[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: My multiple myeloma journey to date

by Nancy Shamanna on Sun Apr 22, 2012 11:02 am

Aah, Pain! Mother Nature's way of telling you that something is just not right! One practical reason for having a 'pain scale' for us myeloma patients, might be in regards to the bone pain many of us suffer, or have suffered. Your amount of pain could indicate whether or not you should still be taking bisphonate treatment, for example, combined with the results from the x-rays or other scans taken. The patient's own experience is taken as part of the decision on that. Pain can tell you that you may have lifted something too heavy, and put yourself in danger of a fracture (or, it could just be that your muscles have not been used enough and are aching because of that). So when it comes to pain, I first try to determine if it is muscle pain or something worse, and of course, pain avoidance is a priority for me too! I take notes on any episodes of severe pain, in order to discuss it with my doctors.