Chronic Pain Today

Journaling is one of the hottest growing trends. Gone are the days of “Dear Diary”, today’s patients are being told to pick up a trust pen and put some words down on the paper. Even for those with joint pain conditions can find benefits through daily journaling. Is it right for you?

Why Journal
Journaling can get you in touch with your inner self. You can work through issues, see patterns and changes as you grow, and can go back and reread events instead of relying on memories that can mislead. Plus, it is easier to put your ideas and feelings down on paper and work them through, you can chart clearer paths, and question yourself to find the true answers. Journaling can be a record of your life, one that is perfect for seeing certain behavior patterns with your chronic pain.

How to Journal

• Date your entries so that you can more easily go back and reference certain things. It will be easier to track how long a symptom was felt, what your triggers were for a flare, and what behavior patterns there were in place. Memory might tell you that your pain lasted for “at least three weeks” but a dated daily journal may mark that it was in reality only two. This will be a key factor in using your journal at doctor visits to better handle your pain management.
• Don’t edit your words, just write. From time to time we all turn on our inner editors, but you really want your journal to be an outpouring. Don’t ever think “I shouldn’t write that” instead say everything that you are thinking. You never know what may be the key to helping find that next trigger.
• Do whatever you want in your journal. Don’t worry about making it pretty, all in the same ink color, or all formatted and paragraphed. Doodle or make it up like a scrapbook. Make notes in the margins, overwrite, do anything and everything that you want to do with it, it will all be vital to understanding you later.

Goals for Journaling

• Get to know yourself better. This will be a factor in understanding your pain as well.
• Better track your symptoms. It will be a handy guide to know exactly how long something lasted, and how severe in intensity the symptom got over the course of time.
• Understand your triggers. When you are in a flare and you can look through your journal and see that you always flare after heavy exercise, or after mexican food, etc; you will then be able to better manage your care.
• Record your doctor’s visits and counseling. Write after you get back from therapy, from a procedure, or any treatments that you may undergo. Tell when it was, how you felt, what the next day afterwards was like, etc. These will be very helpful things to revisit later in your pain management plan.