Have you ever gone to the emergency room or your doctor and been asking to rate your pain? Sometimes they’ll say, “on a scale of one to ten, with one being no pain and ten being the worst you’ve ever felt.” This is called the Numeric Pain Rating Scale, or NPRS. It’s quick and easy, but not always accurate. Similarly, the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale is a visual assessment showing a series of faces along with numbers. 0 is a happy face, representing no pain, and 10 shows a face in tears for the worst pain imaginable. This was originally developed for children, but it can be helpful for any patients with language barriers or who don’t know how to count.
There are problems with these types of approaches. You might never have been in serious pain before and decide that you’re at a 10, when really it’s not subjectively that bad. People who are trying to appear tough might state a lower number than they really feel. You might also have no idea what the difference between a 5 and 6 might be and just make a random guess. Of course, when it comes to these self-assessments, doctors always have to consider that people might be lying in order to get pain medication.
Even if people are telling the truth – to the best of their abilities – about their pain levels, a lack of a very accurate pain test has contributed to the opioid epidemic. People are being prescribed stronger medication than they actually need or advised to take it for longer periods than necessary. People who don’t receive a strong enough medication might turn to the streets for relief and end up buying opioids contaminated with any number of dangerous chemicals.
Scientists are looking into other methods of rating pain that might help combat the opioid crisis. Possibilities include a blood test that determines a patient’s pain, some sort of device that can recognize physical signs of pain like pupil dilation or muscular stress, and even intelligent software with the capability to look at the patient’s response to pain and assess how bad that pain is. Other possibilities could be measuring brain activity, immune system functions, genetic signals, and behavioral changes.
How likely is it that a new pain scale would make a dent in the opioid problem? Some experts are skeptical. Pain will always be subjective, for one thing. Also, the opioid crisis may have started out with people abusing prescription pain medications, but the number of prescription opioid deaths has dropped over the last 15 years, with heroin and synthetic opioids increasing rapidly. Perhaps a better response would be to look into non-addictive methods of treating pain.
If you or a loved one need help with quitting drugs or alcohol, consider Asana Recovery. We offer medical detox, along with both residential and outpatient programs, and you’ll be supervised by a highly trained staff of medical professionals, counselors, and therapists. Call us any time at (949) 438-4504.
