How to Ask for Help when it Hurts

Something has been feeling ‘a little sore’ for a little while.

You are a senior who cares about your health, and now you wish you had some tips as to how to make the feelings more concrete so that you can do something about it.

Here are those tips!

Keep a Pain Journal

In written form or with a digital device, keep notes with:

1. The date including day of the week
2. Scale of pain record – either from 1 to 10 or happy / sad faces or color codes (e.g. red indicates very painful, mauve indicates pass-able, sky blue indicates feeling well etc.)
3. Your activities that day
4. Suspicious foods from that day
5. Scale of mood – be creative and pick words you like, that express how you really feel
6. Note what seems to make you feel better or worse
7. List the medications you took that day: the regulars, something added or something forgotten
8. Questions that popped into your mind
9. Any obvious physical signs or symptoms
10. Any obvious injury you had that you noticed

Before you fill in the Blank

When you are feeling a bit off-the-track, take a few minutes to breathe deeply and slowly. Slow deep breaths have many good side effects. Stand or sit by a window or do this outside in the fresh air – good clean air entering your lungs will do wonders.

Then, sit down and make those notes we were talking about. The deep breaths should help you focus a bit more on what your body is trying to say!

This is your Pain Journal and while it’s not going to become your best friend, it will become a great resource when you go to the doctor. Sometimes noting things down in this way brings everything into focus and you will make the connection on your own.

Senior health is no laughing matter, but you can make it a pleasant experience. You can make you Pain Journal a pleasure to look at!