#pain scale
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As always, I'm curious...
Poll incoming:
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this is the picture I show any doctor when I have to go.
Anymore, when I get asked about my pain, I just hand the doctor my phone. I've been at a constant 8 on the chronic illness side of the picture for a year and a half now. I hate it but I thought this could be useful. I straight up got the off of Google so I am unsure who to credit for the original but I have been a great help to me so I wanted to share.
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I made my own pain and fatigue scale charts. Because I'm so adept at overcoming my symptoms the normal pain scale doesn't really work for me. I adjusted my numbers so that I could change the number into something I could tell a doctor when they inevitably ask me to rate my pain.
[Image Description: Pain Scale Chart with rainbow gradient background for each row, starting at red and ending at blue.
Row 1: Mine Drs Pain Scale Description
Row 2: 10 X I am not leaving my bedroom or bathroom, someone needs to bring me food and I need something to dull the pain or the pain will cause tears.
Row 3: 9 X I am not leaving my bedroom and bathroom for anything other than food.
Row 4: 8 10 Speaking is difficult. It is no longer practical to do activities outside of the bathroom or bedroom, but they can be done with assistance.
Row 5: 7 9 Necessary care activities are sacrificed. Academic activities and social activities can no longer be tolerated.
Row 6: 6 8 My pain is tiring. Paying attention is difficult. All activities require pacing and extra effort.
Row 7: 5 7 My pain is so distracting it is making me tired. It is hard to think. Necessary care activities are no longer all doable.
Row 8: 4 6 My pain is so distracting it is making me tired. It is harder to think. Necessary care activities are starting to be limited.
Row 9: 3 5 I can continue to do most activities
Row 10: 2 4 My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time
Row 11: 1 3 My pain bothers me, but I can ignore it most of the time.
Row 12: 0 2 I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it
Row 13: X 1 My pain is hardly noticeable
Row 14: X 0 I have no pain. END Image Description]
[Image Description:
Fatigue Scale Chart with rainbow gradient background for each row, starting at red and ending at blue.
Row 1: Mine Drs Fatigue Scale Description
Row 2: 10 X Can barely sit up, needs assistance to get out of bed. Holding conversations is impossible. Laying down for most of the day is necessary. It is difficult to eat. Focusing is strenuous.
Row 3: 9 X Able to walk and stand for short distances. Holding conversations is difficult. Laying down for most of the day is necessary. It is difficult to eat. Focusing is strenuous.
Row 4: 8 10 Able to walk and stand for short distances. Holding conversations is difficult. Sitting for long Periods of time is difficult. It is difficult to eat. Focusing is strenuous. Preparing a meal isn’t possible.
Row 5: 7 9 Holding conversations is difficult. Sitting or standing for long Periods of time is difficult. It is difficult to eat. Focusing is strenuous.
Row 6: 6 8 Sitting or standing for long Periods of time is difficult. It is difficult to eat. Focusing is difficult. Preparing a meal is difficult.
Row 7: 5 7 Standing or walking for long periods is difficult. It is difficult to eat. Focusing is difficult.
Row 8: 4 6 Standing or walking for long periods is difficult. Focusing is difficult.
Row 9: 3 5 Cooking for longer than 15 minutes is extremely challenging.
Row 10: 2 4 Not everything can be done in the day. Activities are slowed down. Difficult mental challenges are sacrificed.
Row 11: 1 3 Tiredness makes it difficult to enjoy fun activities.
Row 12: 0 2 Things take more effort than usual, but everything is still doable.
Row 13: X 1 Slightly tired but still able to carry on as normal
Row 14: X 0 Not tired at all
END Image Description.]
Feel free to use them yourself if you like them!
#chronic illness#chronic pain#chronic condition#disability#chronic fatigue#cfs/me#chronically ill#spoonie#amps#disabled#actually chronically ill#actually disabled#stardust maple#pain scale#fatigue scale#chronic fatigue scale#chronic pain scale#long post
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Wait, you're telling me having a pain so intense you can't move is considered the most painful?
I've been experiencing level 10 pain on and off for most of my life?
Aw shit...
Level 3 is just "uncomfortable??!" 5 is distracting?????
Stubbing a toe is what i would put as a 2, but if its distracting me for a while its 5??
God I wish....
