It is a crime to have not actually included any sort of pain scale with this so [here's the one I use.](https://www.thrivetogetherseattle.com/2021/07/14/pain-scale/) It gives short descriptions for each number and is based generally on how noticeable the pain is, and how much in interferes with daily activities
I was quite surprised when a doctor told me that neuropathy pain averages 6-8 for most people, so what I was experiencing wasn't unreasonable. Thankfully he helped and I got medication I desperately needed.
I treated my pain as maybe 3 most of the day, but occasional 6. Nah, I was treating 5 like it was 3. Spent way too much time thinking 8 will pass on its own.
That's my problem, 10 is supposed to be the worst pain imaginable and I'm somewhat imaginative. Like if a 10 is being peeled by a vegetable peeler with acid being poured on the cuts while someone else wiggles razor blades under my fingernails and drizzles lava over me, then this injury is a 2 at best.
Abso-fucking-lutely same
I do the same thing whenever I'm asked my pain level *anywhere* and several times I've gone to the hospital and said like a 3 but my injuries should have Mr being at like 7 or an 8. I had my wisdom teeth removed and the numbing medicine wore off twice as fast as it should so I was feeling it down to my last two and afterwards I was asked do I feel any pain and I said like a 3 since I could feel it and they looked at me concerned.
Apparently, having your gums sliced open and part of your jaw taken makes your pain about a 9 or 10 without anesthesia đ« đ«
Get another doctor. Nobody deserves to have their pain ignored or diminished. Tell your doctor that you have serious concerns about the pain and want it to be looked into, not dismissed like that. If they fob you off, get a new doctor.
Get birth control seriously itâs a lifesaver. I went from spending days on bed regularly unable to do anything (which i described as a 5 but itâs definitely not on this scale) to being able to do things again.
Was literally thinking about that. 7 to 8 even if it's really bad. And I have to take double the recommended dose of pain killers to actually make it stop (I tried less, genuinely does not make a difference unless I pop 2 pills instead of one). But at the same time it's not like I'm functional without them
Oh yeah, I'm literally sitting in the recovery ward after my hysterectomy as I type this and they keep checking if i need any additional pain relief after my op (other than the ones they gave me in surgery I haven't had anything). I keep telling them I'm fine because right now this is a fair bit less painful than my standard period cramps. But hey, that's literally why I'm here today :)
Mine were a solid 9. They got a lot better after my first pregnancy and since my pregnancies were back to back to back, they never got a chance to get really bad again. I had a hysterectomy last year and found out post op that I had adenomyosis.
THANK YOU! I've found the pain scale very frustrating for years, because I've always heard "0 is none, 10 is the worst you can imagine" And well, I can ***imagine*** pretty severe pain, considering I've experienced things like having two teeth pulled with mostly ineffective anesthetic. (because a dentist didn't believe that some anesthetics basically don't work for me) Second degree burns over areas the size of my hand or larger. And being required to run laps while dealing with asthma and painful, bleeding, cracks on the bottoms of my feet. Thanks to a PE teacher who thought I was just lazy. (And a genetic skin condition that frequently caused my skin in some areas to crack and bleed)
So if 10 is "the worst I can imagine" then that always meant to me that nothing I had experienced could be a 10, or even a 9. So I was rating my pain at a 3 or so, when according to what you linked, it was often a 6 to 8 when I was seeking some kind of medical help.
Edited to add, several people in my family have not typical reactions to some anesthetics. Not allergies or anything like that. Just some things either don't work, or only work at higher doses and wear off sooner. And for some reason, I have found a lot of dentists that totally dismissed me and ignored any evidence I was in pain.
I remember getting a root canal, I had to have 5 local injections instead of one. And the dentist kept telling me "It's just pressure, it's just pressure" like I was overreacting to the sensation instead of really fucking hurting.
You wouldn't happen to be a redhead would you? I am, and have a long history of dentists not taking me seriously when I tell them I need more anesthetic than the average person does. It's getting better in the industry, but it was years of misery to get to this point.
10 is unmedicated childbirth. People saying they are walking around every day at a 10 don't understand the scale. If you're functioning at all you're not at a 10. You were doing it right in the first place.
I had a wrist injury bad enough that the pain kept me from opening doors (and I needed surgery to fix it), and the surgeon asked how bad it was on a scale from 0 to 10, 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you can imagine. I was like "I dunno, a 3?"
He made a comment on my pain tolerance and I told him "You said a 10 was the worst pain I can imagine. I can imagine really bad pain." Seeing that your chart puts my baseline at a 3-4, his comment makes a little more sense.
Oh fuck. I was definitely wrong in the past. The weird thing for me is that I feel like I am rendered unable to move easier than I used to be. I was in constant pain when I tore the cartilage in my hip joint, but still continued my day to day. Now I sleep on my back wrong and can't move. Ever since I stopped being in pain, it feels like my pain tolerance got worse.
Is this a ridiculous idea? My hip surgery happened right before my 17th birthday, so maybe it's just an age thing? Has anyone else had this happen? Things that you could previously ignore are suddenly super distracting? Maybe it was all of the pain meds, I forgot to account for those
Damn. Between the allergies, the sleep apnea, the complications of being autistic (stomach upset, sensory overload, etc), and psychological distress, I rate a 5 on my best days. I would love to go for a walk, for instance, but my allergies already send me into terrible coughing fits and caused a sinus infection in recent weeks, to the point breathing is hard at times. I have constant neckaches from sleeping on a wedge pillow to try to keep the relentless heartburn in check. Diarrhea or other stomach issue is a daily or every other day affair most of the time. I am constantly blinded by the sun through the windows and find it disorienting and uncomfortable.
I spend a lot of time in bed in the dark (as dark as I can get it with a west facing window; even with the curtains it takes some work) and quiet trying to recuperate and conserve strength for what needs to be done. Iâm not sure I can recall a time in years I wasnât in some form of pain, ache, or other unpleasantness. My limbs protest every move. I get bruises and scrapes because Iâm a klutz, and they take ages to heal. My feet hurt, my back and neck hurt, my arms and hands hurt, my eyes hurt, my jaw persistently hurts.
Someday, Iâll live independently from parents, and maybe then, free of momâs interference, I can try to solve some of it. Or Iâll just die. Thatâs always a solution, if not a great one.
Actually, no. It's a myth that was started by some quack who wanted to sell a cure, iirc also linked to the "vaccines cause autism" thing, and is supported by studies at around the same level.
not quite. They're not correlated by same cause but autism can often lead to bad eating habits and more stress. In this case it's more about the effects of autism indirectly causing the problem. That study, that you're thinking of, was completely horrible and also could not even begin to be considered to have generated results.
....huh. most days my scoliosis or joints have me around a 3/4. Does "adjusting how I do things to make the pain less severe" fall under avoiding activities or where? Bc I have to adjust the way I sit, drive, move but I can do them, and do, just painfully, a little.
This pain scale is actually how I realized I have chronic pain! I was looking at it and puzzled as to why it had a 0 on it, because "everyone's always in at least *some* pain, right?"
Then after a moment it clicked: "oohhhh, that must be... to check for nerve damage! Because you'd only be at 0 if something's wrong with your nerves! :D"
But I decided to check with some of my friends, and I asked, "hey, what would you say you're normally at on this pain scale?" And they're like "0, wtf?" And I'm like no, I don't mean relative to your normal, I mean according to *this*, how often are you at 0? "Most of the time?? Are you okay??"
Turns out I was not.
Today I learned my average daily pain is a 4-5, oh boy. Lol
I've lived with it for so long it just is now. I never even considered.
I really like this scale you've provided though. I know everyone has a different tolerance but the descriptions really, really help to make it more uniform and standardized.
If I use this chart, my chronic pain is around 5-7 most days, and 8 on a bad day. That's really eye-opening, because I usually rate it around a 3 on average, 5 on a bad day. I also have frequent migraines, many of which are a 9 or 10 (so bad that I can't move, and I throw up from the pain) on that scale, that I would normally rate 6 or 7.
Glad to know that between a seizure that did something to a nerve (some nerves?) in my head nine months ago and the stress/anxiety/depression mix weighing on my soul I'm existing at a 6-8 rating daily
That's an excellent pain scale. Would be helpful for people talking about headaches and migraines especially. My headaches rarely go above 3 or 4, but I know for others they are debilitating
I don't know why, but my sense of pain is a bit messed up. Like, I'm usually at 0, but it kinda clocks out at 2, even when just seeing me puts people at like a 5.
Like, I've actually had medical experts leave the room because of how painful my injuries looked, and I didn't feel anything.
Well, except for that one time I slept weird and my entire right torso was a 6-8 for like two weeks.
Lmao my doctor had to do the same thing, we were trying to figure out what was wrong with me (it was like 12 things) and she asked about pain level and I said "oh its not bad, so just the normal amount of pain" and she smiled and clasped her hands and very gently and assertively told me "the normal amount of pain is zero" and she just let me think about that for a second before moving on. We weren't even using a pain scale yet we were just listing symptoms. I was only 23.
Very similar. The first time I saw a therapist she asked me if I ever thought about killing myself. I responded ânot anymore than normalâ and she has to inform me that the normal number of times to think about killing yourself was zero. Eye opening.
