Tracking Pain – With A Journal©

While each person’s experience with Osteonecrosis is different, I want to make sure you have the right information and support you need to live life your best life in spite of osteonecrosis.

There are ways I was able to control my pain, lower overall inflammation in my body which helped my pain.

Also did you know that for many people statins helped as well?

It was time I stopped just being a patient , and I became an advocate and patient leader. It was time to take a personal approach to my health many doctors didn’t understand how I felt, some often seemed as if I was exaggerating or making it up.

This pain wasn’t in my head, and if anything I’m downplaying my pain vs telling you doctors how terrible it is on a constant and daily basis.

Let’s face it when we have chronic pain we don’t always want to cook all day . But I found out trying to save time and energy by grabbing a pizza or burger isn’t helping my pain.

The more junk fats like fast food, processed garbage I removed from my life over time the better I was feeling.

It’s not a cure or a easy fix.

But it’s not hard and it’s delicious.

I’m the main cook in our family. So I prepared meals that have less and no meat more often.

From meatless Monday to now meatless M-W-S

And it was a great success , soon we only ate meat or chicken 1x a week and fish 1x -2 x a week.

We did eat eggs .

Before I knew it some weeks we didn’t eat meat or poultry at all.

We did have fish like cod , tuna, haddock ,crab,shrimp or tuna steaks.

We didn’t care for salmon much.

I also started a pain journal it had what I ate- what I did – my stress level- pain level

Whether you’ve been battling pain for more than a decade or you’re just starting to deal with consistent aches pains and stiff soreness, a pain journal can help you document what you are feeling from day to day.

Your pain journal is where you write down everything relating to your chronic pain what kind of pain you have, what level of pain you are experiencing, what you were doing when you were in pain, what you ate and so on.

Chronic Pain Journal Helps

This information is useful both for you and your doctor. It can be used to help identify patterns of pain, such as time of day or level of stress, or pain triggers from certain activities.

A pain journal can also show what doesn’t increase your pain, which can help you make better decisions about how you spend your day. At the very least, it can be a good reference when memory doesn’t serve you (for example, if you’re not sure how to answer when your doctor asks if your pain is worse after lunch).

Usually pain journal are set up like this.

• Give your pain a scale rating. Most pain scales use the 0-10 rating system, with 0 representing no pain and 10 representing the worst imaginable pain. Your pain will usually fall somewhere in between.

• Use pain descriptor words. Is your pain burning? Stabbing? Tingling? Pulsating? Constant? Using pain descriptor words in your journal can help you track changes and patterns in your pain quality.

• It can also help doctors pinpoint your type of pain.

• Track the time of day pain occurs. Do you hurt more in the morning or the evening? How are your afternoons?

• Write down what you ate and drank that day. Foods and beverages may contribute to or worsen the pain you are experiencing. Jot down everything you ingested food and beverages everyday.You will see a pattern.

• Describe your mood. It’s also important to note your mental state and how you feel when experiencing pain. Are you depressed? Anxious? Fatigued? Obviously, the pain might be triggering these emotions, and your doctor may recommend you see a mental health specialist to deal with the feelings that arise as a result of your chronic pain.

• Note what you are doing when your pain begins. Did you just get out of bed, or had you been sitting for a while when your pain started? Were you exercising or overusing certain muscles in your body? Write down how you feel after activities, such as walking the dog or playing with the kids.

• Look at elements that might contribute to your pain. Think about the external factors that may add to the pain, such as if you suffer from stiff joints; does this happen when it’s raining or cold outside

• Note if you take pain medication does it help? Does it ease pain, take it away do nothing .

It seems like a lot of work but actually it takes just a few days to get it down.

And it’s a valuable tool.

Often a lot of what we eat makes pain worse. Because it causes inflammation in the body.

Basic inflammation is normal chronic inflammation is not.

©Debla2019