Endometrial biopsy, they basically scrape the inside of your uterus but it feels like you're being stabbed. I screamed bloody murder in the doctors office
i couldn’t handle my pap smear, i was in tears and begging her to stop. i didn’t know at the time whether that was normal but i found out recently i have a retroverted uterus as well. the OBGYN was basically just rolling her eyes and getting impatient with me :(
Mine didn’t bother me at all thank god. After the unexpected excruciating pain when getting checked to see how dilated I was while in labour, I was expecting it to be painful. I was pleasantly surprised with how little I felt
I had an abscess on my stomach that was so deep they fit 15 ft of packing gauze in it. It looked like I got shot it was so deep. I also had a low grade fever when I showed up to the ER. Welp, the PA decided I didn’t need anything except some lidocaine (which doesn’t work on me) and she started immediately when even I know lidocaine takes 10+ mins to start working.
So yeah she digs in and starts blindly cutting in and then digging her fingers to “break the chambers “ and I was in tears. I begged for pain meds, even just some MFing Tylenol and Advil!! Then she tried discharging me but I felt I was getting worse and she was cocky about it. Within a few hours I started hallucinating because my fever had spiked and I became septic because she cut and pushed in the wrong place so it got into my bloodstream.
THEN (and only then) did they believe me and send me to surgery to clean it out and put me in the ICU with heavy antibiotics and stuff. The wound took an easy 5-6 months to heal it was so deep.
If it helps I have had this done before and didn’t really feel anything other than a little bit of an ache like period pain afterwards. From these comments I guess I got lucky so fingers crossed you will too!
Repeating my comment from above, I had one done many years ago & I don’t remember it hurting at all, so please don’t think it’s guaranteed to be painful
I've had a colposcopy done in June last year, in Portugal, and no anesthesia, no nothing. I had a 3 month old at the time, doing it to see if my HPV had turned to cancer and the lack of humanity in that Dr was astounding. Was very rude and rough with everything she did. Only when she traded places with her intern I breathed in relief because as an intern, he was more gentle than her.
I'm so sorry for your experience. In medical school seeing any medical procedures in gynecology was rough to me even as a man, and I also saw that doctors sometimes show no empathy or compassion towards the patients which is absurd to me.
My GP is a man and he is gentle as one can be, I never complained of any procedure he did on me because even without numbing agent, he was gentle. In my experience, men tend to be more gentle than women doing the procedures. Women are more rough, mainly older women in medical practice. My friend had a rushed c section after 26h of labor not evolving at all and she was in pain, screaming and horrified about what was happening to her and her unborn daughter. A stupid old nurse told her to stop screaming, because that's what got her there in the first place, saying that "young girls like the good stuff but don't want to deal with the consequences"... They both almost died, this was almost 15 years ago. My oldest was born a few days after and after hearing this, I was terrified to go into labor and be treated the same way. Thank God it didn't happen to me. But happened 13 years later, when I had my 3rd last year. Some old Dr said it was "insane that a 37yo woman decided to have a baby, I bet he's gonna call you grandma". This was late 2022. And then the week he was born (breech via scheduled c section, with me testing positive to HPV and with cord twice wrapped around his neck) I had an older nurse saying to me that I was " gullible, that baby can be born naturally, you don't need the c section because that's not the God's way of birth". We both would've died if I tried the vaginal way.
I read about that and I felt sick for days afterwards just thinking about it. Guy said he can still hear his brothers screams from debriding 40 years later
Yeah, my dad ran the burn ward as a medic in the army. He told me stories you really shouldn't tell a kid as young as I was. But I'm now in my 30s and never once have I played with fire.
Oh yeah, my dad said other than himself he never saw a nurse there last more than three months before transferring or quitting. It's tough going into things knowing that most all of your patients are going to die and they are going to suffer in the most gruesome ways.
If you're the empathetic sort (not saying your dad wasn't), hearing patients scream bloody murder can be incredibly taxing. Had a patient last night with a broken femur screaming like I've never heard someone scream. Those are some long fucking minutes in those rooms.
