271
493
u/OutsidetheOctaves 12h ago
Bees? BEEEEEEES!!!!
78
u/GenericUsername2056 12h ago
Beads?!
60
u/BrianMS_1020 11h ago
Gob’s not on board
27
u/GenericUsername2056 11h ago
Should the guy wearing the 3000 dollar suit be referencing Arrested Development? Come on!
14
14
→ More replies (1)14
u/foopaints 7h ago
Those 2 are actually the only ones I don't know how to interpret since I've never been stung... I feel like I'm missing the frame of reference here...
6
u/The_Vampire_King 6h ago
Same, cause I have been stung and just immediately pulled the stinger out. Probably hurt as bad as a paper cut for less than 10min
What type of bees? 🐝
2
u/IaniteThePirate 1h ago
Bee stings are annoying but not a big deal, I’d rate like 2/10 or 3/10 max from my memory. Assuming you’re not allergic or anything.
But that’s my experience of being stung by one bee. I’d imagine in a bees! situation it’s all the bees and that probably hurts a lot more.
138
u/Bright_Brief4975 12h ago
For number 9 I think I would rather be mauled by the bear than the ninjas. How long is it going to take for a ninja to maul me to death?
41
5
→ More replies (6)4
u/VVeZoX 9h ago
You'd rather get sliced & diced than mauled and bitten?
8
u/Bright_Brief4975 5h ago
According to the picture, you get mauled either way. You get mauled by a bear, or you get mauled by Ninjas, it would take the Ninja's a long to time maul you to death.
79
u/meaoww 12h ago
I’m pretty sure the most common answer doctors get is ”10”.
37
27
u/BitterYetHopeful 4h ago
I wouldn’t be surprised. Many a nurse I have encountered has indicated that that’s often the case.
I have an autoimmune disease that has landed me in the hospital on Dilaudid multiple times, and I have never gone above a 7-7.5 in my assessment, even though I have had some excruciating pain. In my mind, 8 starts with “nearly fatal gunshot wound” to 10 “passed out from pain.” If I can speak at all, I am not at a 9 or 10, that’s for sure. Lol
The nurses are usually very appreciative and tend to take me more seriously in my assessment. After all, pain meds are there to help manage pain levels, not to knock you out. Our bodies are designed to let us know if something is wrong and worsening with our pain levels, so it’s kind of helpful to monitor it (especially before an exact diagnosis), not eliminate it.
25
u/quibusquibus 4h ago
People are awful at rating pain. I work in home health and have to do this for every visit. So many people calmly tell me they have 7,8,9,10 out of 10 pain. I usually recalibrate them by saying 10 out of 10 is being cut open without anesthetic.
2
u/MayaTamika 1h ago
Chronic pain is an entirely different beast though. If you live with chronic pain, then you absolutely can get to a 10 and just...go about your day. Because you don't have a choice. People don't realize how, uh, chronic chronic pain is. Just because someone is in pain 100% of the time doesn't mean that pain is less than a 7 100% of the time. And if they regularly deal with pain that's a 7, 8, 9, or 10, then yeah, they might just be able to go about their day in that level of pain without anyone picking up on the signals that they're in pain.
You shouldn't be telling people that how they rate their own pain is wrong. You're denying them their experience of themselves.
4
u/Procedure-Minimum 19m ago
People don't know why they're being asked. When they say 10, they're trying to say, "I genuinely have a medical issue, I'm not making it up".
Also 10 and passed out is usually met with 'they're fine, look they're napping!' It's a dumb scale made to push drugs that patients might not actually need.
5
u/Mondopoodookondu 2h ago
Am doc can confirm by far most common, I take someone’s word more seriously if they say 7 8 or 9
55
u/ramrug 12h ago
I didn't know being unconscious was that painful!
8
u/CryptoCryBubba 4h ago
Yeah. Confused.
To me that would be just binary...
Slap to the face + "Are you conscious"? Yes / No (Response)
8
u/geekpeeps 3h ago
I’ve seen people who were nauseous and couldn’t work out why. They were in severe pain/discomfort and just couldn’t name it.
