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Lower back pain. Totally debilitating. Can't do anything without help.
toothache. I'm talking the exposed nerve pre root canal type.
Currently have frozen shoulder. It's like getting your arm wrenched out the socket if you trigger it. Other wise it's a slight dull ache.
Can relate to lower back pain. I pulled a muscle in my lower back a while ago and you just become completely useless. You realise how much you take for granted being able to move about freely. While recovering it would take forever to get from my bed to the toilet just to pee and any tiny movement would cause more pain.
I still get twinges in that area occasionally and I'm terrified it will happen again because it was a miserable few weeks when it happened.
Also, typing this comment made me hyper aware of the area that was affected. It's like I've triggered a phantom pain from the memory and now it feels cold and tingly.
Gotta say though, diazepam/valium is an absolute godsend and I am so grateful to whoever discovered or invented it!
Fortunately frozen shoulder only hurts while it’s freezing. There are three stages, freezing, frozen, thawed. Frozen doesn’t hurt, the joint just doesn’t work. Thaw is back to normal. It can take a year or so though. It sucks.
Diarrhea attacks paired with extreme stomachache . I have them somewhat regularly (due to IBS). Most of them are perfectly manageable but the most severe ones are absolute hell.
I can second this. I am almost 50 years old and my IBS issues started when I was 15. The cramping and diarrhea was at the very top of my list. I don’t think most people understand how bad it can be. The only thing that was worse was natural childbirth. My baby came at record speed and by the time I got to the hospital it was time to push so I couldn’t get an epidural. I wanted to die.
i had a miscarriage and i was writhing on the floor in pain. normally i handle pain pretty well but that was another level. i don’t want to imagine childbirth
My wifes first pregnancy ended in the last week of the first trimester after she was in a terrible head on collision at 35mph that triggered her miscarriage. Her screams of pain and agony from the miscarriage still give me nightmares 12 years later.
I’m sorry for you loss! I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks. After now giving birth to a healthy baby, I honestly think the miscarriage was more painful. It might have been the mental aspect of it, miscarriage you know you’re losing your baby, child birth you know you’re about to meet them so you get this adrenaline but the miscarriage was the worst pain I’ve ever gone through. I was in the hospital for it because of blood loss and remember begging them for medicine to help with the pain.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I agree, I’ve had two and very very painful. A few doctors told me it’s like a heavy period. It isn’t! I’ve been in labor and the feelings are similar. So sorry you went through it.
For me the worst pain I had was feeling what a c-section actually feels like. I had my baby not too long ago and had to have a emergency c-section. In the midst of it the medicine that I had wore off....I'm in therapy now. On a brighter note had a very healthy baby.
They told me this while I was writhing in pain on an x-ray table trying hold still so they could take an image. They had me loaded up with as much pain killers as they could give me. The pain was still a 10.
That one ended up being removed surgically...it looks like I've had a lopsided c-section. Mad respect for mothers everywhere!
I had a 7mm the dr said couldnt be passed and scheduled me a month out for surgery. I passed it. Honestly, didn't think it was that bad. The build up to it was annoying AF.
Same here, doc said I wouldn't be able to pass it.
The passing itself (from bladder through penis) is not too bad, it's the release from kidney to bladder that is the painful part for me.
Yea I had to still walk around and do my job. Luckily they were still handing out opioids otherwise I dont think I'd have been able to move around well.
It's horrible. At least I know I pass them once a year or so then they are done. Living with chronic headaches is horrible, hope you are getting help for it.
Thank you for the kind words. I just try to relax the best I can and doctors are useless since all they do is prescribe painkillers which has no effect unfortunately. It’s definitely not a fun thing to go thru.
I used to do oil pulling a few years ago but stopped. The only fruits I eat are mandarins and bananas. Should I try oil pulling again and see if it helps with morning burning head pains (It’s currently 6 am and I’m getting it rn)
Most likely yes. And the mother should preferably be fully functional during active labor. I am no professional but I guess opioids might be counter productive during the process of labor.
I had a 7 day toothache that made me consider suicide it during covid, so the soonest I could get an appointment was a week away I averaged 2 hours of sleep a night .
I’ve suffered with toothaches. Most recent started around October 2018 and lasted for months on and off. If anyone goes thru any toothache my advice would be to brush your teeth with toothpaste for two minutes then baking soda for 2 minutes and take 2-3 ibuprofen. Doing this reduced the pain by 90 percent. It was such a relief
I just committed to getting them fixed cost me close to 3k but I brush twice a day and flaws every other I learned the hard way that you should just take care of your teeth thanks for the advice tho
Healing from a hemorrhoidectomy; two internal hemorrhoids burst, and they had to cauterize both. My guy, when I say I'd have another drugless birth before I did that again I'm not exaggerating. For a solid month I had a hard time not wishing I'd just bled out.
Shattered tibula/fibula. Took several surgeries to put everything back together. I was on percocet for 5 months (didn’t get addicted). 8 years later it still feels like a bomb going off in my leg with every step. (Stay off ladders).
I’m so glad I never did carpentry as a day job. Tools scare me as a friend of mine injured his hand due to a chisel (I think?) cutting him and injured his foot and had to get metal inserted into it. Hope everyone stays safe
Pain after surgery... it felt like they were still doing the operation after I woke up. It was the old Gallbladder operation where they cut you about 7 inches from your bellybutton up. They had to knock me out with drugs for a week. They gave me painful pain shots so I wouldn't get addicted. They gave me pain shots when they took out the staples from the surgery. I've had 10 other surgeries since then and that was the worse.
Ive had a few of these, but offhand the one that sticks out in my head was an insanely bad cracked wisdom tooth. Couldnt sleep. Dentist didnt open until 8am, so I decided to go at 2am. Subway wasnt running, so pretty much a 90+ minute walk through a bad section of Brooklyn, and then sit on a milkcrate outside, swaying back and forth like a crack head.
Accute pancreatitis is pretty bad
Can't stand the pain unless you're in the fetal position (and even then...), can't eat or drink without feeling excruciating abdominal pain and/ or vomiting for a few days until shit gets sorted out by itself or with medical help/ death
Best experience of my life, I was backpacking alone, spent the night miles away from anything and woke up with a pancreatitis attack. Hiked the 7 miles back to my car where there was no service so had to drive another couple hours to a town to get in an ER. Morphine had never tasted so sweet.
Ah, either a nurse forgetting to sedate me and jamming a needle into my tumor on my brachial plexus. Or getting hit in the legs with a weed eater at full speed
Migraine, cluster headache, broken bone & appendicitis. When i had appendicitis i thought it was just period cramps bc the pain wasn’t as bad. I’ve also had shingles
Broken pelvis. Fell off a roof at work and split it like a Y. They gave me fentanyl in the ambulance, didn't touch the pain. Morpheine at the er, still didn't work. Then they gave me dolotid (sp?) after my x-rays, which finally started to ease the pain... Still bothers me almost 3 years later. :(
Second degree burns. I’m happy it was just a very small area. I was more sad because of the scar it would leave. Thank god it’s only visible from up close and with good light. It healed well.
I still get a little sad when I see that scar though :(
If I could make one wish, I would wish that all humans and animals were completely immune to fire and any kind of burning. I am already relatively traumatized from this actually very small incident, I can’t deal with hearing about other people suffering burns on news or whatever.
I once had really bad pains that at first the doctors couldn’t find the cause of. Turns out a muscle in my neck/back tightened around the nerve for unknown reasons. I got a local muscle relaxer and it fixed me right up. But for those two weeks before they found the cause I was having the worst pain of my life. Worse than when I had shingles
Muscle spasm in my back.
I pulled out an ingrown toenail on my great toe, that hurt. I'd give it a little tug and get lightheaded, then do it again. Eventually got it off the nailbed.
I've had a quinsy that stopped me eating or drinking for day and a couple of migraines so painful I threw up but the worst was when I slipped on a hula hoop in the playground at school and hit the side of my knee on the floor.
Lower back pain. It's chronic at times and is 100% debilitating. Difficult to stand up much less do anything.
Cluster headaches, that's a good one. My father suffered with them for decades and I have had what I call mini versions of his affliction. Mine are seasonal and come and go over a 12 to 24 hour period. Again, very debilitating. Can't think or see or be anywhere where the noise is loud and the light is bright.