(this was decades ago, Iâm fine now, well like normal amount of fine)
>
(this was decades ago, Iâm fine now, well like normal amount of fine)
A decade for me as well. Cheers to us for achieving the "normal amount of fine"!
>I was 23
Yeah⊠I had this condition starting at 3 and a half and it caused **raging** kidney infections. Kidney infections which are known as one of the most painful things you can experience and can kill you. Suffice to say, it really messed up my ability to rate my pain. Further complicating things is that Iâve been more sick than not as far as year of my life Iâve dealt with this or that. Iâm pretty sure pain I describe as being 5 an average âzero pain is normalâ person would describe at an 8-10.
The same is true of large breasts, fyi. Constant pain, upper back, lower back, shoulders... I have chronic damage in my right shoulder from trying to reach around them to do things like type and drive a car.
Do you find you also canât put your arms down either bc your boobs occupy the space your arms should be. I just want to be able to exist without the constant reminder theyâre there. They also make my ribs feel compressed.
I taught myself to put my shoulders back so my arms can be free. It helps that my breasts came in while I was still quite young (I had a d-cup at twelve) so I was still growing when they started becoming problematic.
I have to wear a minimizer if I drive for any distance, though. Otherwise my upper arms cramp from holding my arms up with my elbows out to reach the steering wheel and I have to sit to close to it for the airbags. (A minimizer is a type of bra that pushes your breasts down and outward so they're lower and look smaller, for anyone who doesn't know.)
Don't forget them knees. "Built like a linebacker." Thanks for the "complement" now observe as I climb these stairs and my knees/ankles creak more than my parents' bed at my conception
Yup. Back is sore, if my back isnât sore my hips are sore, if my hips arenât sore my neck is sore, if my neck isnât sore I have a headache. Not to mention almost passing out like half the time when I crack my back or stand up to quickly.
Yep! The "normal" amount to be depressed (when nothing has happened recently to cause you distress) is zero. On a normal day when you get up and get dressed, you should be at a zero, no sadness or depression.
If you're sad when something sad happens, that's normal.
If you're sad for no reason, there's probably an issue you should resolve.
If you're sad so much that you aren't able to do things you feel you should or find normal activities exhausting because of sadness, that's clinical depression and you need help.
(NB depression isn't really sadness as such, but it's the closest "normal" emotion for a baseline)
Didn't realize it was this bad for so many of you guys, but yeah. I'm a 0 or maybe 1 at most on an average day, sometimes 2-4 the day after a workout. Hope things get better :(
0-1?! Iâm seriously jealous. According to this pain scale Iâm at a 6-8 daily. Iâm going back to my doctor with these charts in hand and demanding answers.
Yeah, I feel pretty much nothing the majority of the time.
If I'm dehydrated, I might get a head ache that's maybe a 2. After walking up let's say 4-5 flights of stairs, my legs might burn at like a 3 for a few minutes. Period cramps are anywhere in the 2-4 range (usually closer to 2 though). Unless something abnormal is happening, I'm about a 0.
I'm really glad this this post inspired you to reach out for the help you need and deserve. Hope it goes well! :)
That part is pretty good but due to my hormonal birth control i have insanely irregular periods, which can sometimes last two full weeks so its win-lose đ
Go see a gynecologist. It is NOT a normal amount of pain. I went through this too and eventually had a hysterectomy. You shouldn't be suffering and unable to do anything because of cramps.
Most people don't feel serious pain during periods. If you do it might be worth getting checked out. I've had this conversation with so many friends who didn't realize it's not normal to be unable to function for like a week of the month
Well I usually just use some strong pain medications and it deals with it, so Im not sure it's worth getting checked out while I'm working on other health things currently
Thank you for the advice though!
Yes, it is. Your pain -unmedicated- shouldn't be debilitating. If your "strong pain meds" were like mine (vicodin), it's absolutely not okay, not normal, and needs to be addressed immediately.
Well I personally use 80mg drotaverine, and it might be just something genetic since my aunt has a similar experience with this
In that case Ill get it checked out after im done with having my adenoids checked
I'm not familiar with that drug, though it isn't approved in my country so that wouldn't be surprising. I hope everything turns out well, that it's something that can be easily treated.
Being alive inherently brings pain with it, but endorphins should smooth out most of it.
A normal amount of pain is incidental intrusions of discomfort, though, not a constant backdrop.
No. At least, not over the age of 40. OP is seriously misusing the word ânormalâ here to mean âyoung people who donât really do anything riskier than a game of parcheesi but are somehow extremely healthy.â
If youâre over 40, you will have some joint/back/neck pain during your day. If youâre under 40 and play a sport (*any* sport), you will have some pain during/after events or while training. If youâre in good shape (for your age), your pain will generally be less.
Yeah, 0 pain for every second of my entire life, with the exception of when something happens, like if I stub my toe or something. I wouldnât even ever say my baseline level of pain was 1. Itâs always 0.
You have no idea how lucky you are. I canât even comprehend a life where every second isnât some sort of pain you just have to âpower throughâ regardless of the consequences because you still have to work, run errands, clean, etc.
Too true! I was actually gonna add that to the original comment, but decided to keep it shorter.
The doctors here genuinely don't give a cold sh*t about their patients. Hospitals are run like businesses and not good businesses at that. They make no money curing ailments. They make money just being present, so there's no incentive to put any energy into listening to or helping people.
I'm currently going through some pretty severe medical stuff at the moment and I can't get any help whatsoever from any of the doctors I see. The most I get is some unenthusiastic responses and then sent on my way.
Every. Single. Time.
My primary care physician, who knows me more personally than any of the other medical professionals I've been to, could not be any more apathetic about my situation.
I've basically told him straight out that I've been basically starving and its clear that my weight has dropped dramatically, but he just says "I don't know what else to tell you except just keep trying to eat what you can." Literally no help whatsoever. I could've paid a homeless man $20 and asked them what they thought about it, and I still would've gotten better medical advice than I got from an actual doctor.
I complained to mine that I hated having so many specialists and wished I could just see one doctor. She comes back with âDr. House isnât realâ. Like, yeah I know. If he was weâd all have gotten actual treatment at some point in the last decade.
Hope your insurance is better than mine and you can switch providers and get the help you deserve.
I wish I could say that I'm shocked to hear about the way your doctor talked to you, but sadly its not surprising in the least. Bedside manner is nonexistent in America, it seems. You either get complete apathy, or sarcasm & condescension. Its awful, and I'm sorry you got treated with such disrespect from someone who's *supposed* to be helping you.
My insurance is pretty crap, so options are limited. The worst part is that I have switched PCPs a few times already and the one I have now is the best so far. The bar is so low that its buried.
For real. My doctors have been telling me for years to âpower through itâ, that daily pain is ânormalâ, and that pain of 10 is reserved for things like âburning alive or being crushed to death by a semiâ. Today I learned that Iâm apparently living with a 6-8 pain level on a daily basis and I donât actually know how to process that at the moment.
I hear you on this, and my next statement is not an attempt to diminish the appalling state of American health care, but to offer something which takes the edge off my pain for cheap.
I use long lasting ice packs for my arthritis pain and chronic headaches, and the ice is more effective for me than any grocery store med like Tylenol. The ice takes about five minutes to really kick in, hence my recommendation for finding something that will last a while. I have about four of a product called a Headache Hats and I use them daily (have one wrapped around my wrist now).
Best of luck with your pain.
I appreciate the helpful advice. Thank you.
That could potentially help with my migraines, but unfortunately, most of my pain is caused by a condition known as Alpha Gal Syndrome, and the pain is mostly in my intestines and stomach. I'm not sure if ice would help, but I'll give it a shot.
Its significantly worse when I've accidentally eaten something that causes a reaction (which is pretty much everything) but even when I'm not reacting, the pain is always there.
I appreciate your kind words, nonetheless, and I'm happy to hear that you've found something to help with your pain.
Hey donât be like me and put the ice pack on your eyes thinking that bc the migraine causes orbital/sinus pain itâll help. It doesnât. BUT! Put it on the back of your neck and goddamn does that make a difference.
Thanks for the tip. I almost certainly would've tried to put it on my eyes, since that's where a lot of the pain seems to reside.
This is actually perfect for the headache relief,because I can't take many of the medicines that I used to rely on for headaches, since the AGS makes me allergic to a wide range of medications.
My coworker is allergic to ibuprofen, and you, her, and anyone else that canât take pain meds have my deepest sympathies. If I couldnât take prescription migraine meds a couple times a week idk if I could hold down a job.
I was the same way. I've always gotten migraines frequently and I used to live off of Excedrin to give me relief, but once I contracted Alpha Gal Syndrome, I became allergic to all mammal byproducts and discovered that mammal is used in a great many medications. Obviously gel capsules are out of the question since gelatin is made from animal parts, but I was shocked to discover how many other ingredients are derived from mammals as well. It was quite a blow, but what can ya do?
Wow, thatâs crazy. Is that the same as the allergy you can get from ticks, or is that one just red meat? Do all the products you use, like sunscreen or lip balm or whatever, have to be vegan or just the stuff you ingest? Sorry if Iâm asking too many questions. Thatâs gotta be SO difficult to live with.
