I’ve done it. I’ve come up with a helpful use for the pain scale. I know, many of us with chronic illnesses that cause chronic pain snarl at the mention of it. For us, being asked to rate our pain is annoying. We want to respond, “Right now or five minutes ago?” or “For other people or me?” or “If I lie perfectly still with the optimal pillow and icepack placement or if I try to live my life?” The pain scale has been proven to not be a good measure for us because we aren’t starting at the zero pain smiley face. We are starting somewhere in the middle, with the crumbling smile concerned face. So, stick with me here. I think I have a fix that is a “two-birds-one stone” type of deal.
Another exciting feature of chronic illness is we often require medical intervention. From port placement to injections to major surgery we navigate educating our caregivers on our rare conditions and choosing what is best for our unique bodies. Through all of this, I find it mystifyingly hard to get most medical professionals to be real with me about how much something will hurt. I’m a grown-up. Just tell me. On the scale of suck, where is this injection into my tailbone rated? Is it super sucky or somewhat sucky? I’ve been blatantly lied to more than once, which is not helpful because I’m in this body for life and need to trust these people.
I have a solution. I’m going to ask my medical professionals to start rating the likely pain from a procedure on the pain scale. “You think another steroid injection will help my back pain? On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being cartwheels and cupcakes and 10 being me adding this to my list of medical PTSD memories, where does this fall?” If it is expected that patients can rate their pain, shouldn’t a caregiver who has done a procedure hundreds of times be able to give you the average experience of pain? I think this is reasonable and it utilizes a tool they are familiar with. All snark aside, this might work.
I’ll let you know how it goes. For today, I am somewhere around the green small smile end of the scale. I hope you are, too.
Anne Jackson 
Truthfully, I wonder if all medical professionals are lacking a sensitivity chip, that only appears when they’re getting push back from the patient or if they are experiencing the same thing as their patient is. I’m getting tired of being the person asking ALL the questions and receiving the “oh sweetie, you worry about too much” look in response, so I like your strategy!!
LikeLike
Until a medical provider is either going through the same things you are, or had previously gone through, they need to take a class on empathy and communication. Getting tired of being more proactive with my own medical issues than they are, asking hard question that we don’t necessarily want to hear the answers to but know we need them in order to prepare and plan. I like your strategy, I can’t wit to read about how it was received 😉
LikeLike