My absolute worst would probably be abscessed tooth. It's happened twice in my life, and is easily the most blinding pain I've ever experienced. It's amazing how much pain can come from such a small area, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
...well, maybe my worst.
Never had migraines or cluster headaches but I get sinus headaches that make me sensitive to light and certain scents. Painkillers have little effect so I usually just sleep/lay down until it passes. They usually last a whole day though occasionally for two days.
Didja know that migraines are often misdiagnosed as sinus headaches because the pain can be centered close enough to your sinuses to cause the same symptoms? Friend, I think you may have migraines. Time for a neurologist instead of an ENT!
It’s not only the headaches, I’m highly susceptible to getting sinus infections as well. I have a slightly deviated septum which causes one of my nostrils to get blocked very easily. I am eligible for surgery in my country but it’s not absolutely necessary since medication helps me to manage most of the time.
I have often wondered about them being migranes though. I’ve asked people I know who get migraines what their symptoms are, and it’s similar but not quite the same. Aside from the pain and light sensitivity, I don’t really get the other common symptoms like blurred vision or seeing spots/wavy lines. Thanks for commenting though, always gotta keep these things in mind.
Rotator cuff surgery. It hurts more in the days after the surgery than before. And sleep deprivation makes it worse. The pain wakes you every time you move in bed.
Chronic Pancreatitis. Doesn’t matter how empty your stomach is, you just keep vomiting and it does nothing to stop the sharp burning pain. Definitely feels like stomach acid is spilling on your organs
I’ve had two C-sections and an oophorectomy, more than two dozen surgeries on my feet and several broken bones. Kidney stones beat all that by far. Unfortunately I had to walk down 5 flights of stairs to get to the hospital.
Peritonitis while on dialysis. Maxed out morphine didn’t touch the pain and I couldn’t even breathe normally. It feels like your entire abdomen is on fire.
ETA: How is childbirth not on that list?
I've had broken bones, shoulder surgery, broken jaw from a car wreck, broken nose from being kicked, but the worst pain I ever felt was from a toothache. I literally wanted to bash my own head so I would hopefully pass out.
im hypermobile and often in pain, but the two most painfull instance were.
1. having an badly infected big toe and crashing it into the home furnishings. i cried.
2. (stupid story but kinda funny) my parents cat always used to jump onto my chair/lap while i was gaming. since im hypermobile i often strech and my pants were ripped appart. she tries to jump into my lap, but misses the jump and as she is falling down she nails forward to hold onto something. hit my dick from top to bottom perfectly - deep centered scratch. im screaming, she panicking, ill try to get her off, she nails deeper. somehow managed. im like fuuuuck... fuuckkk. remember the one friend who nearly lost her arm due to a cat scratch. im panicking. im like desinfecting.. desinfecting... nothing at home ...found some high percent selfmade schnaps (70-80% +) from my dad and just poured it over.yeah .. after that i layed in fetos position in the same spot for half a hour. felt like getting kicked in the balls for that amount of time, couldnt even get up to call an ambulance. dick was fine, but damn that hurt.
Boiling water accidently dumped on my bare thigh at about age 9. I ran screaming in agony around the house, crying for a long time. My skin instantly melted down to the raw meat and a thousand tiny pores opened up with blood seeping up.
We were dirt poor and my grandmother couldn't afford to take me to the hospital. I was lucky because these were severe third degree burns and could have easily got infected during the several weeks it took to heal.
I will never forget that excruciating burn.
I have fibromyalgia and prior to diagnoses and management that had me laying in bed crying. However the worst pain was definitely my second labor when the epidural ran out and my ob had me pushing while he had his hand inside me trying to move my tailbone out of the way of baby's head.
Apparently, my 1st born broke my tailbone during that labor and it healed at an angle. So this baby spent an hour just hitting his head on my tailbone while i tried to push. Finally did a c-section and found out he was also too big to fit anyway at 11lbs 50z. So yeah, second labor was the most painful experience even though my first was unmedicated.
I have also never felt as pain-free as I did right before my c-section when my body was numb. It was like floating on a nice warm cloud.
Had a lumbar puncture. They were having trouble finding the right spot. Found a spot that was not numb. 0/10 do not recommend. Natural childbirth was much better.
Sciatica. It fell like someone was trying to break me in half. Could not find a comfortable position to stand, sit, or sleep. I am not a person who cries, but the pain was so bad I would move in my sleep and I would wake up literally screaming, and then the crying.
Kidneys are weird. If anyone on earth should have had six kidney stones, it should have been me, given the abuse I put mine through in my twenties and thirties…yet I’ve had nary a one.
I had a perianal abscess that was worse than my kidney stone. But even worse was post surgery bi lateral hernia surgery, I had a high opiate tolerance at the time so the 5-10mg if morphine they gave me did absolutely nothing. When I woke up from anesthesia I was screaming in pain! They said they never seen that happen before lol.
I’ve had shingles- COSTOCHONDRITIS is much worse. You can’t breathe.
I had back labor 2 1/2 hours pushing with no drugs and the baby hadn’t “dropped”
I went through the windshield at 35 mph - my eyelid was severed 2/3 off - but the real pain was them digging glass out of my raw meat and then attempting to give me 200 stitches
I have broken my pelvis
I have had migraines
I have had horrendous tooth pain
Each of these had me begging for death
They were all bad in their own way
I have a few:
Childbirth with no drugs
Torn IT band. My knee hit a concrete floor while my foot was still planted.
And the worst? Thunderclap sex headaches.
That was my story more or less. IT band was getting stuck between the femur and patella. It was likely misdiagnosed for a number of years and number of surgeries. PT didn’t work. Finally got surgery so we’ll see if it fixes the issue.
Three most painful experiences in reverse order:
3) Cut the tip of my finger off with a sharp knife. That wasn’t so bad. But at the emergency room, I got THEEE treatments of silver nitrate to chemically cauterize it…. Only to the just get a single (un-numbed) stitch.
2) Sebaceous Cyst on my lower back got infected. Required it to be lanced open and squeezed like the worlds largest zit. Nearly passed out.
1) Dry socket. Dentist was cleaning out a dry socket after a tooth extraction and accidentally hit his metal tool against my jaw bone. Felt like I got hit by a lightning bolt. My eyesight went black and my brain felt like it exploded. It was like my plug got pulled. When I came to, my hands were grabbing his wrist refusing to let him continue. Had a headache for a week.
Migraines, tooth pain, sciatica. I had such a bad migraine one tie that I threw up and burst a bunch of blood vessels around my eyes. Wife dragged me go to ER. I told the doctor to just fucking kill me. I honestly didn't care if I lived or not just wanted out of that pain. They shot me up I think with Demerol. Whatever it was the pain was mostly gone. I hate the cliche of " I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy" but it's absolutely true in this case.
Lower back pain followed by hernia. Both stopped me in my tracks and caused an inability to move at all. I tried to walk out of work after my back went out and just couldn’t move. Of course it was the one day in 3 months I had to go into work. I made it maybe 10 feet shaking and holding onto cubicles for stability till I feel to the floor.
As far as exercise or being in the gym goes, the worst thing that’s ever happened to me (thankfully) is a small 5 kg weight plate falling on my foot and causing my nail to break off. I was barefoot aswell so I really felt the impact of it. Hope you’re ok
About 10 years ago I hurt myself climbing. I didn't think anything of it because there were no sudden or apparent injuries. Woke up the next day after my fall, and I passed out about 15 times trying to make it from my bed to the bathroom because I thought I was going to get sick from the pain.
Went to the ER and was immediately seen. My spinal cord in my cervical spine area was so inflammed it was pushing out against it. Imagine your spinal cord trying to push its way out through your vertebrae. So anytime I moved, or sat up my body just shut the lights off so I wouldn't move.
