I have noticed that my pain scale is wonky and that I’m undertreating my pain.
It’s probably to do with living with multiple types of undertreated pain for 20 plus years.
After all I’ve experienced, I consistently ignore pain as it’s creeping up the scale. I can be my own worst enemy.
Which is crazy because I encourage us to use a proactive pain management plan because I know how valuable it is to get on top of the pain. It really makes a difference.
The internalization of the poor messaging I’ve received over the years about my symptoms is hard to counteract.
My Failures Living with Long-Term Chronic Pain
I don’t seem to stop and take note of the pain level. For example, I can be attempting to massage, stretch and heat a muscle for hours but not realise how bad it is until I try to rest and I’m too sore to actually rest.
We should know by now that unmanaged pain fusses the nervous system, which interrupts sleep, which increases fatigue. All of which increase pain. Thereby completing the vicious cycle.
So I had to make set times to assess symptoms in the day and add conditions my If This Then That Pain Plan.
I’d stopped using my symptom tracking because I fell into the “you shouldn’t think about it” nonsense trap. You can’t not think about symptoms when they creep up. So taking stock a few times a day for a brief moment is only beneficial, if we’re keeping it proactive. So I restarted my practice of checking in.
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I’ve made numerous symptom tracking worksheets over the years and I’ve published a few as physical journals like the one above. The key things to track, in my opinion, are:
- Sleep
- Key symptoms – a few times a day (AM, lunchtime, PM)
- Treatments
- Self-care
- Movement
- Notes – things like triggers, what you noticed etc.
You can track using a blank journal in which you make a bullet list or draw up your own template (that’s how I started). You can purchase premade templates to download and print. Or you can purchase specially made journals. The one above is an example of what I’ve made. But you need to choose what suits you and commit to it.
Adding Conditions to My Plan
Because I can no longer tell what is 4/10 or where the line between mild and moderate is, I needed to add conditions.
Adding conditions to my pain plan looks like this: If my pain is 4/10, or I’ve been fidgeting (massaging, heating, stretching) a muscle for a while, then I take paracetamol. If that doesn’t help, take ibuprofen. If that doesn’t work, or I’m feeling nauseas from the pain or wish I could go to bed, take the muscle relaxant.
We’re trying to avoid escalation up the pain scale, not medication. Remembering that this is in the context of a complex holistic lifestyle plan – I take LDN, work on sleep, do my gentle movement, work on perpetuating factors, meditate/rest each day etc. etc. etc.
I also know from starting my first If This Then That Pain Plan that being proactive often decreases how often I need treatment because I create the virtuous cycle. Treat pain, calm nervous system, sleep better, less fatigue, less pain and so on.
I’ll report back on how I go.
In the meantime, perhaps you need to consider more than a simple numbered system of categorizing pain, or simply writing out more detail to each number in a way that is meaningful for you.
Read about my new pain management plan and how it changed the game for me here.
