Posted by Russell (38.193.52.152) on January 15, 2000 at 10:42:31:
I'm new to the site, and I'm trying to rate my pain comparitavely to others here and use the Kip Scale.
I don't want to ruffle feathers, I'm just trying to learn.
I thought I was bad, but I must be lucky.
I'm trying to utilize the Kip Scale and I can't seem to get the feel for it.
I don't think I've gone beyond 8 and lots of folks seem to get 9 and 10, and I've seen 10+ in posts.
I guess I assume 0 to 10 to be: 0 no pain, and 10 the absolute maximum sustained pain one can feel without passing out.
I always tried to consider my pain compared to the pain I think would be the worse.
For example, having someone drill into my teeth without anisthesia (you know like a root canal).
I can't even begin to think of that much pain, my headaches are no where close, and I've had screamers.
I've had fillings drilled out without enough anisthesia and had to stop the dentist each time, I can kind of try to imagine the pain.
All those hero movies, where the hero resists torture.
They never bring out the tooth drill.
I'd be makin' stuff up to tell.
I've never had a broken bone, or given child birth.
The pain is hard for me to quantify.
Is it really a headache if I can get to sleep?
So I mean, mine start at 7 on the Kip scale and never go past 8.
The "Why me?" starts at 7.
The levels 1 to 6 are just pre-cursor symptoms, or your "everyday, normal person" headache levels.
Level 9, I don't know.
And level 10, even Bob said he had only been there one time and never wanted to go back.
When trying to explain to the doc my pain I have to be real.
If I say it is the worse pain ever, I imagine he thinks, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me start sawing your arm off, and let's see what you think.".
Doctors know pain levels and they know the abilities of drugs to block pain receptors.
We need a real and consistent method to describe our pain levels.
Any thoughts or help on using the scale?