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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: On a scale of 1 to 10
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
Today I managed to close the car door on my finger. I broke a bone, crushed the nail and spouted blood - and the end of the finger was a funny shape. I went to A&E (isn't the NHS wonderful!) and the triage nurse asked how painful it was on a sale of 1 to 10. How do you answer that?
I said 3 - it was less than dental fillings before anaesthetics (I'm old enough to remember) or a really badly sprained ankle. But it did hurt. My wife said I was just pretending to be manly to impress the nurse (a hairy middle aged man as it happens). I said 6 was where you started crying, working up to screaming at about 8.
Does anyone have a suggested scale? Where does your wife saying you were 'pretending to be manly' come?
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"controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Duplicate thread deleted.
If this one can be kept reasonably light and not too graphically descriptive of unpleasant incidents involving heroic feats of endurance, that would be good, otherwise it may be deemed not to be Heavenly.
Ta.
Ariel
Heaven Host
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
As someone with a spookily creative imagination, asking me to compare pain with 0 being nothing and 10 being the worst I can imagine will generally result in me giving things pretty low numbers. As with most slightly geeky things, there's an xkcd about it.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
That is an odd question. I think the context matters.
First, if a nurse at a hospital is asking, it cannot have been on the scale of all human discomfort (1 being a mild electric shock from touching a piece of metal while walking across a carpet in your slippers, ten involving your femur making a surprise appearance outside of the skin) because the very fact that you brought yourself to the hospital indicates that it is at least greater than a one or two.
The fact that you are a man also matters, because childbirth isn't on our scale. My wife has never given birth, but I can guarantee that she would never let me get away with claiming a ten on an all human scale. (They make fun of us for acting tough, they would make fun of us for overstating pain- it's a no win proposition.)
So if it was on a general scale, your options are probably not 1 to 10 but maybe 3 to 6, so it is silly to give you a full scale. So I think he must have been referring to a scale of all of the pains you, a man of your age and experience, might ever reasonably imagine yourself experiencing.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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lily pad
Shipmate
# 11456
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Posted
When they ask me that question, my natural response is to ask what they mean by it. Generally they withdraw the question and move on to a better description.
I don't think you were being manly at all. You were probably just being realistic.
Wait, that makes me seem unsympathetic. I too have had an injury like that - I was 7 and it was the hinge of the doors at the hockey arena - and I remember screaming bloody murder. It isn't pleasant but it isn't the worst.
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Sloppiness is not caring. Fussiness is caring about the wrong things. With thanks to Adeodatus!
Posts: 2468 | From: Truly Canadian | Registered: May 2006
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
Childbirth = 10
Filling without anesthetic = 6
Finger slammed in door = 4 (I remember it well, it was the church mini bus, I ran in to the loo to put it under the tap, passed out and woke up to find the minister praying over me - erk!)
Arthritis = 3
They are different types of pain. Three are acute and one is chronic. I hardly notice the arthritis pain these days, I block it out of my conscious thinking.
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Many doctors have a chart showing the Pain Scale (a/k/a Visual Analog Scale or VAS). Some use other words to help guide the patient. For example:
None: 0
Annoying: 2
Uncomfortable: 4
Dreadful: 6
Horrible: 8
Agonizing: 10
However, the real value of the VAS is recording numbers over time for a single patient. Regardless of how any individual patient views the chart, presumably the patient views it the same way each time. So, if on the first visit the pain is rated at 6 and then on the next 4, the doctor can assume the pain is less on the second visit. It doesn't matter whether anybody else would agree to the ratings of "6" or "4"--for that patient it reflects improvement in the condition.
So, just answer based on your gut feeling and the VAS should work reasonably well. But don't go crazy. I've seen people start getting into decimals ("Today I am a 4.35..."). That's ludicrous. It is not a precision instrument.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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The Great Gumby
Ship's Brain Surgeon
# 10989
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hart:
As someone with a spookily creative imagination, asking me to compare pain with 0 being nothing and 10 being the worst I can imagine will generally result in me giving things pretty low numbers. As with most slightly geeky things, there's an xkcd about it.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) Beat me to it.
I think it's a fair enough question. How else would you assess it? Putting pain on a decimal scale at least avoids arguments about whether agonising is better or worse than excruciating, or whatever.
