April 3, 2020

Pain Scales

My knee surgery has been delayed.  I used some of my time to document pain levels.  Dividing pain into mild, moderate, and severe is not enough to identify 10 different levels.  Noting whether pain was intermittent or constant was helpful.  It helped to document when pain disrupted my Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and how much pain reliever I took.  At 6-10, emotional distress added further refinement.  Here are the 10 levels of pain I have experienced over a lifetime.

1.  Have to think to recall if I had Mild  Intermittent pain during the day.
2 . Spontaneously aware of Mild  Intermittent pain throughout the day.
3.  Mild  Constant pain.  650 mg Tylenol at bedtime.  Must do some ADL tasks differently
     (e.g. walk down stairs backwards).
4.  Moderate  Intermittent pain.  Added 650 mg Tylenol in a.m. because I ache before I get up.
5.  Moderate  Constant pain makes me achy and exhausted by the end of the day.
     Worried about what 9 months of Tylenol is doing to my liver.
6.  I cannot tolerate Constant  Moderate pain much longer.  Irritable!! 
     Need 2 attempts to do some ADL tasks (e.g. stand up).
7.  Severe pain makes me afraid I cannot finish a task (e.g. thought about leaving loaded cart in
     the grocery store and going home).
8.  Severe pain makes me say "Ow that hurts" but I am able to remain still.
9.  Severe pain makes me Yell "OW" and I jerk involuntarily.
10. Excruciating pain: Not able to make any sound because I cannot exhale or inhale.
        homeafterstroke.blogspot.com

3 comments:

  1. This scale makes so much more sense than the one-sentence description usually given, where 1 is 'practically no pain' and 10 is 'call the ambulance.' Thanks for such clear descriptions of pains I have experienced.

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  2. Yes, I also add what is my normal tolerable pain to the list. I could still function with difficulty at a 7 after having my pain levels at 7 for over a year. My body adjusted to a 7 becoming more like a 3 or 4 over time. Now for at 10, I'd add silent tears running uncontrollably down my face.No sobs just tears. I hurt too bad for sobs.

    After my baclofen pump was working I had zero pain levels. What an eye opener! Now that it's out, the pain levels have increased to your 4 and climbing.

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