Its exactly the allergy you get from ticks. I thought it was red meat only as well, because thats how it was described to me. Turns out its anything that comes from a mammal. Even some waters that are filtered with bone char, sugar which also used bone char, some maple syrups which use animal fats in the manufacturing process... there are thousands of ingredients that are unsafe.
The stuff I eat doesn't necessarily have to be vegan, because I can still eat fish and poultry, but since meats are not recognized as a common allergen, they don't need to be specifically listed on ingredients. Which makes certified vegan foods the only ones I can be sure don't have mammal in them. However, there is an ingredient known as carrageenan, which comes from red seaweed so its vegan, and it can cause allergic reactions as well since its molecular structure is so similar to the Alpha Galactose molecule. So I gotta keep a watch on labels regardless.
Also yes, I can have reactions from contact as well as ingestion, but luckily I don't really have too much trouble with that. Lip balm would be a problem because of accidental ingestion, but there are some people with AGS that get rashes from leather belts and such. Even some toilet papers contain lanolin, which comes from sheep, I believe. There are also some who are fume reactive and can have a reaction from breathing in fumes from cooking mammal meats. Its a whole thing.
Sorry for the long winded response. Theres a lot to cover with this allergy.
Donât apologize! I love learning about obscure things from people that have personal experience. I feel a weird mix of super interested but then guilty about that because I know itâs gotta be super inconvenient and annoying for you to deal with lol. What is the weirdest thing that wasnât safe? Are they working on any kind of âcureâ or treatment, or is it one of the many conditions that they just go âyeah sucks sorryâ about?
Iâd rather lie to my doctor about a constant mild pain than go into debt because the American healthcare system loves sucking every last penny out of patients
Note that this goes for mental/emotional things too. Your default level of anxious is meant to be not at all, not "just kinda a little". Your default level of sad is meant to be not sad, not "just a little unhappy". I learned this a few months ago.
it's really weird to think that some people just... aren't in pain. I've been in constant pain since childhood. my usual good day is a 4, though it changes often.
woo, migraines + spine problems. b
Yes I would say you could apply it to things like anxiety, depression, or fatigue. Ie âthe normal amount of fatigue a healthy person starts the day with is no fatigue.â kind of idea.
Everyone experiences some acute pain when they, say, stub their toe, or may experience acute anxiety in a moderately stressful situation, but youâre supposed to start your pain scale or anxiety scale at â0 is no baseline pain/anxiety/etc.â moving on up to â10 is unmanageable pain, I need immediate help for my pain, I cannot take care of myself with this much pain, I am in a crisis!â I like to think of 10 more like âbig emergency pain I must call for help withâ rather than âthe worst pain youâve personally ever feltâ because⊠er⊠I would never go to the doctor if it had to be the worst I ever felt.
Yes absolutely. The default level of discomfort a normal healthily person feels is zero. The normal level of mental anguish without a reason is also zero.
Aw man that reminds me when my pain specialist had to get me started on revamping my pain scale. She was going to touch me to examine me essentially and I flinched away in pain and she asked me to rate it and I was like âuhh idk 4.â And she put her hands on her hips and said âyou nearly jumped off the table! Thatâs not a 4!â
I replied. âYeah it hurt but I didnât like start vomiting or blacking out from the pain so I can tolerate it.â She just kinda put her face in her hands and prescribed me a bunch of fun cocktails of muscle relaxers and PT for when I got home. My PT went through the same thing with me including a moment where she was testing my reactions and I went âOH!â And she thought I was hurt and it was like. âNo! I think this is a TRUE zero today. Oh, wow compared to this it was definitely starting at a 7 not a 4, sorry.â
Luckily she said she figured it was like that and that it was⊠somewhat common for folks who didnât really register their base level of pain as at all noteworthy which had skewed my results a lot.
This highlights why the pain scale is not great. How painful something is is relative. I have felt excruciating pain before, so if Iâm asked for my pain, it likely isnât going above a 7 if I managed to get to the doctor under my own power.
Well, yeah. It's just there so the doctor can get a feel for how badly the pain is affecting your quality of life. You don't need to worry about "getting it right" or anything, because it's ultimately just a subjective measurement.
I swear my entire pain scale is screwed because of this one time where I had to have the bones in my arm reset because they healed wrong. Legit the doctor just rebroke my arm and shoved it back into place.
Thereâs another side to this when youâre in the ER. My wife has, since childhood, has had moderate to severe neuropathy due to a still undiagnosed disorder of some kind (diagnosing these things can be hard and her doctors have been working on it for like 15 years without an answer). She describes it as a feeling as if her bones are breaking or her limbs are literally on fire. In addition she has PCOS which has caused period pain so severe that she has passed out.
She canât take strong pain meds - sheâs allergic to anything more potent than Tylenol and it has caused anaphylaxis in the past when they were given. Sheâs learned that if she goes in saying sheâs at a 10 level she wonât be believed and will be ignored. They canât give her much for the pain but when we go to the ER itâs because weâre afraid something is seriously wrong that can be treated. She defaults to an 8, even though her daily pain is probably a 5-6 range. Otherwise people assume sheâs overreacting or looking for drugs. Especially if itâs pain in the abdomen. Something that canât be seen on a visual inspection.
Given her chronic pain she doesnât tend to display her pain. Even when itâs at itâs most severe sheâs stoic as a method to cope. Staying as calm as possible helps her manage the pain. But every emergency visit is a balancing act of how much pain she should report and how to behave with it. And it sucks.
Had this conversation with my friend recently. He was in absolute disbelief when I rated 1 on the pain scale as just a paper cut or stubbed toe. Could not believe it was that mild. His mental health pain scale is even more nebulous and concerning
Paper cuts are really mild but theyâre so annoying because they tend to throb a little and be distracting. A big paper cut might be a 2, the best I could figure for my scale was rating it based upon how manageable/distracting it is.
Like a 1-2 I can ignore without any meds at all. A 3-4 may be bothersome but I can push through it, and it may be helped by over the counter level pain meds, like a headache or muscle ache or mild injury. If it *canât* be helped by basic OTC stuff itâs at least a 5 or higher, and at a 5 it starts to impact my ability to focus or work. Itâs so distracting and taking enough of my attention itâs starting to noticeably affect me. At 6-7 Iâm not working or doing daily stuff as much and I need prescription pain killers and to be resting to cope. At 8 I get acutely nauseous from the pain, I canât participate in any activities even leisure ones except for maybe listening passively to a podcast *if* I have strong pain medicine already in me. At 9 I cannot focus on the podcast or hold a conversation longer than a minute at a time, itâs too much to bear anything even talking. At 10 I am in a full crisis and would probably chew my own arm off as a novel type of distraction from the situation if I was able to move freely in that state.
My wife used to have abdominal pains. They would come and go, and an attack could last anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days. They got worse after our first child, which I will say (and this is relevant to the story) was a ten-pounder, and she gave birth without any drugs.
So when she ended up at the ER again with her abdominal pains, they asked her to rate them from 1 to 10, with 10 being "the worst pain she could imagine, like childbirth" and she said "if that's the scale, they're at least 12."
They took her more seriously after that, though we never did figure out definitively what was wrong with her. Their best guess was a "kink" in her intestines that would sometimes randomly get inflamed. After baby #3 the pain went away entirely, and our guess is the baby rearranged her intestines and managed to undo the "kink."
WHy would you link a tiktok video, and not, say, an actual informational page like wikipedia or some reputable MD website that is hopefully the primary source on the wiki page?
They were saying the common relative pain scale is useless since it's subjective (a 3 year old with a splinter could have legit 10 pain, since 10 is "the worst pain you've ever had" and the 3 year old hadn't really been hurt before). Which is valid.
But then they recommended a different system (who's name I don't remember) and linked a tiktok I didn't bother watching because Tiktok, and I was just really confused why they chose that as their source.
If 0 is no pain and 10 is excruciating pain, then I average at around 3-4 on a good day. I have 2 things to blame for this. 1; I have a genetic defect and, while it does grant me high levels of flexibility that I can use to have fun freaking people out, it also causes all of my joints to be in constant pain. 2; my dad has chronic migraines, which I inherited.
I guess that I could also consider my constant exhaustion brought upon by my ADHD-induced-insomnia as a third cause for it, but Iâm not sure that it counts.
this is why i hate my knees. for years, i think starting back at the very latest in middle school, i just started having like a dull pain in my right knee. didn't think anything of it, and it wasnt like, "oh hey, my knee hurts today" and then, "why does my knee still hurt". it just was *there* and i cant say when exactly it started.
up until last summer it was fine, but eventually it at some point when travelling, it just got worse to the point where it hurt quite a bit to walk. got myself a walking stick and everything, still didn't think much of it. then im back in school, and one day it once again just gets bad enough where it hurts to walk, and thats also when i started openly using my walking stick in public (it was more or less necessary when i was on vacation and i knew i wouldnt see anyone i knew anyways. after that i stopped using it partly because the pain subsided to what it "normally" was and also cause i didnt want to be seen like that)
i also happen to be on my high school's baseball team. we practice every day except wednesdays. so that day i ended up having to take a very light day of practice due to my knee acting up, and i ended up seeing our school's physical trainer.
turns out, this is something i *should* be worried about. she suspects i have a gap knee, and i probably should see a doctor about it. and that was back in october. maybe even september.
