Pain Scale

(don't forget, you can still get the awesome quickpage until this weekend! Grab it quickly!!)

This is something I've been wondering about for awhile now, but I thought more about it today, after pinching a nerve in my neck and spending the day trying to find some relief.

You know that lovely "scale of 1 to 10" they use at doctors' offices and hospitals? Just how important are those numbers, to the medical professionals? If they hear "3," do they behave differently than to a "4"? And how, exactly, do I determine if this is the most horrible pain I've ever been in, or ever will be in, with those numbers?

I remember hearing years ago something to the effect of "the toothache you feel now is the most pain you experience" or something like that...basically how you feel now makes the past pains seem inconsequential. So how can the scale be reliable?

Am I the only one who wonders this? Has everyone else figured out how to use it?