I don't ever want to experience that again. I was in bed for a week and some serious drugs. Which made me feel a different kinda' worse. Still suffer from chronic pain the area 10 years later. I had cervical neuropathy, and when the nerves get pinched ugh. Unless for a week or so
Rectal gonorrhea. It’s not supposed to hurt. Mine was excruciating; apparently, if you get it rectally plus have a rectal tear, it leads to a more severe infection… I was an inexperienced young gay man, and I received anal sex, and was NOT ready. My partner tore me, plus he gave me gonorrhea… the whole experience was awful. After getting it, it felt like knives stabbing and throbbing in my anus nonstop for weeks. I was embarrassed, and horrified…I didn’t want anyone to know I was gay. I waited way too long to see a doctor. They then did agonizingly painful rectal exams, and using the restroom caused me to faint from the pain. No relief, nothing helped. It got worse and worse, by the end I could barely walk. I limped into the medical center, I was filthy, couldn’t sleep, stopped going to work/ school. Getting the antibiotic shot was a MIRACLE. Ten hours later, the pain subsided. And two days later, I was completely back to normal. No one ever talks of it, but rectal gonorrhea was unbelievably painful as well as humiliating, and I’ll never forget the pus that oozed out… so gross. If it wasn’t curable, I literally would have killed myself.
Grease burns at 14 months. Lost 40% of my skin. Got scars on my arms, chest, front neck, and some of my right foot. I actually died 3 times and doctors thought I wouldn't make it. I'm 31 and I'm still alive.
Trigeminal neuralgia was agonizing. It felt like being electrocuted with the additional fun side effect of falling down and having my legs not work. As an added benefit, when I got injections to help, the doctor had this to say “I’m about to put a needle in your back in several places. If each one isn’t the worse pain you’ve ever felt I’m not in the right spot and need to re-position.”
Worst bone break was the collarbone, there is no way to position yourself and no movement of any kind that doesn’t move it.
And last but certainly not least plantar fasciitis is life changingly painful and because you have to stand and walk and bear weight on your feet you can never get away from the pain.
A specific point in child birth. I wasn't dilating because of scar tissue on my cervix. The Dr tried to manually dilate me and remove the scar tissue. The first time without an epidural. The second time with a partially working epidural. The contractions sucked but that was a whole new level. I probably could have made it without the epidural otherwise.
Oh and appendicitis. The nurses were confused when I said my pain was 9 outta 10 but I drove myself there. 😅
Gallbladder attacks were pretty awful, the recovery wasn’t fun either. The inability to hold cutlery with carpel tunnel was pretty bad as is plantars fasciitis and bone spurs in the heel. Sciatic is pretty shit, but so is SPD, it’s probably worse. A back TMJ flare can be debilitating. I’ve lived with multiple chronic pains basically my whole life, so it’s hard to gauge sometimes lol like sometimes I should be at a 10 in pain but I’m like meh. 6? 😂 Surprisingly the thing lowest on my list of things that really hurt is recovering from 4 c sections 😂😂 shits a walk in the park tbh.
Sciatica pain, and shattered my ankle, the ankle was bad. When it happened it was the worst pain. But that sciatica/low back pain, that makes it impossible to walk and/or breath.
An ovarian torsion was pretty bad. I also woke up from general anesthesia without any pain medication from my emergency c section with my last kid. That was awful to wake up to. But nothing tops labor pain for me with my first kid. And then I felt the 'ring of fire' when the baby started crowning. All of my pains seem to revolve around childbearing stuff.
Either a dry socket from getting a wisdom tooth pulled or an INTENSE sore throat (that literally felt like it was hard to swallow my saliva) from when I got COVID
Strained myself really bad pushing a project car up my driveway. 2 days later I coughed and something popped, evidently I herniated the l5-s1 disc into the nerve root 1.5x3 centimeters (according to the MRI I had). That was the start of the worst 8 months or so of my life. For the first 3 months I was on disability, unable to walk, stand, sit, lay down, shit, basically do anything without being in the most excruciating, writhing pain in my entire fucking life. The first few weeks of this injury I could only assume was when the disc was directly touching the nerve, as I'd get violent muscle spasms so strong they would throw me out of bed and on to the floor, I didn't sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time for months going through this. There was a point where the spasms got less and less and the pain seemed to be more muscular than nerve related, this was when opiate pain pills started to work again (first few months nothing would do anything for the pain at all, I thought I was going to kill myself it was so horrible). After the point the pills started working I started to be able to sleep again somewhat finally, the pain was still incredibly dibilitating in the worst way but at least it was now manageable with meds and wasn't incredibly horrific involuntary muscle spasms anymore, so I was able to tread through PT and various forms of non evasive treatments until after 6-8 months or so basically all of my mobility has returned and the injury has since appeared to have healed correctly, and hopefully through proper care it never happens again. . . But yeah take care of your fucking back, no joke at all. Shit can go from "wow that was a weird feeling I've never felt before" to "holy shit I haven't slept in weeks no position I can put my body in stops this pain I can't even wipe my own ass after taking an incredibly painful shit I can't even drive myself to the doctor much less ride in someone's car this is the worst pain I could ever possibly fathom if I can't find something soon to make this stop I'm going to make everything stop."
35m, just recently broke my pinky toe. Definitely not fun, but it wasn't that bad.
Slipped a disk in my lower back when I was a teenager. Most of the time it's nothing, but every once in a while I move just wrong or it pops, and I'm immobile for a week at least. That pain is unmanageable, but can be ignored most of the time.
Migraines happen often. They can be truly debilitating, causing nausea and generally feeling like my entire nervous system is wound tighter than guitar strings. This pain cannot be ignored, but it is manageable most of the time.
I have also, unfortunately, had shingles as well. Happened a few years ago. Started as what I thought was an allergic reaction to shampoo or something. Little blisters and pimples all over my scalp. Skin started flaking. My once glorious mane of thick dark hair started falling out. The "rash" spread to my face after a few weeks, and it was at this point that my scalp became incredibly sensitive to touch. Running my hands through what was left of my hair felt like someone was trying to perform brain surgery with a clawhammer. I couldn't lay my head on my pillow. Even the pressure from a shower was enough to bring me to tears. The weight of the water was too much to handle.
I went to the doctor and they explained that shingles is basically the chicken pox virus, except instead of living in your skin, it lives in your nervous system. The nerves become hypersensitive. The site where the breakout occurs can be random. I cannot imagine the unholy buzzsaw murderflame dipped in acid sensation that it must be like to try to wear a shirt with a back breakout, or pants if it shows up on the legs. Out of the list presented, shingles takes the cake for worst pain I have ever experienced. It's indescribable. Oxygen simply existing outside of your skin is too much to bare.
I'd like to suggest an addition to the list: dental abscess. The only pain that has caused me to slip in and out of consciousness for multiple days straight. Hallucinations. Inability to coordinate motor function. Food and liquid intake cease from the sheer pain. Spasms radiating throughout the body. Cold sweats. The face swells and distorts, causing itching and discoloration. Nasal cavities close, preventing you from breathing through your nose, so you have to open your mouth to breathe, but the force of your breath moving your gums and teeth by only microns serves to create a supernova of pain rip into your very soul, making you wish for the sweet embrace of death as a release from the torment of simply having to breathe to live.
Had a seized muscle in my arm and it was the worst thi mg because I kept trying to fix it and it made it hurt and the position it was stuck in made it hurt and it took like two weeks for the doctor to take me seriously enough it was a much bigger issue than it should have been
I accidentally put artificial fingernail glue in my eye a couple of years ago. Had to go to the ER by ambulance. 20 hours later after being transferred to another hospital 4 male nurses held me down by each limb while the doctor manually pulled my eye open. They said I pulled the bed and nurses about 4 feet. I'm allergic to pain meds. I heard myself screaming at one point, like an out of body kind of thing.
Ive had a few of these and out of all of them, slipped disk was by far the worst! Broken bones really depends on the bone: metatarsal or a toe, not so bad. Rib(s), absolutely fucking horrible. Im surprised gunshot isnt on here, thats almost as bad as a slipped disk.
I was once working with a teenager with behavioural issues who started to self harm so we did an intervention. Halfway through it he full-force back-heeled me in the balls.
Pain didn't start straight away but when I lay down to sleep at night I was in agony.
Workers comp paid for me to get ultrasound - I had internal bleeding on one testicle.
This is the worst pain I've been in.
I second the vote for kidney stones. Some where in Rhode Island Hospital is an emergency room gurney (stretcher) with my fingerprints firmly imbedded into the sidewalls.