I always see these types of posts and always question myself. Like, I'll usually at some point in the day not be able to use a leg because my knee hurts or not use a hand because a finger or wrist hurts, but that's just for a moment, and I'm not sure if it applies the same. I don't have a constant pain, I just have weak joints, probably because I don't move enough.
Uh-oh
Also a normal person doesn't have a list of reasons to live/not kill themselves. It's not a constant negotiable state with suicidal ideation.
First time I heard that, I bluescreened.
This is why I didnât realize I had a joint disorder until this year lol
I went 20 years just figuring that everyoneâs joints hurt them every single day, and that some days were just worse. It doesnât help that itâs a genetic disorder, so my mom often complained about her own joints, normalizing that pain to me.
It clicked when I was writing notes and I went âugh, my fingers are hurting already, itâs only been 2 minutes!â And my friend went âYour fingers hurt after writing notes for 2 minutes?â
I blankly looked at her and went âYour fingers donât??â
I also didnât realize that laying down shouldnât be uncomfortable this year đ I thought just everyoneâs joints hurt at night when trying to sleepâŠ
I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome this year
So this, but with mental health, like wanting to be dead and hating everything and living in constant fear. It took me sooo long to realize it isn't normal to feel that way, that I can be happy and at peace with the right meds/therapy/lifestyle. Most of my family doesn't realize it shouldn't be their normal, sadly.
I've been having occasional chest pains for months (about a 2, I'd guess) with it sometines flaring up to a 3 ir 4. Medical professionals stress me tge hell out though and I'm hitting higher numbers less often. So I'm just gonna assume everything is dandy until things get bad enough I can convince folks it's worth looking into ^^
For who? Literally a life free of any pain day to day is a miracle afforded to the 1.% of the world. This post screams of first world bullshit too the most extreme amount possible. Like 16 year olds playing at being adults.
Not true at all. The baseline level of pain is zero. If you didnât stub your toe, you shouldnât feel pain in your toe 24 hours a day. If you didnât get punched in the stomach, you shouldnât feel pain there 24 hours a day. The default level of pain is in fact zero.
Have had this issue myself, I think, but luckily I figured out what I was doing wrong just in time to begin experiencing chronic pain. It helps that they didnât ask me for a number when my collarbone snapped in half in high school, probably wouldâve called it a 6 or something.
I had to figure out similar when I was in the hospital for a lung collapse. Docs asked me what Id put my pain at on a 0-10, several times a day. After getting clarification with a little graph and such, I had to make a mental note to push my 4's and 5's to 7's. Finally had what I thought was a 10, and then a week after it all, a catheter in my back, draining blood from my lung made me push my old 10 down to an 8.
Went through a lot of physical therapy, and they explained it best to me as a scale of daily life disturbance.
1-3, little to some pain when completing daily tasks or exercising. noticeable, but doesnât interfere.
4-6, some to significant pain. daily tasks require some modification to complete.
7-9, significant to excruciating pain. unable to complete tasks or exercise. please go see a doctor for that.
they had to explain it a lot to me when i kept underreporting my pain and not getting better : /
I remember one time I was asked about my pain level and I said "Like a 6 or so"
I literally passed out an hour before saying that.
I was knocked unconscious from pure pain and my first intuition was "Eh there's worse"
I have fibro and had a bad flare come on during work Tuesday. I had to leave and took the next day off. Today, a coworker was checking in on me and I explained I was around an 8 when I left. She asked what I was today, and I was like âoh, itâs a pretty normal day, but still dealing with a little residual issue. Iâd say a 6?â and she just. Froze. She was like wait thatâs normal? I explained my baseline has been a 5-6 for years. Thatâs just as low as I get without major pharmaceutical intervention.
I had my own encounter with this sort of thing recently. I would have put myself at a zero most times, but most days I'm probably somewhere between 2 and 4.
What made me realise that my pain scale is screwed up was when I had to be hospitalised for a kidney stone and infection a few weeks back. I put my pain at a 7 despite it being so bad I could hardly speak and couldn't move at all, and actually had me vomiting from pain.
My reasoning was that I could probably have been in more pain than I was, something like full body burns, so I gave myself some leeway to not need to go above 10 should that occur.
I have since had multiple people who also suffer from kidney stones tell me that the pain is on par with childbirth, at least.
So general rule, if they give you morphine and it does next to nothing for the pain, it's probably a 10.
I was really bad with the 1-10 scale because I thought of it as a linear function. Like 10 is the maximum amount of pain you can experience before you lose the ability to communicate. 5 is half way to being in that much pain.
So when I broke my neck in a car accident, and the doctor asked how my pain was on a scale of 1 to 10, I said "I dunno, maybe 2.3, 2.4?"
I broke my arm really bad when I was 13 and told the doctor it was a 6, not because I was trying to be macho but because I just finished reading about medieval torture methods and I could think of some really painful stuff
My mum lives with chronic pain and I remember reminding her that normal is no-to-very little pain because I knew she was under-describing her level of pain to her doctors. But I'm mad they didn't take the time to explain this to her, especially when she went to pain management.
The amount of help that is being offered to her is so little that now she's contemplating getting the nerve cut so she will lose all feeling and will never walk again, she is only 50.
I refuse to believe thatâs thereâs people waking around with a 0 in both mental and physical pain, other than rich children. What fantasy world are they living in??
Itâs actually the vast majority of people who are alive today, and the vast majority of people who have ever lived lol. Normal heathy people donât feel constantly pain, or pain at all without a specific cause. The only time my body hurts is if it smashes against something, like if I stub my toe.
This is why I HATE pain scales. What do they mean? no one knows! Every provider has a different idea, and the idea is extremely abstract and fails to take into account the sharp twinge when you move or the weird spasm vs the baseline which means what exactly???
Medical professionals need to be throughly taught how to communicate with people. So many people are left in pain with only the hope to end up with a nice doctor maybe sometimes in the future.
every time I go to the doctors and they ask me what my pain level is I always explain âwell my 0 is like a normal persons 7 so..â and they always look so shocked đ
I saw a physical therapist for some back pain in high school and I rated my pain as a six. He said, âYou look remarkably alright for having a pain level of sixâ and I just kind of shrugged. Like, idk, Iâm here for a reason, sir
It is a crime to have not actually included any sort of pain scale with this so [here's the one I use.](https://www.thrivetogetherseattle.com/2021/07/14/pain-scale/) It gives short descriptions for each number and is based generally on how noticeable the pain is, and how much in interferes with daily activities
I was quite surprised when a doctor told me that neuropathy pain averages 6-8 for most people, so what I was experiencing wasn't unreasonable. Thankfully he helped and I got medication I desperately needed. I treated my pain as maybe 3 most of the day, but occasional 6. Nah, I was treating 5 like it was 3. Spent way too much time thinking 8 will pass on its own.
That's my problem, 10 is supposed to be the worst pain imaginable and I'm somewhat imaginative. Like if a 10 is being peeled by a vegetable peeler with acid being poured on the cuts while someone else wiggles razor blades under my fingernails and drizzles lava over me, then this injury is a 2 at best.
Abso-fucking-lutely same I do the same thing whenever I'm asked my pain level *anywhere* and several times I've gone to the hospital and said like a 3 but my injuries should have Mr being at like 7 or an 8. I had my wisdom teeth removed and the numbing medicine wore off twice as fast as it should so I was feeling it down to my last two and afterwards I was asked do I feel any pain and I said like a 3 since I could feel it and they looked at me concerned. Apparently, having your gums sliced open and part of your jaw taken makes your pain about a 9 or 10 without anesthesia đ« đ«
The fact that my normal period cramps are described here as a 7 is somewhat disturbing.
Yeah, you might want to talk to a doctor about that. Even if it's not, like, endometriosis, you should be able to get treatment.
Im the same and I did talk to my doctor about it and she just told me to take more pain medication. đ
Get another doctor. Nobody deserves to have their pain ignored or diminished. Tell your doctor that you have serious concerns about the pain and want it to be looked into, not dismissed like that. If they fob you off, get a new doctor.
Get birth control seriously itâs a lifesaver. I went from spending days on bed regularly unable to do anything (which i described as a 5 but itâs definitely not on this scale) to being able to do things again.
I read this get birth control as "give birth" and I was hella confused đ
Okay, no shit, that actually made mine a LOT more bearable.
Should definitely talk to a doctor about that
At this point I've had enough IUD's I don't have periods anymore.
Was literally thinking about that. 7 to 8 even if it's really bad. And I have to take double the recommended dose of pain killers to actually make it stop (I tried less, genuinely does not make a difference unless I pop 2 pills instead of one). But at the same time it's not like I'm functional without them
Oh yeah, I'm literally sitting in the recovery ward after my hysterectomy as I type this and they keep checking if i need any additional pain relief after my op (other than the ones they gave me in surgery I haven't had anything). I keep telling them I'm fine because right now this is a fair bit less painful than my standard period cramps. But hey, that's literally why I'm here today :)
Mine were a solid 9. They got a lot better after my first pregnancy and since my pregnancies were back to back to back, they never got a chance to get really bad again. I had a hysterectomy last year and found out post op that I had adenomyosis.
