If your pain is answered with the word "pressure"

What to say, in order, when you are not being believed.

The most commonly reported version of this is simple. A woman says she can feel it. She is told she is feeling pressure. She says it again. The operation continues.

Pressure and tugging are expected. Sharp, burning, cutting or stinging is not. If you are answered with "that is pressure" and it is not pressure, escalate in plain words:

"This is not pressure. This is sharp pain. I need you to treat it."
"Please stop as soon as it is safe to stop."
"I want more medication or I want to be asleep."
To your support person: "Tell them I am in pain."
"Please write in the chart that I reported pain and what time I said it."

That last sentence is not confrontational. It matches what the anesthesia society's own statement asks for under documentation, and it changes the conversation in the room immediately.

What should not happenYou should not be asked to wait until the baby is out. You should not be told it is anxiety without your pain being assessed. You should not have to say it three times.

Where this comes from

American Society of Anesthesiologists, Committee on Obstetric Anesthesia. Statement on pain during cesarean delivery. Approved October 18, 2023.
Plaat F, Stanford SER, Lucas DN, Andrade J, Careless J, Russell R, et al. Prevention and management of intra-operative pain during caesarean section under neuraxial anaesthesia: a technical and interpersonal approach. Anaesthesia. 2022;77(5):588-597.
Somerstein R. I feel pain, not pressure: a personal and methodological reflection on pain during cesarean delivery. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2026;233(6S):S129-S134.

Covered in the class

6Module 6. Pain during a cesareanPressure and pulling are expected. Pain is not, and it must not be relabelled as pressure.

Continue

Read this inside the full program, with the questions to take to your next visit and a record of what you have covered.

Obstetric Anesthesia Preparedness →

More from Being heard

How you are likely to be treated is partly predictableMistreatment in maternity care is measured, and it is not rare. Ask now what happens if you feel pain during the operationThe conversation belongs here, not on the operating table. Pain is not believed equallyThe evidence on this is consistent and uncomfortable. What the anesthesia societies already tell your team to doYou are not asking for a favor. You are asking for the standard.

This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you.