Pain is one of the sensations humans are bestowed with. Though it is an unpleasant sensation and is associated with perceived actual tissue damage, it is as useful of the sensations as is the sense of smell, sight, and hearing.
Pain is a blessing they say. For example, when a child touches some hot object, he feels pain and immediately withdraws his hands which prevents him from further damage by fire. Similarly, a patient in pain rushes to the doctor so that he can get prompt treatment for his pain.
Now, let’s look at the other picture when there is no pain. A patient with diabetic neuropathy suffers from diabetic foot because he can’t feel any pain even after an injury. His injured foot gets infected and this is still not sensed by the patient in the form of pain. A time comes when bacteria invade, and the situation leads to gangrene and amputation.
So yes, pain is a blessing in disguise.
Types
There are different kinds of pain depending upon the intensity and duration and certain other factors. Pain can be chronic and acute. Acute pain due to pancreatitis, gastritis, needle prick, and acute Myocardial infarction takes seconds and stays for minutes to hours is termed as acute pain. On the contrary, chronic pain spans months. It affects the sufferer for ages and keeps him in agony.
Pain can be intense and light. It can be a sharp pricking pain and can be dull aching pain. Different kind of pain happens in different situation and it is the nature and duration of pain that helps a doctor to diagnose the cause of pain.
Pain level chart
Using the above-mentioned information about the type and levels of pain, a patient can fill his pain level chart for the doctor, and through this chart; his doctor can better help him relieve his pain.
- So, in a pain level chart, the first thing to mark is the type of pain. The pain you are going through is of what nature. Mark what is true for you. This will tell your doctor what kind of pain you are going through. Pain like throbbing pain, stabbing pain, dull ache, burning pain, steady pain, and pain in impulses, reach a whole new diagnosis.
- If anything is not mentioned in the list, you can add your own notes or comments to further elaborate your pain and try to explain your suffering in an even better way.
- After that, you will see a chart in the form that will be more helpful in assessing your suffering. You can mark what level of pain you are going through right now. Mark the intensity of your pain from zero to nine. Mark zero in case of no pain and nine if you have intolerable pain.
- In the end, you are given a large space to explain your pain. Any kind of pain needs a description of the time of onset, nature of the onset of pain, duration of pain, and its nature for the duration it stays.