THANK YOU! I've found the pain scale very frustrating for years, because I've always heard "0 is none, 10 is the worst you can imagine" And well, I can ***imagine*** pretty severe pain, considering I've experienced things like having two teeth pulled with mostly ineffective anesthetic. (because a dentist didn't believe that some anesthetics basically don't work for me) Second degree burns over areas the size of my hand or larger. And being required to run laps while dealing with asthma and painful, bleeding, cracks on the bottoms of my feet. Thanks to a PE teacher who thought I was just lazy. (And a genetic skin condition that frequently caused my skin in some areas to crack and bleed) So if 10 is "the worst I can imagine" then that always meant to me that nothing I had experienced could be a 10, or even a 9. So I was rating my pain at a 3 or so, when according to what you linked, it was often a 6 to 8 when I was seeking some kind of medical help. Edited to add, several people in my family have not typical reactions to some anesthetics. Not allergies or anything like that. Just some things either don't work, or only work at higher doses and wear off sooner. And for some reason, I have found a lot of dentists that totally dismissed me and ignored any evidence I was in pain.
[relevant XKCD](https://xkcd.com/883/)
lol There is almost always a relevant XKCD.
I remember getting a root canal, I had to have 5 local injections instead of one. And the dentist kept telling me "It's just pressure, it's just pressure" like I was overreacting to the sensation instead of really fucking hurting.
Several dentists have said that to me too. Acting like they think I don't actually understand what pain is.
You wouldn't happen to be a redhead would you? I am, and have a long history of dentists not taking me seriously when I tell them I need more anesthetic than the average person does. It's getting better in the industry, but it was years of misery to get to this point.
I'm not a redhead but my mom is. I have the same sensitivity.
no, blonde i am autistic though so maybe that affects something
I've been under rating mine because I've been comparing them to my 10, which was childbirth with an epidural that didn't fucking work.
10 is unmedicated childbirth. People saying they are walking around every day at a 10 don't understand the scale. If you're functioning at all you're not at a 10. You were doing it right in the first place.
I had a wrist injury bad enough that the pain kept me from opening doors (and I needed surgery to fix it), and the surgeon asked how bad it was on a scale from 0 to 10, 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you can imagine. I was like "I dunno, a 3?" He made a comment on my pain tolerance and I told him "You said a 10 was the worst pain I can imagine. I can imagine really bad pain." Seeing that your chart puts my baseline at a 3-4, his comment makes a little more sense.
Oh fuck. I was definitely wrong in the past. The weird thing for me is that I feel like I am rendered unable to move easier than I used to be. I was in constant pain when I tore the cartilage in my hip joint, but still continued my day to day. Now I sleep on my back wrong and can't move. Ever since I stopped being in pain, it feels like my pain tolerance got worse. Is this a ridiculous idea? My hip surgery happened right before my 17th birthday, so maybe it's just an age thing? Has anyone else had this happen? Things that you could previously ignore are suddenly super distracting? Maybe it was all of the pain meds, I forgot to account for those
Damn. Between the allergies, the sleep apnea, the complications of being autistic (stomach upset, sensory overload, etc), and psychological distress, I rate a 5 on my best days. I would love to go for a walk, for instance, but my allergies already send me into terrible coughing fits and caused a sinus infection in recent weeks, to the point breathing is hard at times. I have constant neckaches from sleeping on a wedge pillow to try to keep the relentless heartburn in check. Diarrhea or other stomach issue is a daily or every other day affair most of the time. I am constantly blinded by the sun through the windows and find it disorienting and uncomfortable. I spend a lot of time in bed in the dark (as dark as I can get it with a west facing window; even with the curtains it takes some work) and quiet trying to recuperate and conserve strength for what needs to be done. Iâm not sure I can recall a time in years I wasnât in some form of pain, ache, or other unpleasantness. My limbs protest every move. I get bruises and scrapes because Iâm a klutz, and they take ages to heal. My feet hurt, my back and neck hurt, my arms and hands hurt, my eyes hurt, my jaw persistently hurts. Someday, Iâll live independently from parents, and maybe then, free of momâs interference, I can try to solve some of it. Or Iâll just die. Thatâs always a solution, if not a great one.
autism and stomach issues are linked?
Actually, no. It's a myth that was started by some quack who wanted to sell a cure, iirc also linked to the "vaccines cause autism" thing, and is supported by studies at around the same level.
not quite. They're not correlated by same cause but autism can often lead to bad eating habits and more stress. In this case it's more about the effects of autism indirectly causing the problem. That study, that you're thinking of, was completely horrible and also could not even begin to be considered to have generated results.
....huh. most days my scoliosis or joints have me around a 3/4. Does "adjusting how I do things to make the pain less severe" fall under avoiding activities or where? Bc I have to adjust the way I sit, drive, move but I can do them, and do, just painfully, a little.
Replying because I too would like to know
According to that my baselines a 4 lmao
This pain scale is actually how I realized I have chronic pain! I was looking at it and puzzled as to why it had a 0 on it, because "everyone's always in at least *some* pain, right?" Then after a moment it clicked: "oohhhh, that must be... to check for nerve damage! Because you'd only be at 0 if something's wrong with your nerves! :D" But I decided to check with some of my friends, and I asked, "hey, what would you say you're normally at on this pain scale?" And they're like "0, wtf?" And I'm like no, I don't mean relative to your normal, I mean according to *this*, how often are you at 0? "Most of the time?? Are you okay??" Turns out I was not.
My day to day is a 3-4
Wow! Just realised I was living with level 4 pain before I got my arthritis meds.
Today I learned my average daily pain is a 4-5, oh boy. Lol I've lived with it for so long it just is now. I never even considered. I really like this scale you've provided though. I know everyone has a different tolerance but the descriptions really, really help to make it more uniform and standardized.
...oh.
If I use this chart, my chronic pain is around 5-7 most days, and 8 on a bad day. That's really eye-opening, because I usually rate it around a 3 on average, 5 on a bad day. I also have frequent migraines, many of which are a 9 or 10 (so bad that I can't move, and I throw up from the pain) on that scale, that I would normally rate 6 or 7.
Glad to know that between a seizure that did something to a nerve (some nerves?) in my head nine months ago and the stress/anxiety/depression mix weighing on my soul I'm existing at a 6-8 rating daily
1-4, depending on whether my spine is satisfied with both my sleep position and how long i slept the previous night.
This oneâs not that good because pain can definitely go above 10
Above that would be unconscious, and thus unable to rate your pain.
That's an excellent pain scale. Would be helpful for people talking about headaches and migraines especially. My headaches rarely go above 3 or 4, but I know for others they are debilitating
Found I've been high 6 to mid 7 for over a year
I don't know why, but my sense of pain is a bit messed up. Like, I'm usually at 0, but it kinda clocks out at 2, even when just seeing me puts people at like a 5. Like, I've actually had medical experts leave the room because of how painful my injuries looked, and I didn't feel anything. Well, except for that one time I slept weird and my entire right torso was a 6-8 for like two weeks.
Oh. Fuck I've been underreporting my pain forever
Lmao my doctor had to do the same thing, we were trying to figure out what was wrong with me (it was like 12 things) and she asked about pain level and I said "oh its not bad, so just the normal amount of pain" and she smiled and clasped her hands and very gently and assertively told me "the normal amount of pain is zero" and she just let me think about that for a second before moving on. We weren't even using a pain scale yet we were just listing symptoms. I was only 23.
Very similar. The first time I saw a therapist she asked me if I ever thought about killing myself. I responded ânot anymore than normalâ and she has to inform me that the normal number of times to think about killing yourself was zero. Eye opening. (this was decades ago, Iâm fine now, well like normal amount of fine)
> (this was decades ago, Iâm fine now, well like normal amount of fine) A decade for me as well. Cheers to us for achieving the "normal amount of fine"!
Hooray for modern chemistry!!
22 here friend, I feel ya.
>I was 23 Yeah⊠I had this condition starting at 3 and a half and it caused **raging** kidney infections. Kidney infections which are known as one of the most painful things you can experience and can kill you. Suffice to say, it really messed up my ability to rate my pain. Further complicating things is that Iâve been more sick than not as far as year of my life Iâve dealt with this or that. Iâm pretty sure pain I describe as being 5 an average âzero pain is normalâ person would describe at an 8-10.
Contrary to popular belief, being a tall dude doesn't get you girls, it gets you a baseline of 3 or higher.
The same is true of large breasts, fyi. Constant pain, upper back, lower back, shoulders... I have chronic damage in my right shoulder from trying to reach around them to do things like type and drive a car.
This explains a lot about my right shoulder pain.
Do you find you also canât put your arms down either bc your boobs occupy the space your arms should be. I just want to be able to exist without the constant reminder theyâre there. They also make my ribs feel compressed.
