Keeping a journal can be beneficial to your life, especially if you suffer from a chronic pain condition. The information you gather about your day-to-day life can help you and your doctor identify patterns in your pain. The patterns can show your doctor what triggers your pain, what lessens it, and more. Maintaining a chronic pain journal can help you make more sound decisions throughout the day so that you can manage your pain better.
Setting Up Your Pain Journal
For your pain journal to be effective, you want to gather as many details as you possibly can. Here are some ideas of information to include in your journal:
- Pain Rating – Use a 0-10 point scale to rate the severity of your pain.
- Descriptions – Use adjectives like burning, tingling, shooting, sharp, pulsating, and dull to describe the pain.
- Time of Day – Write down the times of day that your pain occurs. At what times of day does the pain occur most often?
- Activities – Jot down the activity you were doing when the pain started. Write down how you feel before and after exercise and other activities.
- Food and Beverages – Keep track of what you eat and drink each day. It doesn’t have to be overly specific or complicated, but sometimes your diet can affect your symptoms.
- External Factors – Think about external factors that may be contributing to your pain. For example, do you feel more pain when it rains?
- Thoughts and Feelings – What is your mental state today? How did you feel when experiencing the pain?
If you are having difficulty managing your chronic pain, make an appointment at Florida Coast Pain online, or by calling 904.449.7246. Our skilled and compassionate doctors can provide effective pain management in Jacksonville, FL, to patients throughout the area.
