was keeping tract every day but now it's whenever. I always make sure i date it this way it shows how long it has been since last jounal was made, i keep track of pain level, sleep or lack of, activites that may have brought on pain, medications old and new even doc appointments are a good idea, it;s whatever you feel you need to put in it. My family doc has never seen my journal but i started it cause i am applying for disablity and thought it would help and to keep track of things. Take care Twiggy2

ryand

Veteran Member

Joined : Dec 2007

Posts : 639

Posted 5/16/2008 7:59 AM (GMT -6)

Chartreux:

Chutz will probably reply too, and I agree with Mochiah that she has great advice on this topic. I started keeping a pain diary too, and found a great one at the American Pain Foundation website. I hope it's okay to post that link here, but if it gets removed, just do a google search for the APF and then click on the APF Publications link. Hope this helps!

I printed this out and put it in a 3-ring binder that I carried with me throughout the day so that I could mark it when I noticed changes in my pain levels and how well my meds did or did not work.

Ry

Here is the link...

http://www.painfoundation.org/Publications/TargetNotebook.pdf

Chartreux

Veteran Member

Joined : Aug 2006

Posts : 9664

Posted 5/17/2008 6:38 PM (GMT -6)

Thank you so much everyone. Your help in this is greatly appreciated. I now know how to start my first pain journal.
Thanks
Lots of soft hugz to you all.....

Morgoth

Regular Member

Joined : May 2008

Posts : 177

Posted 5/19/2008 8:09 PM (GMT -6)

As I understand there are basically two kinds of pain journal, one meant as a psychological support to "write off" your pain, like a personnal diary;the other a detailed account meant to improve medical performance. I guess you mean the second one.

Taking into account the complexity of your medical situation, I think the best is to include as much information as possible. If your allergies for example are related to the weather, it might be interesting to include a weather summary as well.

I don't keep a pain journal as such, but all information is entered into various logs, usually kept by the staff. This is then used to draw long-term conclusions and make long-term predictions. To me it has proven to be extremely useful.

Chutz

Forum Moderator

Joined : Jan 2005

Posts : 9429

Posted 5/20/2008 2:56 PM (GMT -6)

Hi all...

Sorry, but I was out of town. Soothing my pain on the beach with hubby. ahhhh...lol.

Looks like great answers above. These are very helpful especially to a doc who isn't convinced of your suffering. Good luck!

Chutz

Co-Mod Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Forums
~~~
Fibromyalgia, Ulcerative Colitis, Insulin dependent diabetic, collapsed disk, dermatitis herpetiformus, osteo arthritis in spine and other locations.
***************

The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. Albert Einstein: (1879-1955)

donajean

Regular Member

Joined : Jan 2006

Posts : 141

Posted 5/22/2008 7:18 PM (GMT -6)

Hello All!

Was wondering what everyone thinks about GoChi juice or Gogi juice for the Fibro?

Some ppl. say it helps them..

Thanks,

Donajean

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