The truth about pain management is that you can explain until you are blue in the face (or perhaps red) but most healthcare professionals are not programmed 🙂 to deal with it simply because they are looking for ways to heal you. This is not going to happen. The problems are only going to get worse. I can tell you that from personal experience. What we need is relief, not counseling or anti-depressants or visualizing a sunset. The best therapy I had was a warm therapy pool several times a week. Open swim. Not available where I live now. Surprisingly, drug free! 🙂 Pain of many kinds cannot be described in numbers or grumpy faces since it is complex for those of us with multiple issues. I remember being lectured by a neurologist about the non-existence of fibromyalgia. The next day I had emergency appendix surgery. I often wonder what would have happened if it had burst in the office that day. He would not have believed me. The pain felt like mild heartburn, to be honest, so I did not believe them when they told me what it was because my body pain was so much worse. Now, years later, I realize had no idea what pain was then.
Currently taking a boatload of strong medication and still I ache. I think the worst is when I bump into something or kick something accidentally (or hit my head on the car) because that's when I see the end of my life stretching closer before me and I can't breathe. Truly awful.