Hard challenge, as pain is a subjective definition and you can't intellectually comprehend it until you're in it.
I got the scale 10 questions before I had a badly herniated disc and never knew what to say.
Now I can tell you that a 10 is when you're begging for mercy. Hearing yourself whimpering. Having panic from making another move, another step.
To be clear, it is not just the amount of pain itself - it's also a function of duration and consistency. Once pain always fires, in any position, and no remedy (besides a Fentanyl infusion) provides even temporary pause, you get in a spiral that kills quite a lot of people.
Sometimes called Chronic Pain, it is easily dismissed but so damn hard to comprehend until you experience it. Like Tinnitus, just with the rawest brain signal that triggers fight or flight.
Coming back to measuring pain - that time axis is critical.
I got the scale 10 questions before I had a badly herniated disc and never knew what to say.
Now I can tell you that a 10 is when you're begging for mercy. Hearing yourself whimpering. Having panic from making another move, another step.
To be clear, it is not just the amount of pain itself - it's also a function of duration and consistency. Once pain always fires, in any position, and no remedy (besides a Fentanyl infusion) provides even temporary pause, you get in a spiral that kills quite a lot of people.
Sometimes called Chronic Pain, it is easily dismissed but so damn hard to comprehend until you experience it. Like Tinnitus, just with the rawest brain signal that triggers fight or flight.
Coming back to measuring pain - that time axis is critical.