on a scale of one to ten

“This one goes up to 11”

I find this useful.

Kidney stones……I couldn’t even begin to tell you!

I absolutely hate it too. My brain just doesn't work that way. I can describe pain in words but not numbers.
It gets harder when you go for a follow-up appointment. "You said 8 before, what is it now?"

Sago

Kidney stones……I couldn’t even begin to tell you!

I had gallstones, I believe it’s similar pain

Cossy

Sago

Kidney stones……I couldn’t even begin to tell you!

I had gallstones, I believe it’s similar pain

I've had both. Both were absolutely excruciating, but the kidney stones were marginally worse. Both were off the scale in terms of pain.

Great chart!
I am now at no7 but I make a noise when I move and say something like ‘this b….. gel isn’t working’! I must be at 7and a half.

twiglet77

I find this useful.

Thanks for that.

They ask 1 to 5 now in our hospital

The 1 to 10 scale does seem a bit ambiguous as it relies on the individuals perception and experience of pain surely? An injury for one person might hurt considerably more than for another person with the identical injury IMO.
I suffered a very severe injury a few years ago, in A & E it was obvious that I was in extreme pain. When the Dr asked how bad the pain was I challenged him to try to manipulate the limb and he could then experience just how painful it was! We both laughed as he immediately picked up on my humour………and he prescribed strong pain relief pending scan and x-ray.

I have my answer ready before I go in there.

I normally weigh up between a 3 and a 4 . Something like that.

How else do you suggest they assess your pain level? Do you have a better idea?
I answer, as you would,comparing in my mind to previous, well understood, pain, with the corresponding number.

That table of pain is useful. But it brought back the 9 I experienced in hospital after enduring a second operation in 8 days (surgeon error!!). And care on the ward was more or less lacking.

A good while ago we used to use this 1-10 scale on one particular Cardiac Test for Angina. It was surprisingly accurate once you gave the patient an explanation of the grades.

childbirth daughter one ten definitely
daughter 2 6
gall stones 10 that was hell on earth
my dodgy hip and knee now 8

My teenaged daughter with back pain, which had stopped her going to school, was asked this. When she replied 10 the non-medicial person told her not to be so silly, as that would be for a person whose leg had been amputated in an accident.
Admittedly, could be true but not for an 18 year old in pain to be told that at the time.
We didn’t see her again.

I think a tooth abscess is probably at the 10 stage. Childbirth (4 times) for me was only aound 5-6 at the most, so I think childbirth is not a good benchmark.

Breaking my hip in January was a definite 9-10, but it really is difficult to say in terms of numbers.

Sago

Kidney stones……I couldn’t even begin to tell you!

Yup me too!!!😱

My answer: "I have not the faintest idea. I am a historian of religion, not a mathematician. It hurts too much for me to ignore it, which is why I am consulting you. Would "hellish" do as a description?"

I've just found this measurement really useful. OH can tolerate quite a lot and he doesn't bullshit about discomfort or pain so if he says it's an 8 then its an 8. He had two really painful medical emergencies in the past two years and he is having some " issues" - gastric "attacks" really.As the last one came to an end I was able to establish that the crisis had passed by getting his pain level which was down to 2 or 3 from 8 so I could stop planning a visit to A and E.
Before you kind ladies ask , I've got the medical profession chasing a diagnosis here.......

I'm another kidney stone survivor. Pain off the scale. I never ever want another one!

(The kidney stone was broken up with lithotrypsy, I passed a sizeable fragment - a plastic sieve was involved - and delivered it to the Stone Clinic for analysis).

Infividual pain thresholds differ too, so it's quite difficult to put a number on it.

Equally annoying is how do you rate our customer services on a scale 1-10. Or star's 1-5. I sometimes don't mind giving it but then they want a great long box filling exercise of why etc etc...and you've only bought a pair of b....y socks. Sorry gone off piste here!

Remember that the definition of pain includes severe discomfort. Skin disorders, shingles under the conditions can cause significant discomfort, but we wouldn’t necessarily describe it as pain (especially those of us who’ve been through childbirth!).

OMG .. Ive just been diagnosed with Gall stones and the pain is terrible ... I did some research on google and found that a Fat Free diet is very beneficial for this condition... no doctor said anything about food being in the equation .... When I switched to this diet I am pain free ... Hope this helps other people who are in pain ...