MS pain diary

This diary is designed to help you record and explain how pain is affecting you. It can be used in preparation for, and during, medical appointments.

Keeping a pain diary can help you succinctly record how it is affecting you over periods of time, outlining trends such as pain regularity, severity, causes and methods that you use to help manage its impact. It should reflect how pain affects you, and in terms of management, what does and does not work.  

We have produced a sample of what a pain diary can look like, however you may wish to create your own diary so that it records information in ways that work for you. When doing so, as a guide, try to keep the information you record focused on the information that both you and health professionals will find helpful when attempting to review what you have recorded. Some areas of focus include: 

• Record the date, time and length of time during the day which the instance of pain has affected you. 
• Was the pain constant over this period or intermittent? 
• Were there any particular triggers for the episode of pain? 
• Was the pain made worse by anything? For example, by lifting your arm, doing any specific activity. 
• What helped to ease the pain? Medication, mindfulness, limiting movement etc. 
• Rate the pain in terms of severity. While pain severity is always subjective, rating different instances of pain can help to identify trends such as if pain is getting worse over a period of time and how different types of pain are affecting you. A rule of thumb is to use a scale between 1 to 10, with 1 being the least impactful and 10 being pain that is the worst possible, pain that you can barely endure.  
• Always allow space for adding comments for each entry into your diary. Keep them short, where possible, but descriptive. Use this space to connect instances of pain that are reoccurring over the past weeks/months, documenting if the pain is gradually worsening over time.