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It isn't always easy to talk about pain. Some people think that complaining about pain is a sign of weakness. Studies on gender differences show that women are more likely to complain of pain and seek treatment for it than men.

Often, you can successfully treat your pain yourself with common over-the-counter (OTC) pain-relief medications or by making lifestyle changes.

For example, if you smoke, you should quit or ask your health care professional for guidance on how to quit. Smoking makes pain worse. Studies, especially for low back pain, have consistently shown that patients who smoke have a much poorer prognosis, regardless of the treatment offered, than nonsmokers. Also, there is some evidence from pharmacological studies that smoking interferes with the absorption and blood level of various medications, including analgesics.

If you have attempted to treat your pain or tried to make lifestyle changes and these approaches didn't relieve your pain or it became worse, you should seek help from a health care professional. Pain is a message that something is wrong, so don't wait more than a few days or a week to make an appointment. In fact, delaying an evaluation and treatment can make many pain-causing problems worse.

In 2001, The Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) developed new standards for the assessment and management of pain in hospitals and other health care settings. The American Pain Society has endorsed these standards, which affect all patients in hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. Health care facilities must:

• Recognize the right of patients to appropriate assessment and management of pain

• Screen for the existence and assess the nature and intensity of pain in all patients.

• Record the results of the assessment in a way that facilitates regular reassessment and follow-up.

• Determine and ensure staff competency in pain assessment and management, and address pain assessment and management in the orientation of all new staff.

• Establish policies and procedures that support the appropriate prescription or ordering of effective pain medications.

• Educate patients and their families about effective pain management.

• Address patient needs for symptom management in the discharge planning process.

• Maintain a pain control performance improvement plan.

Pain: Talk About It

Finding the right words to express your pain and being able to discuss and describe it may be the key to getting relief. When you are experiencing any kind of pain, it might help to think of the word "PAIN" to help you clearly communicate to your health care professional the following information. This helpful hint comes from PAINUCope, a multimedia educational program for people living with pain, by D. J. Wilkie and eNURSING llc, Seattle, WA.

P=the pattern of the pain

• How it started
• How the pain affects your life, work and leisure time
• What activities make the pain better and what makes it worse
• What medications relieve the pain or don't work
• Whether the pain is constant or comes and goes
• How long the pain lasts

A=the area affected by the pain

• Location of the pain or if it moves or "radiates" (spreads out from a core spot) or stays in the same place or is in more than one place

I=the intensity of the pain

• The severity or intensity of the pain (on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being no pain, 10 being pain as bad as it can be)
• What the pain is like now
• What it is like at its worst and at its least, with activity and at rest

N=the nature of the pain

• The physical sensation of the pain: stabbing, burning or aching, for example
• How it feels to you and makes you feel: tiring, exhausting, sickening, fearful, vicious