Thanks to all who commented on the ibuprofen question.

I actually took 10 mg of oxycodone and it literally did nothing. Some time later, I broke out into a dripping sweat and thought I was going to vomit. I know this wasn't a reaction to the meds because I have been taking them since my tonsillectomy. All I knew was that I had to lay down and cool off fast. I put ice on my forehead and called my sister, who is an NP. She thought I was likely having a migraine.

I took some Excedrin and went to bed with the ice. I felt significantly better in a couple of hours. So, I guess that combination did the trick. I just had to lay perfectly still or else I thought I would get sick. I've never had a migraine, to my knowledge, but that was awful. I feel badly for those who get them frequently.

Thankfully, Dan was home to take over with the kids. I'm lucky to have him for many reasons.

Thanks for all of the advice.

Charm, I'll keep that number in mind. I have to ask it of my patients all the time and it's a PITA! Some people have such a hard time answering it, I just give them the smiley face chart that we use for kids. It has been studied that the most reliable way to measure a patient's pain level is to have them make a hash mark on the 10 cm horizontal line. The left side is "no pain" and the right side is "worst pain ever". The distance is measured against a scale that was developed by these researchers (I have no idea of the developers) and that calculates your pain score. Although it has been determined and accepted to be the most reliable way to quantify a subjective thing, such as pain, no one ever uses it because it takes too much time! So, I don't feel so badly making up some arbitrary number, such as 8/10 on reporting my pain. The insurance companies don't care, Medicare doesn't care, so why should I care? In fact, if I forgot to get a pain scale report on a given treatment day, I'd always put down 7/10...a good, safe number that doesn't really matter to anyone but the patient anyway!