Yesterday I swallowed my pride – or whatever it is that’s been preventing me from pushing my appointment with my rheumatologist forward.
I emailed her wonderful NP and described the increased pain and inflammation I’ve been experiencing, as well as the pelvic/SI joint pain. Email is great. I hate feeling whiny, and I didn’t want to phone and announce all my health information to the office. This way, I was able to give the NP a brief description of symptoms and ask her whether she thought it worthwhile for me to come in early. She did, and I’ll be seeing my rheumatologist in a week and a half. (She also made me promise never to feel like I’m bothering her with anything. I love her.)
I know I’m in more pain than I have been in several years. I know I hurt more in the mornings. I know I hurt in new places. But I’ve never been good at describing that pain effectively. RA is my “normal,” and I don’t pay attention to it in the way my doctor probably sometimes wishes I did.
I figure if I am going to the trouble of making a special appointment, and my very busy rheumatologist is going to the trouble of seeing me, I’d better make it worthwhile. I went hunting for a pain diagram this morning and found the Arthritis Society’s Pain Management Diary. The Society offers a number of its publications for download online, and this one looks like it’s just what I need. In eleven pages, it provides space to describe where pain occurs, when pain occurs, what it feels like, and what helps it. It offers a list of descriptors to help patients describe pain more effectively.
I printed out the entire thing, and then minimized the pain diagram and printed a pile of those, so I can keep track of pain throughout the day until my appointment. I don’t know whether I’ll actually show all of this to my doctor (it’s a bit long), but it will hopefully help me clarify things in my own mind before I talk to her.
You can download the Arthritis Society's Pain Management Diary as a pdf here.
5 comments:
This pain management diary looks a lot more useful than the 1 to 10 scale my doctors are always trying to get me to use. I HATE that scale. Because I feel like I'm so used to the pain and soreness that I might call what is really an 8 a 5. But I also feel like if I don't say 8, 9, or 10 the doctors don't take me seriously. So I've become really quite frustrated with that method. I hope this pain diary works for you and your rheumatologist can get you the help you need!!
This looks great to me, Helen. Hope it works for you. I've already downloaded it for future reference – thanks for passing it on!
I'm so sorry you're having to cope with increased pain, Helen. But I'm glad that you broke down and called your rheumatologist about it. I agree, it IS often embarrassing to have to have to tell others that we're in pain, but it's the only way that we can get the help we need.
I wonder what it is about our societies and cultures that make pain something to be embarrassed about?
Anyway, here's hoping that you're feeling better tonight and that your weekend will be restful and as pain-free as possible. Thinking about you ...
-Wren
Really sorry you're having a rough time of it, but this sounds like a great tool. You won't get all embarrassed about showing it to the doc and 'wasting her time', now will you?! ;o)
Nice post! I also have my own pain management diary but until now it is not yet finished. Anyway, thanks for sharing this post. I've got some idea. Looking forward for you next post.
-mel-
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