Bizarre question about recording symptoms?

[KatyMac]

I'm seeing a neurologist about nerve pain - but I don't know when

So I need to keep a diary of symptoms for them

Do I start it now? or wait until I have an appointment?

How do I record - I have so many different types of pain, does time of day matter?

& silly tho' it sounds by recording pain will that make me more aware of it and bring it to the front of my mind so I record silly things that probably wouldn't have registered as pain if I wasn't recording it?

If start recording things now so when you go to the appt you'll have a starting point and won't forget to mention things of you've got a written diary in front of you.
Google the NHS universal pain scale and it'll give you an idea about mild /moderate /severe.
There's also an app which looks good for pain management - I haven't used it but am considering for cfs.

apps.nhs.uk/app/fibromapp/

It's not available for Blackberry - that's a shame

I know of that scale but not sure I agree with worst pain imaginable being bed rest - I don't know

I know it's rather simplistic.
Perhaps it would be useful to distinguish between sensations and pain?
Ie pins and needles /pulsing feeling.
Sharp stabbing pain.
Persistent low level pain.

That's what I was thinking

Do you think time of day matters or just P&N 7 times Tues, 6 times Wed, etc

Oh god I suppose where might matter too

What a terrible pain tool that is .HeyMacWey is much better !

Make a template with times of day/ type of pain /location of pain etc so that you just have to tick ?

How miserable for you .

One way of assessing pain is to use OPQRST

• onset - when did it start
• provokes/palliates: what if anything brings the pain on, or makes it worse or better (e.g. movement, breathing, or taking pain medication)
• quality: what kind of pain is it? sharp, dull, stabbing, constant, coming and going
• radiates: does the pain go anywhere, move around at all?
• severity: on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is the worst pain imaginable
• time: anything to do with time e.g. how long the pain lasts

If you could keep a list over a week that includes all this plus of course which bit of you has the pain then that might be very helpful. But it might also take over your life...

Taking over my life & being more aware of it are my 2 worries

Most of the time I rub it, or ignore it, or try & think of something else & not dwell on it

Which probably isn't much use for a doctor