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Journal/Track Pain and Symptoms

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Posted 1/17/2011 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
I was just wondering how many of you journal/track your pain and symptoms?  I know that this is somethting that may help me and my Drs, especially when trying to figure out what is currently going on in my body but I can never seem to bring myself to do it.  I find it very depressing to focus on exactly what's wrong every day and to then focus on writing it down.  I find that my day starts out feeling a certain way, midday I feel something else, evening is always a different story...  I don't know why it's so hard for me to do. 

Does anyone do this every day and have some suggestions?  I bought a date book with room to write so I will remember to do it daily and it's sitting next to my bed, but I just find that actually doing this task daily is not working out for me.  I tried online tracking sites, one for my blackberry and those I dismiss right away because I HATE having to rate my pain on the pain scale and different parts of my body are always feeling different number.  I would like to find a way to do this to preserve records for myself and the Drs  smhair

Posted 1/17/2011 9:06 PM (GMT 0)
This is a pain journal that is found in Fibro 101.  It's a good idea to help your doctors help you.  There are links to how to describe your pain in your journal in Fibro 101, also.

 

http://www.painfoundation.org/learn/publications/files/TargetDailyLog.pdf

 

Sherrine

Posted 1/17/2011 9:09 PM (GMT 0)
I did for a while, when one of my gastro doctors very kindly decided :-/ that my fibro symptoms were actually psychological, and that I needed to be shoved in hospital and thoroughly checked out because of it.

This made me really angry, so I set out to disprove the gastro doc and actually get some help and sympathy while I was in hospital. I logged everything: kept a sleep diary; kept a fatigue rating scale (Google it); kept an hourly log of my activities, pain levels and associated mood; etc.

It worked out quite well, from the rheumie and psych point of view, because the rheumie said "yes, this is severe fibromyalgia" and the psych said "if your sleeping patterns are like that, you're definitely not depressed". I didn't make much headway with the gastro doctor, though, who seems to have decided that I was obsessed with my symptoms... but I'm on better fibro meds, now, and have better physio exercises, etc, and am doing better than I was.
Posted 1/17/2011 9:42 PM (GMT 0)
Frankey I understand exactly what you mean. I always start out with good intentions and then.........days later I realize that I hadnt picked it up or kept it up. I have so much going on now and see on an average of 4 specialists and have a surgery coming up so you would think that I would be so much better at it. But the end of the day comes, I get comfy in my bed with hot pad and puzzle books and ........forget. Its like a diet, going strong at first and slowly but slowly fading as the days go by.
I wish there was a better way too. I used to be so organized and a place for everything and everything in its place. Now, I procrastinate and put off and shove aside. The only thing I have in a way of appts, feelings of the day and reasons for visits is that I write them on the appt card at the time of the visit. otherwise all would be lost
Posted 1/17/2011 10:40 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Frankey, I think keeping a pain journal is helpful in trying to get a diagnosis...seeing how a new med is working, or trying to figure out what is causing flares.

I do think it is very important to write down any new symptoms...if you do have multiple health issues, it does help to sort things out.

In the past I've also taken pictures of swelling and rashes, lesions
associated with my MCTD, things can dissapear before you get in to see your doctor.

Anything that you can do to help your doc helps you in the end!

Hugs, Robin
Posted 1/18/2011 4:51 AM (GMT 0)
I know it's hard to focus on the pain, I obsess about it easily. I don't know how different each day is for you. I don't write anything if a certain day is normal for me, even though I may be hurting, if it's not out of the ordinary I won't write it down. I put the date and a short description in my notebook on the days where my pain is worse or even just something I need to remember that was different that day... then the dates that aren't logged I can still let the doctor know those are just the days that are pretty much normal for me ( and I know what those days are like).

I forget sometimes but that's ok, at least when I do remember to write it down I have something in front of me at the doctors office in case I go blank. I didn't show my log to my doctor I just used it as a reference when I was describing my symptoms, so I just use the little notepad I carry in my purse that I use for lists and to write down dr.s appointments and stuff like that. I figure when it gets full I will just tear out my symptom log and staple it or paper clip it to my new little notepad. Thats what I did when a page accidentally came out, just stapled with the other log pages.
Posted 1/18/2011 5:30 AM (GMT 0)
Maybe it's the good old fog that makes it so hard...I have the same problem. My new year's resolution is to get organized (yeah!) and I've recently bought about 6 or 7 notebooks of various sizes to keep track of different areas of my life: health, diary, to-do, poems, practical ideas I don't want to forget, and on and on.

Now to decide which one for which and how to actually start!

Debbie
Posted 1/18/2011 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Frankey. For a period of time I kept a pain journal, mostly for myself to see if I could discern any pattern to the pain, etc. After awhile it seemed kind of pointless and I stopped. For me, I felt better emotionally after I stopped because I was apparently focusing too much on the pain instead of just living life. I think if you have a doctor's appt coming up and there is still a question about a diagnosis, keeping track of symptoms for a few weeks is a really good idea. Or if you are starting a new med. Other than that I think they can do more harm than good but that's just my opinion and I think it depends on the person.

Lee
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