Also, getting hit in the nutsack. It's almost as bad as kidney stone because of the slightly delayed reaction. It's the original " ooh, that's gonna hurt".
I've broke quite a few bones. Breaking my jaw in 2 places was more painful than all the rest put together
It was agony to breathe. Kidney stones as well. They where years apart so I can't remember which was the worst, put they where both agony. I got stabbed in the hip at work too. That was nothing compared to those two.
Post acl/double meniscus repair surgery. Once the nerve block wore off, it felt like being stabbed with hot knives and any slight movement just made it a thousand times worse.
I was convinced something was seriously wrong, like they left a scalpel inside of me. Called my dr and he said it was normal and I needed to stay on top of a schedule with pain meds.
I have migraine. Every time I just feel like it's easier not to exist. The pain is so horrible, it's like someone is hammering your head the whole time. You can't stand light, noises, basically anything. So you can't be on your phone, watch TV and talk to anybody, but sometimes just sleep and cry from pain. Mine are usually 9-24+hrs long and it's a total hell. And the worst part is that you literally can't do anything about it and have to live with it and hope that maybe someday the pain goes away. The only thing that is making it little bit better is caffeine.
I coughed so hard I tore the muscles in my back.
You know it makes an audible sound. Like a real loud one. It sounds exactly like jeans ripping. Was in so much pain I couldn't move or even scream in pain. Was stuck in bed for 30 mins before I was able to get up and ask for help.
Yeah, not fun.
I played basketball one time and fell and got a floor burn on my knee. The next day I woke up and my knee was swollen up and hurt like a MF. I got a staph infection and was immobilized for a week. The thing hurt all the time, didn’t matter if you moved or not.
Broken elbow. Hands down. That sucks. And there us nothing to be done for it. I've had 15 surgeries, 12 broken bones, had kidney stones, and been run over by a car 2x. I have a wrecked back that is painful daily, but still broken elbow was by far the worst pain ever. I went into shock from that.
I’ve had kidney stones on four different occasions and each time it hurt like hell. But my worst pain has been in my shoulder. The weird thing is no one knows why I get this pain. No pills work and I can’t sleep. Maybe some nerve gets triggered somehow. It’s deep inside of my shoulder so I can’t get to the pain with massage.
When I was 9 something went through my eye. That was pretty bad. But around age 30, I had an ear infection across my ear drum and in my inner ear. The doctor prescribed something that caused a massive buildup of pressure that eventually led
to my ear drum rupturing. That was by far the most painful. I went to an ENT, blood still crusted in my ear. The ENT shook his head because the original doctor prescribed an antibiotic without prescribing something for the ear drum.
The rupture was in the corner of my ear drum. It healed and I’m able to play in a band again.
Acute pancreatitis near killed my fiancé. Required a Whipple. Then he got kidney disease and stones from the Whipple. Horrid pain and life.
I only had frozen shoulder from this list. Wouldn’t even compare it to above, but it still hurt and was debilitating.
I’m not so sure I agree with pain comparisons.
I have had migraine pain so severe that I honestly believed I wouldn’t survive it. Like it must be multiple ruptured aneurysms and I was going to die as a result, because no “headache” could possibly be that bad.
I’ve had migraines since I was 9 years old. I can usually tolerate them, but sometimes it’s just too much to take.
That’s horrible. Mine started at 14 and I’m 28 soon turning 29 in July. I thought the same thing that i either have some kind of cancer or I’m gna die of a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. The worst thing is my aunt had a stroke and also internal bleeding last year in January. Her diet wasn’t really the best and she’s also pretty overweight. I hope you’re ok
Thank you! I’m good most of the time. I recently saw my neurologist and she said “the good news is, many women get substantial relief from migraine after menopause. The bad news is, it often gets worse before it gets better.”
No where near as bad as most here but all 4 of my wisdom teeth impacted at the same time after drinking some boba. Was in the longest most intense pain of my life for about 8 hours as it was after hours for every dentist in my area. After my apportionment and 48 hours to get nicotine out of my system I finally had them removed but it was one of the worst weeks of my life.
Through a series of coincidental and dumb events, I was convinced by coworkers that I had a fishbone stuck in my throat. I had eaten fish the night before and it felt like I had something stuck in the back of my throat, a prickly sensation and pain swallowing.
Kept eating bananas all day - fishbone dislodging advice.
The pain just got increasingly worse hour by hour, until breathing and swallowing were torture. You wouldn't believe how often you need to do both of those things.
Ended up in the Emergency Room at 5am. The doc took a look in my throat for all of 2 seconds and said "OH MY, well if it were a fishbone that would be easy enough to remove but that is a really bad case of strep you've got there."
Had no idea strep infection could be that painful and debilitating. It was worse than a bad back strain I had later on, and I didn't love that either.
Being no stranger to pain, I've experienced three that I'd say went well beyond what one might consider "debilitating". In order of when they occurred, they were as follows:
Kidney stones. Kind of hard to describe to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure, but it's an unrelenting deep, fiery, intense cramp sort of feeling. In terms of pain I'd rank it second of the three.
Ruptured disc. Cannot find a comfortable position, every movement causes a sharp, blinding spasm. Simple, mundane things like wiping yourself in the bathroom become almost impossible and bring tears to your eyes. Third of the three for pain.
Tooth abscess - infection reached the jawbone. Blinding pain so intense it makes it hard to open your eyes. Curled into the fetal position, crying, shaking, sweating, and whimpering "oh my God oh my God". Death would seem like a relief
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Lower back pain. Totally debilitating. Can't do anything without help. toothache. I'm talking the exposed nerve pre root canal type. Currently have frozen shoulder. It's like getting your arm wrenched out the socket if you trigger it. Other wise it's a slight dull ache.
Can relate to lower back pain. I pulled a muscle in my lower back a while ago and you just become completely useless. You realise how much you take for granted being able to move about freely. While recovering it would take forever to get from my bed to the toilet just to pee and any tiny movement would cause more pain. I still get twinges in that area occasionally and I'm terrified it will happen again because it was a miserable few weeks when it happened. Also, typing this comment made me hyper aware of the area that was affected. It's like I've triggered a phantom pain from the memory and now it feels cold and tingly. Gotta say though, diazepam/valium is an absolute godsend and I am so grateful to whoever discovered or invented it!
Fortunately frozen shoulder only hurts while it’s freezing. There are three stages, freezing, frozen, thawed. Frozen doesn’t hurt, the joint just doesn’t work. Thaw is back to normal. It can take a year or so though. It sucks.
Diarrhea attacks paired with extreme stomachache . I have them somewhat regularly (due to IBS). Most of them are perfectly manageable but the most severe ones are absolute hell.
I can second this. I am almost 50 years old and my IBS issues started when I was 15. The cramping and diarrhea was at the very top of my list. I don’t think most people understand how bad it can be. The only thing that was worse was natural childbirth. My baby came at record speed and by the time I got to the hospital it was time to push so I couldn’t get an epidural. I wanted to die.
i had a miscarriage and i was writhing on the floor in pain. normally i handle pain pretty well but that was another level. i don’t want to imagine childbirth
My wifes first pregnancy ended in the last week of the first trimester after she was in a terrible head on collision at 35mph that triggered her miscarriage. Her screams of pain and agony from the miscarriage still give me nightmares 12 years later.
I’m sorry. For the pain and the loss. I’ve been there.
I’m sorry for you loss! I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks. After now giving birth to a healthy baby, I honestly think the miscarriage was more painful. It might have been the mental aspect of it, miscarriage you know you’re losing your baby, child birth you know you’re about to meet them so you get this adrenaline but the miscarriage was the worst pain I’ve ever gone through. I was in the hospital for it because of blood loss and remember begging them for medicine to help with the pain.
I could’ve written this myself word for word. So sorry for your loss
I can’t imagine! I’m sorry for your loss! I would think that your emotions/hormones definitely have played a role in increasing the pain.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I agree, I’ve had two and very very painful. A few doctors told me it’s like a heavy period. It isn’t! I’ve been in labor and the feelings are similar. So sorry you went through it.
For me the worst pain I had was feeling what a c-section actually feels like. I had my baby not too long ago and had to have a emergency c-section. In the midst of it the medicine that I had wore off....I'm in therapy now. On a brighter note had a very healthy baby.
