How well do you know that pain scale? When working with doctors, it’s important to
understand how they define and discuss the appearance of pain in the body. This is an
important part of seeing a medical health professional and should be viewed as
essential to the future of your health. If this is news to you, then you will find some
helpful information about the pain scale in the following article.
What Is It
The pain scale was created to feed information about your pain to a doctor. This allows
doctors to make important judgement calls about your treatments, and it is especially
important when they are thinking of prescribing medication. Medication that isn’t evenly
matched to need can be dangerous, so accuracy is of utmost importance. It is generally
discussed as being a range between 0 and 10, with 0 as the lowest amount of pain, and
10 being the highest.
Take It Seriously
One thing to note here is that you don’t want to be to jovial if you are in serious pain.
You want the doctor to take you as seriously as you need them to take you so that you
can get the appropriate help that you need. If you fool around or exaggerate answers,
then a doctor might become suspicious that you have come to them hoping to secure
drugs for yourself. Be sure that your level of need reflects the appropriate amount of
seriousness.
Keep A Journal
If you keep a journal of the pain that you experience, it may be possible to isolate the
things that aggravate the pain. You will also have a visual record of how severe your
pain has been in the past. This can help you to gain a greater understanding of the
foods and events that might be triggers for your condition. The more detail you include,
the easier it will be to isolate and eliminate possible triggers.
Pain Scale Breakdown
1. Pain free.
2. Barely Noticed – mild aches.
3. Somewhat Noticeable – aches to in various parts the body.
4. Distracting
5. Very Distracting – You need pain over the counter relief
6. Hard to ignore – Over-the-counter pain relievers barely work
7. Pain is constant – stronger medication is needed.
8. Constant Pain keeps you from being fully engaged.
9. Intense Pain – Activity takes effort, prescription medication isn’t effective
10. Severe Pain – Prescription medication works marginally – narcotics brings pain to
a 5
11. Pain is intolerable – speech is impossible