Getting good pain relief requires good communication, and communication goes both ways. Healthcare professionals will usually ask questions about the nature of a person's pain – how severe it is, where it is located, and so forth – and it helps if patients can think in advance about answers to questions like:
- Where does it hurt? Does the pain stay in one place or in more than one place? Does it move around?
- How much does it hurt? On a scale from 0 to 10 – with zero meaning no pain and ten meaning the worst pain you can imagine – what number is your pain?
- What words best describe the pain? Specific words that might fit are sharp, stabbing, shooting, crushing, dull, aching, tingling, throbbing and pressing.
- How does the pain affect your everyday life? Does it affect your sleep, work,concentration, social life?
- Are you feeling stressed or depressed?
- What treatments have you used in the past or are you using now? Prescription medications, herbal supplements, heat or ice, massage? How well have those treatments worked?
- Has the nature of the pain changed over time?
It is a good idea to have written notes, since some of these answers might be hard to bring to mind in the middle of a medical visit. One useful approach is to keep records in the Pain Notebook (PDF download) available to download and print at the website of the American Pain Foundation.
It is also valuable to have:
- A list of the medications and supplements you are currently taking
- A list of questions you want to ask
- A family member or friend to take notes and to help answer additional questions