Preparing For A Discussion With Your MD About Pain

No One Should Have To Suffer With Chronic Pain

However, sometimes pain is unavoidable when you have participated in sports, been working hard all your life, or merely suffer from the effects of aging. Sometimes it can be hard thinking about and describing your pain because you spend so much of your day trying to block it out, but these important questions can be the difference between effective treatment or more time spent suffering.

Have a Handy Record:

There is a lot a doctor can interpret about your pain. For that reason it is important before your visit to the doctor to be aware of what to look out for in regards to pain. Below are some criteria EMTs use to give the most relevant information about pain to doctors.

Location of Pain: While this is normally self-explanatory, you need to mark not only where the pain originates, but also if it moves around your body at all.

Intensity of Pain: A common way to express this to a doctor is on a scale of one to ten. One being a mild itch to ten feeling like an individual has been lit on fire.

Quality of Pain: This is how specifically the pain feels. Is it a dull throb? Does it feel like it’s sharp and piercing? Does is burn or ache?

Duration of Pain: How long does the pain last for.

Time of Pain: When does the pain occur? Once or multiple times a day? Mark down the times.

You Might Want to Mention Your Preferences:

If you like holistic all-natural pain relief medicine, be sure to let your doctor know. Based on the information you provided him, there should be a range of options that he or she can provide, many of them all natural. If you have any allergies you want to mention these as well.

Also, if you used a pain remedy that you responded well to in the past, you might want to mention it as well since the doctor can prescribe that or something similar if you can tell them why it worked for you. The conversation doesn’t have to be scary, as your doctor is only here to make life better for you and not to judge you for having pain. By taking the time to give the doctor the information they need, you can have an increased chance of getting the medicine that helps you live your life better, permanently.