How people deal with acute vs chronic pain can be very different. One doctor blew my mind when he described chronic pain as a spousal relationship. It's something you have to live with and work with. You can't ignore or bully pain.
Also men and women deal with pain differently. Most men describe a heart attack as the worst pain ever. Many women have ignored heart attacks because it wasn't as bad as their period pains. Women also describe kidney stones as worse than childbirth.
I had a friend go in to the doctor and described the pain as a 5. But the doctor noticed they were sweating because of pain, which made it at least a 7 in their experience as that was an involuntary physical response.
I've been to places not described on the pain scale, when I was recovering from surgery the IV drop ran out, the pain was so bad my spirit phased out of my body slightly so I was less aware of the pain but could still see the nurse running around trying to load another bag into the IV dispenser.
I can tell when a bad storm is coming because it feels like water running down the inside of my leg bone, like runoff down a gutter. Some days the pain is dull and I can get irritated easily, but some over the counter pain medications are helpful. So if I am going to the doctor I've already exhausted the available options, so pain is high priority to me as I can't do things.
I have also noticed that men's pain is taken more seriously than women's pain. Redheads get less pain relief and if you are person of color, especially a female, doctors take your pain least seriously. It makes me wonder how they actually teach in med school for that to happen.
Describing the pain in terms of what work I can and cannot do gets more attention than anything else.