On a Scale From 1 to 10, How Bad is the Pain?

            You go to the hospital, your in pain; perhaps enough pain that you can’t think clearly and the doctor says; “on a scale from 1-10 how bad is the pain”. Well obviously its bad enough to get you to the emergency, doctor or hospital. Who thought of this question and does it really work?

            Well what hurts for you, may be a minor discomfort for others; or a major discomfort for someone else.

            What happens if they patient does not speak the language your speaking, now he or she is even more confused, all they hear is “1”, “10” & “pain”.

Yes they are in pain; one would think it would be obvious if the pain was 10 and the patient was crying and screaming. At this point why ask the stupid question to start with, but it never fails, they still ask the question.

            Recently a person having a heart attack was asked that question; and I was able to see the horror in his face and the anguish of his pain. He was obvious an intelligent man and he had the look of, “Why the hell are they even asking me this question”, crossed his mind, it crossed my.

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            A woman in labor is sitting calmly, meditating quietly; she seems to have everything under control. The nurse comes in, distracts her with question like:

How do you feel? Let me read your blood pressure, could you please move over to here; this invasion, totally disrupts her ability to concentrate on her meditation.

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Now she starts falling apart and loosing control; the nurse seeing her reaction, tells the husband she will get his wife some pain medication. He is too stunned to reply, since his wife’s actions were totally unexpected. Left along, he speaks softly to her, and slowly in between a contraction she is able to gain control of herself. When the nurse returns, the laboring woman is again calm and meditating; with the help of her partner, she is able to convey to the nurse to leave them alone, they are OK.

            That would be the perfect scenario, but unfortunately it doesn’t happen that way and the husband just wants his wife to relax; and the medical field now has control of the situation.

            How about the woman who suffers from osteoporosis who has fallen and has a compound fracture; which means not only is the bone broken but also it has ripe the skin and is now protruding out on the side. The Emergency Medical Team arrive, they stabilize her and get her in the ambulance; and off to the hospital. At the hospital the nurse comes along with that stupid question; “on a scale of 1-10 how bad is the pain”? In all reality, the pain is a freak 100, give me drugs knock me out and reset the damn thing.

   So the next time your at the doctors, or in the emergency, listen to the stupid questions that get asked by the professional; with all their intelligence, all they can do is come up with a scale of 1 – 10.