1. Clear expression
Patients think clearly about the problem they want to solve before the visit and give the doctor a clear statement. Do not want to solve the problem of headache, but end up talking about a whole lot of leg pain first. Of course, many patients are elderly and inevitably have multiple pains due to physical degeneration, so it is not possible to demand that elderly patients solve one problem at a time. At this point, it is recommended that elderly patients make a list of the problems they would like to address, arranged in order of how badly they are now affecting their lives, preferably on paper. This way, the pain physician can quickly understand the needs of the elderly patient and develop an appropriate plan for the patient.
2. Inform the physician of existing chronic diseases and long-term medications in use
Many elderly patients have a combination of multiple medical conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, and will be taking many medications. Some of these medications are in conflict with pain management medications, so elderly patients are actually responsible for their own health by communicating this information to their doctors in a timely manner. Younger patients also need to be aware of this issue and should not try to “test” their doctors. They should inform their doctors about any special diseases in a timely manner and not wait for them to ask. For example, some patients are glaucoma, then pain medication in many drugs can not be taken, otherwise it may cause the symptoms of glaucoma aggravated.
3.Appropriate expectations
As the saying goes: sickness comes and goes like a mountain. Many patients suffer from painful diseases, can not wait to relieve the pain, such a mood is understandable, but in the outpatient consultation, must understand this point: the occurrence of disease is mostly a cumulative process, there is a quantitative to qualitative process, may be years of slowly accumulated disease suddenly erupted, how can be completely cured in a few minutes?
All treatment takes time, and doctors are actually more concerned about the changes in the disease than the patient. Therefore, patients who go to the pain department, especially the elderly patients, must keep a good attitude, rice is eaten one bite at a time, and this pain also needs to be relieved step by step. If the patient sleeps longer or has an increased appetite than the last treatment, that’s a good start. Just like a piece of ice, it is not possible to put it in the fire and make it melt at once in a very short period of time, instead it melts into water unconsciously in the warm sunshine.
4.Trust the doctor
As with all other professions, the majority of doctors as a group have professional ethics, and the wish of doctors is to see patients recover as soon as possible. Therefore, I hope that patients, especially elderly patients, must trust your doctor, rather than believe in the so-called ancestral recipes, court recipes, etc., especially now that certain media do not do their duty to review medical advertising, but also play a misleading role for many patients.
For example, many patients have come to ask if they can take a special medicine to cure postherpetic neuralgia. Here I tell you that if a certain method says that it can cure a certain disease, you must be wary of its credibility, because now even the cold, a minor disease, cannot be cured.
In addition, to tell you another way, if a treatment method says it can solve a tricky disease, then you should search the web pages of hospitals such as Peking University, Peking University and 301 to see if there is such a method. If not, then we must be vigilant and must avoid being deceived.
5.Detailed description of the condition
If you suffer from a disease of a painful nature, you should describe the following aspects in detail.
① Pain location: for example, if you have a headache, you should describe whether it is on the left or right side, whether it is in the forehead, temporal, or posterior occipital region.
(ii) The time of onset of the pain: for example, whether it is 1 month, 6 months, or decades; whether there are times when it gets better.
(iii) Triggering factors of the pain: such as cold, exertion, bad mood, etc.
④the nature of the pain: whether it is continuous or intermittent, burning, pins and needles, drilling, electric shock, dull pain, distension, or episodic pain.
⑤ duration of each pain: whether it is a few seconds, hours, or days.
(vi) Experience of consultation: what was the diagnosis and treatment by previous doctors, and what was the effectiveness of the treatment?
(vii) What physical signs are present: such as pressure points, nature and location of sensory changes, other important physical examination signs, such as whether the patient with low back pain has pressure pain and radiating pain in the lumbar spine, and whether the limb elevation test is positive, etc.
(8) What previous tests have been done? What are the results? For example, whether CT, MRI, etc. have been done.
The more clues the patient provides, the more accurate the doctor’s diagnosis will be. Some patients ask, “I’ve had headaches for years, how should I treat them?” With questions like these, the doctor has no way to give a direct answer.