November 27, 2009
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Pain in the….
*insert standard excuse about lack of consistent posting here-make it like mad libs!- Dr J could not post because he was busy (adj) his (noun) for (length of time) and is very (emotion) and promises to (excuse that will not be followed through on)*
How many of you are familiar with the pain scale when you go to the hospital. You know the one…on a scale of 1-10, 1 being no pain and 10 being the greatest pain you have ever felt in your life, such as rabid dogs gnawing off your face while your legs are on fire and jason and freddy are alternating stabbing you?
I see lots of people ever day who claim they feel level 10 pain—the most excruciating agony a human being can experience. 10 is by far the most commonly chosen number on the scale.. But pain is subjective, so who is to say a mildly sprained ankle or an upset stomach isn’t more horrific to this individual than the fires of Hell?
Anyone who says 10 (everybody), who doctors don’t think looks like a 10 (90% of people), is immediately assumed to be full of shit. And anyone who answers 11 or greater must a histrionic drama queen who is both lying and saying something impossible. If pain is a vital sign, then saying your pain is an 11 is like saying your temperature was 200° F
If you want your pain to be taken seriously never say 10! (Unless you’re pushing out a baby without an epidural or you have several broken bones sticking out of you.) If you want a doctor to respect your pain say. “It hurts like hell, but I would give it a 7 or 8.
In Other news, GE made a pretty neat graphical representation of healthcare costs of various common problems for people at various ages. Looking at it helps to understand a lot of the problem we have as a country with healthcare-if your high blood pressure costs the insurance company 7000 dollars a year, but you only pay 1300 a year, there is a pretty big disconnect from your understanding of WHY you need to take your meds, not to mention a growing sense of entitlement that everything should be free free free. Update on that later.
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Comments (4)
I would give my back spasms (herniated disc) a 10 and labor without an epidural an 8 or 9. Yes I’m dead serious.
@pigeon404 - i would say 9 with the description you just gave above. 10 is a catch 22…you may feel it, but it will knock you down in our heads to a lower number
@satired - I stopped even asking pain scale half the time…i go with if 100% is normal, how do you feel now. Nobody says 0%, so it give me a better estimation
Is appendicitis worthy of a 10? After a night of abdominal pain like no other (It felt like glass shattering in my stomach repeatedly), I was rushed to the emergency room, where I keeled over into a wheel chair and yakked nonstop. lol It was not pretty.
I had a patient in no apparent distress rate her pain a 30 the other day. I had to try hard not to say “No, you clearly don’t understand how this works.”