#disability#disabled#spoonie#chronic illness#chronically ill#chronic pain#mental health#chronic fatigue#pots#ibs#fibromyalgia#pain scale#tw swearing#tw cussing
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A thing about how *I* experience chronic pain: it’s not always easy to quantify when I’m in “routine” pain, esp when it’s dull rather than sharp, but it absolutely *does* affect my functioning.
So much stuff about chronic pain, especially relating to pain scales, talks about relatively lower-level routine pain that “you no longer (actively) notice” as if it then becomes a zero sum game; you no longer notice it, therefore it no longer affects you?
But a lot of the pain I live with daily *is* dull rather than sharp. And quite a lot of it I’ve been living with various kinds of intermittently for most of my life. For example, digestive pain and nausea, dull headache, and ongoing musculoskeletal pain *definitely* do affect me even when I’m not actively noticing it. It eats spoons to do things. It makes me actively *considerably* more fatigued and actively reduces my emotional capacity to process rather than react. It also reduces my executive function *enormously*, and that is *not* great at the best of times.
The best analogy I can give is that it’s like background programmes running on a computer, eating processing power.
#chronic pain#chronic fatigue#chronic illness#disability#pain scale#heds#hypermobile eds#pots syndrome#autism#autistic adult#adult adhd
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Did anyone else think the pain scale included all levels when they were younger? Like, I thought 10 meant being burned alive and stabbed everywhere or something, and breaking a bone was a 6, but apparently that's not what it means.
Realizing this was not the case really helped me realize that my normal pain levels are more abnormal than I thought. I thought I was regularly at a 2, but I'm actually normally a 4 to 5.
#chronic pain#pain scale#chronic illness#chronically ill#disability#disabled#physically disabled#physical disability#spoonie
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Scaling pain out of 10.
#custom emoji#disabled#chronically ill#cute emoji#discord emojis#emotes#disability emoji#disabled emoji#pain emoji#pain scale
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my family’s disabled. EDS and tethered cord confirmed in some but everyone has roughly the same progression of symptoms. my mom and sibling have already had tethered cord release surgery and we’re in the process of looking at my spine.
im in the process of figuring out what’s normal and what’s not, how to identify sensations, how to take care of myself, how to cope with a body that works less and less. i am also autistic, so for me, that means identifying specific feelings and sensations can be difficult
so earlier today i was woken up from a nap by my mom telling me she’s leaving for dinner with my stepdad. im always down for pad thai so i get myself up, together, and out the door in about five minutes. which is not really enough time to assess how my body is feeling, which is difficult for me anyway.
before dinner im already feeling a little lightheaded and clammy and i figure i just need to eat, which i do, and it is in fact worse. i excuse myself for the restroom, thinking it’s because my stomach’s been weird, don’t feel better. silently rushing my mom to wrap up chatting with my family bc i feel like i need to be home. make it home, curl up on the recliner, feel some sharp pains along my spine, watch a little star trek, eat some leftovers, yknow
then my mom comes into my room before bed and says that she recognized how i was feeling at dinner. cold but feeling overheated, clammy, pale, almost a bit dizzy, hungry but not hungry, needing to put my head in my hands and shift around, uncomfortable but unable to pinpoint what's wrong. she says, i've felt like that a lot too, for decades, and i always think did i eat enough protein did i drink enough did i do something wrong to trigger something i can’t recognize, and actually?
i think it’s just pain.
which is currently kind of blowing my mind a bit to realize, that although i know people with chronic pain will not recognize their pain the same as able bodied people
i am more likely to feel the side effects of pain than the pain itself
put another way, i am experiencing my body reacting to pain whether or not i feel more or less than usual of what i think of as pain (sharp, shooting, twinge, spasm, pointy ache..).
I thought of general pain or the constant background pain as just a low ache that maybe comes with some stiffness and soreness, but I am feeling it through other senses and manifestations as well
so im really rethinking about how to recognize and predict and categorize and classify pain. it made me think of the emotions wheel, which you probably recognize a version of if you’ve had therapy
and i think something like this with words for physical sensations like restless, queasy, tight, collapsible, unsteady, foggy, tensed, and probably better words i’m not thinking of, would be a helpful start to identify how to communicate what is going on with my body
is this relatable to anyone? how do you recognize and communicate feelings in your body that you’ve gotten used to but are not medically “normal”? what words would you put on the sensation wheel?
