Pain management: Signing a care contract

Managing chronic pain is complicated so a care contract helps to ensure the patient follows the treatment plan and the treatment is working.  Sometimes the doctor asks for the contract and if you have concerns,  discuss them with your doctor.

Keeping tabs on your pain, the medications you take, the treatments you try, and how well they work for you provides helpful information for your doctor and can even help you deal with the emotional fallout of living with chronic pain. On days when you're discouraged, you can flip through a pain diary to remind yourself that there are good days and that you're doing everything you can to feel your best. You'll see that even though you've had setbacks, you've always overcome them, that the next day, or week or month is better than the one before.

Are you ready to start fighting your pain for real? Signing a care contact is a great way for you to reinforce your resolution to manage your pain, to work with your doctor, to treat yourself like someone who deserves the best care. Photocopy and post the signed contract where you'll see it every day, to remind yourself of your commitment.

Here is a sample care contract:

I acknowledge that I need and deserve relief from my pain. I hereby vow to take steps to control my _______________________________ pain so that I can: 1) ____________________________________________________ 2) ____________________________________________________ 3) ____________________________________________________.

1. I expect my doctors and other health care providers to ask about my pain and to treat me for it.
2. I promise to be an active partner and help them help me. I will educate myself about pain management with my doctor's help and on my own.
3. I will prepare for doctor visits by making a list of questions and writing down details about my pain, including when I experience it and what seems to trigger it.
4. I acknowledge that if one doctor's approach doesn't work for me, if the doctor doesn't return calls or doesn't seem interested in following through on pain management, I will find a new doctor, perhaps a specialist. I know that treating pain often requires more than one approach, often at the same time, and that those approaches include many steps that I can take at home.
5. I'm willing to take active steps to: get more, better-quality sleep; get more exercise appropriate for my condition; avoid my pain triggers; and keep a positive attitude, even on bad pain days.
6. I agree to seek the help of other experts besides my doctor to help me accomplish my goal of achieving pain relief, such as a psychotherapist, therapist, massage therapist and/or an acupuncture practitioner.
7. I acknowledge that pain can affect me emotionally, adding tension and lowering my spirits.
8. I resolve to lower stress by practicing deep breathing, visualization, making time to listen to music I love or to take hot baths.
9. If I am depressed, I will tell my doctor.
10. I vow to build a support network for myself.
11. I will alert my family and friends to my pain and explain the important things I do to manage it, and the ways in which I am making shifts in my life.
12. I will ask them to respect and support those changes.I commit to managing my pain and improving the quality of my life.

Signature ____________________________________Date _________________________________________