Doctors Don't Get It

[talon]

http://xkcd.com/883/

But XKCD does.

I have to use the doctor's scale of pain, and even that is hideously wrong.

I have 3 different scale levels of pain: discomfort, inconvenience, and pain. Each one has 10 points.

Discomfort is sitting in a hot stuffy room and sweating, needing to pee and no chance to get to a toilet, a bruise (assuming I even felt the bump that led to the bruise), a stubbed toe (yes, I know, the initial stub hits Pain, but it quickly subsides to inconvenience and then into discomfort and is soon forgotten), a mild heat rash, a mild allergy reaction, scrapes, small cuts, static shocks.

Inconvenience is a broken bone (the initial injury hits Pain, but within 24 hours is usually into Discomfort), a sprain (again, the initial moment of injury may be Pain, but it quickly subsides), indigestion, sore throat, sinus infection, earache, broken fingernail below the quick, cuts that need stitches, a paper cut, mild second degree burns (sunburn).

Pain is when the bone breaks or the sprain occurs (but that pain is fleeting and hardly counts), a deep cut (surgical incision deep) that damages a nerve, severe second degree burns and up, amputation, flayed skin, and beyond.

My Pain 1 begins where most people are saying their pain level is at a 9 or 10. If I'm not dismissing it as discomfort or inconvenience, and actually call it "pain", then it's pretty serious.