#does this make sense to anyone? or is it super extremely obvious? idk i found this out an hour ago and reddits down so#disability#chronic pain#autism#interoception#spoonie#chronically ill#chronic illness#pain scale#emotions wheel#feelings wheel#therapy#physical therapy#disabled#health#fibromyalgia#eds zebra#ehlers danlos#scoliosis#kyphosis
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There needs to be like...a pain scale+ for chronic pain peeps
Like
0 - has literally never happened
1 - did you just take morphine?
2 - miracle day
3 - evening of miracle day
4 - just took a hot bath
5 - a good day
6 - sort of achy but it's not too bad
7 - something is sore, a bit tired
8 - yeah ok it kind of hurts but I can still ignore it and get stuff done. Pretty normal day.
9 - taking it more easy today, still able to get some things done slowly. It probably rained and/or is cold out.
10 - brain is more foggy, can't really ignore pain anymore, it's present but I can still move around. Need to take frequent breaks.
11 - can't really go anywhere, need to take frequent naps, maybe get one thing done. Need to use a little pain relief and coping methods.
12 - stay in bed all day except for bare necessities for survival. Using coping and pain relief methods.
13 - need help with taking care of self, in bed all day, sleeping most of the time. Using lots of coping and pain relief methods.
14 - little hard to fall asleep due to pain and discomfort. Need to use coping and pain relief methods to sleep. Some crying. Can't move except for bathroom.
15 - coping and pain relief methods not very effective but do take the edge off. Can barely make it to the bathroom. Either sleep all day or lay in bed on phone. Might also have a little cold or something and need to take extra meds.
16 - coping and pain relief methods not working, need help going to bathroom, lots of crying, can barely sleep due to pain. Can barely type on phone.
17 - too much pain to cry, can barely talk, cannot move, even with help it's hard going to the bathroom, too tired to use pain relief and coping methods, cannot even use phone. Still you know all your pain is from your illness. The worst pain your illness can cause.
18 - feel like you're dying, Also are sick separate from illness. Require medical intervention. Call your doctor.
19 - you need to go to the doctor or hospital. You have an additional illness or injury. Something is very wrong.
20 - you got fucking shot, or your leg is snapped in two. The most unbearable pain imaginable. You need to go to the emergency room. Call 911
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Charts For Assessing Pain And Fatigue
As a person with chronic pain and chronic fatigue, I often find it helpful to use scales to communicate how I'm doing, both for myself to contextualize it and so others have an idea how I'm doing. It's especially helpful for doctors who take you more seriously when you have data.
But I'm really bad at just assessing it in my head, especially consistently. Internalized ableism means I always feel like I'm just being a wimp and I really minimize my pain. So assessment scales that make me look at my behaviors really help break me out of that and be more honest. They also keep me more consistent so the days is more useable.
Both scales in a spreadsheet
Pain Scale
This scale was given to me in a hospital with no indication of where it came from in a really basic badly formatted table. This is my cleaned up version formatted to be saved on a phone or printed.
0 - No Pain - Pain free
2 - Minimal - Pain is barely noticeable; tightness
3 - Mild - Feel a low level of pain entering awareness only when my attention is devoted to it
4 - Uncomfortable - Pain is troubling but can be ignored most of the time; am able to continue activities
5 - Moderate - Moderate pain but no break in activity or concentration; guarded movement patterns
6 - Distracting - Pain is troubling and breaks through concentration but is tolerable; activity level changes.
7 - Distressing - Pain is intense and preoccupies my thinking; can complete tasks but it is difficult and must cease some demanding activities; considering pain medication or other pain reducing agent.
8 - Intense - Severe pain that makes concentration difficult; can do only non-demanding activities; taking pain medication, etc. Can't carry on a conversation well, pacing , etc.
9 - Severe - Cannot concentrate on anything else; sweating, unsteady breathing, can do almost nothing. Can barely talk.
10 - Immobilizing - Excruciating pain, constant; unable to move.
Fatigue Scale
This was floating around Tumblr in the colorful version. I can't print it, I can't read it with the colors when I'm tired, and I wanted the scales to normalized going the same direction so here's my formatting version:
0 - Not tired at all.
1 - Slightly tired, but still able to carry on as normal with little to no difficulty.
2 - Finding everything more effort than usual, but still able to carry on.
