My face is having uncontrollable spasms. Great. It hurts really, really, really bad.
I think part of why I have trouble explaining pain to the doctor is when they ask about the pain scale I always think “Well, if someone threw me down a flight of stairs right now or punched me a few times, it would definitely hurt a lot more” so I end up saying a low number. I was reading an article that said that “10” is the most commonly reported number and that is baffling to me. When I woke up from surgery with an 8" incision in my body and I could hardly even speak, I was in the most horrific pain of my life but I said “6” because I thought “Well, if you hit me in the stomach, it would be worse.”
I searched and searched for the post this graphic was from, and the OP deactivated, but I kept the graphic, because my BFF does the same thing, uses her imagination to come up with the worst pain she can imagine and pegs her “10″ there, and so is like, well, I’m conscious, so this must be a 5, and then the doctors don’t take her seriously. (And she then does things like driving herself to the hospital while in the process of giving birth. Probably should have called an ambulance for that one!)
So I found this and sent it to her. Because this is what they want to know: how badly is this pain affecting you? Not on a scale of “nothing” to “how I’d imagine it’d feel if bears were eating my still-living guts while I was on fire”.
I hate reposting stuff, but I’ll never find that post again and OP is deactivated, so, here’s a repost. I can delete this later, i just wanted to get it to you and I can’t embed images in a chat or an ask.
This is possibly why it took several weeks to diagnose my fractured spine.
Pain Scale transcription:
10 - I am in bed and I can’t move due to my pain. I need someone to take me to the emergency room because of my pain.
9 - My pain is all that I can think about. I can barely move or talk because of my pain.
8 - My pain is so severe that it is difficult to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.
7 - I am in pain all the time. It keeps me from doing most activities.
6 - I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain.
5 - I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.
4 - I am constantly aware of my pain but can continue most activities.
3 - My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time.
2 - I have a low level of pain. I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.
1 - My pain is hardly noticeable.
0 - I have no pain.
It’s also really important to get this kind of scale to people who have chronic pain, because chronic pain drastically lowers your perception of how “bad” any kind of pain actually is, and yet something like this pain scale is extremely user friendly.
For example, if someone asked me how much pain I’m in at any given time, I’d say hardly any, and yet I’m apparently at a chronic 2.5, and it only goes up from there depending on the day.
I haven’t been below a 5 on this scale for 4 years
Here’s the fatigue scale
As a medical professional I want to add: if you can, please DESCRIBE the level of pain as on the right side of the charts! Unfortunately some people try to “strategize” how they express their pain (i.e. “if I say my pain is a 10 they’ll move me up in line”) so the meaning of the numbers ends up being diluted and we base our interpretation more on observation (like, “the patient reports 10/10 pain but they were sitting up in bed making jokes and eating takeout” –> that’s not 10/10 pain, so the patient is interpreted as lying, which can end up pissing health workers off… since the system is a nightmare both to seek care in and to work for). So if your pain is a 7 (unmanageable) it’s helpful to TELL US that you’re ranking it that way because the pain is keeping you from doing your normal activities. If the pain prevents you from brushing your teeth or getting out of bed or riding the bus to work, SAY THAT.
I want to be clear that I’m not blaming patients for trying to get seen faster/get better care by whatever means they can access - I’m just noting a reality that exists and trying to let people know how to work with it.
And don’t forget that native plants have co-evolved with native pollinators of all sorts, most of which are in huge trouble at this time. Not only are they providing critical food as part of the reproductive cycle for many many many many native critters, they also provide nectar to an even larger group. Birds, whose populations are also crashing, rely on these insects to feed their young. Those ugly eastern tent caterpillars you’ll see here in the East? Are just ugly, don’t harm the tree, and provide crucial baby bird food.
Native plants, properly placed, are better adapted to local conditions than non-native ones.
my morning routine is wake up yawn like a cartoon character in a fairytale then stare at the ceiling for 2 hours and recover from the insane and prophetic dreams ive had
this is probably the best take I’ve heard so far on the debate of people being told that they aren’t having enough ‘compassion’ for billionaires making bad decisions and paying the obvious consequences for it
ALT