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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
A letter to my son about death
Posts: 5382 | From: Home for shot clergy spouses | Registered: Feb 2006
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
And there I was thinking this was a thread on the hoary old chestnut about sexual attractiveness - "On a scale of one... I'd give her/him one!"
I am told that passing a kidney stone and fracturing a kneecap rate with childbirth even if you are male. I've done neither, and have no memories of the last time I was intimately involved with childbirth, which makes that a peculiarly pointless observation. As you were, everyone.
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
So much depends on context. A masseuse working into a stiff muscle is, objectively considered, very painful - but you can ask her ease up. Same reason they give you a button for the morphine drip after surgery. Tolerance is greatly increased if you know it is a) time limited or b) you can do something to alleviate it.
My personal benchmark is trigeminal shingles, which went on for days, and laughed at painkillers.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Argh, sorry folks, the Ship is being a PITA this evening.
Would a kind host plank two of those posts, please?
Many thanks,
AG ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Very subjective: one person's agony is another's discomfort.
Also depends on which part of the body.
In the old days of paper records patient notes could sometimes be seen with red stickers saying PAIN which indicated that the patient was deemed to have a potentially dangerous pain tolerance.
Worst pain ever - having your appendix burst as you try to get onto an A&E trolley with no brakes... a combination of ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) and WTF x 10
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Argh, sorry folks, the Ship is being a PITA this evening.
Would a kind host plank two of those posts, please?
Many thanks,
AG
Yup. Wet cement running uphill.
Firenze
Kinda Heaven Host
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
The worst pain I have ever felt was from damaged nerves. The pain came and went like lightning; I was never aware of it while it was happening. Immediately afterwards the place where the pain had been was screaming, "That's not supposed to happen!" I had never understood the meaning of the phrase "outraged flesh' before.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by que sais-je:
Today I managed to close the car door on my finger. I broke a bone, crushed the nail and spouted blood - and the end of the finger was a funny shape. I went to A&E (isn't the NHS wonderful!) and the triage nurse asked how painful it was on a sale of 1 to 10. How do you answer that?
In the NHS the correct answer is always 7. That's painful enough to get you treatment, sympathy and strong painkilling drugs, but not painful enough to turn you into a research subject.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
I was asked that question when in an ambulance whizzing to hospital with severe stomach pains. I didn't feel like answering at all, but reluctantly decided I'd better. I answered '7' which they were surprised at, but explained 'well it's not as bad as childbirth'. The ambulanceman, quick as a flash, retorted 'But at least this pain won't last 18 years!'
I managed to laugh wryly at that one as, by then, the morphine was kicking in....
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Yoi have to figure out how they're going to use that answer and adjust accordingly. As I discovered when my answer of 7 meant they thought they could safely be up to an hour late with the pain meds...
From now on it's 9 or 10, unless tgey are very late, at which point I say it's 15 and weep all over them. Guilt makes a good motivator sometimes.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Sometimes the 1 to 10 scale question really gets me. There have been 10s when I thought the medical folks didn't really believe me. Should I have brought it down to 9 1/2? Is that more believable? ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
Boogie is right. Chronic bearable pain in the 2, 3, 4 range can be ignored. It helps to be doing something useful, or spending the day with a favorite person (D-U) like I did today! But 8, 9 and 10s that drag on and on can seem unbelievable to other folks, unless they know you well.
I suppose some docs and nurses know the signs. My family and friends sure do. They will grab a chair for me and make me sit to rest from the pain I've been ignoring. (They're the best!)
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Pain is relative, not only between individuals, but for a given individual as well.
Intensity, location, duration and situation can all affect perception of pain.
IME, most physicians assume an over-rated number unless one can reference specific incidences of pain. Broken bone, tooth abscess, burns, etc.
One doctor told me, in his opinion, that a 10 cannot be accurately reported as the reporter would likely be unconscious from that level.
I've never had children, but I have had pain cause nearly all conscious mental process to stop, hearing fade, vision go white. Is childbirth more or less than that?
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
I've never had children, but I have had pain cause nearly all conscious mental process to stop, hearing fade, vision go white. Is childbirth more or less than that?
About the same - but not all the way through the labour!
I had forgotten gall stone pain - that caused me to pass out every time. Excruciating. I hear that kidney stones are even worse.
erk!
