Has your pain level ever reached a ten?

Hi All,

I thought of a way to explain to interested people who want to know more about my fibromyalgia that my overall pain level can reach a 10 if I'm not careful. This could also be due to my back and neck injuries.

There are those who understandably compare what we are going through with their own aches and pains.

Before fibro now and then I would experience a back ache or a headache but it was nothing compared to a fibro flare.

Do any of you get to the point of your pain being a ten?

Thanks!

Post Edited (almost medfree) : 6/17/2015 5:17:13 AM (GMT-6)

I get what you are saying. There have been people who care and try to understand and identify with me. But I still a feel a huge disconnect with others as I try to explain this the best I can.

Hi purple and Ljm,

Purple, I like that analogy of an all over tooth ache. Yes, even breathing can be difficult during a flare.

Ljm, I don't agree with what the therapist told you in that an 8 would keep you in bed. When there are things that have to be done, and you're the only one to do it, you have to do things with a 8 or a 9.

This is an interesting subject, and one I've thought about a lot. To answer your question, yes I've definitely reached a 10. Although for me, it's usually my pelvic pain, which is partly due to fibro, that reaches this level of severity. My other FIbro pain, esp the back, hip and random shooting pain, has reached this level a few times, but usually the worst is closer to a 8-9.

When I'm asked to rate my pain, I always wonder if I'm thinking about it the right way, but I just go by what I've experienced. Interesting what your PT said, Ljn. I think that's something someone who doesn't live with chronic pain would say. Let me tell you, I've gone to work many, many days with my pain level at an 8! The worst pain I ever had was prior to my surgery several years ago. We didn't know it at the time, but my insides were a mangled mess, due to IC, ovarian cysts, and pelvic adhesions that had caused my internal organs to twist, stick together, and get stuck places they shouldn't be. There was 3 mo period between an ER visit and my surgery, where my pain was 8-10 ever day! Not too mention the hip and back pain. Looking back, I don't know how I went to work like that, but I did.

I really think those that don't experience the pain we go through on a daily basis get it at all. I've often said that if I could take the pain I feel in my body every day and put it in another persons body for 10-30 seconds, they would probably drop to the floor and then rush themselves to the ER! People do tend to compare it to what they know, and so they really don't get it, and it can be really frustrating! It's hard when they give you a hard time because you're not doing this or that, and you think you have no clue what I'm dealing with!

Yes. And, all of my pain since has been scored based on it. It was early in my diagnosis and I was dealing with TMJ, an ulcer (from all the meds I'd been taking for chronic migraines caused by the TMJ) and my gallbladder was going on. The combination of those three things sent me to the ER with Level 10 pain 3 times in the course of 6 weeks. The third time was to a different hospital. I had a colonoscopy scheduled for the next day to try to figure out what was going on in my stomach (all tests for gallbladder had so far come back negative), but I couldn't even swallow water let alone the prep for the scope. I told my GI I wasn't leaving the hospital till he figured it out. I knew it was my gallbladder, even my husband had researched it and decided it was my gallbladder, but I was dealing with a dr that wouldn't trust his gut and would only trust tests. He finally called in a surgeon who re-ran the same Hid-a-Scan and 5 minutes later told me it was my gallbladder.

I live at a 5-7 with occasional 8-9s (less often in the last couple of years), but so far nothing has been as bad as that 6 weeks.

I had a 10 when I had surgery to repair a fistula and they stitched through a bundle of nerves. The pain was so bad that they admitted me to the hospital and even 3 mg of IV dilaudid every 2 hours didn't get my pain below a 7 for three days. And I'm pretty tough by this point: I went home after my c-section without any pain meds and didn't consider that pain any higher than a 6.

I get 10s a lot. I've never been sure what to base the 1-10 on other than my own experiences and how well I can function through it. And I don't know if the 10 episodes are caused by the fibro, or the fibro just increases the intensity, tho I don't think it really matters. I've almost passed out from period cramps while at work, and am now on the depo shot for endometriosis. I've been unable to move my arms or sleep because the pain was too much after vacuuming the whole house in a day, still need my shoulders checked out. And I've been curled up in bed unable to even think because the pressure migraine was too bad. I call those 10s because my ability to function at even a limited amount was out of the question. The rest of the time I stay between 5 & 8. Maybe once I have the time to go to a specialist or 6, we'll figure out if there's other things going on that can be fixed. I also find that the more stressed I am, the more I stay at an 8 or 9. Hopefully I can figure out all the major issues and be done with the 10s soon, and hope none of you have a lot of 10s in your lives too!!!!!!

