The Pain Scale

[Archren]

Originally Posted by cbrchick

We can tell when people are full of shit, and we'll document such. IE: someone stating they are having 9/10 pain but yet is going out for smokes and laughing and talking with their family.

We had a young soldier out at training who was like that.. her 4'7" stature played a lot into her dramatic antics.. because she was always doing stupid shit for attention. Including exaggerating pain/symptoms in front of certain people, but then seeming just fine once she got to the doctors.

[tommymac]

its all relative but can be useful to see if its getting better or worse. Culturally it varies too. russians and most asians tend to handle pain rather well and can be very stoic so those guys I watch a little more closeley. Alot of the caribeans and latinos tend to be overly dramatic over stuff so they put on a good show for a twisted ankle or something minor.
Tom

[Rider]

Yeah a 10 would be out of control give me morphine now type pain. I actually experienced this much pain when I separated my shoulder. I've had lots and lots of bad injuries like broken ribs, broken nose, broken fingers, chipped my hip bone, hit in the head with a 5 iron, hit in the head with a baseball bat twice, Hyper extended knee and much much more and nothing compared to the shoulder injury. Shit, my bottom teeth went through my lower lip and that was like a 5 or 6 on the pain scale.

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by Rider

Yeah a 10 would be out of control give me morphine now type pain. I actually experienced this much pain when I separated my shoulder. I've had lots and lots of bad injuries like broken ribs, broken nose, broken fingers, chipped my hip bone, hit in the head with a 5 iron, hit in the head with a baseball bat twice, Hyper extended knee and much much more and nothing compared to the shoulder injury. Shit, my bottom teeth went through my lower lip and that was like a 5 or 6 on the pain scale.

separated or dislocated? 2 different animals, shoulder dislocations are no joke, we load them up on pain meds and even sedate them before we have a tug of war with their arms.

Tom

[dReWpY]

never had a ten, or even close to it and i have knock teeth out, broken my nose more times that i care to think about, stitches and shattereted my thumb and had pins put in and i think the highest i hit was a 6...

[Rider]

Originally Posted by tommymac

separated or dislocated? 2 different animals, shoulder dislocations are no joke, we load them up on pain meds and even sedate them before we have a tug of war with their arms.

Tom

Separation. Never has a dislocation. I've injured both of my shoulders at different times and it took well over a year to heal them.

[HurricaneHeather]

Originally Posted by cbrchick

We give drugs as we see fit. Not really based just on a pain scale. It just gives us an idea if the interventions we are use are working. If your pain starts at a "10" and I give you drugs, and then ask 5 mins later what your pain is post drugs, and you say "5" then I know it's working. But other things like physical symptoms, vitals, that sorta thing... those go along with our decision to continue treating or not.

Like someone having chest pain. We don't use narcotics right off, we start with nitro if their story fits, sometimes just oxygen first, and we go by blood work, EKGs and vitals. The pain scale thingy is just a small part of the process.

We can tell when people are full of shit, and we'll document such. IE: someone stating they are having 9/10 pain but yet is going out for smokes and laughing and talking with their family.

Okay, so basically, it is a part of your decision, not the final determination?

That makes more sense.

When I broke my femur I said 8. And I meant it. It hurt.

[Papa_Complex]

My imagination for that sort of thing isn't very good. My current "10", that I've actually experienced, was my balls hitting the steel gas tank of my bike when I went head-on into the grille of a car. The dent in the tank looked like I had taped an athletic supporter to a 8-pound sledge, then whacked the tank with it a couple of times.

[Rider]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

My imagination for that sort of thing isn't very good. My current "10", that I've actually experienced, was my balls hitting the steel gas tank of my bike when I went head-on into the grille of a car. The dent in the tank looked like I had taped an athletic supporter to a 8-pound sledge, then whacked the tank with it a couple of times.

Holy fucking ouch! No rupture? You got pretty lucky.

[wildchild]

Originally Posted by Rider

Holy fucking ouch! No rupture? You got pretty lucky.

of what the gas tank? he must have brass balls for real if he can dent steel.