hi Dave,
I agree you should bring a copy of the scale you are using yourself.
I have seen scales where 10 is the worst pain YOU have ever experienced
versus 10 is the worst pain you can IMAGINE. These are vastly different things depending on life experiences. To me, a 10 is so bad, you cannot function at all, are bedridden but you make a good point about the various kinds of pain, burning,stabbing, neuropathic. There have been a few creative folks here on the forum who created their own pain scales and I thought they were excellent. They linked pain to how activity has been affected.
In hospitals rooms here in the US, they use what I think is stupid, the one with faces in various degree of grimacing.
http://www.partnersagainstpain.com/p.../A7012AS6b.pdf
This is the one my pain doc uses:
http://www.partnersagainstpain.com/p...s/A7012AS8.pdf
it is too bad there is not a universal pain scale.
Hope you are doing ok today. I have been in bed with migraine and unbearable neck pain these past few days, just starting to rally...called doc for an ESI this week and taking Soma(muscle relaxer) like crazy.
Wishing you all well.. D
Quote:
Originally Posted by EnglishDave
All of us who suffer Chronic Pain have been asked by our GP, PM Team or Neuro to quantify our pain on a scale of 0-10.
Not only is this a difficult question, but I have found that there are numerous Scales out there with widely different examples/descriptions of the pain suffered for each numerical value. For example, childbirth ranges from 5 to 8, and 10 can mean - Worst imaginable - Bedridden and in need of medical aid - So bad slipping into unconsciousness. Some Scales give NO intermediate examples, just 0 = No pain - 10 = Worst imaginable.
So how do you know - when you say you are at a 7 - your Doctor isn't hearing '4/5'? My advice - which I will be following myself as my Pain Management Team is now split between NHS and Private Clinics - is to choose a Scale that best describes your pain, download and print multiple copies and mark those up to give to your PM Team.
Having multiple injuries, neurological conditions, Neuropathic Facial Parasthesia, TN and Cluster Headaches adding to my total pain score, I will opt for filling in Pain Quality Assessment Scales. These break down types of pain - hot/cold/electric/stabbing… - frequency - duration - then Overall Score.
Appointments go by alarmingly quickly. With this forward planning, not only can you convey your problems in a manner both sides can understand, but you are unlikely to miss something you wanted to bring up.
Dave.
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