Friday, July 25, 2008

Pain!

I woke up today with a migraine, not just any old migraine, but a number 9 on the old pain scale. I felt like my head was going to explode! I am beginning to wonder how high my blood pressure is when I am in this kind of pain.
Unfortunately, I have migraines pretty often, sometimes as many as 5 or 6 a week. It makes me think though about children/adults who have no way of telling us how much pain they are in and if I think I am undermedicated for the pain at times, what about those of us who are unable to explain their pain to others.
Yesterday, at one of my favorite healthboards, Braintalk, someone posted an article entitled "The Crisis in Pain Control who are Complex, Nonverbal or Cognitively Impaired " The author explains reasons why pain is often untreated in these children and what a parent can do to make sure this does not happen. What a scarey proposition, to be in pain, to have something wrong and to get no relief because medical professionals don't think your cries are related to pain! I think this is an important article for parents and all professionals who work with non verbal children or adults.