Rate Your Pain From 1 - 10?

How often do you get asked rate your pain on a scale from 1 to 10?  When you are a person who does not suffer from a chronic/terminal illness this scale has a total different meaning.  Most would rate themselves somewhere between a  four or five when they get the flu or a cold, and as they get better the number goes down. 

For a person with a chronic illness the scale is completely different, most will never again have their scale go below  4 or 3.  My girlfriend suffers from Fibromyalgia and we often talk about what we read anything that may help one another and just lifting each other up on bad days.  She one day asked me where I would rate my pain based on the Wang-Baker scale?  When I asked her what she was talking about she said "you know the scale when you are asked rate your pain from 1 to 10?"  So I said on average from a 4 - 5, not realizing how far off I was. To a healthy person with the flu or cold I was rating myself pretty good, to a person who can no longer dress herself some days, or lift herself up from a seated position, or stand for long periods of time no wonder doctors did not see how bad I really was.  Doctors are basing their assessment of pain from their patient when it is possible that their patient has never been explained just what they mean by this scale when they ask.  Most people would rate themselves somewhere in the middle it's human nature.

My advice to anyone  suffering and if you did not know the true meaning of this scale prior to reading this like myself my advice would be to take a copy of both these scales with you to your next appointment and discuss your rating with examples, maybe then a lot of misconceptions and confusion could be avoided.  The medical profession needs to understand that everyone's pain threshold is different so a lot of people may be off the mark with their rating just like I was. Too if people have been suffering for a long time that again would make a person rate themselves lower then the normal population, the mind has an amazing ability to make you think you are doing better then you really are.

 THE PAIN SCALE

0  –  Pain free.

Mild Pain  – Nagging, annoying, but doesn't really interfere with daily living activities.

1  –  Pain is very mild, barely noticeable.  Most of the time you don't think about it.

2  –  Minor pain.  Annoying and may have occasional stronger twinges. 

3  –  Pain is noticeable and distracting, however, you can get used to it and adapt.

Moderate Pain – Interferes significantly with daily living activities.

4  –  Moderate pain.  If you are deeply involved in an activity, it can be ignored for a period of time, but is still distracting. 

5  –  Moderately strong pain.  It can't be ignored for more than a few minutes, but with effort you still can manage to work or participate in some social activities.

6  –  Moderately strong pain that interferes with normal daily activities.  Difficulty concentrating.

Severe Pain – Disabling; unable to perform daily living activities.

7  –  Severe pain that dominates your senses and significantly limits your ability to perform normal daily activities or maintain social relationships.  Interferes with sleep.

8  –  Intense pain.  Physical activity is severely limited.  Conversing requires great effort. 

9  –  Excruciating pain.  Unable to converse.  Crying out and/or moaning uncontrollably.

10 –  Unspeakable pain.  Bedridden and possibly delirious.  Very few people will ever experience this level of pain. 

Wang-Baker scale:

My days are from a 7 -8 and I often have days that can be a  9 heading into 10 because I can't get out of bed.  When my illness 1st started I was rating myself correctly but for the past few years I should have been much higher. How about you?  Are you rating yourself correctly?