10 of 10 on the pain scale should be reserved for extreme cases, amirite?

I like the Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale 0 = No pain 1 = Hardly noticeable pain 2 = Noticeable pain, but does not interfere with activities 3 = Somewhat distracting pain 4 = Distracting pain, but does not affect normal activities 5 = Pain interrupts some activities 6 = Hard to ignore pain, avoidance of daily activities 7 = Pain is the main focus of attention, prevents daily activities 8 = Awful pain, difficult to do anything 9 = Unbearable pain, cannot do anything 10 = As bad as pain can be, nothing else matters

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Best overall pain scale.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I completely agree, I had a lot of patients telling me they have a 10/10 headache while playing on their phone. Literally. I don't really discuss it further.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I've had 3 kids via C-section and I didn't even say my pain was a 10 because definitely painful but I didn't feel like I was going to die right then and there so 10 is not appropriate. I said like a 6

by Anonymous 1 year ago

this is not a brag

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I'm not bragging I'm saying people exaggerate and don't properly rate their pain. I don't think any pain should be classified as a 10 unless you're literally dying

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah but you ever notice in a doctors office, disability hearing or physical therapy office if you dont use an extreme number they ignore you and assume its fine?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah. Recently broke my ankle in 3 places. Said 6/7 on the pain scale so was only given paracetamol. The nurse ignored the fact I was grey, sweating and shaking because I had said 6 that was it. Radiologist saw the first image and called for a doctor to give me more asap.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Unfortunately they may

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I found out the pain scale number you report will be used to determine your type of pain relief. I was in the hospital and had a great nurse overnight. In the morning she asked my pain number. I said 5. She said if you say 7 I can give you something. There it is y'all.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I had a nurse tell me the same during a 5 day stay. She was worried I wouldn't get my pain meds after she left. Linda was an Angel of mercy

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Noooo that sucks 😭 (for me at least). I always assumed if I ranked myself too high they'd assume I'm faking.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I had a doctor once tell me that 10/10 is being burned alive.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I had a doctor explain "10 on the scale would be like chainsawing your legs off with no anesthesia." I'm like.... oh well my torn MCL is a 4.5 then.... 😅

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The office I went for for PT had a chart with a 1-10 scale, but each number had with it an explanation of how the pain level was affecting your ability to do normal human things. 1 would be "can totally ignore it" and 9 would be "I can't sit/stand/walk/wipe my own ass without help from someone else I hurt so much." It was super helpful and I think back to it often.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The big problem with this is that it minimizes the pain of people with chronic illness and pain who are forced to function with different levels of pain

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Most people don't know how much pain they can be in, which is a good thing. The downside is that they over estimate how far up the scale they are when they have a non-trivial injury like breaking a finger. I find the fact you feel so strongly about this you want to tell us a but odd. Fwiw, I know what a 9 feels like after suffering extensive burns to my face and hands (and a few other places). There was definitely scope for more pain, but not much.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yes like sure that happens but what effect on us does it have day to day?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I suspect that OP is clumsily trying to say is that people need to manage their expectations on how medical staff treat their pain. If you've got a minor injury, they are going to be breaking out the good stuff. I wouldn't be surprised to find a lot of people complain that they don't get enough pain management for minor issues. There are good medical reasons for that, though.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Well tbh for most people, they are concerned more about whether they are function. Sure, maybe you won't die, but if you can't go to work, that's pretty bad to normal people

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Some minor injuries can cause the most pain. Also extreme burns also burn through the nerves so after the initial burn when you're at the hospital you might not feel anything with burns that extreme until they start to heal. Some people honestly have experienced a splinter that was more painful than a broken bone, or tooth pain that was worse than labor pains. Migraines are sometimes called suicide headaches because the pain is so intolerable that even people who love life consider offing themselves for relief. It's all relative. And some of the most painful things are also sometimes invisible. Bone pain, cancer, cysts, kidney stones. It's not always so obvious what is going to cause the most pain. Kidney stones can be more painful than being chomped on by a hyena.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

this is so incredibly stupid. none of us know what it feels like to experience the absolute maximum pain a person can feel. nobody could ever accurately discern if the pain they're feeling is truly 10/10. the doctors are likely only using this information to gauge how much medication to give you. they're not making any actual decisions about the best way to treat your injury based on your reported pain scale.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I have some chronic pain issues and totally agree. Even on my worst days I would generally not say it's much beyond a 6. However, I think there should be a time component factored in. If someone lives with constant pain that basically never leaves, even if it's just Iike a 4 or 5, that is some torment. Not sure how they'd do that, but it should be a factor for chronic pain patients.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Pushing back on the headache part. Migraines are 10/10 pain.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I've learned they can be.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