So if you are having a hard time with knowing what pain level you are at, here is the explanation that one of my hospitals had posted. I found it much more helpful than just the smiley faces!

0 - No pain
1 - Hardly notice pain
2 - Notice pain, does not interfere with activities
3 - Sometimes distracts me
4 - Distracts me, can do usual activities
5 - Interrupts some activities
6 - Hard to ignore, avoid usual activities
7 - Focus of attention, prevents doing daily activities
8 - Awful, hard to do anything
9 - Can't bear the pain, unable to do anything
10 - As bad as it could be, nothing else matters.

That's a great pain scale chart, scifigal. I think it makes much more sense and is easier to interpret than the one with faces. Thanks for posting it.

I am having a hard time categorizing this lately. I was taught from the time I was a small child that I was oversensitive because I felt painwhere others didnt and I learned what was acceptable to have pain woth as opposed to how I felt. I find it it interfering with my ability to describe my pain.

I agree that childbirth was my worst pain. The last 5 hours with no meds had me nearly crazed. If I use that as a scale, however, it doesnt cover the things I need to express. I didnt have to take care of a house, family and job while giving birth and that is a significant difference for me. When you have to function, it isnt just the number of the pain, its what it lets you do. If necessary, I crawl out of bed to get to the shower in the morning. Sometimes I weave into things like a drunk. I laugh about it because no one, including me, enjoys the griping. The simple fact is that I have to work. So I do what I have to. Short of throwing up with the flu, I make sure I am present online.

When my PT asks about how I feel, he doesnt use numbers and I am able to keep him clued in to where I really am. I have an issue with spasticity in my arms. The muscles start knotting over and over painfully. It makes it hard to use my arms or drive. It also makes me nauseous from the sensation. But truthfully, its a low pain level, maybe 4 - 5. If I boil it down to that, my pain seems under control. But it is the biggest thing slowing me down right now. It affects my ability to do tasks like typing, handling dishwear and sleeping. add Fibro fog into that and it is hard not to get really frustrated.

Having been asked the pain-number question often, I've given it a lot of thought.

At pain level 10, one would not even be considering what has to get done--not even caring for children. The only thought (if the person can even remain conscious) is getting relief.

I have been at a 5-6 for a few days. I sleep alone (I was widowed seven years ago) but my children hear me whimpering and crying out in my sleep. I woke up this morning with tears on my face, having slept poorly. I occasionally catch myself moaning in pain when awake.

I've birthed seven children. My third was an emergent cesarean due to placental abruption. Since my baby had a major heart defect, and was extremely ill, I got no rest and developed a wound infection which required a wound re-opening and debridement, after which my three-inch-deep wound was left open and treated with wet-to-dry dressing changes every twelve hours.

I was given fentanyl and versed, but the pain was so unbearable, that when the staff would enter my room for the procedure, I'd start screaming, and have to be restrained.

I am extremely tolerant of pain. When, at the completion of stage one of labor, my twins unbeknownst to me turned transverse, I continued to have contractions, which got worse as my body tried harder and harder to birth my sons. But no baby can be born back-first! Once their positions were discovered, I went off for caesarean. Contractions were major, yet I had to be still for the spinal. When my husband came in, the anesthesiologist said, "Your wife has an extremely high tolerance for pain."

So, I'm lucky in that regard.

Though frightfully painful, neither of those experiences can possibly be a 10. I'm quite sure that the most painful injury or procedure one could experience would cause one to fall unconscious. I think of the after-care of burn victims, and those who have had to endure surgery without anesthesia.

I think that there ought to be two scales--one for chronic pain, and one for acute pain. I'd rather experience what I call "my 9," (the twice-daily wound care, unbearable even with narcotics) twice daily for a few days, than a few days in a row of a chronic pain level of 5 or 6. It's not only exhausting, but it gives one a very bleak outlook.

And, I'll choose any 9 over the ongoing emotional pain of profound grief.

Bottom line: it's the same as a "sliding scale" for most people. Our 10 is whatever is more painful than our past experiences at a pain level of 9. Our ten is a ten until we experience pain that is yet more profound.

I equate this pain with the transition period during birth. Nothing helps. I thrash about. But then I try to use techniques that were helpful during labor. Sometimes it helps.

Praying for pain levels of two or less for all of us,
Kate