[CFrance]

Originally Posted by msendo

By using a pain scale of 0 to 10, your health care provider can set baselines and trends for your pain. It may be viewed as mild, moderate or severe. If you are prescribed a medication, you would then be reassessed at a reasonable amount of time to determine the effectiveness of the med. If your number stayed the same or went higher, then another action needs to be taken, possibly an increase in dose, or trying something else. If your number went down, then the med would be considered effective. It is important to be honest. One doesn't usually laugh and converse on the phone and and then consider their pain to be a 10. You "own " your number, and it shouldn't be compared to others as far as treatment is concerned.

As far as your friends considering themselves to have a high pain tolerance, they are probably comparing themselves to others, from what they have seen or heard.

I have had dentists ask me why the heck I wasn't in excruciating pain due to the condition of a tooth. I guess they are comparing my pain to others with the same condition. Same thing with doctors and some injuries I've had. I guess I would say I have a high tolerance for pain from their observations. But I would say that I don't feel the pain as much as others. If it's painful to me, I don't have a high tolerance for it.