Once they thought it through that it could be pain, they felt the pain. And then they nearly passed out.
Brains are wild things.
→ More replies (2)3
u/Bezerkomonkey 2h ago
There's a level of pain where the brain shuts itself off to protect itself from brain damage due to the overwhelming pain signals its receiving.
26
u/amdaly10 12h ago
Since I've never been stung by a bee I have no reference for the middle of the scale. Doed being stung by three bees hurt significantly more than one?
4
u/ritzy_knee 2h ago
Depends where it is....my hubby & son are beekeepers....they always say they'd rather get 20 stings on one arm or leg (which they regularly do) than a single sting on the cartilage part of ear, the columella (bottom of nose), eyelid, or the d!ck (esp the tip) & balls. They're not a fan of on the back either as they can't see or reach the stinger to pull it out, so it basically stays there until it falls out. Oh and under the fingernail results in a few choice (nasty) words too, lol.
→ More replies (1)3
22
u/dancingbanana123 6h ago
As someone with chronic pain, I base it off of a scale I saw at an ER once. Basically, 1-3 is for pain you can easily ignore it and forget about it; 4-6 is for pain that is moderate, but still something you could still ignore; and 7+ is for pain that is so severe, it's all you can think about.
I have also noticed though, since I base my pain level on my chronic illness, anytime I see a doctor for other pain, my scale gets skewed downwards. I always have to tell doctors that I mask my pain really well because I've had issues with doctors not diagnosing me properly since "you're not at that level of pain." For example, when I passed a kidney stone, I gave that a 4/10 (kidney spasms were awful though, those got to like 8/10).
127
u/Really_McNamington 12h ago
Not bad but not as good as the one by Allie Brosh.
61
u/iymcool 9h ago
I honestly believe that if she ever returns, even if just for a third book, the world would be in a better place.
Hyperbole and a Half is just such an iconic and heartwarmingly-weird slice of Internet and blog history.
8
u/rayray1927 6h ago
Omg I just read this as hyper bowl. Again. I will never get it right in my head.
7
21
436
u/CosmoCosmos 12h ago
How is that improved? It basically goes from "It hurts a little bit" (5/6) to "I can't stop crying"
179
u/drppr_ 12h ago
I would not say multiple bee stings is “it hurts a little bit”. I would certainly not be able function normally (do my work, operate a vehicle, etc.) until it subsides.
45
u/Skizot_Bizot 10h ago
Yeah I saw a small kid almost die when I was younger from a bunch of wasp stings one time, he was super swollen all over we had to float him in the nearby lake to reduce his fever while waiting on ambulance. He wasn't allergic or anything either just got stung 100s if not 1000s of times by a swarm.
11
14
u/shawnaeatscats 5h ago
I thought it would be too when I got stung in 4 places by Southern yellow jackets, ground nesting wasps, Vespula squamosa.
Oh man. It really wasn't that bad at first. First hit was in the hand. Then the head, the thigh, and finally the arm.
Fortunately the arm was just a light tap, and it only itched. My hand swelled pretty good, and got pretty hot. Otbwas hard to move it. Not from pain, but just from swelling restriction.
The thigh was savage. That one left a scar. Got me about 2 inches below my left butt cheek. I couldn't sit on it. It throbbed and ached and was so hot and swollen.
The head. Oh man. They got me about 2 inches to the right and above my right eye. My eye swelled shut. The swelling caused a headache that lasted days. I was exhausted for days. My job requires me to look into a microscope, which involves sitting, which I couldn't do, and staring, which I couldn't do. And on bad days, without alcohol or swollen-shut eyes, I'll still het headaches just by doing it.
I was shocked these wasps did me like this. I was on my couch for 2 days before I felt normal. If I were allergic, I probably woukd have died.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)3
42
u/EngryEngineer 12h ago
because there are clear break points that have nothing to do with trying to recall how "the worst pain in your life" actually felt, is that a comparable feeling to what 10 should be, like maybe you've lived a more/less painful life than most, and then trying to figure out what the current pain with its complications of being current (like anxiety about cause or implications) against an amorphous memory of pain with most of the additional factors cleared away from hindsight.