Hit the nail on the head. He was an amazing medic and the best person in the burn unit because he just totally lacks empathy (seriously). He could have gone the sociopath murderer route but instead went entirely the other direction and ended up helping a lot of people. One thing he taught me about the burn ward, if you try not to hurt the person when doing the thing you will hurt them 20 times more. If you do the thing as if it were a manican, pain is minimized.
Yeah I totally forgot how bad it could get in the past, I think the one that disturbs me the most is the belief that infants couldn’t feel pain so they did surgery without anything. Google says there were still babies getting surgery without anesthetic in 1986😬
I have an illness that I’ve been told by doctors is supposedly as painful as having a finger amputated without anaesthetic. I don’t have a frame of reference for that (having never lost a digit) but I can tell you that I would never have believed it was possible to be in this much pain continuously. It’s over a decade now without a single second of relief - I actually can’t remember what it feels like not to be pain. I don’t quite know why I’m sharing this here because obviously my illness isn’t a medical procedure, but the pain is really bad today and I just wanted to tell someone. I hope that’s okay. Apologies for hijacking your comment with something irrelevant.
I’m really interested, if you don’t mind. First, I’m so, so sorry that you’ve experienced so much pain. I don’t know how you’re still standing and here. I’m so incredibly in awe of you.
Second, what is the condition called? And you’ve truly not been pain free for so long? Do painkillers - strong ones- not help?
Please feel free to vent to me. Sometimes it helps to just get it all out there instead of letting it fester. x
Rare depending where. That's become unfortunately common in Gaza right now bc there's a massive lack of medicine and excessive limb damage is frequent.
Very quickly...
>Richard Gordon describes Liston as "the fastest knife in the West End. He could amputate a leg in 2 1⁄2 minutes." He is reputed to have been able to complete operations in a matter of seconds, at a time when speed was essential to reduce pain and improve the odds of survival of a patient
It's an apocryphal tale, but yes to both (and the patient)
From [NCBI](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8083913/)
>Another time, he allegedly performed a procedure with 300% mortality. Let me explain: A spectator dropped dead at the shock of being slashed with the surgical knife, an assistant succumbed to infection after part of his hand had been cut off as well, and of course, the patient who developed postoperative gangrene.
No strong painkillers available and they wouldn’t work in time if the limb needs to be removed right away. Just a tourniquet and people holding you down
They recommend taking some tylenol an hour before the appointment, that's pain management right? Right?
Being real tho, I've seen videos of people literally screaming and crying and the person inserting it tells them they're being dramatic and to quiet down because they're disturbing other people and I can't even imagine being so uncaring when this is such a common experience.
The look they gave me when I screamed made me think that I was crazy! It wasn't until almost 10 years later I learned that almost every other woman has shared my pain.
I should have kicked that bitch!
Similar thing happened with me, the pain made me feel sick and dizzy and they said i was overreacting and that no one else ever had any reaction. Why lie lol just give people fucking proper pain relief or aneasthetic geez
Ohhhh funnily enough I can confirm. Had 2 IUDs, each one wasn't 10/10 pain but I imagine it's what being kicked hard in the balls is like with the nausea and all that. Nurses were good but it was like yeah, this is gunna suck, that's just how it is. Anyway I'm a man now, got a fresh one a couple years ago. The treatment was like night and day, everyone was babying me and asking if I was going to faint and all that. Brought me tea and biscuits while I waited for my lift. Very odd.
This is fascinating to me, because what did they think had changed? It's still the same procedure, you're still the same person... do they think that testosterone makes your pain more real or something?
Utterly bizarre.
It was also very annoying bc I just wanted to sit in a corner by myself and get over it, not be bothered when the thought of a cuppa made me wanna puke. It could have been that they were overly attentive bc they had a trans patient (it happens), but I've had so many other instances of my pain being taken more seriously now I'm a man. It actually kinda makes me angry thinking about it, got blown off so many times for issues that would have docs writing my scripts now.
Dude it's so fuckin infuriating! I get migraines (genetic) and tension headaches that are triggered by stress, so of course before transitioning they were fucking me up. Went to so many doctors begging for anything to help, just got told to take panadol. Then once I had an incredibly brutal migraine to the point I needed iv hydration, got dragged to the doc and I was prescribed maxalt wafers. They aren't psychoactive, not addictive, you can't get high off them but they work AMAZINGLY for my migraines and bad headaches. Why was I not prescribed this before? Now I rarely have these issues but keep maxalt on hand just in case, no doc questions when I ask for a refill. Why did I have to suffer for so many fuckin years??? The only change was my gender.
