Your pain is different than anyone else’s. You know it. I know it. Many health care providers know it. Yet, many people think all pain is the same and that includes too many health care professionals. Attitudes are changing thanks to the work of many organizations and individuals. In your case the most important person does not have a medical degree or work for a health care organization or do research. YOU are the most important person and the expert on your pain.

Here are some of the most important questions anyone should ask you about your pain. (You should put the questions and answers in a “pain diary”.
1. Where is your pain? Sounds easy, but the better you locate the pain the better the diagnosis.
2. What does it feel like? Pain is pain right? Yes, but it helps to say if it is a sharp pain like getting
stuck with a pin or a burning pain such as when your hand falls asleep except 10 times worse? 50 times? 100 times?
Be descriptive and relate the pain to something we all understand.
3. Does the pain come and go or is it constant? If it does come and go when do you notice it starting
and when does it stop?
4. Does anything take away the pain even a little? Ice? Heat? Exercise? Laughing? We know laughter
is key to well being and laughter also a distraction and more studies and activities are being focused on distraction therapy.
5. What have you tried already? This will help your doctor know what not to try and will help them look for
new options quickly.
6. What do you eat? This is critical for a number of reasons. If you are overweight (who isn’t) then joints
are under pressure. If you eat a diet that is not balanced with vegetables, fruits and proteins then the body can’t heal itself.
Look at what you eat with a critical eye and change one or two things a week. It will make a diference.

You and I may not be experts on much, but we sure know our aches and pains better than anyone else. We know what time of the day it is worse and we know what we want to do, but cannot because of the pain.

I’m with you along this path. If you have questions I look forward to receiving them. I will give you answers that you can use today. I don’t give medical advice, but I can get you on the path to having less pain or at least better understanding your unique pain.

S. Nadra Havican, R.N., R.Ph.

The Mayday Pain Blog is our newest feature aimed at creating direct ways to communicate with patients, caregivers and health care professionals. The majority of entries in the Pain Blog will come from Nadra Havican, a pharmacist and nurse. Nadra has over twenty years of medical experience and at the top of the list of comments she receives are questions about pain issues. From her work in a regional burn center where she used groundbreaking medications and nutrition and distraction therapies to her work as a pharmacy manger navigating access to care issues, insurance challenges and medication managment she has seen pain care delivered in a wide range of methods.

Nadra takes a great deal of pride in her work with patients, caregivers and health care professionals and feel that all of them deserve respect. The biggest hurdle she sees in proper pain care is communication. Today’s health care population has a rich variety of cultural, gender and age participants. There is also an undercurrent of a lack of trust between patients and medical professionals with caregivers caught in the middle. These blog entries will attempt to give everyone extra tools to get to the heart of the issue - helping patients deal with their pain.

We look forward to your comments and questions and encourage you to keep looking for information and believe that a solution is out there.

Tim Havican
Executive Director
Mayday Pain Project
maydaypain@aol.com