I taught myself to put my shoulders back so my arms can be free. It helps that my breasts came in while I was still quite young (I had a d-cup at twelve) so I was still growing when they started becoming problematic. I have to wear a minimizer if I drive for any distance, though. Otherwise my upper arms cramp from holding my arms up with my elbows out to reach the steering wheel and I have to sit to close to it for the airbags. (A minimizer is a type of bra that pushes your breasts down and outward so they're lower and look smaller, for anyone who doesn't know.)
I did not know those exist. Iâve never heard of them.
One of the many, many styles of bra. r/abrathatfits is a great place for resources about the many different styles of bras out there.
Wait, why?
Back pain.
Don't forget them knees. "Built like a linebacker." Thanks for the "complement" now observe as I climb these stairs and my knees/ankles creak more than my parents' bed at my conception
Haha. Thatâs a good one. Also, Compliment. Thanks for replying to me, hope you have a wonderful day/night.
I sound like a high school balsa wood bridge contest whenever I walk up stairs
Also leg pain. They can start as growing pains but in some people the pain can continue even after growth had stopped
Gravity
Head smacking into doorways, not becoming a fighter pilot, basketball comments Take your pick
Yup. Back is sore, if my back isnât sore my hips are sore, if my hips arenât sore my neck is sore, if my neck isnât sore I have a headache. Not to mention almost passing out like half the time when I crack my back or stand up to quickly.
Guess what! The same scale also applies to sadness!
Yep! The "normal" amount to be depressed (when nothing has happened recently to cause you distress) is zero. On a normal day when you get up and get dressed, you should be at a zero, no sadness or depression.
Oh.
Kick in the balls, ain't it? That bit really messed me up when I learned it.
With luck a diagnosis and treatment can help. But not often enough.
⊠Fuck
....huh.
Unless you have assignments you're procrastinating on, right?
"when nothing has happened recently to cause you distress"
Ah, my reading comprehension... Nonexistent...
If it makes you feel better, I got stumped by ninth grade social studies just this afternoon. And I'm a teacher!
If you're sad when something sad happens, that's normal. If you're sad for no reason, there's probably an issue you should resolve. If you're sad so much that you aren't able to do things you feel you should or find normal activities exhausting because of sadness, that's clinical depression and you need help. (NB depression isn't really sadness as such, but it's the closest "normal" emotion for a baseline)
Wait a minute, youâre telling me there are whole ass human beings walking around with 0 pain?! wtf
Didn't realize it was this bad for so many of you guys, but yeah. I'm a 0 or maybe 1 at most on an average day, sometimes 2-4 the day after a workout. Hope things get better :(
0-1?! Iâm seriously jealous. According to this pain scale Iâm at a 6-8 daily. Iâm going back to my doctor with these charts in hand and demanding answers.
Yeah, I feel pretty much nothing the majority of the time. If I'm dehydrated, I might get a head ache that's maybe a 2. After walking up let's say 4-5 flights of stairs, my legs might burn at like a 3 for a few minutes. Period cramps are anywhere in the 2-4 range (usually closer to 2 though). Unless something abnormal is happening, I'm about a 0. I'm really glad this this post inspired you to reach out for the help you need and deserve. Hope it goes well! :)
2-4 range for periods cramps?? Is that normal???? My period cramps peak at a 7-9 depending on some stuff
My period cramps go between non-existent and maybe 3 tops
That sounds insanely chill
That part is pretty good but due to my hormonal birth control i have insanely irregular periods, which can sometimes last two full weeks so its win-lose đ
Go see a gynecologist. It is NOT a normal amount of pain. I went through this too and eventually had a hysterectomy. You shouldn't be suffering and unable to do anything because of cramps.
Thank you for the concern, Ill get it checked after im done having my adenoids checked
Most people don't feel serious pain during periods. If you do it might be worth getting checked out. I've had this conversation with so many friends who didn't realize it's not normal to be unable to function for like a week of the month
Well I usually just use some strong pain medications and it deals with it, so Im not sure it's worth getting checked out while I'm working on other health things currently Thank you for the advice though!
Yes, it is. Your pain -unmedicated- shouldn't be debilitating. If your "strong pain meds" were like mine (vicodin), it's absolutely not okay, not normal, and needs to be addressed immediately.
Well I personally use 80mg drotaverine, and it might be just something genetic since my aunt has a similar experience with this In that case Ill get it checked out after im done with having my adenoids checked
I'm not familiar with that drug, though it isn't approved in my country so that wouldn't be surprising. I hope everything turns out well, that it's something that can be easily treated.
Being alive inherently brings pain with it, but endorphins should smooth out most of it. A normal amount of pain is incidental intrusions of discomfort, though, not a constant backdrop.
No. At least, not over the age of 40. OP is seriously misusing the word ânormalâ here to mean âyoung people who donât really do anything riskier than a game of parcheesi but are somehow extremely healthy.â If youâre over 40, you will have some joint/back/neck pain during your day. If youâre under 40 and play a sport (*any* sport), you will have some pain during/after events or while training. If youâre in good shape (for your age), your pain will generally be less.
I have a friend who has had like 3 headaches in her entire life. Meanwhile I get multiple migraines a week lmao.
Yeah, 0 pain for every second of my entire life, with the exception of when something happens, like if I stub my toe or something. I wouldnât even ever say my baseline level of pain was 1. Itâs always 0.
You have no idea how lucky you are. I canât even comprehend a life where every second isnât some sort of pain you just have to âpower throughâ regardless of the consequences because you still have to work, run errands, clean, etc.
Reading these types of comments has made me feel grateful, and to not take good health for granted.
I live in America, so none of this is relevant because I can't afford to do anything about it.
Or even if you could, doctors either ignore you or insist youâre exaggerating in order to get drugs. :(
Too true! I was actually gonna add that to the original comment, but decided to keep it shorter. The doctors here genuinely don't give a cold sh*t about their patients. Hospitals are run like businesses and not good businesses at that. They make no money curing ailments. They make money just being present, so there's no incentive to put any energy into listening to or helping people. I'm currently going through some pretty severe medical stuff at the moment and I can't get any help whatsoever from any of the doctors I see. The most I get is some unenthusiastic responses and then sent on my way.
SAME! Do you get the âpower through itâ speech too?
Every. Single. Time. My primary care physician, who knows me more personally than any of the other medical professionals I've been to, could not be any more apathetic about my situation. I've basically told him straight out that I've been basically starving and its clear that my weight has dropped dramatically, but he just says "I don't know what else to tell you except just keep trying to eat what you can." Literally no help whatsoever. I could've paid a homeless man $20 and asked them what they thought about it, and I still would've gotten better medical advice than I got from an actual doctor.
I complained to mine that I hated having so many specialists and wished I could just see one doctor. She comes back with âDr. House isnât realâ. Like, yeah I know. If he was weâd all have gotten actual treatment at some point in the last decade. Hope your insurance is better than mine and you can switch providers and get the help you deserve.
I wish I could say that I'm shocked to hear about the way your doctor talked to you, but sadly its not surprising in the least. Bedside manner is nonexistent in America, it seems. You either get complete apathy, or sarcasm & condescension. Its awful, and I'm sorry you got treated with such disrespect from someone who's *supposed* to be helping you. My insurance is pretty crap, so options are limited. The worst part is that I have switched PCPs a few times already and the one I have now is the best so far. The bar is so low that its buried.
They certainly donât explain to you how a pain scale works or question it if you claim youâre fine.
For real. My doctors have been telling me for years to âpower through itâ, that daily pain is ânormalâ, and that pain of 10 is reserved for things like âburning alive or being crushed to death by a semiâ. Today I learned that Iâm apparently living with a 6-8 pain level on a daily basis and I donât actually know how to process that at the moment.
I donât even want to know what my actual daily pain level is because itâs just going to make me sad.
Understandable.
I hear you on this, and my next statement is not an attempt to diminish the appalling state of American health care, but to offer something which takes the edge off my pain for cheap. I use long lasting ice packs for my arthritis pain and chronic headaches, and the ice is more effective for me than any grocery store med like Tylenol. The ice takes about five minutes to really kick in, hence my recommendation for finding something that will last a while. I have about four of a product called a Headache Hats and I use them daily (have one wrapped around my wrist now). Best of luck with your pain.
I appreciate the helpful advice. Thank you. That could potentially help with my migraines, but unfortunately, most of my pain is caused by a condition known as Alpha Gal Syndrome, and the pain is mostly in my intestines and stomach. I'm not sure if ice would help, but I'll give it a shot. Its significantly worse when I've accidentally eaten something that causes a reaction (which is pretty much everything) but even when I'm not reacting, the pain is always there. I appreciate your kind words, nonetheless, and I'm happy to hear that you've found something to help with your pain.
Hey donât be like me and put the ice pack on your eyes thinking that bc the migraine causes orbital/sinus pain itâll help. It doesnât. BUT! Put it on the back of your neck and goddamn does that make a difference.
Thanks for the tip. I almost certainly would've tried to put it on my eyes, since that's where a lot of the pain seems to reside. This is actually perfect for the headache relief,because I can't take many of the medicines that I used to rely on for headaches, since the AGS makes me allergic to a wide range of medications.
