The step from 3 to 4 is when the pain becomes impossible to ignore

4 to 5 is when addressing the pain becomes important

5 to 6 is when it becomes urgent

6 to 7 is when I start to feel I might need serious medical attention

...beyond that I don't really have mapped.

So like... when a nurse would ask how much pain I was in and I'd answer 5, that meant "the current pain management is really not sufficient and I'm distressed." Which I would then actually tell them rather than hoping the number would be sufficient

I don't know if that's how most people would use 5? They seemed to think I was underrating my pain. But like, it always felt like it could be a *lot* worse so I didn't want to claim something higher.

I'm really curious to see how this compares to other people's scales?

Also though it's fundamentally unquantifiable :<
Fuckin' qualia.

Also I feel like I can never actually *remember* the sensation of pain in a sensory way? I can think about the idea of it, but not the sensation itself.

@starkatt Not having experience with the top end is a good thing.

@starkatt
With every new experience of maximal pain, the scale is adjusted. There's a plateau where shock numbs the nervous system.

I lost the top 1/3rd of my thumb in a preventable accident. I won't go into detail, but there are few more gruesome ways of losing part of your thumb. Because of the shock, the pain only reached an 8 on my scale.

I've reached a 10 several times. Pain like that comes almost only from less severe injuries that don't induce shock.

@mawr huh. I feel like there's some things for me to think on, there.

Part of my calibration here is seeing one pain scale that described 10 as something like "comparable only to things like a hand being crushed. Produces almost immediate unconsciousness. Few people have experienced this level of pain."