Saturday, December 18, 2010

How to Talk to Your Doctor About Pain

Sometimes people have difficulty talking to their doctors about pain: They aren’t sure if it's “usual” or something that’s destined to get worse. Or sometimes they simply don’t know the right words to describe pain. If you have diabetes, you might experience pain from neuropathy, have arthritic complications, or deal intermittently with gum pain. Whatever pain you are experiencing, it’s important to communicate it to your doctor to come up with solutions.

Here are a few tips from Rite Aid’s free Pain Relief Guide, written in conjunction with the American Pain Foundation:

1. Use a scale: Describe your pain on a scale from 1 to 10 (with zero being none, and 10 being the worst pain you can imagine). Explain when your pain is highest, lowest and how it is right now.

2. Get descriptive: Use as many specific words as you can. Is your pain sharp, stabbing, dull, aching, burning, shock-like, tingling, throbbing, deep, pressing, etc.?

3. Describe the effects: Tell your doctor how the pain affects your daily life. Can you sleep? Work? Exercise? Participate in social activities? Concentrate? How does it affect your mood?

4. Discuss the past: Tell your doctor, nurse or social worker about past treatments for pain. Have you taken prescription medication or had surgery? Applied heat or cold? Exercised? Taken over-the-counter medications? Vitamins or supplements? Tried massage?

5. Bring notes: Sometimes we feel nervous or rushed during an appointment, so it might be helpful to write down all your answers and additional questions, and bring your notes to your visit.

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