How You Can Help Manage Your Pain

Here are some ways to help you manage your pain.

1.Talk with your doctors and nurses about:
* How much pain to expect with your condition, and how long it should last.
* Pain control methods that have or have not worked for you in the past.
* Any allergies you may have to medicines.
* Any medicines you take for other health problems. Some medicines cannot be taken together.
* Any possible side effects to pain medicines, such as constipation, which is common with pain medicines.

2. Use a pain scale of 1 to 10, when describing you pain. The least pain being 1 and the worst pain being 10.

3. Take pain medicine when pain first begins. Relief is easier to obtain if acted upon early. If you know your pain will worsen when you do something specific (such as walking, washing up, or coughing) take pain medicine first.

4. Since many pain medicines can make you drowsy and slow your reflexes, avoid driving or doing anything that requires concentration if you are taking pain medications with this side effect.