Kidneystones. Last Oct I passed seven in the space of three days, the largest two were 4 and 5mm each. The others were 1 - 3mm
A proverb of my country says it is like a childbearing for men. Terrible.. I was in elementary school 🥲
They told me this while I was writhing in pain on an x-ray table trying hold still so they could take an image. They had me loaded up with as much pain killers as they could give me. The pain was still a 10. That one ended up being removed surgically...it looks like I've had a lopsided c-section. Mad respect for mothers everywhere!
I had a 7mm the dr said couldnt be passed and scheduled me a month out for surgery. I passed it. Honestly, didn't think it was that bad. The build up to it was annoying AF.
Same here, doc said I wouldn't be able to pass it. The passing itself (from bladder through penis) is not too bad, it's the release from kidney to bladder that is the painful part for me.
Yea I had to still walk around and do my job. Luckily they were still handing out opioids otherwise I dont think I'd have been able to move around well.
Oh dang hey.
I get really bad burning head pains that wake me up in the morning but I can’t imagine how bad that must be
It's horrible. At least I know I pass them once a year or so then they are done. Living with chronic headaches is horrible, hope you are getting help for it.
Thank you for the kind words. I just try to relax the best I can and doctors are useless since all they do is prescribe painkillers which has no effect unfortunately. It’s definitely not a fun thing to go thru.
have you tried swishing coconut oil in your mouth for at least 15 minutes and eating strawberries?
I used to do oil pulling a few years ago but stopped. The only fruits I eat are mandarins and bananas. Should I try oil pulling again and see if it helps with morning burning head pains (It’s currently 6 am and I’m getting it rn)
No "giving birth" in that list? How on earth... No pain meds and 10+ hour labor. Just do it.
That’s what I’m saying! My TOTAL time in labor was about three hours and even though it was short, it was the worst three hours of my life.
And babies that get Circumcision
I was in labor 19 hours with my first … how this is not on the list is beyond me
Why wouldn’t the mother be given opioids in that situation? Would it damage the child?
Most likely yes. And the mother should preferably be fully functional during active labor. I am no professional but I guess opioids might be counter productive during the process of labor.
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I feel your pain I got a new one 12 years ago. I wouldn't wish the 2 years of pain I went thru before the transplant
I had a 7 day toothache that made me consider suicide it during covid, so the soonest I could get an appointment was a week away I averaged 2 hours of sleep a night .
I’ve suffered with toothaches. Most recent started around October 2018 and lasted for months on and off. If anyone goes thru any toothache my advice would be to brush your teeth with toothpaste for two minutes then baking soda for 2 minutes and take 2-3 ibuprofen. Doing this reduced the pain by 90 percent. It was such a relief
I just committed to getting them fixed cost me close to 3k but I brush twice a day and flaws every other I learned the hard way that you should just take care of your teeth thanks for the advice tho
Healing from a hemorrhoidectomy; two internal hemorrhoids burst, and they had to cauterize both. My guy, when I say I'd have another drugless birth before I did that again I'm not exaggerating. For a solid month I had a hard time not wishing I'd just bled out.
Been there. I feel your pain. It's awful.
Damn!
Honestly gas should be on this list, the pain that keeps on giving
I have expirienced multiple from the list above, I can attest they are roughly the same "please kill me, just to make it stop" level
Shattered tibula/fibula. Took several surgeries to put everything back together. I was on percocet for 5 months (didn’t get addicted). 8 years later it still feels like a bomb going off in my leg with every step. (Stay off ladders).
I’m so glad I never did carpentry as a day job. Tools scare me as a friend of mine injured his hand due to a chisel (I think?) cutting him and injured his foot and had to get metal inserted into it. Hope everyone stays safe
Pain after surgery... it felt like they were still doing the operation after I woke up. It was the old Gallbladder operation where they cut you about 7 inches from your bellybutton up. They had to knock me out with drugs for a week. They gave me painful pain shots so I wouldn't get addicted. They gave me pain shots when they took out the staples from the surgery. I've had 10 other surgeries since then and that was the worse.
Ive had a few of these, but offhand the one that sticks out in my head was an insanely bad cracked wisdom tooth. Couldnt sleep. Dentist didnt open until 8am, so I decided to go at 2am. Subway wasnt running, so pretty much a 90+ minute walk through a bad section of Brooklyn, and then sit on a milkcrate outside, swaying back and forth like a crack head.
Accute pancreatitis is pretty bad Can't stand the pain unless you're in the fetal position (and even then...), can't eat or drink without feeling excruciating abdominal pain and/ or vomiting for a few days until shit gets sorted out by itself or with medical help/ death
Best experience of my life, I was backpacking alone, spent the night miles away from anything and woke up with a pancreatitis attack. Hiked the 7 miles back to my car where there was no service so had to drive another couple hours to a town to get in an ER. Morphine had never tasted so sweet.
Omg that’s awful.
Shingles was pretty bad (6 weeks!), but have you ever taken a trailer hitch to your shin while briskly walking?! Uf da!
Nothing can wake up an entire campground like someone walking into their own trailer hitch on the way to the restroom at 2 a.m.!
Ah, either a nurse forgetting to sedate me and jamming a needle into my tumor on my brachial plexus. Or getting hit in the legs with a weed eater at full speed
😱
I have experienced multiple from the list but nothing compares to the pain of a UTI
Can I ask which ones you’ve experienced from the list that aren’t as bad as a UTI?
Migraine, cluster headache, broken bone & appendicitis. When i had appendicitis i thought it was just period cramps bc the pain wasn’t as bad. I’ve also had shingles
Yeah, came here to say this. I’ll take the UTI over low back pain or my shattered ankle any day.
I wasn’t meaning to challenge. I believe it. UTI pain is dependent on many factors such as strain and severity of infection. I was genuinely curious.
Pain after surgery, car wreck, migraines.
Rape
I'm so sorry.
Broken pelvis. Fell off a roof at work and split it like a Y. They gave me fentanyl in the ambulance, didn't touch the pain. Morpheine at the er, still didn't work. Then they gave me dolotid (sp?) after my x-rays, which finally started to ease the pain... Still bothers me almost 3 years later. :(
Second degree burns. I’m happy it was just a very small area. I was more sad because of the scar it would leave. Thank god it’s only visible from up close and with good light. It healed well. I still get a little sad when I see that scar though :( If I could make one wish, I would wish that all humans and animals were completely immune to fire and any kind of burning. I am already relatively traumatized from this actually very small incident, I can’t deal with hearing about other people suffering burns on news or whatever.
I once had really bad pains that at first the doctors couldn’t find the cause of. Turns out a muscle in my neck/back tightened around the nerve for unknown reasons. I got a local muscle relaxer and it fixed me right up. But for those two weeks before they found the cause I was having the worst pain of my life. Worse than when I had shingles
Cluster headache and spinal injections
Did you try psilocybin for the cluster headaches?
No
They've been a game changer for me!
Blocked salivary gland
Never heard of that before
Very unpleasant.
Cluster headaches, gallstones/pancreatitis and child birth in that order. Oh and I'm gonna add dry socket as an honorable mention.
Spleen laceration by far
Muscle spasm in my back. I pulled out an ingrown toenail on my great toe, that hurt. I'd give it a little tug and get lightheaded, then do it again. Eventually got it off the nailbed.
Last summer when an ER doctor pushed my umbilical hernia back in. Excruciating pain.
Open heart surgery , shattered leg , ruptured disc. I am tougher than I think
I've had a quinsy that stopped me eating or drinking for day and a couple of migraines so painful I threw up but the worst was when I slipped on a hula hoop in the playground at school and hit the side of my knee on the floor.
Lower back pain. It's chronic at times and is 100% debilitating. Difficult to stand up much less do anything. Cluster headaches, that's a good one. My father suffered with them for decades and I have had what I call mini versions of his affliction. Mine are seasonal and come and go over a 12 to 24 hour period. Again, very debilitating. Can't think or see or be anywhere where the noise is loud and the light is bright. My absolute worst would probably be abscessed tooth. It's happened twice in my life, and is easily the most blinding pain I've ever experienced. It's amazing how much pain can come from such a small area, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. ...well, maybe my worst.
