I live in 7-8 but go up to ten at least once a day. and when i get those papers from the drs i write pain level??? yes ..and you are supposed to diagram your pain.. hey where are the crayons really. what do they expect ;to under stand our pain with marks on a piece of paper. hello!! why only give us up to ten i go to 100 on really bad days. .. all that to say, yeah I have difficulty with it as well. when i have pain in one part of my body and its at ten but the others parts are at 7 its hard to say. but when they are all at ten . break out the spatula cause some one needs to scrape me off the floor.(thankfully that is not every day. but still if totally ubarable pain in one part of your body feels one way.(ten level) then when all parts act up at once .. don't you add those together? (There is food for thought)