After giving pain scales some thought, I decided to develop my own. I would encourage anyone with HCV (or any pain-bearing illness) to do the same. I learned that I'm far from the first or even 100th person to have done this; check out the pain scale (complete with facial expression scale as well) at: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
you'll have to scroll down and look for it on the right side of the page. Now there's a person who has a sense of humor!
But now to my own. When I showed it to my hubby, he thought it was a very accurate description of how I handle pain. Here goes:
Level What it means for me
0 Why are you asking? Do I look bad? Nevermind, don't answer that.
1 I think that if I sit down for 30 minutes everything will be okay.
2 I just tried sitting down for 30 minutes and things are certainly not okay.
3 I should think about taking some medicine. Hmmm, which one would work for the symptoms I am experiencing?
4 Got it narrowed down to three; eeny, meeny, miney, mo
5 I am going to try two meds in combination.
6 Darn, I've got to take all three.
7 Took all the meds I can take, am lying down and I still feel like I have the flu - only on steroids.
8 Am I in labor?
9 Oh right, I'm too old to be in labor (not to mention I'm not pregnant), maybe I'll just down one more of each pill I have prescribed and hope I wake up afterward.
10 I'm lying down, waiting to see a tunnel with a light at the end. I think I'm dying but I could be wrong. Better go to the ER.
I'm very happy to report at this very moment my pain is at a big fat 0, so don't ask me if I have pain!
