Neuropatrhic pain or nerve pain is a debilitating condition to find yourself in. There are a wide variety of ailments which can contribute to it. Such as the obvious one for us, herniated disc to trigeminal nerve disorders and diabetes.
This simple little tool is good for a bit of fun and it might prove useful in getting your patients or staff to explain their pain.
This Mystery Pain web site is interesting to take a look at even if you are not involved in this field of study. The reason? It has a neat little tool that sufferers can use to explain to their doctor what their symptoms are.
Clicking the “What kind of Pain do you feel” link, takes you to a picture showing the anterior, posterior and both lateral aspects of a line drawn person. If you click the “questionnaire” link below that, a pop-up appears asking a couple of questions regarding the pain you experience.
One of which asks you to indicate your type of pain from a choice of 5 options. Personally I think a “dull ache” doesn’t actually fit into any of these categories, so it might be a good idea for the authors to add this option.
The next screen asks you which areas are most affected. You can select your chosen areas by clicking on them. This covers most of the body, though again I would have one small criticism, that is, when you click the fingers, it selects all of them, there is no room for pain localised in the little finger for example. Once you have done this, you can then print the results of what you have said and hand it to your doctor.... Maybe you could have just told him without the need to go through the rigmarole of clicking on pictures, but maybe not. Some people don’t know how to describe their pain. This tool gives them the opportunity to think about it prior to being faced with the doctor.
Other parts of the web site give advice such as what to do about the pain. Advice is offered under such headings as
- Don’t try to deal with the pain alone,
- Why should you continue to suffer?
- Share your concerns with a patient group.
Another area of the site gives advice on you taking control of your pain. There is a .pdf document that can be downloaded as well which gives basic advice as well as links to other organisations.
http://www.nerve-pain.co.uk/default.aspx
