Does anyone use a Pain Tracking App? I was explaining to my sister that I feel like the neurologist is only listening to part of my symptoms/pain experience and not all of it. She suggested I begin tracking my pain including a description of it (stabbing versus pressure or fullness, throbbing, etc.), the time and associated trigger, etc. I found two apps in the iTunes Store that I’m testing, but wondered if anyone else has used something and if the doctor used it in anyway to consider needed treatment.
Hey wahlvk,
I have not used an app, but I have kept a pain diary. It was recommended I maintain it for a month, but I maintained it for 3 months. It was a specific head pain diary with a silhouette image of the skull and brain to mark the location of the pain and a lined portion for notes, listing triggers(Bright lights, exertion, loud noise etc) description, intensity, location and associated symptoms(tingles, numbness, visual disturbances, auditory disturbances etc) As my head pain varies SO much from episode to episode and never follows a pattern, the diary shows this for anyone who is interested.
I have kept it with my medical file and taken it to every medical appointment, only twice has a dr taken any interest in it. With one neurologist stating 'ohh that’s all very subjective and of very little clinical use" but I still keep it with my file as I’m sure that one day I will again be asked if I have done one and having it with me proves the point.
Merl
Thanks for your response Merl. That’s what I was afraid of - that I’d put in the effort to track everything and the doctor would write it off.
wahlvk,
Much like Merl I’ve kept various pain journals and migraine journals over the past 30+ years. I actually reccomment them highly and don’t believe you need to pay for an app to do it, parictuarly since a plain old notebook gives you more room and more freedom to add things in as the happen. But I’m cheap and I’m old school, I’m sure the app works fine, too.
Your doctor probably won’t care about the journal itself. And really it’s not for the doctor, it’s for you. The journal allows you to go to your appointment armed with information such as “every time I ate olives on salad at lunch I got a migraine so stopped eating olives and I haven’t had a migraine after my lunch since.” That will open the conversation about fremented foods triggering pain… and so on and so forth. The journals are for you so you can make connections and get a handle on things.
Once you make a connection you can research it and bring the conclusion to the doctor for a discussion.
I, personally, have made connections to pain triggers by keeping track of the pain for periods of time. I don’t suggest doing it at ALL the time! That would be terribly depressing! Pick a period of time and track things and see what you discover. Then in six months or a year do another period of time and see what you get. You could be amazed.
azurelle
Hey wahlvk,
I think Azurelle makes some good points here in that it can assist in showing patterns and triggers. Sometimes we may not link cause/effect, a diary can assist both you and your medical team to identify patterns more easily. For me personally, my headaches vary SO MUCH trying to establish some sort of pattern or identifying triggers is very difficult. But by having it written out and having the ability to show the medicos that my situation is not a ‘one day a week’ sort of thing, it was one less thing they could discredit as an exaggeration. The medicos had the opinion “They operated, they fixed” and it wasn’t fixed, keeping the diary showed this. Dr’s seem to love documentation, otherwise it can be seen as hearsay. I also agree with Azurelle, that with little improvement it can be awfully depressing. BUT, in saying that for me it was a Catch-22 scenario, if I hadn’t completed it there would have been no documentation, so no proof or have it documented and a constant reminder that things weren’t improving. Don’t get me wrong here, I no longer look at it as ‘a constant reminder’ as I’m no longer completing it, but at the time it was a bit of a downer. But by having it done it’s one less thing that can be used as a ‘Ohh well you haven’t completed ‘X’’ in this case a pain diary… Well, yes I have. If ANY dr has made a suggestion I have followed through ie TENS machine, hydrotherapy, botox, chiropractic therapy, naturopath, Bowen therapy etc . PLEASE do not discredit any suggestions. You never know one of those suggestions could be the key.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
Thanks for the feedback Azurelle. I originally tried keeping something more journal like, but found I was experiencing so many “episodes” that it was just inconvenient to keep track. I was hoping the app would make it easier and faster to track. But you’ve made some compelling points, so I may try that again and just carry a small notepad around with me for a brief while.