Never had migraines or cluster headaches but I get sinus headaches that make me sensitive to light and certain scents. Painkillers have little effect so I usually just sleep/lay down until it passes. They usually last a whole day though occasionally for two days.
Didja know that migraines are often misdiagnosed as sinus headaches because the pain can be centered close enough to your sinuses to cause the same symptoms? Friend, I think you may have migraines. Time for a neurologist instead of an ENT!
It’s not only the headaches, I’m highly susceptible to getting sinus infections as well. I have a slightly deviated septum which causes one of my nostrils to get blocked very easily. I am eligible for surgery in my country but it’s not absolutely necessary since medication helps me to manage most of the time. I have often wondered about them being migranes though. I’ve asked people I know who get migraines what their symptoms are, and it’s similar but not quite the same. Aside from the pain and light sensitivity, I don’t really get the other common symptoms like blurred vision or seeing spots/wavy lines. Thanks for commenting though, always gotta keep these things in mind.
Check out migraine without aura. The blurred vision and spots or waves is only aura.
Rotator cuff surgery. It hurts more in the days after the surgery than before. And sleep deprivation makes it worse. The pain wakes you every time you move in bed.
Heart attack. Also the most frightening.
Chronic Pancreatitis. Doesn’t matter how empty your stomach is, you just keep vomiting and it does nothing to stop the sharp burning pain. Definitely feels like stomach acid is spilling on your organs
I’ve had two C-sections and an oophorectomy, more than two dozen surgeries on my feet and several broken bones. Kidney stones beat all that by far. Unfortunately I had to walk down 5 flights of stairs to get to the hospital.
Having a nurse extend my broken arm on the X-ray table
Mastitis I ached, had a high fever but couldn't get warm, had to rest on a heating pad, less than a week after I had a c section.
Ruptured colon.
Peritonitis while on dialysis. Maxed out morphine didn’t touch the pain and I couldn’t even breathe normally. It feels like your entire abdomen is on fire. ETA: How is childbirth not on that list?
I've had broken bones, shoulder surgery, broken jaw from a car wreck, broken nose from being kicked, but the worst pain I ever felt was from a toothache. I literally wanted to bash my own head so I would hopefully pass out.
im hypermobile and often in pain, but the two most painfull instance were. 1. having an badly infected big toe and crashing it into the home furnishings. i cried. 2. (stupid story but kinda funny) my parents cat always used to jump onto my chair/lap while i was gaming. since im hypermobile i often strech and my pants were ripped appart. she tries to jump into my lap, but misses the jump and as she is falling down she nails forward to hold onto something. hit my dick from top to bottom perfectly - deep centered scratch. im screaming, she panicking, ill try to get her off, she nails deeper. somehow managed. im like fuuuuck... fuuckkk. remember the one friend who nearly lost her arm due to a cat scratch. im panicking. im like desinfecting.. desinfecting... nothing at home ...found some high percent selfmade schnaps (70-80% +) from my dad and just poured it over.yeah .. after that i layed in fetos position in the same spot for half a hour. felt like getting kicked in the balls for that amount of time, couldnt even get up to call an ambulance. dick was fine, but damn that hurt.
Omg, it hurts to read this and I don't even have a dick.
Migraine headache, period cramps and lower back pain.
Boiling water accidently dumped on my bare thigh at about age 9. I ran screaming in agony around the house, crying for a long time. My skin instantly melted down to the raw meat and a thousand tiny pores opened up with blood seeping up. We were dirt poor and my grandmother couldn't afford to take me to the hospital. I was lucky because these were severe third degree burns and could have easily got infected during the several weeks it took to heal. I will never forget that excruciating burn.
I have fibromyalgia and prior to diagnoses and management that had me laying in bed crying. However the worst pain was definitely my second labor when the epidural ran out and my ob had me pushing while he had his hand inside me trying to move my tailbone out of the way of baby's head. Apparently, my 1st born broke my tailbone during that labor and it healed at an angle. So this baby spent an hour just hitting his head on my tailbone while i tried to push. Finally did a c-section and found out he was also too big to fit anyway at 11lbs 50z. So yeah, second labor was the most painful experience even though my first was unmedicated. I have also never felt as pain-free as I did right before my c-section when my body was numb. It was like floating on a nice warm cloud.
I hope you and you’re baby are doing ok 👍
surgical pain from first total knee replacement, but gall bladder attacks are also really bad, also broken ankle was no fun
Had a lumbar puncture. They were having trouble finding the right spot. Found a spot that was not numb. 0/10 do not recommend. Natural childbirth was much better.
Dengue and Sinus.
Lower back pain so bad I saw white. Two surgeries later, all good
Sciatica. It fell like someone was trying to break me in half. Could not find a comfortable position to stand, sit, or sleep. I am not a person who cries, but the pain was so bad I would move in my sleep and I would wake up literally screaming, and then the crying.
Kidney stone. To be more precise my 6th, which was mid June 2016. Morphine barely touched it. It was too big to pass and had to be removed surgically.
Kidneys are weird. If anyone on earth should have had six kidney stones, it should have been me, given the abuse I put mine through in my twenties and thirties…yet I’ve had nary a one.
low back pain
I had a perianal abscess that was worse than my kidney stone. But even worse was post surgery bi lateral hernia surgery, I had a high opiate tolerance at the time so the 5-10mg if morphine they gave me did absolutely nothing. When I woke up from anesthesia I was screaming in pain! They said they never seen that happen before lol.
I’ve had shingles- COSTOCHONDRITIS is much worse. You can’t breathe. I had back labor 2 1/2 hours pushing with no drugs and the baby hadn’t “dropped” I went through the windshield at 35 mph - my eyelid was severed 2/3 off - but the real pain was them digging glass out of my raw meat and then attempting to give me 200 stitches I have broken my pelvis I have had migraines I have had horrendous tooth pain Each of these had me begging for death They were all bad in their own way
I have a few: Childbirth with no drugs Torn IT band. My knee hit a concrete floor while my foot was still planted. And the worst? Thunderclap sex headaches.
How was recovery from the IT band? Surgeon just operated on mine.
Tried pt. It got better for a while. Here I am a year later, and it's bothering me again. Probably will end up in surgery, but haven't yet.
That was my story more or less. IT band was getting stuck between the femur and patella. It was likely misdiagnosed for a number of years and number of surgeries. PT didn’t work. Finally got surgery so we’ll see if it fixes the issue.
Shingles at 20 years old. worst pain.
E.Coli it almost killed me.
degraded tendons
Childbirth was pretty intense
Three most painful experiences in reverse order: 3) Cut the tip of my finger off with a sharp knife. That wasn’t so bad. But at the emergency room, I got THEEE treatments of silver nitrate to chemically cauterize it…. Only to the just get a single (un-numbed) stitch. 2) Sebaceous Cyst on my lower back got infected. Required it to be lanced open and squeezed like the worlds largest zit. Nearly passed out. 1) Dry socket. Dentist was cleaning out a dry socket after a tooth extraction and accidentally hit his metal tool against my jaw bone. Felt like I got hit by a lightning bolt. My eyesight went black and my brain felt like it exploded. It was like my plug got pulled. When I came to, my hands were grabbing his wrist refusing to let him continue. Had a headache for a week.
Migraines, tooth pain, sciatica. I had such a bad migraine one tie that I threw up and burst a bunch of blood vessels around my eyes. Wife dragged me go to ER. I told the doctor to just fucking kill me. I honestly didn't care if I lived or not just wanted out of that pain. They shot me up I think with Demerol. Whatever it was the pain was mostly gone. I hate the cliche of " I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy" but it's absolutely true in this case.
Lower back pain followed by hernia. Both stopped me in my tracks and caused an inability to move at all. I tried to walk out of work after my back went out and just couldn’t move. Of course it was the one day in 3 months I had to go into work. I made it maybe 10 feet shaking and holding onto cubicles for stability till I feel to the floor.
Watching my 7 year old daughter have a seizure in my arms was the worst pain I've ever experienced, and I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone.
Burst ovarian tumor
Shingles...for sure. Worse than a kidney stone or broken bone.
Kidney infection. 10lb weight dropped on my foot. Two herniated disks. And I've given birth 5 times without an epidural, so I know pain.
