Does anyone keep a pain diary ? I keep trying to do one but I’m never consistent but I really want to keep it up every day so I can take it to appointments so doctors can see how it affects me every day however I’m not sure how to lay it out?. What I plan on doing is writing my meds at the top and the times I take them. Then adding in the spoon theory so marking off spoons when I do things then a pain score for morning afternoon and night and then comments about the day etc... how does that sound? Any information would really be appreciated. I hope your all as well as can be xxx
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Lanadc88
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Thank you, yes I know it’s not necessary to do every day but I want to try and do it every day and stick to it for my own sake as well hence the spoons thing. It may also give me a better insight to triggers etc
Instead of a written diary or even in addition to a written diary, have you thought of keeping a visual one? You can do it in the form of a graph, with the date along the bottom and the pain level up the side, maybe on a 0-10 scale to keep it simple. Choose a midpoint of the scale for the pain you feel on the first day you do it, then once a day, usually at the same time, decide whether you are in more or less pain from the day before, and by how much. That way you can track visually over time how your pain levels are. If you want to be very precise and track it over a day, you can make the bottom into morning and afternoon for each day.
Does that make sense?
I did this to track pain in my wrist for over 30 years by making the bottom monthly, and showed it to my orthopaedic surgeon and he found it really helpful to understand how my pain varied over time. In that case I did it retrospectively from the diaries I have kept over the years. Then more recently I did it daily after I had surgery on my foot and we tracked how quickly the pain subsided from the surgery and how it compared to the pain before the surgery.
A good way to remember to write something every day is to hook it onto an activity that you are already doing. For me it is when my adult son says 'I am ready for bed'. I then ask him how his day has been (he is disabled) and type that into a document in black, then I type in red how I am feeling, (then green with info about our chickens, goose and ducks!). Because we have a bedtime routine that is exactly the same each day this works for us better than doing in the morning, or some other time.
Just start using it, whatever you want to with it.
Don't stress about when you don't use it - it doesn't have to be a daily thing.
It doesn't have to be neat! You can always write up some notes for the doctors from your diary.
I started a diary the day my depression lifted and I started healing. It's full of bad handwriting, scribbles and a long list of pains and symptoms but it's helped me keep track and see patterns.
I kept a similar one to cyberbarn but with numbered columns. My pain guy asked me to keep a diary. I did not start in the middle but wrote down the number the pain was at (from 1 to 10). I just made up an A4 form on the computer showing vertical columns with various part of my body in pain during day and then night and the end column for a brief note if necessary (to say why pain was higher that day for example). First column was the month and year showing, then all the days underneath. So once a day I put in a number (s) at the end of the day and first thing in the morning for the previous night (I did morning and evening for a while too). Pain guy found them brilliant as he could scan them quickly to see how things were. I have now stopped as it just focused me too much on the pain and having had more surgery things changed.
I have started doing a pain Journal a few times and decided finally not to do it. I think sometimes doing a pain Journal can just mean that all you're focusing on is the pain you're in. A pain Journal might be helpful if you don't know why you hurt but what's the point in focusing in on something like that if you already know. There are many apps on Google play for journaling your pain. You might look at some of them as they may give you some ideas even if you don't use them.
Yes a blog is a great idea. However I fail to have the time to create my own blog as I am constantly writing for others. I need to come up with a happy medium for myself. I find physically writing my systems quite therapeutic now that I have started, I also use it as an aid to remind me when my medication is due and a way of noting information I can relay to my doctors, information I may otherwise forget. Soon as I have written this reply I’m going to follow the link you have sent and take a look. I am open to anything that my help me better manage my symptoms, so thank you for your reply.
At a quick glance I can’t really see how socks or patches are going to help manage my chronic, all over body pain. Pain which is caused by a number of different issues. I’m sure the concept of the design helps many people with everyday aches and pains in their lower region and Legs. I see you provide knee supports to. Yet I can’t imagine the products helping with chronic lower back pain, fibromyalgia, eds and joint pain caused by IBD amongst other things. So thank you so much for the information, however it’s not a route I’m going to take for my pain management journey. All the best.
I understand and it’s a great concept I just can justify paying the price for something that may or may not work as I have spent 100’s on this miracle technology and this miracle cream and I may as well have thrown the money down the toilet because none of it worked. I’m sure your has helped many people, I’m just not a person who can justify the cost of trying anything else that might work
It’s not that iv given up trying its that iv given up wasting money on trying. I will gladly try the patches and ever write an honest review you can use as a blog in exchange? Can I message you through the website to get the patches as I’d feel more comfortable giving my details that way
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