Framework
Considering a disease focused framework vs and individual (or health) focused framework
- Focusing on specific diseases rather than the individual who is experiencing these diseases has historical roots in treating acute conditions such as infections or trauma/injuries
- Chronic diseases are, by definition, present over a long period of time
- Focusing on the names of each chronic condition that a person experiences often leads to “siloing” of healthcare and can result in ignoring an individual’s symptoms
- This is especially true in chronic pain syndromes where there is significant overlap between different conditions that are addressed by separate specialists. For example:
- Stomach pain treated by a gastroenterologist
- Eye pain addressed by an ophthalmologist
- Low back pain managed by a pain clinic, orthopedics, or primary care
- Skin conditions treated by Dermatology
- At times these seemingly unrelated conditions stem from a common cause
- Understanding your symptoms in relation to each other has the chance to be quite revealing and suggest a possible relationship. We can do this by grouping them around when these symptoms started (i.e. the symptomatic timeline)
Individual responses
Individual responses to environmental exposures varies person to person
- Imagine if 100 people were asked to turn a screwdriver until elbow pain develops
- It would be surprising if everyone developed pain after the same number of turns- rather those with a predisposition towards pain may develop issues at fewer turns
journaling
Try to understand your personal triggers by journaling
- Not all day every day- your time and effort are very finite resources
- Consider journaling around particularly good or bad days (not the average ones!)
- Possible variables to consider: Food/beverage intake, stress level, sleep quality, activity level, and any outliers that occurred over the previous few days
- Triggers may not be obvious right away but over 3-6 months a pattern may emerge