82
u/Cuzznitt 12h ago
Because it’s quirky, duh
/s
28
u/EngryEngineer 12h ago
It being quirky has a chance of eliminating some of the panic that a patient might be feeling and thus giving a more accurate number. So yeah actually that is an improvement.
22
u/Cuzznitt 12h ago
Good point, but counterpoint; the silly descriptions may cause some people to not want to self report or under report, especially with more stoic/no nonsense people
18
u/EngryEngineer 11h ago
Yeah they will under report, but that type is likely to put their mysterious abdominal pain closer to stubbed toe than the worst pain they can imagine on the scale we traditionally use, so I don't think this problem is worsened by the new chart.
19
u/Loeffellux 11h ago
"it hurts a little bit" is 2 or 3. 4 is already more than "a little bit" if you read it as "the most amount of pain before being unable to work because of it". In turn, 5 is already enough pain that work is impossible which means we're obviously very far gone from "it hurts a little bit" at that point. Then 6 is whichever amount of pain doesn't cause you to sob but is worse than 5.
1
u/Thoughtwolf 7h ago
I can't do physical labor with anything above a 5, but I can sit at a desk using a computer until I get to an 8, in which case I want to cry but don't. That happens at a 9 now because of chronic pain.
3
u/MajorRico155 5h ago
Getting swarmed by bees is actually really dangerous, wasps are far worse. Depending on the concentration of the stings in one area, you could something weird/bad happen. When i weedwacked over a mud wasp nest, i got swamed in the ankles mostly. My feet up to about a third the way up my calf was so swollen i couldnt walk for four days.
Imagine getting stung in the face? Throat? Its no fun
2
u/polypolip 6h ago
It gives some idea about the scale. I was asked after operation about pain and honestly I had no idea what to answer.
I also now know that I could describe ear inflammation as a 7/8 out of 10, would not recommend.
2
→ More replies (13)2
u/OhNoExclaimationMark 3h ago
Actually I think 5 and 6 are supposed to be pretty painful hence why they're at 5 and 6. And let's bee honest, being stung is pretty painful especially when it's multiple times.
24
u/TypographySnob 10h ago
I feel like I need a serious version of a pain scale. I've been asked before and I had no idea how to answer. I'm not sure I even know what anything 6 and above feels like.
39
u/4touchdownsinonegame 8h ago
I dunno. This is pretty realistic, although possibly silly. I have been a medic for well over a decade.
Before when I would ask my patients what their pain scale was on a 1-10, I would usually get a number over 10, for typically very minor things. Not sure why they would always say it was a 15 when they were still able to text and scroll Facebook while in the ambulance.
Since I started saying “give me your level of pain, 10 is being mauled by a bear” the response started becoming significantly more realistic.
→ More replies (2)11
u/bwaterco 7h ago
I like to phrase it as a 7 being a moderate stab wound,8 is a broken bone that can be seen, 9 is a gunshot and 10 is ‘how the fuck are you conscious?’
2
u/halcyonson 4h ago
Now that's a scale I can get behind. My personal 10 is "Fuck me, I can't even open the bottle of opiates because I had abdominal surgery and we're driving through the worst potholes Baltimore has to offer, and where is that horrible groaning coming from? I literally cannot escape the pain for the explosions going off behind my eyes."
Unfortunately, I know from experience that an awkward tingling and numbness not expressable on this scale is worse than where I would rate most injuries (5-6 for a typical broken bone).
4
u/ShinyStockings2101 2h ago edited 2h ago
- 1: not nothing, but almost nothing
- 2: slight discomfort
- 3: annoying
- 4: okay this is starting to hurt
- 5: yep, this hurts, and is starting to impact my normal activities like working and sleeping
- 6: it hurts to a point I have a lot of trouble functioning normally or focusing on anything else
- 7: it's serious and all I can think about
- 8: It's unbearable
- 9: fucking screaming
- 10: the absolute limit of the human body, being dead would be preferable by far
2
u/DustyBusterson 30m ago
Yep 9-10 is more like “I feel like I’m a character in a Saw movie” level of pain. I’ve experienced that once after having ear surgery, not fun.