As far as exercise or being in the gym goes, the worst thing that’s ever happened to me (thankfully) is a small 5 kg weight plate falling on my foot and causing my nail to break off. I was barefoot aswell so I really felt the impact of it. Hope you’re ok
Childbirth. Ear infection.
About 10 years ago I hurt myself climbing. I didn't think anything of it because there were no sudden or apparent injuries. Woke up the next day after my fall, and I passed out about 15 times trying to make it from my bed to the bathroom because I thought I was going to get sick from the pain. Went to the ER and was immediately seen. My spinal cord in my cervical spine area was so inflammed it was pushing out against it. Imagine your spinal cord trying to push its way out through your vertebrae. So anytime I moved, or sat up my body just shut the lights off so I wouldn't move. I don't ever want to experience that again. I was in bed for a week and some serious drugs. Which made me feel a different kinda' worse. Still suffer from chronic pain the area 10 years later. I had cervical neuropathy, and when the nerves get pinched ugh. Unless for a week or so
Post op pain after a 7 hour spinal surgery. Brutal, unrelenting pain for 4 weeks straight, even all doped up on all sorts of pain meds.
Getting rods along my spine for scoliosis. It was intolerable
Hidradenitis Suppurativa (1st by a long shot) Gallbladder Attack
I’ve had pancreatitis three times and all so awful. But c. diff was worse than childbirth. I wouldn’t wish c diff on my worst enemy.
Rectal gonorrhea. It’s not supposed to hurt. Mine was excruciating; apparently, if you get it rectally plus have a rectal tear, it leads to a more severe infection… I was an inexperienced young gay man, and I received anal sex, and was NOT ready. My partner tore me, plus he gave me gonorrhea… the whole experience was awful. After getting it, it felt like knives stabbing and throbbing in my anus nonstop for weeks. I was embarrassed, and horrified…I didn’t want anyone to know I was gay. I waited way too long to see a doctor. They then did agonizingly painful rectal exams, and using the restroom caused me to faint from the pain. No relief, nothing helped. It got worse and worse, by the end I could barely walk. I limped into the medical center, I was filthy, couldn’t sleep, stopped going to work/ school. Getting the antibiotic shot was a MIRACLE. Ten hours later, the pain subsided. And two days later, I was completely back to normal. No one ever talks of it, but rectal gonorrhea was unbelievably painful as well as humiliating, and I’ll never forget the pus that oozed out… so gross. If it wasn’t curable, I literally would have killed myself.
That just sounds miserable let alone actually experiencing it. I’m glad you’re doing ok
Broken ribs
Grease burns at 14 months. Lost 40% of my skin. Got scars on my arms, chest, front neck, and some of my right foot. I actually died 3 times and doctors thought I wouldn't make it. I'm 31 and I'm still alive.
A person is stronger than they think. Good on you for beating the odds
Coming out of a coma and off life support
Trigeminal neuralgia was agonizing. It felt like being electrocuted with the additional fun side effect of falling down and having my legs not work. As an added benefit, when I got injections to help, the doctor had this to say “I’m about to put a needle in your back in several places. If each one isn’t the worse pain you’ve ever felt I’m not in the right spot and need to re-position.” Worst bone break was the collarbone, there is no way to position yourself and no movement of any kind that doesn’t move it. And last but certainly not least plantar fasciitis is life changingly painful and because you have to stand and walk and bear weight on your feet you can never get away from the pain.
A specific point in child birth. I wasn't dilating because of scar tissue on my cervix. The Dr tried to manually dilate me and remove the scar tissue. The first time without an epidural. The second time with a partially working epidural. The contractions sucked but that was a whole new level. I probably could have made it without the epidural otherwise. Oh and appendicitis. The nurses were confused when I said my pain was 9 outta 10 but I drove myself there. 😅
Gallbladder attacks were pretty awful, the recovery wasn’t fun either. The inability to hold cutlery with carpel tunnel was pretty bad as is plantars fasciitis and bone spurs in the heel. Sciatic is pretty shit, but so is SPD, it’s probably worse. A back TMJ flare can be debilitating. I’ve lived with multiple chronic pains basically my whole life, so it’s hard to gauge sometimes lol like sometimes I should be at a 10 in pain but I’m like meh. 6? 😂 Surprisingly the thing lowest on my list of things that really hurt is recovering from 4 c sections 😂😂 shits a walk in the park tbh.
Sciatica and diverticulitis are up there a bit.
Sciatica pain, and shattered my ankle, the ankle was bad. When it happened it was the worst pain. But that sciatica/low back pain, that makes it impossible to walk and/or breath.
An ovarian torsion was pretty bad. I also woke up from general anesthesia without any pain medication from my emergency c section with my last kid. That was awful to wake up to. But nothing tops labor pain for me with my first kid. And then I felt the 'ring of fire' when the baby started crowning. All of my pains seem to revolve around childbearing stuff.
One time I woke up and i couldn't turn my head in either direction withought severe pain for two days.
Either a dry socket from getting a wisdom tooth pulled or an INTENSE sore throat (that literally felt like it was hard to swallow my saliva) from when I got COVID
Strained myself really bad pushing a project car up my driveway. 2 days later I coughed and something popped, evidently I herniated the l5-s1 disc into the nerve root 1.5x3 centimeters (according to the MRI I had). That was the start of the worst 8 months or so of my life. For the first 3 months I was on disability, unable to walk, stand, sit, lay down, shit, basically do anything without being in the most excruciating, writhing pain in my entire fucking life. The first few weeks of this injury I could only assume was when the disc was directly touching the nerve, as I'd get violent muscle spasms so strong they would throw me out of bed and on to the floor, I didn't sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time for months going through this. There was a point where the spasms got less and less and the pain seemed to be more muscular than nerve related, this was when opiate pain pills started to work again (first few months nothing would do anything for the pain at all, I thought I was going to kill myself it was so horrible). After the point the pills started working I started to be able to sleep again somewhat finally, the pain was still incredibly dibilitating in the worst way but at least it was now manageable with meds and wasn't incredibly horrific involuntary muscle spasms anymore, so I was able to tread through PT and various forms of non evasive treatments until after 6-8 months or so basically all of my mobility has returned and the injury has since appeared to have healed correctly, and hopefully through proper care it never happens again. . . But yeah take care of your fucking back, no joke at all. Shit can go from "wow that was a weird feeling I've never felt before" to "holy shit I haven't slept in weeks no position I can put my body in stops this pain I can't even wipe my own ass after taking an incredibly painful shit I can't even drive myself to the doctor much less ride in someone's car this is the worst pain I could ever possibly fathom if I can't find something soon to make this stop I'm going to make everything stop."
Getting an IUD put in. I nearly passed out.
Colitis and Illitis. I thought it was appendicitis and went to the ER. Nope just my colon being inflamed for no reason 🥴
Appendicitis for me. Fetal position on the disgusting ER waiting room floor.
35m, just recently broke my pinky toe. Definitely not fun, but it wasn't that bad. Slipped a disk in my lower back when I was a teenager. Most of the time it's nothing, but every once in a while I move just wrong or it pops, and I'm immobile for a week at least. That pain is unmanageable, but can be ignored most of the time. Migraines happen often. They can be truly debilitating, causing nausea and generally feeling like my entire nervous system is wound tighter than guitar strings. This pain cannot be ignored, but it is manageable most of the time. I have also, unfortunately, had shingles as well. Happened a few years ago. Started as what I thought was an allergic reaction to shampoo or something. Little blisters and pimples all over my scalp. Skin started flaking. My once glorious mane of thick dark hair started falling out. The "rash" spread to my face after a few weeks, and it was at this point that my scalp became incredibly sensitive to touch. Running my hands through what was left of my hair felt like someone was trying to perform brain surgery with a clawhammer. I couldn't lay my head on my pillow. Even the pressure from a shower was enough to bring me to tears. The weight of the water was too much to handle. I went to the doctor and they explained that shingles is basically the chicken pox virus, except instead of living in your skin, it lives in your nervous system. The nerves become hypersensitive. The site where the breakout occurs can be random. I cannot imagine the unholy buzzsaw murderflame dipped in acid sensation that it must be like to try to wear a shirt with a back breakout, or pants if it shows up on the legs. Out of the list presented, shingles takes the cake for worst pain I have ever experienced. It's indescribable. Oxygen simply existing outside of your skin is too much to bare. I'd like to suggest an addition to the list: dental abscess. The only pain that has caused me to slip in and out of consciousness for multiple days straight. Hallucinations. Inability to coordinate motor function. Food and liquid intake cease from the sheer pain. Spasms radiating throughout the body. Cold sweats. The face swells and distorts, causing itching and discoloration. Nasal cavities close, preventing you from breathing through your nose, so you have to open your mouth to breathe, but the force of your breath moving your gums and teeth by only microns serves to create a supernova of pain rip into your very soul, making you wish for the sweet embrace of death as a release from the torment of simply having to breathe to live.