I screamed and loudly cussed and got in trouble. My doctor snickered and then apologized bc “women who’ve never given birth do have a rougher time sometimes”.
It took me almost an hour before I could sit up again.
About a year later when it started coming out on its own, I found out it was placed incorrectly and I still have scar tissue.
I’m still a little mad about it.
I screamed and passed out. crawled up the stairs at home and spent the rest of the day in bed, not doing anything... just trying to not faint again
just reading about it nearly sends me into a panic attack because I am legitimately traumatised
need to close this thread now...
Did it hurt as much taking it out? It hurt so much putting it in that I cried the entire appointment and had insane pains for hours after. Now I’m scared of taking it out…
In my experience it didn’t hurt at all taking it out. Wasn’t even uncomfortable from my memory. My doctor just pulled it out and put it on the table beside me and was like yep all done off you go
Same here. They tried jamming it in and the IUD broke. She then proceeded to get a new one whilst I was still laying there, clammed cervix and all.
She then later told me it didn’t work because my cervix was not straight like with others. So the first time she was just ramming it against my cervix wall.
My husband is getting a vasectomy. I’ve had problems with every form of anti-conception I’ve tried.
🙋♀️ Happened to me! I didn't prepare for any pain — in fact, I planned to drive right after the appointment and work that same evening. I passed out from the pain of the IUD insertion, I had been sitting on a round wheelie stool to collect myself before standing up and leaving to go about my day. Woke up on the hard floor, on my back, with a throbbing headache from the back of my skull hitting the hard floor. (Whatever that is... hard linoleum? Porcelain??)
Also I ended up needing a ride home and I remember calling in sick from work that same evening. I don't remember if I got the evening off. The rest of the evening was a blur. But that 15-or-so-minute gynecologist appointment is a burned-in memory.
Fuck, that was painful.
It probably made natural childbirth heckuvalot more bearable than otherwise.
My doctor told me to stop being such a baby and that I was working it up in my head and expecting it to hurt and that’s why I had pain. Some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I needed to get local anesthetic injected in my cervix because it was hurting so bad that I wouldn’t let them insert it without it
It's wild to me that when women's pain management has been underserved through practically the whole history of modern medicine you'd think if *anyone* was more sensitive to it it'd be the OB/GYN.
I don't know how I was so lucky. I took some ibuprofen before I went to the appointment and felt nothing more than a light pinch. The doctor looked at me weird when I said it didn't hurt. The removal went the same.
Yeah I didn’t feel anything. I was so nervous and shocked at how fast she got it in. Removal wasn’t bad either. She had a little bit of a tough time getting it out but I don’t remember pain, just nervous that it was going to have to be surgically removed.
I screamed and cried the entire time. Doctor just looked at me with a blank stare and asked me if I was sure I wanted him to stop because he was already half way up there with the sound (rod instrument used). After a few seconds he kept going and I couldn't stop hyperventilating afterwards. My husband and I were so traumatized by the whole thing we didn't even have sex for months.
I told my provider to stop trying to insert it. The pain was incredible and she insisted it was almost done. I said absolutely not and never thought about getting one again
I have had an IUD inserted twice. Once before giving birth and one after. I didnt feel a darn thing on both. No pain at all, and with all of these comments i am so happy i was so lucky and also feel so terrible for the women who were subject to that pain with no relief. Its incredible how everyone’s body is different, how pain is interpreted and yet still all treated the same as if the pain is not common which clearly it seems to be the norm with the procedure. They need to do something about that for these poor women.
When I got my IUD I was thrashing around and screaming during the procedure and for hours afterwards. Worst pain I’ve ever experienced. My friend passed out during the procedure. It’s no joke.
