A friend shared this image today on her Facebook page.
It caught my eye because as chronic pain sufferers, we get asked about our pain level all of the time by a variety of specialists. Burning Mouth Syndrome is a novelty to some doctors we encounter, and a pain chart helps to accurately convey the level of pain you experience and how it affects or inhibits your daily activities. Often it is a range, and with BMS, this is particularly true because our pain escalates throughout the day unless we find coping strategies or medicine that provides some intervention.
This “improved” version adds a bit of humor to the pain scale (bees, bears and ninjas?), but also makes the point that if you are truly at the top-level of pain (10 is the top!) then you are incapacitated or have been rendered unconscious by the level of pain and medical intervention is required immediately.
I was surprised by the comments that accompanied the image. Some laughed, but others were angry, feeling that the image was mocking their pain. Some even took the scale to task for not having enough numbers, because their pain was “at least an 11 or 12!” Others berated the creator for not including labor, even though that is a pain that only affects one gender.
Pain is affected by many factors, and each person’s tolerance and perception is individual but we must be consistent and coherent when talking about our pain levels with medical professionals. Some of the comments came from people in the medical profession and they gently mocked people who claimed they were experiencing a 10 level of pain but were “casually talking on their phone and eating chips.” Continue reading
I realized I haven’t posted since the holidays, and I could easily blame that on everything that has gone on…the wedding in November of our younger daughter went beautifully and just this month they surprised us with the house they are purchasing, our older daughter’s wedding approaches (so quickly!) in May and they have begun to build a house not too far away from us, and of course the day-to-day work of a being a busy philanthropist and volunteer!
Both of our daughters are getting married. The younger’s wedding is just a couple of months away, and the older daughter’s wedding is next spring. Once in a lifetime moments happen, and you want to treasure every one of them, but your chronic pain companion will also be a guest at that special event and maybe you are wondering what you can do. 
In a recent post, I talked about my upcoming visit with my neurologist. You can read that post at 
Our younger daughter just got engaged.
A Burning Journey 