As a Lupus patient I tend to get infections quite often. Not just the run of the mill infections, but bacterial infections and serious infections like MRSA. Between the infections, severe migraines that put me to bed for hours on end and sometimes for days & then the Raynadus, RA and yes the never ending Lupus, the pain is never ending. But somehow I can still smile through the pain.
Every time you go to the doctor, immediate care or ER they ask you an array of questions and about your history. I personally tend to go to these places prepared with my handy excel spreadsheet that lists my medication, history of surgeries, allergies and anything else that may be of pertinent information to the doctors. I also go in knowing what I'm talking about; as far as my current condition, so I don't waste my time or the doctor and his/her staffs time. It's quite amazing how much more serious they take you once they know you're aware of your condition (medical terms and have quite the knowledge of it all).
During the questionnaire they ask about your pain level and you see that poster on the wall that has the faces with the scale 1 through 10 on it. If you're anything like me, you can't place your pain on a scale. Having a chronic illness you deal with pain on a daily basis and pain isn't like a number so you can't say, "my pain is a 5 today" or today my pain is a 10". Just looking at those faces really irritates me. I suppose those are good for children and those who don't have a chronic illness.
When I was in the hospital for MRSA, my leg was highly infected and I can honestly tell you that the infection was a deep tissue infection and even at that my pain wasn't a number. When I tell doctors my pain is off the charts, I mean my pain is really off the charts. In laymen's terms [that means dumbing it down for doctors] it means the pain is so bad that it doesn't register on the chart. That's what I'm talking about here. Chronic pain doesn't need or belong on a number chart.
Doctors need to understand that the pain people with a chronic illness go through is debilitating and not a number. You can't rate it like you're doing a high dive or doing a Front Aerial with legs in forward split. This is real life with serious real life pain.
I'm very fortunate to have come across a great group of doctors that I deal with. Between my rheumatologist, neurologist, cardiologist, the doctors I have dealt with at the immediate care and ER (which have been the same ones) are all absolutely fabulous! I can only hope and pray that my fellow lupies and chronic pain buddies are as fortunate as I am~
Every time you go to the doctor, immediate care or ER they ask you an array of questions and about your history. I personally tend to go to these places prepared with my handy excel spreadsheet that lists my medication, history of surgeries, allergies and anything else that may be of pertinent information to the doctors. I also go in knowing what I'm talking about; as far as my current condition, so I don't waste my time or the doctor and his/her staffs time. It's quite amazing how much more serious they take you once they know you're aware of your condition (medical terms and have quite the knowledge of it all).
During the questionnaire they ask about your pain level and you see that poster on the wall that has the faces with the scale 1 through 10 on it. If you're anything like me, you can't place your pain on a scale. Having a chronic illness you deal with pain on a daily basis and pain isn't like a number so you can't say, "my pain is a 5 today" or today my pain is a 10". Just looking at those faces really irritates me. I suppose those are good for children and those who don't have a chronic illness.
When I was in the hospital for MRSA, my leg was highly infected and I can honestly tell you that the infection was a deep tissue infection and even at that my pain wasn't a number. When I tell doctors my pain is off the charts, I mean my pain is really off the charts. In laymen's terms [that means dumbing it down for doctors] it means the pain is so bad that it doesn't register on the chart. That's what I'm talking about here. Chronic pain doesn't need or belong on a number chart.
Doctors need to understand that the pain people with a chronic illness go through is debilitating and not a number. You can't rate it like you're doing a high dive or doing a Front Aerial with legs in forward split. This is real life with serious real life pain.
I'm very fortunate to have come across a great group of doctors that I deal with. Between my rheumatologist, neurologist, cardiologist, the doctors I have dealt with at the immediate care and ER (which have been the same ones) are all absolutely fabulous! I can only hope and pray that my fellow lupies and chronic pain buddies are as fortunate as I am~
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