Keeping a Pain Diary

To get help for your pain, you'll need to give your doctor AND nurse a detailed description of what you're feeling, where, and when.

Start by keeping a daily diary or report of your pain. Record the following:

• where in your body you feel pain
• the intensity of the pain
• the frequency of episodes
• how long each pain episode lasts
• what activities or times of day are associated with the pain (what activities make it worse or better; and when it flares or lessens)
• which pain medications you're taking (and how frequently)
• whether you get pain relief from a medication (and for how long)

Writing down this information is valuable. Regular diary entries will help you and your doctor assess your pain, identify patterns, and evaluate how well medications or other treatments are working.

Research shows that such diaries improve the way doctors and nurses help their patients manage pain. The diaries also give patients better control over their own pain. Also, when you share this information with family caregivers, it helps them understand what you are experiencing so they can help you more.

Describing your pain

The more detail you include in your pain diary, the better.

Here are questions to help you describe your pain more fully:

• Where does it hurt? Does it start in one place and stay there, or does it move around to other spots?
• What does it feel like? Is it sharp, dull, hot, cold, aching, throbbing?
• Did some event seem to bring on the pain? For example, did you fall, stop taking long-term steroid medications, resume activity after prolonged bed rest, or strain one area by compensating for a problem elsewhere (such as sore shoulders from using a walker)?
• How bad is the pain, on a scale of 0 to 10? Use 0 for no pain and 10 for the worst pain you can imagine.
• How long does the pain last? When does it start? Is it constant, on-and-off, fleeting, the same throughout the day, or worse at a particular time?
• What makes it get worse—a certain position or movement, particular foods, lying on a hard surface, cold or rainy weather, feeling upset?
• What makes it get better—a particular position, time of day, medication, or when a certain person arrives or leaves?
• Do you have any other symptoms associated with the pain, such as sweating, anxiety, palpitations, depression, or insomnia?