close
    Is there an objective machine to measure how much pain an individual is experiencing? If not why not?

    There is a lot of arguments over the use of pain medicine, if there were an objective method of measuring how much pain an individual was experiencing it would solve a lot of problems.  Yet I have never heard of such a machine and usually when I go to the doctor they ask me to rate my pain on a scale from one to 5 or 10.  Anyone who is a reasonable actor could fake pain and get medicine such as Rush Limbaugh.  Because of people like him it is much more difficult for real pain suffers to get the medicine they need and Doctors become skeptics and tend not to believe anyone.  An objective machine that could measure how much pain an individual is experiencing would help a lot of people. 

    0  Views: 1161 Answers: 2 Posted: 12 years ago
    Tags: pain

    2 Answers

    People experience pain differently.  You could apply the same pressure to six different people and have six different reactions.   

    In one of my surgeries I had to have a spinal tap and the man in the booth next to me was crying and carrying on, and I thought this must be bad and is going to hurt. When they where done I ask is that all, he said yes, why, I said what did you do to that poor guy next door? He said the same thing, I felt very little pain.


    So some people are more sensitive or less tolerant.



    Top contributors in Medicine category

     
    ROMOS
    Answers: 45 / Questions: 0
    Karma: 2655
     
    country bumpkin
    Answers: 28 / Questions: 0
    Karma: 1770
     
    jhharlan
    Answers: 28 / Questions: 0
    Karma: 1235
     
    Colleen
    Answers: 50 / Questions: 0
    Karma: 1065
    > Top contributors chart

    Unanswered Questions

    lideplaorg
    Answers: 0 Views: 12 Rating: 0
    consulting88clb
    Answers: 0 Views: 14 Rating: 0
    abc88digital
    Answers: 0 Views: 13 Rating: 0
    com88clbk
    Answers: 0 Views: 14 Rating: 0
    bk8appgame
    Answers: 0 Views: 17 Rating: 0
    viva88codes
    Answers: 0 Views: 19 Rating: 0
    Nhà cái Debet
    Answers: 0 Views: 15 Rating: 0
    scapbot likepion
    Answers: 0 Views: 17 Rating: 0
    > More questions...
    466045
    questions
    722201
    answers
    784776
    users