When describing medical symptoms, do "continuous" and "constant" have the
same meaning? For example:

(1) My arm weakness is continuous.

(2) My arm weakness is constant.

Does "chronic" have the same meaning as either of the two above?

On Tue, 30 Aug 2022 02:33:20 +0100, Pamela
<pamela.private.mailbox@gmail.com> wrote:

>When describing medical symptoms, do "continuous" and "constant" have the
>same meaning? For example:
>
>(1) My arm weakness is continuous.
>
>(2) My arm weakness is constant.
>
>Does "chronic" have the same meaning as either of the two above?

I can relate better to "the pain in my hip...", which is
something I have.

For that, "chronic" pain is the least continuous. It is (quite
possibly) 'merely' recurring. Notable pain, or any pain at
all, might be missing for days at a time.

"Constant" pain is there almost all the time, but it quite likely
could vary in intensity.

Saying the pain is "continuous" without any other qualifiers
seems to imply little variation in intensity.

If your doctor is asking, you should give the greater amount
of detail rather than assuming he knows what you mean.
On occasion, I have written a clarifying comment on the pain-
questionnaire handed to me by the doctor's receptionist.

--
Rich Ulrich

Pamela <pamela.private.mailbox@gmail.com> writes:
>continuous

No technical term, use the normal English meaning.

>constant

"not changing"

A quantity which, under stated conditions, does not vary
with changes in the environment.

>"chronic"

chronic: slowly developing, slowly progressing, continuous,
lasting, persistent, protracted; (disease) long existing,
persistent, protracted, inveterate.

Denoting a disease of slow progress and persisting over
a long period of time; opposite of acute.

On 30/08/22 11:33, Pamela wrote:

> When describing medical symptoms, do "continuous" and "constant" have
> the same meaning? For example:
>
> (1) My arm weakness is continuous.
>
> (2) My arm weakness is constant.
>
> Does "chronic" have the same meaning as either of the two above?

I have chronic arthritis, but the pain is not continuous. It comes and
goes. The condition is chronic in the sense that I have had the problem
for many years, but the intensity varies in unpredictable ways.

"Continuous" and "constant" are technically not quite the same thing.
"Constant" means the the level of weakness never changes. "Continuous"
allows the level to go up and down over time. In practice, though, many
people do use those terms interchangeably.

Medical people consider "chronic" to be the opposite of "acute". That
doesn't quite match the use of those words by non-medical people.

--
Peter Moylan Newcastle, NSW http://www.pmoylan.org

On 03:36 30 Aug 2022, Stefan Ram said:

> Pamela <pamela.private.mailbox@gmail.com> writes:
>>continuous
>
> No technical term, use the normal English meaning.
>
>>constant
>
> "not changing"
>
> A quantity which, under stated conditions, does not vary with
> changes in the environment.
>
>>"chronic"
>
> chronic: slowly developing, slowly progressing, continuous,
> lasting, persistent, protracted; (disease) long existing,
> persistent, protracted, inveterate.
>
> Denoting a disease of slow progress and persisting over a long
> period of time; opposite of acute.

Thank you for pasting that. Unfortunately in medicine, everyday words
sometimes have a specialist interpretation that is different from the
literal or implied meaning of the words.

For example, "heart failure" does not mean the heart has failed.

Similarly, "heart attack" does not necessarily mean the heart has
stopped working as some lay people think.

Here I'm looking to understand conventional meanings of "continuous" and
"constant" applied to a symptom.

On 30/08/2022 03:33, Pamela wrote:
> When describing medical symptoms, do "continuous" and "constant" have the
> same meaning? For example:
>
> (1) My arm weakness is continuous.
>
> (2) My arm weakness is constant.
>

"persistent" weakness in my arm.

> Does "chronic" have the same meaning as either of the two above?

No, chronic in my mind denotes extreme. Not the same as persistent.

On 30/08/22 20:45, occam wrote:
> On 30/08/2022 03:33, Pamela wrote:
>> When describing medical symptoms, do "continuous" and "constant"
>> have the same meaning? For example:
>>
>> (1) My arm weakness is continuous.
>>
>> (2) My arm weakness is constant.
>>
>
>
> "persistent" weakness in my arm.
>
>> Does "chronic" have the same meaning as either of the two above?
>
> No, chronic in my mind denotes extreme. Not the same as persistent.

On with you Chronos, onward charioteer ...

Did others have this song inflicted on them at school? No offence to
Schubert intended, but it was horribly boring. What it did achieve,
though, was to create a connection chronos=time in our minds.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that chronic _does_ mean persistent.
A chronic low-level pain might not hurt much, but its key feature is
that it doesn't go away.

Perhaps you were thinking of "acute".

--
Peter Moylan Newcastle, NSW http://www.pmoylan.org

Pamela <pamela.private.mailbox@gmail.com> writes:
>Here I'm looking to understand conventional meanings of "continuous" and
>"constant" applied to a symptom.

What I wrote ("pasted", as you have correctly identified) was intended
to give the medical meanings of the words as they would be used among
physicians. I think this should include their meaning when applied to
a symptom.

Of course, two-words phrases can attain a special idiomatic meaning,
but I don't think that "constant pain" or "continuous pain" are such
idioms.

Language is convention, so all meanings are conventional.

The non-medical meaning of those words as they would be used between
non-physicians should be given in general dictionaries. Again, I think
that this should include their meaning when applied to a symptom.
(I assume that you have access to such general dictionaries.)

Special meanings are sometimes given to nouns or phrases in certain
works, but then they would usually be explained in them.