Comments on: What a pain.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:37:38 +0000

I have Crohns Disease and with this has had many trips to the e.r. usually ending up in a week long hospital stay. I also have four children which makes this difficult. Sometimes I get doctors who care about pain relief and some who treat me like a drug addict untill they get a call from my G.I. who verfies yes I’am in real pain, yes I may need another surgery. The biggest problem I have is with severe nausea. I have had an issue with an e.r. doctor who didnt want to give me nausea medicine! I guess he didnt believe me untill I threw up on his shoes. I guess I just dont understand if the e.r. doctors know I have a verifable disease…..why treat me like a drug addict. Esp if I get my pain meds from my G.i. not the er doc and part of the reason Iam there is because the g.i. sent me in for bledding and to get scans. I guess because Iam a stay at home mom my husbands works for b.p. and I dont have a medical degree so I dont matter.

By: jessica noble

jessica noble — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:23:01 +0000

yes there all true but all of the pill abuse is giving people like me a bad rep im only 27 and i have had cronic pain for year legs problems spin and now ive been dignosed with high risk HVP and now i cant get help for the pain i now have so all you addicts find a new drug or rehab and let the people have them who need them

By: Dan hayes

Dan hayes — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:19:51 +0000

I think it’s amazing how different every doctor is when it comes to pain management. I have been to the er many of times. The worst pain was a kidney stone that was just leaving my kidney and they gave me 2 percocet for the pain. Another was strep throat, and I needed antibiodics so I could work. They also gave me some sort of steroid to help with the swollen throat. They asked me what my pain was I said a low 2. Then the PA said he could give me some dilaudid(sp) but I wouldn’t be able to drive. It’s like some Drs care too much. And some don’t care. All they care is that they get paid.

By: melissa

melissa — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:53:12 +0000

Doesn’t the 0-10 scale depend on how sensitive to the pain they are in? I would be offended if I said a ten and they “made a joke out of it” You DON’T experience my pain. I do! I had a baby AND I have kidney stones, it IS SO MUCH worse then labor. I would rather have a 3 headed baby vaginally.

By: Late Fred

Late Fred — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:30:09 +0000

I, as a layman, think the problem with the pain scale is the way it’s described to the patients.

The first time I ever went to the hospital as an adult, the triage nurse asked me to rate my pain, “with 1 being almost no pain at all, and 10 being the worst pain you have ever experienced.” Well, I’d just dislocated my jaw (long story) and set it back in place by myself (even longer story), and I couldn’t remember anything that hurt worse. So I told her it had been a 10 at the time it happened, and was somewhat lower as I stood there in her ER.

I didn’t think that was the worst pain I could ever experience. I was only answering the question I was asked. It might have been more informative if I elaborated, but I was not thinking calmly and the nurse seemed busy, so I just answered literally.

I have since had worse injuries, and also a couple of kidney stones, so if that had happened to me today I’d rate the same amount of pain as a 7 at most. Yet it would be no less painful and I would be no less in need of some relief. The only difference is that my personal scale got recalibrated.

By: Spencer

Spencer — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:05:27 +0000

I and amazed at you guys, everything everyone of you have said is spot on- the dead truth. i just wish the doc, and nurses all over would feel the same way. there is no true way to tell how much pain someone is in because everyone experiences it differently and on pending conditions such as dehydration, your energy levels, so and and so forth ( not sure if those are crucial factors, but i am aware there are several factors) . You can never turn your back on a patient unless you have reasonable evidence to support that they are a full blown addict. If they are then give them 5cc of morphine and tell them that they got 30. Not sure if that would work because they would more than likely know but what do i know i am not a doc or a certified nurse. Im just a person who deals with pain alot and happy to hear the certified ones stating the truth about the release of opiates in the ER

By: Dodge Porter

Dodge Porter — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:14:36 +0000

I’ve been a paramedic for fifteen years. I am also a chronic pain patient. I love people who call an ambulance because they’re 10/10 pain and yet chatter and laugh all the way to the hospital.

Do I think people are in pain? Sure. I am one. Do I think it is the ER doc’s responsibility to “trick” a person to see if he is really “suffering”? I do not. The pain should be taken at face value unless the doctor has clear evidence that the patient is a frequent fldrug abuser/addict. If the doc thinks that there might be a problem, or has a doubt about a patient’s truthfulness, ask to speak to the prescribing physician. If a patient can’t produce a physician who’s prescribing Oxycontin, there’s something wrong there. And when in doubt, call him!

I’ve been asked a few times for my doc’s number. I’ve even had UA screen done in the ER. Do I like it? No. Do I think it’s a necessary thing? Yes.

I had one nurse tell me, “You don’t look like you’re in pain.” I responded with, “Well, I would be screaming and writhing on the floor, but I don’t have the energy.”

–

Dodge

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By: carey

carey — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:18:55 +0000

I work as a medic for about 7 yrs now and we always get those pt’s with 10/10 pain and it just cracks me up when I am asking about drug allergies and the are allergic to every pain drug that does not give them the “high feeling” or even better they are allergic to cert, doses. I do know there are patients who really do have 10/10 and I am careful to watch for those but if your ankle is sprained I am sorry first you don’t need an ambulance and two you don’t have 10/10 pain. I did have a doctor tell me who am I to tell a pt what their pain is, and that all pt’s don’t feel pain the same or maybe this is the worst pain they have felt but he didn’t last to long as an ER doctor last I heard he went into private practice and is now under investigation due to his constant prescription writing of narcotics and other highly abused drugs.

By: Bronnie Thompson

Bronnie Thompson — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 06:58:57 +0000

I can appreciate the difficulty of assessing pain intensity in ED. Trying to ‘trick’ a person to find out whether they are faking or not isn’t very helpful – but neither is using an opioid medication when the person actually has a chronic pain problem.
Once any acute medical problem is identified (if one can be found), management is more likely to be successful if it includes psychosocial management – and often this is about finding out what the person believes is going on and helping to reduce their distress through reassurance, empathic responses and helping them reduce their physiological arousal – breathing mainly! A referral to a chronic pain team will also be really helpful. I think it’s important to avoid using opioids, they have too many side effects and can actually contribute to wind-up of chronic pain. Distress can be confused with pain intensity…treat the distress and pain intensity can reduce itself.