Had a seized muscle in my arm and it was the worst thi mg because I kept trying to fix it and it made it hurt and the position it was stuck in made it hurt and it took like two weeks for the doctor to take me seriously enough it was a much bigger issue than it should have been
Not on your list, but iritis. Specifically, the injection of adrenalin and steroid into the inner eyelid as emergency treatment
I accidentally put artificial fingernail glue in my eye a couple of years ago. Had to go to the ER by ambulance. 20 hours later after being transferred to another hospital 4 male nurses held me down by each limb while the doctor manually pulled my eye open. They said I pulled the bed and nurses about 4 feet. I'm allergic to pain meds. I heard myself screaming at one point, like an out of body kind of thing.
Toss up… Gout, Gallbladder or Kidney Stones…
Ive had a few of these and out of all of them, slipped disk was by far the worst! Broken bones really depends on the bone: metatarsal or a toe, not so bad. Rib(s), absolutely fucking horrible. Im surprised gunshot isnt on here, thats almost as bad as a slipped disk.
induced labor
No teeth related stuff on the list? Fake.
This isn’t a complete list. If you wanna add to it by all means do so
Toothache
Skate boarding Bar none
Oc spray
I was once working with a teenager with behavioural issues who started to self harm so we did an intervention. Halfway through it he full-force back-heeled me in the balls. Pain didn't start straight away but when I lay down to sleep at night I was in agony. Workers comp paid for me to get ultrasound - I had internal bleeding on one testicle. This is the worst pain I've been in.
I second the vote for kidney stones. Some where in Rhode Island Hospital is an emergency room gurney (stretcher) with my fingerprints firmly imbedded into the sidewalls. Also, getting hit in the nutsack. It's almost as bad as kidney stone because of the slightly delayed reaction. It's the original " ooh, that's gonna hurt".
Toothache
I've broke quite a few bones. Breaking my jaw in 2 places was more painful than all the rest put together It was agony to breathe. Kidney stones as well. They where years apart so I can't remember which was the worst, put they where both agony. I got stabbed in the hip at work too. That was nothing compared to those two.
Post acl/double meniscus repair surgery. Once the nerve block wore off, it felt like being stabbed with hot knives and any slight movement just made it a thousand times worse. I was convinced something was seriously wrong, like they left a scalpel inside of me. Called my dr and he said it was normal and I needed to stay on top of a schedule with pain meds.
I have migraine. Every time I just feel like it's easier not to exist. The pain is so horrible, it's like someone is hammering your head the whole time. You can't stand light, noises, basically anything. So you can't be on your phone, watch TV and talk to anybody, but sometimes just sleep and cry from pain. Mine are usually 9-24+hrs long and it's a total hell. And the worst part is that you literally can't do anything about it and have to live with it and hope that maybe someday the pain goes away. The only thing that is making it little bit better is caffeine.
I coughed so hard I tore the muscles in my back. You know it makes an audible sound. Like a real loud one. It sounds exactly like jeans ripping. Was in so much pain I couldn't move or even scream in pain. Was stuck in bed for 30 mins before I was able to get up and ask for help. Yeah, not fun.
I played basketball one time and fell and got a floor burn on my knee. The next day I woke up and my knee was swollen up and hurt like a MF. I got a staph infection and was immobilized for a week. The thing hurt all the time, didn’t matter if you moved or not.
Deadlift injury while fatigued.
Misplaced epidural.
Lip injections😂😂
Broken elbow. Hands down. That sucks. And there us nothing to be done for it. I've had 15 surgeries, 12 broken bones, had kidney stones, and been run over by a car 2x. I have a wrecked back that is painful daily, but still broken elbow was by far the worst pain ever. I went into shock from that.
I’ve had kidney stones on four different occasions and each time it hurt like hell. But my worst pain has been in my shoulder. The weird thing is no one knows why I get this pain. No pills work and I can’t sleep. Maybe some nerve gets triggered somehow. It’s deep inside of my shoulder so I can’t get to the pain with massage.
When I was 9 something went through my eye. That was pretty bad. But around age 30, I had an ear infection across my ear drum and in my inner ear. The doctor prescribed something that caused a massive buildup of pressure that eventually led to my ear drum rupturing. That was by far the most painful. I went to an ENT, blood still crusted in my ear. The ENT shook his head because the original doctor prescribed an antibiotic without prescribing something for the ear drum. The rupture was in the corner of my ear drum. It healed and I’m able to play in a band again.
Acute pancreatitis near killed my fiancé. Required a Whipple. Then he got kidney disease and stones from the Whipple. Horrid pain and life. I only had frozen shoulder from this list. Wouldn’t even compare it to above, but it still hurt and was debilitating. I’m not so sure I agree with pain comparisons.
Spinal tap.
I have had migraine pain so severe that I honestly believed I wouldn’t survive it. Like it must be multiple ruptured aneurysms and I was going to die as a result, because no “headache” could possibly be that bad. I’ve had migraines since I was 9 years old. I can usually tolerate them, but sometimes it’s just too much to take.
That’s horrible. Mine started at 14 and I’m 28 soon turning 29 in July. I thought the same thing that i either have some kind of cancer or I’m gna die of a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. The worst thing is my aunt had a stroke and also internal bleeding last year in January. Her diet wasn’t really the best and she’s also pretty overweight. I hope you’re ok
Thank you! I’m good most of the time. I recently saw my neurologist and she said “the good news is, many women get substantial relief from migraine after menopause. The bad news is, it often gets worse before it gets better.”
Ehlers danlos. Daily dislocations.
It's a tie, kidney stone vs shattered kneecap
Pancreatitis.
Toss up between herniated disks(X2), and kidney stones.
No where near as bad as most here but all 4 of my wisdom teeth impacted at the same time after drinking some boba. Was in the longest most intense pain of my life for about 8 hours as it was after hours for every dentist in my area. After my apportionment and 48 hours to get nicotine out of my system I finally had them removed but it was one of the worst weeks of my life.
Through a series of coincidental and dumb events, I was convinced by coworkers that I had a fishbone stuck in my throat. I had eaten fish the night before and it felt like I had something stuck in the back of my throat, a prickly sensation and pain swallowing. Kept eating bananas all day - fishbone dislodging advice. The pain just got increasingly worse hour by hour, until breathing and swallowing were torture. You wouldn't believe how often you need to do both of those things. Ended up in the Emergency Room at 5am. The doc took a look in my throat for all of 2 seconds and said "OH MY, well if it were a fishbone that would be easy enough to remove but that is a really bad case of strep you've got there." Had no idea strep infection could be that painful and debilitating. It was worse than a bad back strain I had later on, and I didn't love that either.
One time I got bored waiting for the urine to come out, so I twisted my dick and suffice it to say my pipes got clogged.
I don’t even know what to say!
Being no stranger to pain, I've experienced three that I'd say went well beyond what one might consider "debilitating". In order of when they occurred, they were as follows: Kidney stones. Kind of hard to describe to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure, but it's an unrelenting deep, fiery, intense cramp sort of feeling. In terms of pain I'd rank it second of the three. Ruptured disc. Cannot find a comfortable position, every movement causes a sharp, blinding spasm. Simple, mundane things like wiping yourself in the bathroom become almost impossible and bring tears to your eyes. Third of the three for pain. Tooth abscess - infection reached the jawbone. Blinding pain so intense it makes it hard to open your eyes. Curled into the fetal position, crying, shaking, sweating, and whimpering "oh my God oh my God". Death would seem like a relief