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Flyx
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What is pain threshold?
Can pain be measured? If so, how? What are the units?
Thx
Can pain be measured? If so, how? What are the units?
Thx
If you ask a woman giving birth, your pain will never ever be a 10.jim mcnamara said:Also - Triage staff in clinics sometimes will ask you to evaluate your pain, from 1 to 10, with 1 being slight pain and 10 being the worst ever.
Please post what your research on this has shown.Flyx said:What is pain threshold?
Can pain be measured? If so, how? What are the units?
Thx
As already alluded to, in many medical situations, we use a scale of 1-10 (there are no units). We ask the following question of our patients (Pts): "On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being very little pain, and 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life, how would you rank this pain?"Flyx said:Can pain be measured? If so, how? What are the units?
Done that...berkeman said:Either that or sneezing one time when I had broken ribs.
Evo said:Please post what your research on this has shown.
Merlin3189 said:As for people making excessive fuss, perhaps there is some sense in it. I have seen reports of research showing that tolerance of pain is increased by shouting and swearing
Fra said:Anyway, skin conductanse reseponse (both frequency and tonic level) are one way to _measure_ pain, but it's an unspecific measure. It measures rather sympthatetic activity, which can be triggered by things other than pain.
berkeman said:"On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being very little pain, and 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life, how would you rank this pain?"
DiracPool said:say it's 9.5 everytime because of drug-seeking behavior but every one of them knows the real number.
One technique we use in EMS that sometimes helps when a patient is complaining of pain from an injury, is to palpate the injury in a way that the patient can't see what we are doing. We may gently palpate it a few times, usually eliciting an "ouch that hurts", and then we fake touching it again and ask "does that hurt?". We sometimes get another "ouch that hurts" answer, which helps us to understand that at least part of the pain that is being reported is not real. This only works in some situations, but it's a useful tool that we do take advantage of sometimes.gjonesy said:BTW what is a good way of distinguishing a patient in true distress from a junkie or druggie?
gjonesy said:I think anyone going to a doctor seeking pain meds should be drug tested first.
Weird, Vicodin is a very mild pain killer compared to oxcycodone and oxcycontin. I have been on oxcycodone on and off for over 40 years and have never become dependent on it. If I'm in bad pain, I take one, if I'm not, I don't take one. For years, I would go for months, even years without any, then need them and take them until I no longer needed them. For the past few years I have needed them, but I manage to deal with the pain and only take 5mg daily to maintain my sanity because the doctors get so much grief for prescribing them. I really need more, but I'll manage with the 5mg for now just to not be going crazy from the pain. I guess that I am one of those people that don't have addictive personalities. Someone once said I should be studied.DiracPool said:Painkillers are a slippery slope. I had a friend back in the 80's that was an ex-junkie porn star who was clean for 3 years when he had a moped accident and woke up in the hospital knocked up on dilaudid. He never got off of it again and became a methadone maintenance casualty. I had a broken bone x-ray recently and was grateful they didn't prescribe me an opioid narcotic. What would I have done if I got a script for vicodin, say? IDK, I don't want to know. I haven't done that stuff in years but I was hooked at one point. If you're a junkie or an ex-junkie, it's hard to turn it down.
Wow that's such a wrong thing for a supposed specialist to think about his or her field... I'm like flabbergasted that a doctor could be operating under that kind of assumption concerning their own patients. There are definitely some chronic pain sufferers who are just faking it but no one believes they are close to a majority. And that they don't take you seriously as a patient unless you put on the whole dog-and-pony show? That doctor sounds pretty aweful honestly. (At least you sound like you're satisfied with your treatment for the most part so that's good!)gjonesy said:Seems like I wasn't taken seriously until I showed up in the Dr. office in full uniform. But as the doctor has explained to me it seems there are more of them (,junkies and druggies) then there are of us.
DiracPool said:Painkillers are a slippery slope. I had a friend back in the 80's that was an ex-junkie porn star who was clean for 3 years when he had a moped accident and woke up in the hospital knocked up on dilaudid. He never got off of it again and became a methadone maintenance casualty. I had a broken bone x-ray recently and was grateful they didn't prescribe me an opioid narcotic. What would I have done if I got a script for vicodin, say? IDK, I don't want to know. I haven't done that stuff in years but I was hooked at one point. If you're a junkie or an ex-junkie, it's hard to turn it down.
My grandfather was a MD. He had crates of samples of vicodin ES, Lorcets, valium, etc. that the predatory pharmaceutical salesman dumped on him. He kept them in boxes stored in the garage. One day when I was looking for some surfboard wax I stumbled upon them
For the next several years I would "relieve" the stockpile of several packaged samples every few weeks or so as I just lived about an hours drive down the coast. I always tried to "fluff up" the remaining samples so they wouldn't notice anything missing. Turns out they weren't even checking. I found this out one weekend years later when I flew down from Seattle to stay there for Christmas. I was looking forward to a fun party weekend but to my horror the boxes were gone. I said to grandma, "Looks like you cleaned out the garage, didn't you have a bunch of medical supplies in there?"
I remember it to this day what she said, "Oh, that old stuff? It was expired. We dumped that, I can't believe we held on to that for so long."
Turns out all that fluffing was for nothing. I should have just shamelessly gripped the whole stash when I had the chance. Hundreds of samples down the drain. Let's just say it wasn't a very Merry Christmas that year
It's all good, though.
The pain threshold is the point at which a person starts to feel pain. It can vary from person to person and is affected by factors such as genetics, age, and emotional state. It is most commonly measured by using a scale, such as the visual analog scale (VAS) or numeric rating scale (NRS), where the individual rates their pain from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable). Other methods include pressure pain threshold testing, where pressure is applied to a specific area until the individual feels pain, and electrical stimulation, where the intensity of electrical current is increased until the individual feels pain.
The pain threshold is the point at which an individual begins to feel pain, while pain tolerance is the amount of pain an individual can withstand before seeking relief. Pain tolerance can be influenced by factors such as past experiences with pain, coping mechanisms, and cultural influences. A person with a higher pain tolerance may be able to endure more pain before seeking treatment, while a person with a lower pain tolerance may seek treatment at earlier stages of pain.
The most commonly used units of measurement for pain are the VAS and NRS, which use a numerical scale from 0 to 10. Other units include the McGill Pain Questionnaire, which uses descriptive words to rate pain intensity, and the Faces Pain Scale, which uses facial expressions to indicate pain levels. There are also physiological measures of pain, such as brain activity and heart rate, but these are not as commonly used as the aforementioned scales.
Pain perception can vary greatly between individuals due to a variety of factors. These can include genetics, past experiences with pain, cultural influences, and emotional state. For example, individuals with certain genetic variations may have a higher or lower pain threshold. Past experiences with pain can also influence pain perception, as someone who has experienced a traumatic event may have a lower pain tolerance. Additionally, cultural influences can affect how individuals perceive and express pain.
Yes, pain threshold can be changed or altered through various interventions. These can include medication, physical therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and relaxation techniques. Medications, such as opioids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), can help reduce pain levels. Physical therapy can help improve strength and flexibility, which can decrease pain levels. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help individuals develop coping mechanisms and change the way they think about and respond to pain. Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing and meditation, can also help reduce pain levels.