Your doctor will want to find out a bit more about the pain you have. This can help them decide the best painkiller for you. They’ll probably ask you:
- When it started
- Where it is
- Is it there all the time?
- What the pain is like
- What other painkillers you’ve tried
These are some of the words you might use to describe your pain.
sharp shooting pins and needles
intense dull pinching
burning deep numb
gnawing cramping throbbing
stabbing aching stinging
Only you know what your pain fells like so use any other descriptions if the words here don’t seem to fit your kind of pain.
pain diary
It can help to keep a record of your pain. This might include writing down:
- how bad it is at different times of the day
- when you take painkillers
- how long the painkillers work
- anything that makes the pain better or worse
- things you can’t do because of the pain
This can help you talk about your pain with the doctors or nurses looking after you. Some hospitals will give you a pain chart.
pain scale
Some doctors or nurses might ask you to describe how bad your pain is using either a pain scale or using words to describe how bad the pain is. This is an example of one type of pain scale the doctor or nurse might ask you to use to describe how bad the pain is. If the pain is really bad it doesn’t always mean the cancer is more serious, it just means your pain is severe.