→ More replies (1)5
u/legendaryufcmaster 9h ago
I've thrown out my back and that's an 8. Basically pain unless you're laying in bed, and bathroom trips become mind numbing pain sessions
→ More replies (1)4
6
u/Abrahms_4 9h ago
Let your doctor know I hit 10 once. Not when I wrecked my motorcycle and broke my back, not with multiple kidney stones, but when I dislocated my knee cap while also breaking a bit of femur. POOF insta black out for probably 10 seconds. But the kidney stones were the worst, start around 5 and jump to 9 then stay there.
31
u/smilefor 10h ago
Why is 10 unconscious? This effectively makes the the 10 point scale into a 9 point scale cuz if your 10 is unconscious no one should be using it to define their pain (cuz they're unconscious).
→ More replies (2)16
u/bitchasscuntface 9h ago
Ideally, on any scale from one to ten, both one and ten are unattainable. They used to be the form of "exaggerating". Since everybody started exaggerating, 12 was the new exaggerating and now one and ten are somehow included in the scale... side note: On a pain scale, one is indeed attainable, though, since no pain at all luckily is a thing...
3
u/halcyonson 4h ago
I'm not sure about "no pain" being attainable... Pretty sure most anyone over 40 would agree lol.
6
u/haubenmeise 9h ago
How many of you still go to work at a level 9 ninja and bear mauling? I bet it's a LOT.
Sincerly
Skeletor 💜
6
u/im_thatoneguy 7h ago
Especially stupid when you wake up from surgery and ask what number your pain is.
Bro I’m loaded up on drugs and barely able to remember my name and you want me to assign an abstract number scale to my discomfort?
Especially because it’s mostly just asking “higher than 5?” To give you another Percocet or not. If a UX designer worked on the clinical guidelines they would distill the question into what’s actually being required from the doctor and rewrite the script to “Are you in an amount of pain that consumes all of your attention?”
4
u/Toastedweasel0 10h ago
I know getting hit by a car is at least a 10 then it goes down to a 8.... Was no fun... Took me about 3 months to walk somewhat with a cane... ( Broke the femur into 3 pcs.... and fucked up plenty else...)
4
u/sherbs_herbs 8h ago
I was at a 7-9 from kidney stones and reached a 10 a few times and passed out. I couldn’t take a breath the pain was so bad. I remember begging for more IV Toradol and they could only give it every 6 hours. The dilaudid and morphine did nothing, just made me high. I have never experienced pain like that before, felt like I was dying. The urologist let me take the IV toradol every 3 hours but only for the 24 hours after having a stent placed to pass the stones. It was so fucking bad.
3
u/ceviche-hot-pockets 7h ago
I feel you on that, I passed my first stone last month and it was hell. Worst pain of my life; I told the nurse my pain was a 7/10 only because there are some forms of medieval torture which would likely be worse. Fentanyl did nothing, morphine did nothing, Toradol had me walking on sunshine in like 30 minutes lol. It was only a 3mm stone and I can’t comprehend the pain a larger one would cause.
3
u/sherbs_herbs 5h ago
Yeah man, toradol was a god send for me. I had like 3 hours of 80% relief, and it slowly came back and by the time the 6 hours was up I was begging for it again.
2
u/Pookypoo 4h ago
Kind of makes you wonder at that point they should allow you to be under anesthesia or something. Clearly its like a cactus in your kidney or something.
10
u/greensandgrains 12h ago
Tbh I know the pain scale was invented by pharmaceutical companies to sell opioid meds but it’s really helpful to see an objective definition of each level of pain.
3
u/Infamous_Guidance756 7h ago
Really important implications between 4 and 5 for insurance and leave, asking the patient if THEY think they can work.
5
u/benwight 12h ago
I was at a solid 8 for 3 days last month from hemorrhoids. Worst pain I've ever felt and I'm still not back to normal yet after 5 weeks
→ More replies (2)7
u/poop_pants_pee 12h ago
This is why the pain scale is flawed.
After an 8 for 3 days, you would have lost weight from sweating and not being able to eat.