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
Filling without anesthetic = 6
Actually depends on the filling. First low level filling without anaesthetic, I would have trouble putting at more than a 3; a refilling which is deep then the 6 is probably justified. Actually it depends hugely on whether the nerve in the tooth is touched.
I have had rather a lot of fillings without anaesthetic. Some I need not of had, but I had only had shallow ones before and did not think anaesthetic was worth it.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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TurquoiseTastic
Fish of a different color
# 8978
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Posted
My younger brother (doctor) uses this scale as a stalling tactic if I complain to him about aches and pains... typical conversation...
TT: I don't know, I've just been having a bit of pain in my shoulder, you know, kind of when I move my arm like this...
TT junior: <gently audible sighing noise... continues in deadpan monotone> On a scale of one to ten, where one is "not painful at all" and ten is "the worst pain you have ever experienced" please rate your pain...
<pause>
TT junior: There are many types of pain
<pause>
TT junior: Physical pain
<pause>
TT junior: Mental pain
<pause>
TT junior (still deadpan monotone): Emotional pain
<longer pause>
TT junior: Spiritual pain...
<pause>
TT junior: Perhaps the question is too hard for you. Perhaps we could use this simpler scale, designed in fact for very young children. Which of these sad faces best represents you right now?
<TT gives up, goes away>
Posts: 1092 | From: Hants., UK | Registered: Jan 2005
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
Filling without anesthetic = 6
Actually depends on the filling. First low level filling without anaesthetic, I would have trouble putting at more than a 3; a refilling which is deep then the 6 is probably justified. Actually it depends hugely on whether the nerve in the tooth is touched.
I have had rather a lot of fillings without anaesthetic. Some I need not of had, but I had only had shallow ones before and did not think anaesthetic was worth it.
Very true, but let them hit a nerve and arrrrggggghhhhh!
I think pain in the head/ear/face is horrible because it's near so many sensing areas. I had dental implants. No pain at all, but the smell, vibration, pressure, sound etc was far more uncomfortable than pain!
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
Originally posted by Boogie:
quote:
Childbirth = 10
Filling without anesthetic = 6
Childbirth = 6
Filling without anesthetic =10
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Can anyone explain why banging a kneecap is so excruciating for such a short time - from explosive eyes screwed up I want my Mummy agony to "what was all that about?" in the space of a couple of seconds? Maybe it's just me, but that goes up to about an eight or nine yet vanishes as fast as it came. Bizarre!
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
In Nepal I managed to walk into a piece of metal sticking out of a wall, impaling my thigh so that I had to grit my teeth and back up to get free. I went to the local hospital where the doctor asked me how much it hurt to which I replied "it stings a bit". He laughed and told me that he knew what "stings a bit" from a British person really meant, he had seen the Tiger sketch from Monty Python's meaning of Life...
Posts: 1262 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
I had forgotten gall stone pain - that caused me to pass out every time. Excruciating.
erk!
Yes, I get biliary colic and the pain is immense and deep, causing me to catch my breath, and near faint with waves of nausea. I'd put that higher than childbirth.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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birdie
fowl
# 2173
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hart:
As someone with a spookily creative imagination, asking me to compare pain with 0 being nothing and 10 being the worst I can imagine will generally result in me giving things pretty low numbers. As with most slightly geeky things, there's an xkcd about it.
This is also a brilliant blog post with an alternative pain chart: Too serious for numbers!
Next tiume I visit the Dr I have resolved to use number 4: My pain is not fucking around.
Posts: 1290 | From: the edge | Registered: Jan 2002
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LucyP
Shipmate
# 10476
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Can anyone explain why banging a kneecap is so excruciating for such a short time - from explosive eyes screwed up I want my Mummy agony to "what was all that about?" in the space of a couple of seconds? Maybe it's just me, but that goes up to about an eight or nine yet vanishes as fast as it came. Bizarre!
AG
No explanation, but I know what you mean.
I have a tendency to faint after certain triggers, including pain, but before I pass out I have 5-10 minutes warning,(dizziness, ringing in the ears, blurred vision, and, according to bystanders, turning ghostly white) which (apart from the very first time it happened) has always been enough time for me to lie down and prevent loss of consciousness.
