So, get this. Yesterday night I broke my foot by dropping something real heavy on it. I knew something was slightly wrong, and I went to the local ER here to get it checked out. Broke my foot in 3 places, refused a cast (I’m into drumming again) and they reluctantly sent me on my way.

I’ve been dealing with a slight case of glass bones for the past 5 years now, it sounds dramatic, but it’s just very, very low bone density. Broke my hand this year, broke 3 of my ribs this year, just by random silly accidents, and I just got a phone call from the hospital because apparently my pain charts are so underwhelming, they want to do a full check up and brain scan.

Broken foot on a scale of 1-10? 1. I actually tried drumming again today. Broken hand? 2. Ribs were sort of really annoying, I gave them a 4. The latter was supposed to be at least 8 according to them.

Now they want to know if I’m just used to a hell lot of pain or if there is a malfunction in my brain. I am actually curious.

Bit of a background: I broke so many of my bones in the years before I got ill. Used to skate a lot, did lots of self defense classes, so, even I wonder now what the heck is going on. ^^

AMA, btw. ^^

  • Sundial@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    16 days ago

    Have you ever had anything you would characterize as a 10? Or even something like 8?

    • TotallyNotSpez@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
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      16 days ago

      I did, actually. I once got severely ill, living abroad in a country with severely shitty healthcare. Got rushed to the ER, a friend was with me. I just kept on screaming, no one looking after me. The ER over there was more like a warzone. Friend decided he had it with them, told them all to fuck off, gave them the finger, hurled me over his shoulder and carried me two streets across to a private hospital. He put me on his insurance policy. They gave me a hell lot of morphine, but apparently I’m either immune to that or at least highly resistant. They had to call in their pain specialist in the middle of the night and he got it done pain wise.

          • Lumisal@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            16 days ago

            Sounds like you’ve damaged the nerves surrounding your bones with all the breaking. With all that damage, you probably can’t feel pain much when they break.

            By chance, have you ever gotten a decent cut or burn before (or sting or similar) and did that hurt more than breaking a bone?

            • TotallyNotSpez@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
              0·
              16 days ago

              I had a severe burn on my right lower arm. Immediately took care of it in terms of first aid and I did feel some sort of pain, but it was more stingy than anything else, maybe a 1 or 2 tops.

  • Christian@lemmy.mlEnglish
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    16 days ago

    I just got out of a five-week hospital stay and I think giving the conservative estimate for your pain rankings is pretty helpful in being taken seriously when your pain actually gets bad.

    Some of the roommates I got over that time were absurd. “What’s your pain level at now?” “It’s worse than earlier, it’s at a 10.” “A 10 is the worst pain you can imagine. You said your pain was at a 10 last time we talked.” “Oh yeah, I mean it’s got to be at a 10.5 or something now.” Guy is clearly comfy sitting up in bed eating a meal.

    There was one point where I was in so much pain and I gave a 9 which I think was accurate, and I suspect they may have taken more time to attend to me if I hadn’t been trying to give genuine answers for my pain rankings through the previous couple weeks I had been there.

  • Vanth@reddthat.comEnglish
    0·
    16 days ago

    AMA

    What country are you in?

    A hospital proactively checking your history for trends and asking you to come in for a checkup when a concerning trend is identified is not a thing that happens where I am.