[QUOTE=dressagetraks;7758939]
Some people just have a serious pain tolerance. The highest I ever gave somebody was a 7 - that was for 2nd and 3rd degree burns on both hands, 8 fingers. Worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life. I gave that answer in an absolutely conversational tone. I was so calm and routine in the waiting room (while silently resisting impulse to slap some people who were going on about emergency sniffles) that when the triage nurse came back out a minute after I’d sat back down and called me back to put me in a hall bed, I heard some people complaining that, “She’s not really hurt.” God bless that nurse, who told me later that there was a 5-hour line. She said, “I can tell how much you’re hurting.” No tears, screams, moans, hysterics, profanity, or anything else in sight.
And while I was in that hall bed waiting for a doc, I could hear somebody in one of the rooms: “I’m DYING!!! I’m DYING!!! (Moan) (Groan) I’m DYING!!!” This went on for my whole 2-hour stay in the ER getting treated. There were people in and out of her room a few times, but none of them had a crash cart with them, and I overheard a couple at the nurses station (I was in the hall, remember) saying, “What a drama queen.”
People differ.
ETA: I remember my riding instructor telling about an ER doc’s reaction to her answer to the pain scale question after a serious injury. She - calmly and conversationally - told him 8. He was fishing a little more for a description of her pain, how it hurt and how she arrived at that number, and she said, “Well, nobody could really be a 10, because at 10, you’d pass out from pain. So you wouldn’t be awake to give that answer. I figure 9, you’re almost passing out from pain. I’m not; it hurts a lot, but I don’t feel like I’m passing out in the next 30 seconds. So I’ll call this an 8.”[/QUOTE]
Ya, you are tougher than me! I had second degree burns on my hand, wrist and foot and I’m going to have to give that an eight. Not for a couple hours–it started out lower, but after waiting for awhile, yes. My only nine was flying on an airplane with a sinus and ear infection and no meds. They had to circle for about an extra half hour changing altitude, because there was some kind of issue at the airport and they couldn’t get clearance to land. I still don’t understand how I didn’t pass out, I remember thinking that at the time and praying I would, because my head was going to explode and I didn’t want to be awake for that. I wasn’t screaming though.
This thread is terrifying. I can’t believe anyone rides horses. We all must be insane. I did come off (flipped over the horse and landed on my back on packed gravel) and had the wind knocked out of me. I actually lunged and rode again, but a few hours later went to urgent care because the pain was pretty bad and my mom was freaking out about internal bleeding (which I didn’t have).
I can see a kid crying initially, because they are scared. I would think after a few minutes that would subside. I got nailed (bit) in the thigh and then calf last winter by a German Shepherd and I teared up right away because it scared the crap out me, and I was scared to take off my pants to look at it, more than because it hurt terribly. Of course I was super embarrassed immediately that I got teary (honestly, it was only like a 4 or 5 on the pain scale). But fear is a powerful thing.
