Two patients on your unit have returned from an arthroscopy of the right knee. Although their procedures were the same, the patients report different levels of pain. Which of the following may provide a rationale for the different perceptions of pain?

Question

A) Endorphin levels may vary between patients, affecting the perception of pain.
B) One of the patients is exaggerating his sense of pain.
C) The patients are likely experiencing a variance in vasoconstriction.
D) One of the patients may be experiencing opiate tolerance.

Answer 1

Ans: A
Feedback: The existence of enkephalins and endorphins helps explain why different people feel different amounts of pain from similar stimuli. Endorphin levels vary among individuals, as do factors that influence endorphin levels, such as anxiety. People with more endorphins feel less pain; those with fewer endorphins feel more pain. Opioid tolerance is associated with chronic pain treatment and would not apply to this patient. The nurse should not assume the patient is exaggerating the pain, as the patient is the best authority on the existence of pain. Definitions for pain state that pain is "whatever the person says it is, existing whenever the experiencing person says it does."