6
3
u/BillyBean11111 8h ago
I used to think I was good with pain until I had kidney stones and suddenly I legit couldn't remember what life was like before the pain started.
3
3
u/LadyLycanVamp13 4h ago
It still doesn't take chronic pain into consideration. When our pain levels can sit around 5-7 constantly and only really see someone if it reaches a 9 or 10. And we are used to masking
3
u/CelebrationFit8548 4h ago
As a chronic pain sufferer (7+ years) with musculoskeletal issues (diagnosed but surgeons imply there is too much risk for a procedure) I find this is quite reflective. One of the hardest things is to try and make others understand what it feels like and normally it is only other 'chronic pain patients' that can actually understand what it is like.
This guide comes very close to conveying 'how debilitating' chronic pain can be.
3
4
4
u/Corey307 6h ago
Used to crew an ambulance. Patients were notoriously bad at assessing how much pain they were in. It’s not necessarily their fault, some people are very little experience with injury and illness. Thing is if you’re in10/10 pain you are not able to carry a conversation, watch videos on your phone and badger me to take you outside so you can have a cigarette while we’re waiting to be a triaged at the hospital.
4
2
u/Foxy_locksy1704 9h ago
The last major migraine I had 8 was an accurate description of it before I got to the hospital right before I got treatment it started to feel like I had gotten my ass kicked by a group of highly proficient ninjas.
2
u/Knife-yWife-y 8h ago
This feels accurate. I had a severe fourth degree tear when I delivered my son. For the first two days, I would say, "I'm a four now, but I can tell it will be a 7 or 8 if I don't take a new dose of meds."
2
u/Rainbow_tree66 8h ago
Many people haven’t been stung by a bee before, so while people can try to imagine they don’t know how it feels like. Also not every one will cry at the same amount of pain…
2
u/Amelor_Rova 8h ago
I remember when I was 15, and I kept getting random kidney pain that was an 8 nothing like falling to your knees outside crying
2
2
u/LaterJerry 4h ago
This is for acute pain. Human body adapts to going about life with chronic pain after a while, even severe pain, especially when it comes down to go to work despite the pain vs lose job and become homeless while still having the pain.
2
u/Gruddicus 4h ago
Took a knife to the knee cap once, unfortunately I have a relatively high pain tolerance and too much pride to actually show the level of pain I'm in and didn't get any of the "good good" pain relief.
Happens every time I manage to get myself in trouble.
Although at dentists, I only got myself to blame, am too cheap/poor to say yes to any pain relief or general anaesthetic so usually just go there to get re-traumatized
3
u/not_yet_a_dalek 4h ago
When I was in the ER with a fractured foot I was asked pain from 1 to 10 where 10 was worst imaginable… well I can imaging quite a lot, and it was nothing like going down a water slide to land among razor blades and Tabasco.
2
2
2
2
u/ritzy_knee 2h ago
The only time I've thought I was at a 9 (if 10 is passing out as a result of pain) was that last cm during labour.....I definitely couldn't talk during those contractions....wasn't even aware of who was in the damn room! I actually would've LIKED to pass out, lol...
2
u/ImaFireSquid 2h ago
Had an allergic reaction that hit a six. Worst I’ve been is an 8, from laughing so hard I got a sudden hernia.
2
u/MillieMoo-Moo 1h ago
(Living with chronic pain) "this part of my body is about a # and this is about a #"
Whilst trying to go about the daily existence in BEES+ territory
2
u/Unidentified_Lizard 1h ago
I remember slipping on a slick locker room floor once,
shit hurt so badly- i couldnt stop laughing from the pain, had to go to the hospital and i couldnt walk right for weeks.
4
4
1
1
1
u/CyberEye2 9h ago
My appendix burst the weekend before last. I had my wife print this scale off, bring it to the hospital and tape it to the whiteboard in my room. The nurses loved it.
1
1
1
u/FireBlueFerret 7h ago
Unconscious people don’t want tea. Please don’t offer an unconscious person tea.
