I don't keep a diary.

One thing I do is get a computer print out every year from my drug store of meds.

This list the meds, the strength, quanity, and the number of times I refilled it. It just makes it easier when dealing with pain specialist he doesn't push me to try something I already tried and the ones that I've had really bad reactions to I make a note on those. It just makes it easier for me and doctor.

I do sometimes think about keeping a pain journal

Hugs & Prayers,
Mary

I used to when I was going through the whole social security thing and getting surgery's but now it is to depressing to see how many bad days I have. When I did all I did was get a not book and date it .

Do you mean a pain log? I do this when I need to figure out exactly what is going on. The best way I found was to create a spreadsheet on the computer. Had columns for date, time, body part, type of pain, length of pain.

Then I listed each thing I felt all day long. It was easy to sort by column which gave me a good idea of what I was really feeling.

It can seem extreme and I wouldn't recommend doing this for long since it can get depressing. It can also make you a hypochondriac when you are constantly waiting for pain.

It probably would be a good idea to keep a regular dairy where once a day you list what happened that day and a general "how do you feel"

I suggest loging accomplishments, not pain levels.

The best thing to do is to jot down everyday ( this means NOT spending alot of time- 30 secs maybe) your pain level... how you felt that day... ( great- good- bad- horrible - crappy- shoot me) and then if needed ...anything you might have done that made things better or worse. I usually dont need to do that part everyday --only if something seems really different.
It may sound like alot but it really doesnt take that long. Literally seconds.

This has been EXTREMELY helpful for me when I needed info about what I might have tried that was new and how it affected me ( I have probably taken something twice- because I didnt remember ) and that some days I really DO feel better! I can look back at my log and see the proof! Its encouraging. Some times the bad days seems to string together and its hard to keep the chin up at times.

I also keep a pain/accomplishment log, not only has helped to see the progress that I've made since 07, but it also tells me and my PM Doctor, what works, what doesn't and how to eliminate or minimize the things that make my pain spike. I hope that your and your Doctor will work out something that will work for both of you, that way you can see your progress, and also the reason why sometimes your pain spikes. Take care,

Tipper

I use one and it helps a great deal, mostly when it comes to communicating to my doctor. It's an iPhone app called "My Pain Diary".

I'd like to know about this also.

theres a good one called " reliefinsite.com" you can write your goals, meds, pain and how it afects areas of your life, etc, its free.