3 - Tiredness makes it hard to enjoy activities that are usually fun, but still able to work or study (with some difficulty).
4 - Possibly able to do some work or studying, depending on how much effort it takes. May choose to work or study from home. Avoiding activities that take a lot of energy.
5 - Mostly unable to work or study (except low effort tasks that can be done from home) can go out (for example to buy food) but only if essential.
6 - Too tired to go out, but still able to move around the house and do activities that require little energy and focus. Preparing a meal is difficult. Can't work or study.
7 - Doesn't need to lie down and can walk around the house, but can't stand for more than a few minutes without resting. Finding it hard to eat some foods. Can't focus on anything easily.
8 - Able to sit up for a while and walk around the house if absolutely necessary. Unable to eat most food. Holding a conversation is difficult.
9 - Able to sit up for a short time and can walk short distances (with difficulty), e.g. to get a drink or go to the toilet. Can't eat.
10 - Can barely sit up. Needs assistance getting out of bed.
Sources
I don't know where either of these came from originally or who to credit, but I'd like to. (Normally I wouldn't repost people's work but the public benefit here outweighs those concerns for me.) Please reblog if you do and I'll edit it in. I just want them available to more disabled people.
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⛈️ On a scale from 1-10... ☀️
This design will be available as a magnet in my Etsy shop next month! 🌈🙂 etsy.com/shop/danneroni
#mental health#pain scale#infographic#mood wheel#graphic design#psychology#psychology tool#rainbow art#cartoon#furry art#anthro#merch design#expressionism#digital art#helpful art#useful art
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The Pain Scale is kinda useless
Yes, this has to do with neurodiversity. But also about general disabilities, about sexism and racism and other things.
I spend a lot of time last week in hospital, because I had a biking accident last week and was in the ER, as well as going to two check ups, the last one earlier today. And there I once again realized how useless the painscale is.
See, the entire idea of the pain scale is that you should tell doctors the pain you are in on the scale of "no pain" to "worst pain imaginable". But... the thing is that this runs into several problems:
How bad the worst pain imaginable is varies a lot depending on what the worst pain someone has ever experienced is.
People, who have to fight chronic pain, generally have a very shifted pain scale.
A lot of neurodiverse, especially a lot of autistic people, have problem with interoception - so actually telling what they and their body feel. And this can at times include pain.
And then of course there is the issue that because of a lot of people who genuinely just at the moment are experiencing their worst pain imaginable, even though for someone else it might just be a 5 or 6, makes doctors always like "Yeah, sure" when someone arrives and tells them "yeah, I am at a 9". While also saying: "So, its not that bad," when someone arrives saying "Yeah, I am at a 4 or 5?"
Just two examples for me. Earlier last year I had done something to my back and I was in so severe pain that I barely could move. But of course I did not call the ambulance, but had my roomie bring me to the hospital. So, I hobbled into the ER there, and when they asked me about my pain, I was like "8 to 9?" And they were like: "Oh, you came here on your own, it could not have been that bad."
Another one was last week. You should know, that as a teen, I had a really, really bad internal infection, with really the most horrible pain imaginable. Like, "I was screaming until they gave me morphium" bad. So, trying to focus on how my body was feeling, I came to the conclusion: "4 or 5?" And the doctor was like: "Well, than it cannot be so bad." Welp, psych. I ended up having a fracture. And the doctor just looked at me like: "... How can you still move?" And I was just: "Well, I know much worse pain."
And it should be noted. I have had several fractures during my life and... I never considered the pain of a fracture as that extreme. I do not know whether it is because of messed up interoception or something. But yeah. I move around quite fine with a fracture.
Really, I kinda feel like even for doctors it is not really the most useful evaluation tool. Because I see a lot of doctors go "Well, it is not that bad that you need treatment" if you are telling them a number smaller than 5, but as soon as you go above 7, they basically go: "Press X to doubt".
And that is without going into the problems of sexism, racism and the like. Because when a woman talks about her pain, doctors will go like: "She is just very sensitive." Meanwhile if the person is not white they will also assume other things. And of course men in general often are made to underplay their pain, to be ruff and manly.
Don't get me wrong. I know why the pain scale exists. But... I do not think it is very useful as it is right now for the reasons named above.
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please reblog for research purposes
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[id: black text with a purple outline on a transparent background reading: “cripples make the pain scale look like a bitch”. /end id]
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