How would that work in practice? Yes some people are sissies but it's also hard to imagine such a pain. As a doctor you can easily estimate if the number they give is feasible; for example I wouldn't believe someone with a sprained ankle has pain of 10/10, but I might believe someone with necrotizing pancreatitis. Overall the pain scale is most useful to estimate the evolution of pain for the same patient in the same situation

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I agree. I've given birth 3 times, once without pain relief and had 2 knee replacements. I can say I maybe spiked to a 10 a couple time during birth and after knee surgery. Now the only time I've see a sustained 10 out of 10 was my husband, he was writhing on the floor, sweating, pale, erratic breathing. He passed out from the pain at one point. That is a 10 out 10 on the pain scale in my opinion. My husband is usually pretty stoic so it was scary to see him like that. Still don't know what was happening at best the doctors think his intestinal track was spasming or briefly twisted. Nothing was found on the CT scan at the hospital, it lasted a couple of hours.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I felt like one of my eye balls was on fire one time and told them I was either an 8 or a 9. They told me to go sit in the lobby and they would call me when it was time to come back. I was the only one in the ER waiting room and after a couple of minutes I went and sat on the desk of the woman that checked me in. She asked what I was doing. I told her I felt like I was dying and couldn't wait in the lobby any more. Still wasn't a 10.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Only 10 I've ever told the ER was for my Kidney stones. Fair amount of 7's and 8's. No nines and one ten.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Kidney stones are 10's when they're obstructing. There are some that are less severe, still unpleasant, but not the vomiting and blacking out kind of pain.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah I was in full renal colic. It was not a pleasant time.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

That's always a 10, and i'm sorry to hear. I hope you've been stone free since.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I never understood why women giving birth were so angry. After that day I got it lol. I've never before or since yelled at a nurse like that. I felt so bad and guilty but I was just in so much pain. He was really chill about it though.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

There's so many things happening after women give birth, from pain and stitches as a result of tearing or a c-section, to hormones being all over the place and uncontrollable. I can assure you the nurses know what they're dealing with, and there's absolutely no reason to feel guilty.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Oh 100% there's definitely way more depth to childbirth beyond just the pain. But that irrational anger that comes with pain is just something else. I see why they tell you not to give them more than one finger to squeeze. I almost made my Mom faint and she only gave me one too lol.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

all worth it in the end, i hope! I've never been an L&D nurse, but my coworkers that are, they're all sooo kind to the birthing mamas. They've seen it alllllll!

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Agreed. When I was in labor, and experiencing back labor as well (which just compounds the pain and was worse then the contractions because it was steady, not coming and going) the nurse and person about to do the epidural asked my pain level. I said a 6.5-7 and they expressed surprise at my response. I was like "well, I'm not gonna kid myself, this is just the beginning and will be way worse when I'm actually pushing. Hence the epidural" They were quite amused with my pragmatism.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I kind of agree but it's difficult because there are so many different types of pain some people have no experience of a 10/10 level pain, so they think a sprain qualifies. Children are especially prone to this because they typically have no experiences at all and then you have to account for tolerance. Some people are HSP and can't tolerate anything at all and others walk around not realizing they're having a heart attack.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

During my lasik they needed to thicken my cornea with uv light. Ok I said. All went well wife drive home. Took a nap. Eye drops faded. Pain started. My corneas were effectively sun burned. It felt like acid in my eyes. I was in such pain while my wife bolted to the drug store for hydrocodone I was running laps around the kitchen screaming I did that for ten minutes until she got home. Took 3 pills. Kept running in circles. Till they took effect. I broke my arm playing hockey. That was bad too but I think my body released painkillers as I went to hospital? Not the same level of pain. It was a complete break too