When in the Louvre, I walked up to inspect a statue of Caesar Augustus, my gaze fixed on his face, only to discover that the guard rail was the exact height of my knee cap. The pain was intense but shortlived, and I wandered off, only to realise the old familiar dizziness was starting. Sitting down on a step was not enough, since the dizziness worsened -so I ended up lying down on the floor in the middle of the statue hall until my blood pressure recovered.
To my relief, noone paid any attention to me.
Posts: 235 | From: my sanctuary | Registered: Sep 2005
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
I wonder whether kidney stone would compare with having the needle hit the nerve full on when they're giving you an epidural (I said, or gasped, 10+).
Or whether a hit in the goolies (men) would be equivalent with childbirth (women).
That is, without taking duration into account in either case.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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marzipan
Shipmate
# 9442
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Posted
I remember being asked this question when I went to A&E a few years ago. I said '6, and no I don't think I need any painkillers at the moment'
4 hours of waiting later it was closer to 8 or 9. Obviously I should have said yes to painkillers, or said a higher number in the first place, I might have been seen earlier!
Are people's scales the same though? mine goes a bit like this
1 to 2 - achey rather than hurting
3 - brief ouch
4 - longer lasting ouch
5 to 6 - bearable but I'd rather have painkillers now before it gets worse
7 - swear a lot
8 or 9 - this pain is interfering with me doing anything else (including thinking)
10 - !!!!!!
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formerly cheesymarzipan.
Now containing 50% less cheese
Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005
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Pre-cambrian
Shipmate
# 2055
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
Or whether a hit in the goolies (men) would be equivalent with childbirth (women).
I guess only some sophisticated medical measuring equipment and a stock of masochistic volunteers could answer that one. On one side of the question this series of misadventures would probably get quite high up the 1-10 scale .
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"We cannot leave the appointment of Bishops to the Holy Ghost, because no one is confident that the Holy Ghost would understand what makes a good Church of England bishop."
Posts: 2314 | From: Croydon | Registered: Dec 2001
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Ferijen
Shipmate
# 4719
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Posted
Even in the worse pain I was ever in (stares at Master Ferijen), I still felt there was wriggle room... in fact, I remember thinking when they asked how much it hurt 'it would hurt more if I'd got a broken leg'. Also, as long as I thought it could hurt some more, I deferred the more effective painkillers 'just in case'.
Always leave some wriggle room. You never know what else might be coming your way...
Posts: 3259 | From: UK | Registered: Jul 2003
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cheesymarzipan:
Are people's scales the same though? mine goes a bit like this
1 to 2 - achey rather than hurting
3 - brief ouch
4 - longer lasting ouch
5 to 6 - bearable but I'd rather have painkillers now before it gets worse
7 - swear a lot
8 or 9 - this pain is interfering with me doing anything else (including thinking)
10 - !!!!!!
I agree - and my wife was probably right that I just said 3 to sound tough.
As I was waiting I could hear the Nurse Practitioner talking with her colleagues: "You could take off the nail, suture the wound and re-embed the nail" one said.
"I've never done that before"
"Well why not give it a try"
That's 3 for the accident, and about 7 for the treatment.
Having read everyone's comments I can see I've led a very sheltered and pain free life. For which I'm very grateful.
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"controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
cheesymarzipan: 7 - swear a lot
I probably start swearing around level 2 ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Walking into a milk crate barefoot: 3
Heart palpitations: 4
Tendonitis: 5
Night-time leg cramp: 6
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Step on piece of Lego on child's bedroom floor in the dark: 4
Dislocated shoulder: (calling rugby players): 8
Cricket ball in the balls: Immediate pain 3
Continuing ache in pit of abdomen when adrenalin fades: 6
Sharp pain if box splits then traps your scrotum:8
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
cheesymarzipan: 7 - swear a lot
I probably start swearing around level 2
Yeah, I'm a big lumbering oaf with long legs and huge feet, so I am always accidentally kicking something in the middle of the night when the dog wants out. My wife has learned that an "Ouch!" from me is really more of an expression of surprise than anything else.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Reminds me of a strip from the wonderful Clare in the Community.
She is visiting a friend who's recently given birth:
Clare: So tell me all about it - but remember, we don't say 'pain'. That's a negative concept. We talk about 'energy'.
New mother: Oh right. Well the energy was fucking excruciating.
