I agree with the others, the 1 - 10 pain scale is crap, with a capital CR. I think Marni Jackson, in her book "Pain the Fifth Vital Sign" hit the nail on the head when she pointed out that it's impossible to quantify 'scientifically' something as subjective as pain.
Honestly, it's insane. Like you, I tend to push through the pain (sometimes I pay for it, sometimes I don't). So, for me to say an 8 on the pain scale, mainly means that I lived my day as normal, but reeeaaaallllyyyy slooooooowly and with no joy. Someone else's 8 might mean they couldn't get out of bed that day. But I've had no choice for much of my life - I own my house, I'm the only one paying the bills for the most part (for most of my adult life anyway) and if I don't get out of bed and go to work I'm sunk. So I make myself do it no matter how horrible I'm feeling. Does that mean my pain is any less? Hell no - it just means that I make myself function because I have to, no-one else is going to do it.
In fact, I'm so good at it that my rheumy totally didn't get how much pain I was in ... until the day I burst into tears in his office out of shear frustration at the fact that I knew he wasn't getting it yet again. That day he got it. So list all the negatives because those're the only things that will get the point across. And keep your pain journal so that should the day come when you need to apply for disability, you're in the habit of doing it and have come up with a coherent system for noting it.
Hugs,