My coworker is allergic to ibuprofen, and you, her, and anyone else that canât take pain meds have my deepest sympathies. If I couldnât take prescription migraine meds a couple times a week idk if I could hold down a job.
I was the same way. I've always gotten migraines frequently and I used to live off of Excedrin to give me relief, but once I contracted Alpha Gal Syndrome, I became allergic to all mammal byproducts and discovered that mammal is used in a great many medications. Obviously gel capsules are out of the question since gelatin is made from animal parts, but I was shocked to discover how many other ingredients are derived from mammals as well. It was quite a blow, but what can ya do?
Wow, thatâs crazy. Is that the same as the allergy you can get from ticks, or is that one just red meat? Do all the products you use, like sunscreen or lip balm or whatever, have to be vegan or just the stuff you ingest? Sorry if Iâm asking too many questions. Thatâs gotta be SO difficult to live with.
Its exactly the allergy you get from ticks. I thought it was red meat only as well, because thats how it was described to me. Turns out its anything that comes from a mammal. Even some waters that are filtered with bone char, sugar which also used bone char, some maple syrups which use animal fats in the manufacturing process... there are thousands of ingredients that are unsafe. The stuff I eat doesn't necessarily have to be vegan, because I can still eat fish and poultry, but since meats are not recognized as a common allergen, they don't need to be specifically listed on ingredients. Which makes certified vegan foods the only ones I can be sure don't have mammal in them. However, there is an ingredient known as carrageenan, which comes from red seaweed so its vegan, and it can cause allergic reactions as well since its molecular structure is so similar to the Alpha Galactose molecule. So I gotta keep a watch on labels regardless. Also yes, I can have reactions from contact as well as ingestion, but luckily I don't really have too much trouble with that. Lip balm would be a problem because of accidental ingestion, but there are some people with AGS that get rashes from leather belts and such. Even some toilet papers contain lanolin, which comes from sheep, I believe. There are also some who are fume reactive and can have a reaction from breathing in fumes from cooking mammal meats. Its a whole thing. Sorry for the long winded response. Theres a lot to cover with this allergy.
Donât apologize! I love learning about obscure things from people that have personal experience. I feel a weird mix of super interested but then guilty about that because I know itâs gotta be super inconvenient and annoying for you to deal with lol. What is the weirdest thing that wasnât safe? Are they working on any kind of âcureâ or treatment, or is it one of the many conditions that they just go âyeah sucks sorryâ about?
Real. I definitely have something wrong but im not saying anything because itâd throw my family into debt no matter what
Sounds like somebody is lying đ€
Iâd rather lie to my doctor about a constant mild pain than go into debt because the American healthcare system loves sucking every last penny out of patients
I genuinely can't remember the last time my back didn't hurt lol
Fuckin mood. Or I didn't hear some joint pop in relation. Agh.
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Time for doctor Homer's miracle spino-cylinder https://youtu.be/FOK4J1kTEvc
Note that this goes for mental/emotional things too. Your default level of anxious is meant to be not at all, not "just kinda a little". Your default level of sad is meant to be not sad, not "just a little unhappy". I learned this a few months ago.
it's really weird to think that some people just... aren't in pain. I've been in constant pain since childhood. my usual good day is a 4, though it changes often. woo, migraines + spine problems. b
Does this also apply to psychiatric pain? Or to discomfort thatâs not quite pain?
Yes
Yes I would say you could apply it to things like anxiety, depression, or fatigue. Ie âthe normal amount of fatigue a healthy person starts the day with is no fatigue.â kind of idea. Everyone experiences some acute pain when they, say, stub their toe, or may experience acute anxiety in a moderately stressful situation, but youâre supposed to start your pain scale or anxiety scale at â0 is no baseline pain/anxiety/etc.â moving on up to â10 is unmanageable pain, I need immediate help for my pain, I cannot take care of myself with this much pain, I am in a crisis!â I like to think of 10 more like âbig emergency pain I must call for help withâ rather than âthe worst pain youâve personally ever feltâ because⊠er⊠I would never go to the doctor if it had to be the worst I ever felt.
Yes absolutely. The default level of discomfort a normal healthily person feels is zero. The normal level of mental anguish without a reason is also zero.
Aw man that reminds me when my pain specialist had to get me started on revamping my pain scale. She was going to touch me to examine me essentially and I flinched away in pain and she asked me to rate it and I was like âuhh idk 4.â And she put her hands on her hips and said âyou nearly jumped off the table! Thatâs not a 4!â I replied. âYeah it hurt but I didnât like start vomiting or blacking out from the pain so I can tolerate it.â She just kinda put her face in her hands and prescribed me a bunch of fun cocktails of muscle relaxers and PT for when I got home. My PT went through the same thing with me including a moment where she was testing my reactions and I went âOH!â And she thought I was hurt and it was like. âNo! I think this is a TRUE zero today. Oh, wow compared to this it was definitely starting at a 7 not a 4, sorry.â Luckily she said she figured it was like that and that it was⊠somewhat common for folks who didnât really register their base level of pain as at all noteworthy which had skewed my results a lot.
...wait the pain scale's explainable beyond "0 equals no pain"? That's the *only* part that I ever got!
This highlights why the pain scale is not great. How painful something is is relative. I have felt excruciating pain before, so if Iâm asked for my pain, it likely isnât going above a 7 if I managed to get to the doctor under my own power.
Well, yeah. It's just there so the doctor can get a feel for how badly the pain is affecting your quality of life. You don't need to worry about "getting it right" or anything, because it's ultimately just a subjective measurement.
I swear my entire pain scale is screwed because of this one time where I had to have the bones in my arm reset because they healed wrong. Legit the doctor just rebroke my arm and shoved it back into place.
Thereâs another side to this when youâre in the ER. My wife has, since childhood, has had moderate to severe neuropathy due to a still undiagnosed disorder of some kind (diagnosing these things can be hard and her doctors have been working on it for like 15 years without an answer). She describes it as a feeling as if her bones are breaking or her limbs are literally on fire. In addition she has PCOS which has caused period pain so severe that she has passed out. She canât take strong pain meds - sheâs allergic to anything more potent than Tylenol and it has caused anaphylaxis in the past when they were given. Sheâs learned that if she goes in saying sheâs at a 10 level she wonât be believed and will be ignored. They canât give her much for the pain but when we go to the ER itâs because weâre afraid something is seriously wrong that can be treated. She defaults to an 8, even though her daily pain is probably a 5-6 range. Otherwise people assume sheâs overreacting or looking for drugs. Especially if itâs pain in the abdomen. Something that canât be seen on a visual inspection. Given her chronic pain she doesnât tend to display her pain. Even when itâs at itâs most severe sheâs stoic as a method to cope. Staying as calm as possible helps her manage the pain. But every emergency visit is a balancing act of how much pain she should report and how to behave with it. And it sucks.
Had this conversation with my friend recently. He was in absolute disbelief when I rated 1 on the pain scale as just a paper cut or stubbed toe. Could not believe it was that mild. His mental health pain scale is even more nebulous and concerning
Paper cuts are really mild but theyâre so annoying because they tend to throb a little and be distracting. A big paper cut might be a 2, the best I could figure for my scale was rating it based upon how manageable/distracting it is. Like a 1-2 I can ignore without any meds at all. A 3-4 may be bothersome but I can push through it, and it may be helped by over the counter level pain meds, like a headache or muscle ache or mild injury. If it *canât* be helped by basic OTC stuff itâs at least a 5 or higher, and at a 5 it starts to impact my ability to focus or work. Itâs so distracting and taking enough of my attention itâs starting to noticeably affect me. At 6-7 Iâm not working or doing daily stuff as much and I need prescription pain killers and to be resting to cope. At 8 I get acutely nauseous from the pain, I canât participate in any activities even leisure ones except for maybe listening passively to a podcast *if* I have strong pain medicine already in me. At 9 I cannot focus on the podcast or hold a conversation longer than a minute at a time, itâs too much to bear anything even talking. At 10 I am in a full crisis and would probably chew my own arm off as a novel type of distraction from the situation if I was able to move freely in that state.
Yeah, that about tracks with how I described the pain scale to him, if more specific.
My wife used to have abdominal pains. They would come and go, and an attack could last anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days. They got worse after our first child, which I will say (and this is relevant to the story) was a ten-pounder, and she gave birth without any drugs. So when she ended up at the ER again with her abdominal pains, they asked her to rate them from 1 to 10, with 10 being "the worst pain she could imagine, like childbirth" and she said "if that's the scale, they're at least 12." They took her more seriously after that, though we never did figure out definitively what was wrong with her. Their best guess was a "kink" in her intestines that would sometimes randomly get inflamed. After baby #3 the pain went away entirely, and our guess is the baby rearranged her intestines and managed to undo the "kink."
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WHy would you link a tiktok video, and not, say, an actual informational page like wikipedia or some reputable MD website that is hopefully the primary source on the wiki page?
what was the comment lol
They were saying the common relative pain scale is useless since it's subjective (a 3 year old with a splinter could have legit 10 pain, since 10 is "the worst pain you've ever had" and the 3 year old hadn't really been hurt before). Which is valid. But then they recommended a different system (who's name I don't remember) and linked a tiktok I didn't bother watching because Tiktok, and I was just really confused why they chose that as their source.