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You know what was close to a 10 for me? Kidney stones, the pain was so unbearable I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I was so irritable that just someone speaking to me, made me want to rip their head off to shut them up so that I could think clearly.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

yeah, for me, when the doc asks me to rate my pain, civil war battlefield style hacksaw amputation without anesthetic is what comes to mind when imagining 10/10 pain.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I always ask patients "if ten is I just smashed your finger with a sludge hammer, what do you rate your pain on a scale of 1-10?" Works well enough for fire and ems I guess.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The use of the 1-10 pain scale is not to get an accurate measure of how much pain someone is in. It is to see how well the treatment is working to alleviate the patient's pain. So if a patient first says their pain level is a 10 (even if it is something minor), and then after treatment they says their pain is at a 4, you know that the treatment is helping to reduce their pain.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I was in the middle of passing a kidney stone, once. Went to the ER, and they asked me that question, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is your pain?" I was kind of in a lot of pain at the moment, and I was focused on the fact that I was losing the feeling in my fingers, so I just blurted out, "WHAT DOES MATH HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?! FIX ME!" Yeah, I was not a fan of that question. 😅

by Anonymous 1 year ago

10 of 10 feels like it should be death no?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Always found this question odd. "What is your pain level, if 10 is the worst pain you have ever felt". What if you have only ever had a small splinter.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Always say ten out of ten if you want the best drugs…

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I always try to set the expectation with patients, so there is no misunderstanding. When I have no time, I say "Give your pain a number, from zero to ten, with zero no pain, and ten like your arm is being ripped off your body." With more time, I say things like "At what number would you think about taking Tylenol or ibuprofen?…what number would make you call the doctor?…what number would make you go to the ED?…". Have to be super specific, though. Once my father-in-law was having pain, and I asked "…what's your pain on a scale from zero to ten?" He answered "about a 2". I was relieved. An hour later, I asked him how he was doing, and he said "oh, much better now, …it's like a six." SMH.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

When I have people who use 10/10 for everything (slight knee pain, headache, stubbed toe, etc) I'll tell them "So 10/10 is the absolute maximum you can be.. so if a bear came in and mauled you, or you were set on fire, the pain wouldn't get any worse?" Usually they adjust their number after that.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Pro tip, never say 9 or 10 in the ER. If you can say 9 or 10, it's not.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Agreed. Go look at reviews that people leave for almost anything. Most likely they either they leave the lowest number of stars or the highest. There is rarely an in between. People are so dumb they don't seem to understand how ratings system works.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Agreed. When asked about pain by doctors I consider the pain I'm in and compare it to being on fire or something similarly horrendous. Doctors hear my answer of about 6 or 7, assume it's nothing and don't do much for me, when actually I'm in agony, thanks to everyone saying their hangnail is a 10/10.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

a lot of people don't understand the pain scale.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Until I had my own back problems I had no idea how painful it could be. You might just not understand how much pain someone is in because you have experienced it

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The pain scale shouldnt be a thing. It was made up for pharmaceutical companies to sell more drugs

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Idk if that means it shouldn't be a thing.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

….no, it's the only way to gauge something entirely internal and impossible to measure.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It's there because people who want to get drugs because of addiction will often say it's a 10/10 pain when in reality even severe pain wouldn't be a 10/10 basically if they say 10/10 and other factors line up they're probably just trying to get a prescription for drugs

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I found my 10/10. I had a damaged nerve. They injected cortisol directly into it. 5 people to hold me down, the only time I've full on screamed like I was dying. Poor people in the waiting room.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Had a similar thing happen to me as well, infected nerve and a needle going right into it I'd say more of an 8.5/10 definitely not pleasant but I could imagine worse pain still

by Anonymous 1 year ago

A doctor described 10 of 10 to me as... "Imagine that I just rip your arm off your body and start beating you with it" :) He also said that generally at 7-8, people will start fainting due to your brain simply not being able to cope with the pain, and it being better to ignore it as you can't do much at that point. He told me this as I was, at his estimate at 8 (turns out that some people are extremely pain tolerant).

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Let's say 10/10 is a getting kicked in the balls. But you never been hit in the balls but have the worst headache of your life. You are going to say the headache is a 10/10. Why because you have nothing to compare with . For that person , it is a 10/10 because it's the worst pain they have ever felt . Sure if the next moment they get hit in the balls, they are going to say , your right the headache isn't that bad

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Doctors are smart enough to know if you say 10, you're lying. If you were actually 10, you couldn't comprehend the question or be able to formulate an answer.

by Anonymous 1 year ago