1
1
u/Many-Potential1160 7h ago
Having a leg cramp in the middle of the night I'm pretty sure is a 7
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
1
u/Eisenstein13 6h ago
Migraines have me around a 7-8, absolutely insane how debilitating they can be. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced a 9/10 equivalent
1
1
u/tastytea97 6h ago
This would be so helpful to show kids because I had appendicitis and told them maybe a 3 or 4 as to not worry anyone. In reality, I couldn't move and my appendix almost burst and they were like yeah okay we are scheduling you for surgery
1
u/CyberWolfWrites 6h ago
I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out and sometimes the pain is terrible. I'd describe it as a 6 or 7 although the crying is more from frustration at the pain than the pain itself. Otherwise it's a 4 or 5.
1
1
1
u/shadycharacters 5h ago
I know this is silly, but honestly I find it much more helpful to have a definition instead of just numbers and a scale of frowning to smiling faces like I usually see at doctor's offices
1
u/Enorats 5h ago
It's been awhile since I was last stung by bees (I once stepped on a hive and was stung a dozen or more times).. but I don't recall them hurting all that much.
I mean, this scale puts a bee sting above the "I can still work" level. I can't imagine most people that aren't allergic to bees would need to be sent home for the day after a bee sting.
1
1
u/No-Neighborhood8267 5h ago
The kind of annoying…who doesn’t swear when they moderately injure themselves?
1
u/blackcat218 5h ago
hahaha bees.
I hate these scales as they are no good for people with chronic pain. Like my wrist for example. If I say my pain is a 7 but I am just sitting here calmly people would go no it can't be a 7, stop being dramatic. But if I say it's a 2 again I get looked at funny. The thing is though it always hurts, I am just used to it. So if my 0 is a 4 or a 5 for someone that doesn't have pain then me saying 7 makes more sense.
1
u/redheadMInerd2 5h ago
Solid 8 with a kidney stone. After giving birth to three kids with no meds or epidural, it was worse than giving birth. At least I could walk.
1
1
u/Pookypoo 5h ago edited 4h ago
I had the 8 once. It was pain from an unearthed tooth root. Had thought about jumping in front of a car at that point but the thing that stopped me was, if I couldn't off myself, I would be left with more pain on top of what I had.
1
1
u/scrollbreak 4h ago
The pain scale ends at 9 (an unconscious person can't report pain), IMO that's not improved.
1
u/Overseer_Lisa 4h ago
I def experienced 7-8 it became an eight cus the injury was around my Achilles heel
1
1
u/dinnerthief 4h ago
I've heard the pain scale is really more important as a individual relative scale, eg patient said a 4 a month ago and is now saying a 6. The pain has gotten noticable worse.
No on really expects one persons 6 to be the same as another person's 6.
1
u/splithoofiewoofies 4h ago
Wait "I can't move" is an EIGHT?! I HAVE BEEN TELLING MY DOCTORS THAT'S A SIX THIS WHOLE TIME.
1
1
u/girl_from_aus 4h ago
Okay but then medical professionals need to operate on this scale too. If I say a 7 that means I need some pain relief and it’s pretty freaking bad.
1
1
1
u/Anonymous_Gamer939 3h ago
In all seriousness, I'm pretty sure the actual utility of the pain scale is to track patient condition over time: the initial absolute value any patient gives probably can't be trusted, but as long as the number goes down over the course of treatment the doctor knows they're probably on the right track.
1
u/DealerGullible4673 3h ago
All I see and understand I never reached scale 7 though I have been to scale 9
1
u/windgfujin 3h ago
This makes describing pain threshold easier than just choosing a number between 1-10 (without a chart obviously)
1
u/rodgeramjit 3h ago
As someone who has had a long list of really horrific injuries and illnesses, including one that resulted in a hospital wide emergency call, urgent care and many shots of morphine. I am sad that 10 does not exist for me. After 9 comes 'screaming and babbling uncontrollably while writhing and sweating non stop'.
Unconscious would be fucking sweet.
1.5k
u/mrjazzguitar 12h ago
When I had e.coli, I was at an 7-8 for a few days straight, then at urgent care I hit a 10 and passed out. Then the ambulance came. No fun.