- Assessing Your Pain
- Communicating Your Pain
- Becoming an Effective Member of Your Pain Management Team
Assessing Your Pain
It is difficult to describe pain accurately. A simple tool for assessing your pain is provided below (adapted from the Brief Pain Inventory). Completing these questions may help you monitor your own pain. The first question can be completed before and after using any of the exercises on My Pain Management. You may notice which exercises are most effective and at what times you are best able to decrease the intensity of your pain.
Download or print a copy of this tool on a separate page.
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1. Please rate your pain by selecting the number that tells how much pain you have RIGHT NOW. (0 being "No pain" and 10 being "Pain as bad as you can imagine.") |
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2. In the last 24 hours, how much relief have pain treatments or medications provided? Please select the response that shows how much RELIEF you have received. (0% being "No Relief" and 100% being "Complete Relief".) |
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3. Select the number that describes how, during the past 24 hours, pain has interfered with your general activity. (0 being "Does Not Interfere" and 10 being "Completely Interferes.") |
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Communicating Your Pain
The way in which you communicate with others about your pain can help you better use the resources available to you. In addition, it may improve your ability to manage or cope with your pain. There are a variety of techniques for communicating effectively with your pain management team. The first basic principle is to describe your pain in detail. For instance someone may say, “The pain is just awful. It’s so bad I can’t stand it!” Instead it would be more helpful to describe your pain in the following ways:
- How and where you are experiencing with pain in as much detail as possible—“It is a sharp, burning pain in the heel and arch of my left foot.”
- How much pain you are having—“On a scale of 0 to 10, if feels around a 5 right now.”
- When and in what situations you are having pain—“I have this pain when I wake up in the morning, but it goes up to about an 8 when I try to walk. I can’t even walk to the bathroom. Later in the day the pain gets better, but even when I take my medication as prescribed, the pain never gets better than a 3.”
The second basic principle is to be honest and realistic. Everyone has different beliefs about sharing pain with others. Some people have difficulty expressing their pain verbally. Pain can cause a variety of emotions that make it difficult to communicate. Therefore, individuals may minimize or not report pain because they are:
- Reluctant to "offend" or “criticize” medical staff or family members who are trying to relieve their pain
- Worried their health-care team will give up on them or ignore them if the pain has not improved
- Afraid of being labeled as a "difficult patient" or not a "good patient"
Being aware of your beliefs about pain and how you usually express pain will only help you communicate better with others, including your physician.
Becoming an Effective Member of Your Pain Management Team
Your physician and other health care professionals are part of a “team” that includes yourself and any others who help you manage your pain. Unfortunately, talking to a doctor can affect the way in which someone expresses their pain, depending on attitudes towards health care. You can use the self assessment tools and communication techniques described above to become an effective member of your pain management team.
Doctors can suggest more appropriate treatment when a patient describes their pain in sufficient detail. For instance providing a “number” for your pain can help a medical team track the effectiveness of any treatments or interventions for managing your pain.
If you do not describe your pain in enough detail, doctors, nurses and family members will be less likely to listen and understand your needs. They will not have enough information to develop treatment plans or select interventions. They may even become frustrated. Some doctors or nurses may inadvertently feel like the patient is being critical of their efforts to help. Learning how to describe your pain can help minimize such problems.
