Doctor asking what your pain level is?

[mit12]

Might be a weird question but I am having back issues and when the doctor asks what is your pain level? It hurts like hell but using a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being a cluster headache its like a 5! So I ask how do you give the doctor pain level for pain? My wife thinks that I am at a 9.

[Bejeeber]

That's a good question - since this doctor is unlikely to know much of anything about CH or be able to conceptualize pain on a CH scale, I figure your best bet for communicating effectively with such a doc could be to try to go with a 'normal' scale of 1 to 10, not CH 1 to 10.

[xBoss]

If it hurts it hurts. Just say 10. They are used to people that don't know about pain nuance.

[Racer1_NC]

I tell them I have Clusters, so my assessment of pain levels will reflect that fact.

[Bejeeber]

23 minutes ago, Racer1_NC said:

I tell them I have Clusters, so my assessment of pain levels will reflect that fact.

And that's where they helpfully suggest some Tylenol for the clusters, because they just heard the word 'headache'.

Well that's been my experience when not having attempted to educate them on what CH is, but @Racer1_NC I bet you've made better efforts to clue them in.

 

 

[Racer1_NC]

Surprisingly most Docs I've encountered recently have been knowledgeable enough to at least have an understanding of how much pain clusters cause. I've even gotten a "Damn. I'm sorry." out of one... 

If they don't have a clue, they get educated in a hurry. 

[Royster]

I SHOW THEM THIS AND EXPLAIN  IT GOES BEOND THE KIP SCALE SOMETIMES WHEN THE BEAST IS OUT TO DESTROY YOU

[devonrex]

I just use 2 scales in my head, cluster scale and everything else scale, outside of clusters is this the worst pain I have felt? Yes? 10 or whatever level it is outside of clusters. For example kidney stone on my cluster scale was about a 6, on my anything other than cluster scale it was a solid 9.