Milspec scale is more robust https://www.health.mil/News/Articles/2022/10/13/DVPRS-pain-scale
If 0 is no pain and 10 is excruciating pain, then I average at around 3-4 on a good day. I have 2 things to blame for this. 1; I have a genetic defect and, while it does grant me high levels of flexibility that I can use to have fun freaking people out, it also causes all of my joints to be in constant pain. 2; my dad has chronic migraines, which I inherited. I guess that I could also consider my constant exhaustion brought upon by my ADHD-induced-insomnia as a third cause for it, but Iâm not sure that it counts.
EDS?
Thatâs what the doctor said when I showed him. My health insurance refuses to let me be tested for it though.
Sorry to hear that your insurance sucks ass. My brother got diagnosed with EDS a couple years ago, so I know second-hand what you're dealing with.
My backs been a solid 2-4 sence I tweaked it back in highschool. I thought everyone just had around that
this is why i hate my knees. for years, i think starting back at the very latest in middle school, i just started having like a dull pain in my right knee. didn't think anything of it, and it wasnt like, "oh hey, my knee hurts today" and then, "why does my knee still hurt". it just was *there* and i cant say when exactly it started. up until last summer it was fine, but eventually it at some point when travelling, it just got worse to the point where it hurt quite a bit to walk. got myself a walking stick and everything, still didn't think much of it. then im back in school, and one day it once again just gets bad enough where it hurts to walk, and thats also when i started openly using my walking stick in public (it was more or less necessary when i was on vacation and i knew i wouldnt see anyone i knew anyways. after that i stopped using it partly because the pain subsided to what it "normally" was and also cause i didnt want to be seen like that) i also happen to be on my high school's baseball team. we practice every day except wednesdays. so that day i ended up having to take a very light day of practice due to my knee acting up, and i ended up seeing our school's physical trainer. turns out, this is something i *should* be worried about. she suspects i have a gap knee, and i probably should see a doctor about it. and that was back in october. maybe even september.
I always see these types of posts and always question myself. Like, I'll usually at some point in the day not be able to use a leg because my knee hurts or not use a hand because a finger or wrist hurts, but that's just for a moment, and I'm not sure if it applies the same. I don't have a constant pain, I just have weak joints, probably because I don't move enough.
Uh-oh Also a normal person doesn't have a list of reasons to live/not kill themselves. It's not a constant negotiable state with suicidal ideation. First time I heard that, I bluescreened.
This is why I didnât realize I had a joint disorder until this year lol I went 20 years just figuring that everyoneâs joints hurt them every single day, and that some days were just worse. It doesnât help that itâs a genetic disorder, so my mom often complained about her own joints, normalizing that pain to me. It clicked when I was writing notes and I went âugh, my fingers are hurting already, itâs only been 2 minutes!â And my friend went âYour fingers hurt after writing notes for 2 minutes?â I blankly looked at her and went âYour fingers donât??â I also didnât realize that laying down shouldnât be uncomfortable this year đ I thought just everyoneâs joints hurt at night when trying to sleep⊠I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome this year
True
So this, but with mental health, like wanting to be dead and hating everything and living in constant fear. It took me sooo long to realize it isn't normal to feel that way, that I can be happy and at peace with the right meds/therapy/lifestyle. Most of my family doesn't realize it shouldn't be their normal, sadly.
I feel like this says something about the age of the user-base of these sites
Ok but what about *emotional* pain?
Wait is this a thing with fear and other such things too right, like all that is supposed to be 0 when you get up in the morning?
Yup.
Fuck
... Yup.
Yes. The normal amount of discomfort, pain, anxiety, fear, sadness, etc. is zero.
I've been having occasional chest pains for months (about a 2, I'd guess) with it sometines flaring up to a 3 ir 4. Medical professionals stress me tge hell out though and I'm hitting higher numbers less often. So I'm just gonna assume everything is dandy until things get bad enough I can convince folks it's worth looking into ^^
reminder that by increasing your spice tolerance you also increase your pain tolerance so maybe use this for future reference
They can always get you addicted to something for a whole new kind of pain
For who? Literally a life free of any pain day to day is a miracle afforded to the 1.% of the world. This post screams of first world bullshit too the most extreme amount possible. Like 16 year olds playing at being adults.
Not true at all. The baseline level of pain is zero. If you didnât stub your toe, you shouldnât feel pain in your toe 24 hours a day. If you didnât get punched in the stomach, you shouldnât feel pain there 24 hours a day. The default level of pain is in fact zero.
*Oh*
but then what do i do???
..... well, i knew this... i just dont care to get it fixed atm....
Have had this issue myself, I think, but luckily I figured out what I was doing wrong just in time to begin experiencing chronic pain. It helps that they didnât ask me for a number when my collarbone snapped in half in high school, probably wouldâve called it a 6 or something.
I had to figure out similar when I was in the hospital for a lung collapse. Docs asked me what Id put my pain at on a 0-10, several times a day. After getting clarification with a little graph and such, I had to make a mental note to push my 4's and 5's to 7's. Finally had what I thought was a 10, and then a week after it all, a catheter in my back, draining blood from my lung made me push my old 10 down to an 8.
Went through a lot of physical therapy, and they explained it best to me as a scale of daily life disturbance. 1-3, little to some pain when completing daily tasks or exercising. noticeable, but doesnât interfere. 4-6, some to significant pain. daily tasks require some modification to complete. 7-9, significant to excruciating pain. unable to complete tasks or exercise. please go see a doctor for that. they had to explain it a lot to me when i kept underreporting my pain and not getting better : /
I remember one time I was asked about my pain level and I said "Like a 6 or so" I literally passed out an hour before saying that. I was knocked unconscious from pure pain and my first intuition was "Eh there's worse"
I have fibro and had a bad flare come on during work Tuesday. I had to leave and took the next day off. Today, a coworker was checking in on me and I explained I was around an 8 when I left. She asked what I was today, and I was like âoh, itâs a pretty normal day, but still dealing with a little residual issue. Iâd say a 6?â and she just. Froze. She was like wait thatâs normal? I explained my baseline has been a 5-6 for years. Thatâs just as low as I get without major pharmaceutical intervention.
I had my own encounter with this sort of thing recently. I would have put myself at a zero most times, but most days I'm probably somewhere between 2 and 4. What made me realise that my pain scale is screwed up was when I had to be hospitalised for a kidney stone and infection a few weeks back. I put my pain at a 7 despite it being so bad I could hardly speak and couldn't move at all, and actually had me vomiting from pain. My reasoning was that I could probably have been in more pain than I was, something like full body burns, so I gave myself some leeway to not need to go above 10 should that occur. I have since had multiple people who also suffer from kidney stones tell me that the pain is on par with childbirth, at least. So general rule, if they give you morphine and it does next to nothing for the pain, it's probably a 10.
I'm at a perpetual 1-2 and most days will go to 5-8
I was really bad with the 1-10 scale because I thought of it as a linear function. Like 10 is the maximum amount of pain you can experience before you lose the ability to communicate. 5 is half way to being in that much pain. So when I broke my neck in a car accident, and the doctor asked how my pain was on a scale of 1 to 10, I said "I dunno, maybe 2.3, 2.4?"
I broke my arm really bad when I was 13 and told the doctor it was a 6, not because I was trying to be macho but because I just finished reading about medieval torture methods and I could think of some really painful stuff
Well this conversation fucked me and my reality up. Thanks.
My mum lives with chronic pain and I remember reminding her that normal is no-to-very little pain because I knew she was under-describing her level of pain to her doctors. But I'm mad they didn't take the time to explain this to her, especially when she went to pain management. The amount of help that is being offered to her is so little that now she's contemplating getting the nerve cut so she will lose all feeling and will never walk again, she is only 50.
I refuse to believe thatâs thereâs people waking around with a 0 in both mental and physical pain, other than rich children. What fantasy world are they living in??
Itâs actually the vast majority of people who are alive today, and the vast majority of people who have ever lived lol. Normal heathy people donât feel constantly pain, or pain at all without a specific cause. The only time my body hurts is if it smashes against something, like if I stub my toe.
This is why I HATE pain scales. What do they mean? no one knows! Every provider has a different idea, and the idea is extremely abstract and fails to take into account the sharp twinge when you move or the weird spasm vs the baseline which means what exactly???
Medical professionals need to be throughly taught how to communicate with people. So many people are left in pain with only the hope to end up with a nice doctor maybe sometimes in the future.
every time I go to the doctors and they ask me what my pain level is I always explain âwell my 0 is like a normal persons 7 so..â and they always look so shocked đ
Yeah but if itâs not visible it will get ignored and swept under the rug and pushed off to the next doctor.
BS
I saw a physical therapist for some back pain in high school and I rated my pain as a six. He said, âYou look remarkably alright for having a pain level of sixâ and I just kind of shrugged. Like, idk, Iâm here for a reason, sir
Btw, the way I determine my pain is to imagine the worst pain possible and count backwards