I have visited doctors' offices more than I wanted in the last few months, including two ER visits and a same-day surgery. After the latter I have had varying degrees of pain for over a week now.
In almost every doctor's office there is a 8.5x11 pain chart with a bar of varying colors and a scale from 0 to 10. Just what is a pain of 2 or 4? I don't know. On one visit I found out that there is another scale on this chart, from smiley face to extreme grimace with tears. Even with the faces, I'm hard put to measure my pain because I don't hold any particular facial expression constantly. If I had a pain that had me tight-lipped and someone told a really good joke, I would smile and laugh.
Today, I came up with my own list of descriptions based on my own current and past experiences.
Barely noticeable would be a tender spot that you didn't think about until someone touched it with a bit of pressure.
Noticeable would be a minor ache or pain that you think about when you are still or make certain movements.
Annoying would be a pain that is always there but you can function normally and sometimes put out of your mind.
Distracting would be a pain that stops all activity. Your mind is just too occupied with it to do much else. You can force yourself to act, but you do so with reluctance.
Excruciating is not only distracting, but you want to cry out in anger or frustration.
Stop, stop, stop! has your full attention. All you want is for the pain to stop. You can think of nothing else.
Only once in recent memory have I had "Stop, stop, stop!" pain. I had an abscess in my upper jaw giving me pain varying from noticeable to excruciating. I was scheduled for oral surgery to treat the abscess, but the oral surgeon took me in just to drain the abscess. When he put the needle in, it felt like he was putting fluid in me rather than taking it out. I must have tightened every muscle in my body. After that, if I remember correctly, the pain stayed in the range of annoying to distracting until the complete surgery.
Fortunately, sort of, pain doesn't stay at one level. It can subside and come back again. The best way to keep the pain at a lower level is to do something: read a book, watch a movie, be with friends, or write a blog about pain.
