Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pain Scales

Sorry for another medical posting but this one is kind of funny. I want to petition for a nationally recognized pain scale and here is my story of why.

I call the nurse on Tuesday to tell her I am having contractions and she tells me to rate my pain on the 1-10 scale. So I say to her, "Well I know labor is going to be 10 times worse than this, but based on the pain I have experienced so far I would rate this at a 7"

I get to to labor and delivery at the hospital and they ask me to rate my pain. The nurse says, "On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being surgery with no anesthisia". "Well with that kind of scale I would have to say a 1!" Surgery with no anesthisia are you kidding me.

Next day I go see my Dr. who asks me again to rate my pain on a scale of 1-10. "Well I said, I would say a 2. Mostly just bad cramps with an occasional doubling over to hold my stomach". "That doubling over is a 10!" says my Dr.

Seriously...the pain scale is ALL messed up!!

3 comments:

Jen said...

You can't just say that you are having contractions when you are 7 or 8 weeks away, and then not tell us if they are Braxton Hicks or real contractions, and if you're all ok or being monitored or what... That's just mean! I'm trying not to worry here...

I'm with you - I hate pain scales because I have no idea what a stupid number means. Aaron & my dr. have both asked me what number my pain is, and I think, "well, is a 10 the moment before death when you just can't hurt anymore without actually dying, or is a 10 i-really-can't-stand-this-but-if-it-got-worse-i-wouldn't-actually-die kind of pain?" There should be descriptive words for each number so that we can choose from some kind of common denominator. I thought numbers were for adding, and words were for describing. But I'm just an English teacher, so what do I know?

Jen said...

oh, ooops! I read the blogs in the wrong order. I have the scoop now. :) We'll be praying...

Amber Porsche said...

LOL, ur so right!