That's how paramedics ask you to describe the pain. Doesn't matter the injury, just give me some vague idea of how much it hurts.
There's a problem with that question: The scale is relative. My 8 might be your 3. Okay, well, actually, paramedics consider this as well. That's why medical professionals tend to be a bit jaded - you say 8 and they take it down a few notches based on their experience. Don't knock them for this - trust me, you'd be jaded too at everyone overestimating their condition.
Two days ago, I sprained my ankle. It's pretty bad, but definitely not broken. The pain was about a 6 or 7 on my personal scale, down to a 2 on the second day. Not bad at all. But I had a similar injury 10 yrs ago, and at that time I would have said it was a 10, and stayed around 5 for more than a week.
So what changed?
Experience. In between the two sprains, I suffered a lower back injury at work. It immobilized me for 2 weeks and took 3 months to heal. Also, it's recurred a few times, though not as bad as the first. Still, if it hits, I clear my schedule for a week.
Compared to the back pain, a sprained ankle doesn't seem so terrible any more. When the first sprain happened, it topped my scale of experience. But the back injury eventually topped that. All in all, I haven't had many accidents, so I'm sure a broken bone or childbirth would re-define my scale yet again.
So maybe the purpose of the question isn't to find out how much pain someone is feeling, but to find out how much pain they've experienced. And maybe, we should have more sympathy for a person claiming a 5... because if they're calling it a 5, they've been through much worse. But there is an upside - experience generally teaches us how to cope.
I'm pretty sure this includes psychological, emotional, and spiritual pain as well. One more reason to be careful of judging others - we have no idea where they've been or what they've experienced.
There's a problem with that question: The scale is relative. My 8 might be your 3. Okay, well, actually, paramedics consider this as well. That's why medical professionals tend to be a bit jaded - you say 8 and they take it down a few notches based on their experience. Don't knock them for this - trust me, you'd be jaded too at everyone overestimating their condition.
Two days ago, I sprained my ankle. It's pretty bad, but definitely not broken. The pain was about a 6 or 7 on my personal scale, down to a 2 on the second day. Not bad at all. But I had a similar injury 10 yrs ago, and at that time I would have said it was a 10, and stayed around 5 for more than a week.
So what changed?
Experience. In between the two sprains, I suffered a lower back injury at work. It immobilized me for 2 weeks and took 3 months to heal. Also, it's recurred a few times, though not as bad as the first. Still, if it hits, I clear my schedule for a week.
Compared to the back pain, a sprained ankle doesn't seem so terrible any more. When the first sprain happened, it topped my scale of experience. But the back injury eventually topped that. All in all, I haven't had many accidents, so I'm sure a broken bone or childbirth would re-define my scale yet again.
So maybe the purpose of the question isn't to find out how much pain someone is feeling, but to find out how much pain they've experienced. And maybe, we should have more sympathy for a person claiming a 5... because if they're calling it a 5, they've been through much worse. But there is an upside - experience generally teaches us how to cope.
I'm pretty sure this includes psychological, emotional, and spiritual pain as well. One more reason to be careful of judging others - we have no idea where they've been or what they've experienced.
No comments:
Post a Comment