How to describe your pain condition to your doctor

  1. Where is the detailed part of your pain? Just point with your finger, don’t say: “I have trigeminal neuralgia” or “I have lumbar disc herniation”.  2.When did the pain start, when did you start to get sick. (A certain year and a certain month?) .  3.How did the pain appear at that time and was there any cause for the pain? (e.g., eating, movement, wind, contact, heat, cold, labor, alcohol, etc.) 4. (Like burning pain? Does it hurt like pins and needles? Like ants? Numbness? Foreign body feeling? Soreness and swelling? Knife-like pain? Pulsating pain? (Other specific pain descriptions) 5. What is the degree of pain (mild, moderate, severe) and how long does it last? (minutes, seconds, other), is the pain episodic? Continuous?  6. At what time of the day is the pain severe?  7.When does the pain go away? (e.g., quiet, warmth, medication, position, other), when does it get worse? (cold, drinking, turning, coughing, walking, light touching, etc.) 8.Does the season and climate have any effect on your pain?  9.What tests have you ever had? What is the result of the examination?  10.What kind of treatment have you ever had? (What methods, what drugs), what is the effect of treatment?  11.Are there any other diseases? (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, sleep disorder, urinary and fecal problems, tuberculosis, history of tumor, etc.), any allergic medications or medications with very strong side effects?  12.What is the biggest impact of this disease on you at present? (work, diet, sleep, other troublesome things)