Quantifying Pain
Wren has a post up, aptly titled Pain Scale Purgatory, responding to RA Warrior’s blog carnival (for which neither of us wrote a post).
Nobody likes having to guess what the 1-10 pain scale means. What it means to one person isn’t necessarily what it means to anyone else, and people rarely ask for your frame of reference. What if, since we’re already carrying around our meds list (you are carrying your meds list, aren’t you?), we also carry around our own pain scale? Here is my contribution:
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1-2 is tolerable
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3-4 I’ll think about taking a tylenol
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5-6 I’ll definitely take a tylenol, and maybe some ibuprofen, too
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7-8 there is definitely something wrong and I’m finding someone to drive me to the doctor
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9-10 someone is dialing 911
Wishing you many days of only mild pain.
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Intro
∞ is a mathematical symbol meaning infinity, and
-itis is a suffix meaning inflammation
So, just as
- tendon-itis is inflammation of a tendon,
- burs-itis is inflammation of a bursa, and
- tonsil-itis is inflammation of the tonsils…
∞itis is inflammation – infinitely. Welcome to RA!
Welcome
This blog is where I record my experiences with autoimmune disease, doctors, and my interactions with the healthcare system. In this autoimmune war, I intend to win. You can, too.
Awards
2009 Finalist
I won a Golden Llama Award!
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Your thoughts...
Informed Consent on Meds
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If I was a good drawer my pain scale would be a doctors face with their neck in it. One the 1-2 I would be approaching the doctor with my hands out, 3-4 my hands would be on their neck, 5-6 I would be tightening my hands around their neck, 7-8 they would be turning blue, 9-10 they would be passed out on the floor and I would have my pain script in my hand
There…you now have Murphy’s law pain scale. Of course having ra I can barely raise my hands let alone keep them up to strangle someone…lol. But this pain scale is for the doctor to understand my pain level….right 
Think they would get it now?
You may have seen this before, but Allie (from Hyperbole and a Half) has a ‘Better Pain Scale” that had me laughing so hard I thought I might need to rate myself on it.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/02/boyfriend-doesnt-have-ebola-probably.html
I love her descriptions of the pain scale in emergency. Hope you enjoy this if you missed it.
I love your pain scale. I am not creative enough to draw one. I think I will print it out for my next doctor visit!