Rating your symptoms based on their severity is useful. Try using a scale from zero to ten to estimate the seriousness of your symptom (for example pain), with zero being no symptoms whatsoever and ten being the worst possible symptom you can imagine. A 'ten out of ten' pain will be really, really bad and prevent you from doing almost anything: generally speaking, the more severe your symptom, the more urgent your need to do something about it.
If you have symptoms that fluctuate over time, consider keeping a diary with your symptom scores, to provide you with an idea whether your underlying condition is improving or getting worse. The information you collect can also help your doctor or any other health professional decide on the best type of treatment and assess your response to pain relief. Always be honest on your own and health care professionals - don't underplay or exaggerate your health problem.
One of the most important aspects of a symptom is the impact it has on your quality of life. The same health problem can affect people in different ways. For instance, if playing the piano is an integral part of your life, suffering an injury to your little finger may go through catastrophic to you - whereas you may not be as bothered in regards to a stiff knee. However, the problem would be the other way round if you're a professional football player.
You can see, therefore, that assessing the impact a symptom has on your daily life, work or hobbies is important in helping you decide how to handle the problem and how quickly you need to get help.
Utilizing the same examples, if you're the piano player you'll be more inclined to undergo an operation on your little finger than if you're the footballer. Assessing the impact of the health problem on your life likewise helps health professionals to estimate the potential risks and benefits of any treatment that they want to discuss with you.
The next step to consider in making a diagnosis would be to think whether you've noticed anything that makes your symptom better or worse. For instance, if you have stomach or loin pain that only laying very still improves, you may possibly be suffering from an inflammation or infection of your abdominal lining referred to as peritonitis.
However, if you find yourself pacing around the room with pain, you're more likely to have a kidney stone wedged in the tube running from your kidneys to your bladder.
If you have tried almost anything to ease your symptom, make a summary of what worked and what didn't. Your list is sure to be useful on your own and for doctors when considering the treatment options. Also make some anything that you notice improves your health problem - some people get better after eating or drinking, with rest or when getting around - as well as anything that brings on your symptoms.
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