ot,how do you rate pain?

[Henry]

on a level from1 to 10,1o being thehighest:costum:if it feels like a12,itsgottabe a10,what does more pain feel like?,i live in a constant 10.16hoursa dayican have1,narcotic,pain pill every5hours,in casei become,addicted:ernae:they work!,sorry,bouta silly,rantbut id like to know,is pain just pain what does more feellike?
OUCH!H:mix-smi:

 

[kilo delta]

It's different for everyone,Henry. I've recently completed a pain management program to help deal with my own chronic pain issues. Prior to this I've tried just about every tablet and injection on the market to help reduce the pain level and the only thing that helped was Butrans morphine patches, but the side effects meant I had to come off of these. I'd put my own pain level at a constant 4 on a scale of one to ten, increasing to 7/8 on bad days. I had one of my wisdom teeth removed on Friday last after 2 weeks of pain in my left jaw..leading to a s[FONT=arial, sans-serif]ubconjunctival haemorrhage of my eye[/FONT]....but the "usual" pain still overpowered the tooth pain!
I'd recommend seeking a pain management program. Through this you will learn that you need to change your lifestyle while accepting that the pain is likely to remain, possibly for good.

 

[Henry]

It's different for everyone,Henry. I've recently completed a pain management program to help deal with my own chronic pain issues. Prior to this I've tried just about every tablet and injection on the market to help reduce the pain level and the only thing that helped was Butrans morphine patches, but the side effects meant I had to come off of these. I'd put my own pain level at a constant 4 on a scale of one to ten, increasing to 7/8 on bad days. I had one of my wisdom teeth removed on Friday last after 2 weeks of pain in my left jaw..leading to a subconjunctival haemorrhage of my eye....but the "usual" pain still overpowered the tooth pain!
I'd recommend seeking a pain management program. Through this you will learn that you need to change your lifestyle while accepting that the pain is likely to remain, possibly for good.

THanksit seems tollerance has a lotto do with it!cheersH

 

[Milton Shupe]

Here are two charts, one easy to read and understand with an easy to use judgement.

The other is more thorough in helping to assess and describe the pain, your reactions and visible signs.

 

[aeromed202]

Something I assess several times day on conscious and unconscious people, with the face chart handy for kids or non-english speakers. It comes down to what the person can or will tolerate, some can put up with a fractured femur and some wince at a little scrape. But for consistency throughout the treatment we use the 0-10 scale so everyone can track progress. My personal experience tells me that 10/10 is when I'm about to pass out from the pain, breathing hard, sweating, etc. so I rate according to the scale, but there are plenty who say they're at 15 or 20/10 so when I report it I just say what I was told. I also tend to ask if the pain is such that medication is wanted, but regardless, it really depends on what the person says or shows so everyone gets some meds if they want it or it looks like it's gotta hurt. However, what we carry doesn't touch nerve pain so all we can offer for that is mild sedation. There's lots of pain killers out there so tell your doc to try something else Henry.

 

[aircav1970]

Henry,I have to take morphine sulfate 30mgs. 3x a day,Ive been on it since I became unable to work any longer back in 2007.When I first started taking the morphine it worked pretty well for pain control but as the years went by I missed calling in for my prescription a couple of times and had to endure the "opiate withdrawal" from these pills for several days both times and I tell ya,if you've never experienced that particular event it is a shocker! I used to think I could take my fair share of pain but after 48 hours of night-sweats,joint and body aches like nothing I can describe I make damn sure I call in "On-Time" to get the script filled every month.So,it is very likely you will become addicted to the pills if you have to stay on them for any length of time, even if you don't abuse them,the body will still react the same as far as tolerance goes.I hate having to rely on drugs just to function everyday but if I didn't take them I can't even imagine how bad my daily life would be.

 

[Henry]

Here are two charts, one easy to read and understand with an easy to use judgement.

The other is more thorough in helping to assess and describe the pain, your reactions and visible signs.

thanks MILT!IMlearning a lot i appreciate all the helpfull answersthe worse pain i ever enduredwas in therapy kneeling on a chair to correctballancewith myhips at the timei had a broken hipwe where notawareof:mix-smi:i now take lorotabs,vicodin+valiumthat works:ernae:H

 

[limjack]

A 10 on the pain scale for me when I hurt my back ment no joy sitting, laying down or any position whatsoever. All I could do is keep moving around like a Injured animal trying to find some comfort. Man, I remember I couldn't event sit still to eat food the pain was so bad. Sorry to hear you are going through these tough times Henery.

Jim

 

[N2056]

Reading this thread I find that I am not so wrapped up in trying to answer the question. I'm sorry to hear that you are dealing with the issue to begin with. A possible avenue to explore would be hypnosis. I have a brother-in-law that has a Doctor's degree in the subject...it's pretty powerful stuff.

