Describe your 10/10 pain. Piggybacking off of recent pain discussions.

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Acute Care - Adult, Med Surg, Neuro.

I have felt 10/10 pain. I had a medical procedure that was incredibly painful, awake and unmedicated. Being a nurse, I wanted to be tough. I closed my eyes, gripped the table, moaned, clenchedd my teeth, every muscle in my body tensed and had "tunnel vision" if I opened my eyes. Sounds also seemed distorted. All I could focus on was the horrific pain. As the nurses and doctor asked me questions I could only get out one-word answers.

When the procedure was over, they encouraged me to rest, but I wanted to be tough. So I got up and had a vasovagal response to the pain. My blood pressure dropped, my hands and feet went cold yet my core felt like I was feverish. I was so pale my lips were ghostly white. I got dizzy and felt as close to blacking out as I have ever been in my life. I was rushed back to bed and had to remain for extra time to recover.

I know everyone reacts differently to pain, but when someone says their finger pain is 10/10, while sitting upright calmly in bed, it makes me wonder. But then again, I am not someone used to pain. Do you think people misunderstand the pain scale? Do you think the 10/10 is over used?

No I think many don't understand. My 10/10 I nearly passed out from the pain, I was hyperventilating. I think some people have very little experience with pain so to them, it is a lot of pain. I just keep telling myself "pain is subjective"

Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

Honestly I don't focus on that. I put down what they say and medicate per the orders. I think some people feel if they rate the pain higher, they will get the higher dose of medicine or we will medicate them faster. People cope in different ways and outwardly express pain in different ways.

Specializes in Cvicu/ ICU/ ED/ Critical Care.
Honestly I don't focus on that. I put down what they say and medicate per the orders. I think some people feel if they rate the pain higher they will get the higher dose of medicine or we will medicate them faster. People cope in different ways and outwardly express pain in different ways.[/quote']

Agreed.

Mine was rolling and sliding 100 feet on asphalt off a bike doing 50mph... Well, actually the debridement. The unmedicated debridement... Unmedicated for about 4 inches worth. Then I had a boatload of drugs, and Im pretty sure I still passed out. I don't recommend refusing pain meds.

Specializes in Acute Care - Adult, Med Surg, Neuro.

I always document pain accurately and if it is safe, medicate per orders. If the patient doesn't report relief from pain (no matter my thoughts), I report this to the MD and let them decide how to proceed.

I can only imagine that sort of pain, AW-EMTP. The type of pain where your body just shuts off. In my situation I didn't refuse medications, it was a complicated situation, with some poor decision making on the physician's part.

But every time I see a 10/10 eating chips and watching TV, I think back to my experience.

10/10: Lightheaded, nauseated, almost passed out. Second most painful experience a walk in the park compared to 10/10 pain. I think describing 10/10 pain as being "the worst pain you've ever had" is difficult b/c everyone's worst pain experience is very different and hopefully rare. My 10/10 has been getting my wrist slammed in a car door (must be all the nerve endings in the wrist) and a c-section w/o the benefit of anesthesia. So if that's 10/10 my second worst pain would only rate at about a 5/10 and that was a broken elbow. Am I making sense or just rambling after working too many night shifts w/o adequate sleep? If a pt. has never had the unfortunate luck of having a passing out from freakish pain episode then their 10/10 is going to look dramatically different than someone who has. Maybe their 10/10 is the time they stubbed their toe really hard on the foot of the bed. Do any of you have a way to ask pt's about pain that is more objective? To me it is very subjective and for that reason, I do as others have said and write down the number and medicate as ordered.

When I ask about a patient's pain level, I'm (for the most part) not doing it to see how bad the pain is. I use it to show me efficacy of pain management meds or techniques. Example: if a patient says their pain is an 9, then I give them their norco and reassess in an hour. If they say their pain is then at a 3, I know the pain management is working. If, however, I reassess and patient tells me it only went down to say, 7, I have to adjust my care plan to implement better pain management.

Having had 9/10 pain myself (kidney stone and kidney infection) I give the patient's the benefit of the doubt. As previously stated, pain is subjective.

My goal is to determine how tolerable the pain is once I've given them their med or treatment. I have had people say their pain is a 6 and ask for their norco, and I have had patients say their pain is a 6, but they state it is tolerable and don't request their med.

Specializes in PCCN.

what makes me mad is those pt's who are so snowed you have to ask them a couple times what their pain is, and its always still 10/10.

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I've never had 10/10 pain. I've had 3 children, all without pain medication. It hurt like a mofo, but I could imagine there is pain worse than that. I would call my childbirth pain 8-9/10, particularly during transition. I have herniated discs and have had my back go into spasm where I couldn't walk and could only stand while waiting for PO vicodin to hit my system. I would call that 8/10. I remember waking up in PACU after both an abdominal surgery and a back surgery, and rating my post-op pain as 6/10, and that was pretty damn uncomfortable.

So yeah, I have a healthy respect for the pain scale and use it pretty conservatively.

My husband, also an RN, had acute pancreatitis a few months ago and I thought he was having an MI, he was in so much pain. In the ED, he was rating his pain as a 7-8/10. I remember he was waxy, pale and diaphoretic.

Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Please everone, remember that the pain scale mentioned here is asking the PATIENT to compare this pain with the greatest they have ever felt in the past. If this current pain is the greatest then it is a 10. It might seem like a 5 to you, but that was not the question. We ask, "on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst pain you have ever felt, how do your rate your pain now?". The scale is highly subjective, but nurses like objective statements. The real point is, no matter what the number, it only serves to help you evaluate whether or not your intervention is working. If the number goes down after an intervention, then it is working. The number itself has no real meaning - it is only a scale and not an absolute description. Don't relate the number to your own experiences, just the patient's

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

I've had 10/10 pain with childbirth (4 of them were unmedicated; 1 of those was induced), and with recurrent corneal erosions that I used to get following eye trauma. Every 4-6 weeks the epithelium of 1/3 the area of my right cornea sloughed off. It rivaled childbirth. Although I hear kidney stones and gallstones are worse...I guess I'll know if I get one.

That said, pain is very subjective and I'm not medicating based on my perception of their nonverbals. I'd rather err on the side of treating someone's pain, and I've never overmedicated anyone. The only time I've come close to that is a pt who'd had a really big GI surgery for CA, became oversedated maybe 8 hours after I left. We'd been gradually increasing his meds to the point of getting 19 mg of Dilaudid an hour total (between basal rate, PCA dose, and clinician bumps), plus scheduled methadone and prn oxy and Tylenol. He was the type that was constantly rating the pain 10/10 even w/ all those narcs...but he also hadn't slept in FIVE DAYS.

Like SleeepyRN, I tend to use it more as a comparison tool to compare pre-pain meds to peak of pain meds.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

My 10/10 was labor before the epidural.

I just take the patient's rating at their word and give them what is ordered...though I will document their behavior as well as mention it to the MD, and let them adjust orders if they see fit. Pain is subjective--I can't prove with certainty that they are in pain or aren't.

Maybe they're playing up the pain, maybe they're jonesing, maybe it's bonafide 10/10 finger pain, whatever--it's not my place to play doctor.

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