Pain Control
Keeping your pain under control is important to your well being. It will help you eat better, sleep better, and move around more easily. If your pain is under control, your visits with family and friends will be more enjoyable.
Ask for help with your pain
Some people feel that they should just put up with pain. They think it is childish to tell anyone about pain or to take medicine for it. Other people don’t want to be a bother. These people tend to say nothing about pain until it is so bad they can’t stand it. This is not a good idea. When pain becomes this bad, it is much harder to control. If you get pain relief before the pain reaches this point, it will take less medicine to make you feel better.
We want you to be as comfortable as possible. The nurses will give you pain medicine as soon as possible after you ask for it.
Several times each day, our staff will ask if you have pain and how bad it is. But you don’t have to wait to be asked. If you need help for pain, tell the nurse right away. Use the call button if you have one.
Tell us about your pain
To help speed your recovery, we ask that you think about your level of pain. The doctors and nurses count on you to tell them how bad the pain is. We cannot measure pain with a test. Instead we will ask that you tell us about your pain in one of the following ways.
Word scale
For some people, it is easiest to tell how bad the pain is by choosing one of five words to describe the pain. These words are:
- None - Mild - Moderate - Severe - Excruciating (worst pain imaginable)
Zero to 10 pain rating scale
For other people, it is easiest to tell how bad the pain is by using a scale from 0 to 10. On this scale, 0 means no pain at all, and 10 is the worst pain possible.
Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale
With this scale, each face is for a person who feels happy because he has no pain, or sad because he has some pain or a lot of pain. Face 2 hurts just a little bit. Face 4 hurts a little bit more. Face 6 hurts even more. Face 8 hurts a whole lot. Face 10 hurts as much as you can imagine, but you don’t have to be crying to feel this bad. The doctor or nurse will ask you to choose the face that shows how you are feeling.
If medicine does not help
If medicine does not help your pain, or if you are having side effects, please tell your doctor or nurse. Tell us if you:
- Have stomach ache, nausea, vomiting
- Feel too sleepy
- Are constipated
- Itch all over
Your doctor may order medicines that can help relieve your side effects.
Pain medicines are safe
Pain medicines are safe and helpful when given by doctors and nurses. Some people worry that they will become addicted to the medicine they get for pain. But this almost never happens when these medicines are used for the relief of pain. Talk to your doctor or nurse if you are worried about this.
Some things make pain worse
Pain or discomfort may be greater:
- After operations (surgery)
- When doing certain activities
- During the healing process
Take pain medicine before walking or exercising. The medicine can make that activity less pain¬ful and perhaps help speed your recovery.
Not just medicines
We may use other methods beside pain medicines to help control your pain. These may include:
- Putting heat or cold on the painful area
- Mild electrical stimulation of the nerves
- Physical therapy
- Massage therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Relaxation techniques
*From Wong DL, Hockenberry-Eaton M, Wilson D, Winkelstein ML, Schwartz P: Wong’s Essentials of Pediatric Nursing, 6/e, St. Louis, 2001, P. 1301. Copyrighted by Mosby, Inc. Reprinted by permission.