When you are in pain and go to the doctor, you will often be given the pain scale and asked to rank your pain from zero to ten. The pain scale has its place, and it’s great for children, but it’s not the best method for people with chronic pain. People with chronic pain have higher pain tolerances, and it is not unusual for someone with chronic pain to have pain higher numbers than the pain scale will allow. It can be difficult for doctors to understand pain that is invisible and that they have never experienced. Doctors need to have some understanding of how much pain their patients are experiencing so they can try to help. A higher number on the pain scale will tell your doctor that your pain is high, but it is not super helpful because it doesn’t give you a lot of other information that is important to know to be able to treat pain effectively. Doctors sometimes rely too much on the pain scale and aren’t asking any other questions that would give you more information about your quality of life. What do I wish doctors would ask chronic pain patients? In this post, I am sharing a few things I wish doctors would start asking chronic pain patients.
How has your pain impacted your quality of life? Knowing a number on the pain scale will give doctors a general idea of how much pain and how severe it is, but it does not tell you how it has negatively impacted your life. I would love to see more doctors asking chronic pain patients, “How has your pain impacted your life?” Chronic pain takes so much joy out of your life, and chronic pain patients are often dismissed by doctors because they carry it well and don’t look like they are in pain. Sometimes I think doctors have a hard time understanding their patients’ pain because they aren’t asking the right questions and aren’t taking the time to understand how it negatively impacts someone’s life. What lifestyle changes has someone had to make because of chronic pain? Knowing a number on the pain scale will give you a general idea of what my pain is at the moment, but it won’t tell you what it is most of the time. You will be a better doctor when you find out how someone’s pain has impacted their life and may find out they can’t get out of bed most days.
If a chronic pain patient is going to the doctor for pain relief, it is likely that they have unbearable pain. You can assume that most people with chronic pain have tried the obvious over-the-counter remedies such as Tylenol, and it didn’t work. You don’t know what other remedies that are so obvious someone has tried that are medication because people in pain will try anything to have less pain. Doctor appointments are short, and it is important to ask patients what they have tried so we don’t have to waste time talking about remedies I know don’t work. Have you tried making changes to your diet and exercise program? If so, did it help at all or did it make symptoms worse? You want to make sure you are asking in a non-judgmental way because you want to support your patients, not shame them. Knowing what remedies someone has tried is so important for doctors to know because it will give them some idea of what types of things work so they can give you better treatment options.
What activities has your pain stopped you from doing? – Chronic pain takes so much from you, and sometimes you have to give up activities that you used to love that are no longer enjoyable. I would love to see more doctors asking chronic pain patients what activities their pain has stopped them from doing because you can’t help someone without knowing that important information. The ultimate goal is to give chronic pain patients some of their life back, and you can’t do that without knowing what activities they had to give up because of pain. I wish more doctors would ask patients what activities they used to do that they no longer can because knowing what activities someone has had to give up will tell you a lot about the severity of someone’s pain. Are you able to leave your home and hang out with friends, or are you stuck in bed all the time? You can’t help someone improve their pain without know what activities trigger more pain that they can’t do.
How is your mental health?- People with chronic pain are more likely to struggle with depression than someone without chronic pain. People with lower pain levels will have a slightly lower risk for depression than someone with higher pain levels. Mental illness is common amongst people with chronic pain, and a lot of the time people get depressed because their pain was not taken seriously by doctors. People in pain are more likely to commit suicide than someone without chronic pain, which is why it’s so important to ask about their mental health and treat mental health concerns before it becomes serious. You can tell a lot about how much joy chronic pain has taken away by asking about their mental health because people with high levels of pain tend to struggle with depression more than those with less pain.
What is your baseline for pain?– If you were to ask me what level my pain was right now, I could give you a number which would tell you what it is at this specific moment. It does not tell you what my pain was yesterday or even an hour ago, which is why it’s so important to know someone’s baseline for pain. Knowing what someone’s baseline for pain is so important because some people naturally have higher pain tolerances than others. You can’t understand someone’s pain without know what it is most of the time because for all you know I could have been having a good day and my pain wasn’t as bad.
Doctors often rely heavily on the pain scale when treating pain, and I have nothing against the pain scale because it works great for people who experience occasional pain. The problem with the pain scale is that it’s not set up for someone without chronic pain who is used to high pain levels. The pain scale does not give you a whole lot of other information that would help doctors make a better diagnosis that would help their patients. It can be very difficult for doctors to understand chronic pain because most doctors only treat chronic pain, but they don’t have it themselves, which is why we need to be asking the right questions. The pain scale can be helpful for some people, but we have to stop being so dependent on it, because everyone has different pain tolerances and can’t all use the same system. Some doctors may ask some of the questions but not all of the do and we need to change that to better support people in pain What questions do you wish doctors would ask chronic pain patients? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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