We are always supposed to ask - how bad is your pain on a scale of 1-10. 1 being very little pain and 10 being the worst pain you can imagine.
I love when patients are sitting there comfortably looking at you, not even a glisten of a tear in their eye, no grimace of pain on their face, no abnormal posturing to show they are try to get to a more comfortable position - they are just sitting there like you or I would and I ask "how bad is your pain on a scale of 1-10?" And....you know what they answer 10 or even better they will say 12, which is not an option by the way.
Umm... I don't think so. I am sure they are in pain, but it's NOT 10 or even 12/10 pain.
10/10 pain is having your femur broken, any limb ripped off, or for some reason I always think of this scene in some Mel Gibson movie where he is strapped to a chair and some people are torturing him and they take a hammer and smash his toes against the concrete - that's 10/10 pain.
In 10/10 pain you should be doing any one or combination of the following: writhing around in bed, crying, having difficulty breathing - gasping for air, vomiting because you cannot handle the pain, sweating, clutching some part of your body, or passed out.
So next time you are at the doctor and they ask you - how bad is your pain on a scale of 1-10.
This is what you should say - well if a 10 is having my arm/leg ripped off, well then this pain is a 5/10. Trust me they will believe that you are in pain and take into account that you are a reasonable person.
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