WHAT IS PAIN?

Pain is a subjective and very individual phenomenon. It is a result of damage to tissues in the body and has both sensory and emotional components. Because pain has both sensory and emotional components, each patient will respond differently. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to accurately assess your pain.

ASSESSING & COMMUNICATING ABOUT YOUR PAIN

If you are experiencing pain, you need to be able to describe it to those who are trained to help you. Some people find pain very hard to explain. Try to use words that will help others understand what you are feeling. Your doctor and others who are caring for you need to know:

~Where do you feel pain?
~When did it begin?
~What does it feel like? Sharp? Dull? Throbbing? Steady?
~How bad is it?
~Does it prevent you from doing your daily activities? Which ones?
~What relieves your pain?
~What makes it worse?
~What have you tried for pain relief? What helped? What did not?
~What have you done in the past to relieve other kinds of pain?
~Is your pain constant? If not, how often does it occur?
~How long does it last each time?


DESCRIBING THE PAIN

Understanding how bad your pain is helps your doctor decide how to treat it. You can rate how much pain you are feeling by using a pain scale. Try to assign a number from 0-5 to your pain level. As the numbers get larger, they represent pain that is gradually getting worse.
You can use a rating scale to answer these questions:

~How bad is your pain at its worst?
~How bad is your pain most of the time?
~How bad is your pain at its least?
~How does your pain change with treatment? From___to___.
0=no pain
1=discomfort
2=mild pain
3=distress
4=severe pain
5=the worst pain you can imagine

Pain doesn't usually go away or get better by itself.  It can sometimes be an important symptom that tells us something is not working quite right in our body.  Therefore, it is important to pay attention to any ongoing pain you have and talk with your health care provider about it.

YOU HAVE A RIGHT!

Don't hesitate to talk about your pain to those who can help you! You have a right to the best pain control you can get. Relieving your pain means you can continue to do the everyday things that are important to you.

REMEMBER, ONLY YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE FEELING!!!