 

[Naismith]

A possible avenue to explore would be hypnosis. QUOTE]

I'll vouch for hypnotism and for me that is colossal as a bigger skeptic you will not find. But I once had a great dentist in the 70's who came by the apt name a Dr Gummer, he performed a root canal on me under hypnotism. I was fully cognisant and aware of what was happening just totally relaxed, I don't think I have ever felt so relaxed in my life. He had me imagine my finger in an ice bucket, he then asked me to concentrate the cold in one finger then in the tip of the same finger. Then he had that finger rub the gum of the tooth in treatment which duly numbed up apparantly. There must have been some physiological change as he kept feeling my hand to see if was ready. Didn't feel a thing. Sadly I moved away and lost him & never did find as good a dentist ever again. Though he did teach me how to self hypnotise which I use to this day occasionally for those times when it is difficult getting to sleep at night.
Not everyone is a suitable for hypnotism of course but well worth exploring.
Good luck Henry.

PS I should point out that when it comes to pain I am a big 6'01" 250lb hulking baby.

 

[demorier]

My method, the ones making the least amount of noise are in the most pain....'cause it hurts to much to scream.

 

[SSI01]

Demorier has it right - my heart attack in 2001 resulted in the worst pain I EVER experienced - like a 16-penny spike being driven right through my sternum and deep into my chest - left me gasping to breathe, I could only speak single words. Turns out my left anterior descending cardiac artery was plugged 100%, I got to the ER at Tulane U. Hospital in NOLA after about 20 min or so but still have a 30% loss of heart function. Had a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted back in June. At Tulane, they gave me morphine and one other med that had absolutely no effect whatsoever, the pain just kept increasing - a nurse in the ER swam into view and told me to lift my tongue, she squirted some nitro in there and like magic the pain went away. THEN, the other stuff kicked in and I went to la-la land. I've had no issues with pain since then but that's my gauge for pain severity - everything's compared to that MI. What really bothers me is my spouse who has an excruciating back pain issue right now causing her great distress. Her spine gets twisted out of shape due to the muscle spasms involved. They run right down her left leg into her left calf. I know it's her sciatic nerve, I can trace the pain by prodding at several places following the course of this nerve down the leg. She had a fall in metro Chicago years ago where she went straight down on some icy pavement, we know that's the cause. My own periodic back pain comes from pulling a decedent out of a car on a cold November morning north of Chicago. We had to break some of her bones to make it happen, but she got her revenge because my back pain and muscle spasms sometimes give me scoliosis. It takes the least little improper movement to make it come back, too . . .

 

[glh]

Demorier has it right - my heart attack in 2001 resulted in the worst pain I EVER experienced - like a 16-penny spike being driven right through my sternum and deep into my chest - left me gasping to breathe, I could only speak single words. Turns out my left anterior descending cardiac artery was plugged 100%, I got to the ER at Tulane U. Hospital in NOLA after about 20 min or so but still have a 30% loss of heart function. Had a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted back in June. At Tulane, they gave me morphine and one other med that had absolutely no effect whatsoever, the pain just kept increasing - a nurse in the ER swam into view and told me to lift my tongue, she squirted some nitro in there and like magic the pain went away. THEN, the other stuff kicked in and I went to la-la land. I've had no issues with pain since then but that's my gauge for pain severity - everything's compared to that MI. What really bothers me is my spouse who has an excruciating back pain issue right now causing her great distress. Her spine gets twisted out of shape due to the muscle spasms involved. They run right down her left leg into her left calf. I know it's her sciatic nerve, I can trace the pain by prodding at several places following the course of this nerve down the leg. She had a fall in metro Chicago years ago where she went straight down on some icy pavement, we know that's the cause. My own periodic back pain comes from pulling a decedent out of a car on a cold November morning north of Chicago. We had to break some of her bones to make it happen, but she got her revenge because my back pain and muscle spasms sometimes give me scoliosis. It takes the least little improper movement to make it come back, too . . .

I've got some lower back pain that extends down into my hamstrings and calves -- mainly on the right side. Starts to hurt when I walk, cut the grass, etc.

After a CT scan, I've found out I have some arthritic degeneration in a couple of discs in the lower back and the pelvis is somewhat misaligned. I have found that some chiropractic adjustments are starting to have a beneficial effect. I'm sure it would also help greatly if I lost about 40 lbs. but that's a real chore.

 

[aeronca1]

I always find it difficult to assess pain. My family has been blessed with a very high tolerance for pain, sometimes to our own detriment. I once had a minor motorcycle accident and walked with a broken foot for many days before my brother convinced me to get it checked out. Another motorcycle accident has left me in constant pain in my right hip since I was 20. The body seems to get used to pain when it is in a specific area and over time, even though it still hurts, you notice it less and less. As others have said, it also varies on any given day.

I compare pain to taste. It varies with the individual.