[ 01. May 2013, 19:42: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
cheesymarzipan: 7 - swear a lot
I probably start swearing around level 2
Yeah, I'm a big lumbering oaf with long legs and huge feet, so I am always accidentally kicking something in the middle of the night when the dog wants out. My wife has learned that an "Ouch!" from me is really more of an expression of surprise than anything else.
Pain (usually accidental) is worse when the swearing stops, ie. your mouth opens and nothing comes out.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Walking into chair barefoot - 3
Walking into chair barefoot at some speed - 4
Getting sharp piece of grit stuck behind contact lens - 5
Period pains - 6
Getting chillies in eyes - 8
Special hyper cramps - 10+
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
That's funny, I didn't think childbirth was that bad (and yes I gave birth without drugs). Breaking my wrist, though... now THAT was a 10 as far as I'm concerned.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
Originally posted by Boogie:
quote:
Childbirth = 10
Filling without anesthetic = 6
Childbirth = 6
Filling without anesthetic =10
TOTALLY - just what I thought when I saw that post!
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The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
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basso
Ship’s Crypt Keeper
# 4228
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Posted
Passing by the relatively minor stuff:
Appendicitis (not ruptured but the surgeon "had to dissect it out of you") : 7
Bad gout flare : 8
Urinary retention: 9
I'm hoping never to meet a 10.
Posts: 4358 | From: Bay Area, Calif | Registered: Mar 2003
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nicolemr:
That's funny, I didn't think childbirth was that bad (and yes I gave birth without drugs). Breaking my wrist, though... now THAT was a 10 as far as I'm concerned.
![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif) It was the opposite for me--broken wrist about 6, childbirth about 11 (but I had Pitocin, which maybe makes a difference? No normal experience to compare it to)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Pain is relative, not only between individuals, but for a given individual as well.
Intensity, location, duration and situation can all affect perception of pain...
I've never had children, but I have had pain cause nearly all conscious mental process to stop, hearing fade, vision go white. Is childbirth more or less than that?
Childbirth varies too. My first child, when I was in my 20s, was a 6 pounder. 1 short hour of labor, no drugs (except Pitocin), 3 pushes. I would say... maybe, a 4, 5?
2nd child, in my late 30's, nearly 10 lb. 5 hours into intense "active" induced labor, the anesthesiologist explains that because of my drug allergies, giving me an epidural would mean I could be permanently paralyzed. I was so far gone at that point that all heard was "legal requires informed consent". In all seriousness I asked if there was a form I needed to sign. Hubby very thoughtfully explained that, no, the doctor is saying "no"-- permanent paralysis is a bad thing.
So that would be, what-- an 8 perhaps?
[ 01. May 2013, 23:54: Message edited by: cliffdweller ]
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
For me, childbirth was more of an increasingly weary slog than actual pain - more like hillwalking with a heavy rucksack in a steady drizzle and poor visibility. Not pleasant, totally exhausting, but not really painful as such. (I used a TENS machine from the first twinge, which might have helped.)
Tempro-mandibular joint pain would score far higher for me - that would be an 8.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
I've been asked this question a few times lately... It often means, "Would you like more morphine?", but it's more complicated than that.
I think the duration of the pain is an important factor in how you rate it. For example, a needle biopsy reaches the top of the scale, but only for a fraction of a second. When the anaesthetic wore off a little too soon after surgery a couple of weeks ago, I'd have rated it beyond 10, being a coward, but I was soon knocked over the head again and remained happily uninvolved for several more hours. It was nasty, but not for long.
I've probably had my worst experiences in the dentist's chair, leaving me shaking and confused afterwards, yet the pain rating probably wasn't all that high. The only confident rating I can ever give is a zero.
Then there are the odd experiences that can accompany pain: perhaps stress responses or spiritual moments, but that's another topic.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I have noticed that childbirth experiences vary greatly. I wish I could have been one of those who deliver easily without much pain. Duration seems to be a huge factor in pain scales. At the beginning of labor, "I can do this! Not too much problem!" After thirty hours of three minute contractions, "Don't tell me I shouldn't scream! I don't care who I scare!!"
Similarly, after having my spinal fusion, after years of constant sciatica and excruciating piriformis spasms, the pain of the surgery was Nothing compared to the relief of the other pain. Something that lasts a minute is bearable, IMHO. Something that stays a good 6-9 constantly is enough to drain a person's spirit and energy. And made me cry. A lot.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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