Hey I uhh spent a while looking through your health tag and I was wondering how do you manage to have the language to talk about your pain. To describe how it feels and where because right now I am a puddle of pain and can barely think well enough to to type this out let alone talk about my pain in a way that makes sense to someone who might be able to help or give advice.
I'm sorry to hear that :(
Unfortunately, Tumblr wiped out a bunch of the chronic pain tags when they did their NSFW purge, but I learned how to advocate for myself from other chronic illness bloggers, and also by working with a physical therapist (his tag on here is #magic physio man) who helped me to distinguish between different types of pain (sharp vs dull, acute vs chronic, radiating vs localized) and also how to rate them appropriately on those chronic pain chart doctor's have, taking into account that my baseline tolerance is much higher than the average person who doesn't live daily with chronic pain.
So say my baseline is a 5 daily, a new pain might push me to an overall 8, which is what I should relate to my doctor, not that the new pain is only a 3. If that makes sense. He got me to use the Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale to describe my pain, which is actually one of the more helpful pain scales out there:
Link to download PDF here (x)
Not every physician will be familiar with this scale, and you don't even need to tell them which scale you're using (I don't. Some doctors get surly over patients bringing this sort of thing to their own appointment, so I wait to see how they handle my care first before I bring my own resources to them), but it gives you the language to better convey your pain in terms the physician will relate to, and also what number you are realistically at.
From what you're describing to me just now, you're in the severe zone where your ability to focus is impeded. If I were telling a physician this, I would let them know my pain is around a 7-8, making it hard to focus, and prevents my ability to do daily tasks.
I would then describe what kind of pain it is, i.e.
Radiating: not in one place, possibly body-wide
Localized: restricted to a certain area, e.g. a toothache
Acute: sudden onset, usually from an illness or injury or surgery
Chronic: has lasted over 12 weeks, possibly a result of injury/illness or an unknown cause. (migraines fall into this category)
Followed by a descriptor like:
Tender (sensitive to touch)
Other things they will ask include:
Does anything make it better/worse?
What pain relief methods have you tried?
Does it get worse throughout the day?
Does it prevent you from getting restful sleep?
How does this affect your mood?
I'm sure I've missed something, but I hope some of that is helpful for you and maybe gives you some of the language needed to advocate for your pain. Take care, and I hope you get relief soon!
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