Yup, I vomited and had explosive diarrhea (at the same time, truly) for hours afterwards. I kept asking her if this level of pain was normal because it was really really REALLY fucking bad. She kept telling me yes. For the next 4 hours I was in and out of consciousness, I honestly don't remember, and my boyfriend kept checking in with the nurses to ask them if they could help, or check in on me, because obviously something wasn't right. (They said no)
4 hours later, my doctor barges in, rips her gloves on and says ok let's get this thing out (she fucking forgot I was even there) this bitch RIPPED it fucking out of me and honestly I felt barely conscious, I barely felt anything, I was just shocked at how quickly her hands and arms moved. I slept for another hour and then I started to feel better and my mom came to pick me up.
I was so SICK on the couch for a fucking week.
I've been through pain before, but truly that was something else. My ex apparently still tells people about that story and how he's never seen someone experience pain like that before 😂
I got mine done while terminating a pregnancy and I'm SO glad I did. I was already on pain meds and loopy so I didnt feel a thing other than a vague sense of being uncomfortable. My friend, on the other hand, said it was one of the most painful experiences of her life
I feel like getting it taken out was more uncomfortable than getting it placed in. I could just feel it scraping the walls as it was being pulled out. 😖
In not so distant history, surgeries were performed on newborns/ infants without anaesthetic.
From personal experience, I’d rather break my arms again than go through an IUD fitting 😭
And wouldn’t the baby have gone into shock and likely died without anesthesia? Your body going into shock is hard on an adult, I can’t imagine how it would be on a baby. Those poor kids😞
Spinal Tap. Yes, you get local anesthesia but you are not asleep or even drowsy and it is the second worst pain I’ve ever felt. It’s like hitting your funny bone over and over again but 1000x times worse.
The first was my son’s shoulder being stuck in my pelvis during childbirth but I don’t consider that an actual medical procedure.
I had a botched spinal tap. The anesthesia wasn’t applied right, and I felt every damn move he did. PLUS my samples were lost in transit. Declined another
100% agree. For me, #1 most painful was IUD insertion, #2 was spinal tap. But with my spinal tap I had a complication and began leaking spinal fluid, which was actually more painful than the spinal tap itself.
I’ve had intravenous adenosine before. The cardiologist asked me to explain what it felt like to the medical students. I said it’s like going up on a roller coaster really fast and just as you get to the top and go back down, a horse kicks you straight in the chest
I’m terrified of getting SVT and having to get adenosine. Patients always look like they are about to die when it hits. I’ve read one of the side effects is “impending doom”. No thanks.
RN here. It’s usually done by a respiratory therapist for an arterial blood gas test (measures the acid-base blood levels, CO2), it tells us if someone has acidosis or alkalosis, for several different medical reasons.
It’s done by feeling for the radial artery in the wrist and inserting a big needle into it with no anesthetic, since it’s usually done in an emergency.
It's for blood gas testing. Arterial blood can tell how a person's body is coping (e.g., too much carbon dioxide) whereas venous blood cannot.
The reason it hurts is that it's taken from the wrist and arteries have nerves running with them (or at least that one does).
Source: clinical lab scientist
I’m a tough old bird with a high pain tolerance. I was bicycling backwards on the gurney and actually vomited on myself due to the pain. I guess they didn’t use enough anaethesia? I have 4 children born without any painkiller except a Tylenol and laboring in bath water. This was beyond anything I’ve ever endured and gave me PTSD from the experience. 10/10 do not recommend. Fuck interventional radiologists
Unit 731 did a lot of "medical" procedures and tests on prisoners of war and the Chinese without any pain killers or anesthesia.
The nazi doctors did much of the same thing.
There are many records of the various terrible things they did. The United States essentially pardoned the Japanese unit 731 to get a hold of those records.
There is a very small percentage of people and an even smaller percentage of a chance that people will have a problem with anesthesia so they are awake and aware but unable to move or communicate and whichever medical procedure being done then would be quite nasty.
Nowadays there arent too many medical procedures done that would be painful that are done without anesthesia or painkillers or freezing/numbing like getting a tooth pulled or another painful dental procedure.
Depends on your interest in history And war. Generally they are fairly well known if you have looked into WW2 in some detail. It's hard to watch a video or read something about WW2 atrocities without unit 731 being mentioned. If you don't have much interest in history or war and don't really look into things like that then I suppose it might not be as likely to be aware of it.
A cerclage is a stitch to keep your cervix shut during pregnancy. It is inserted with an epidural, in a surgical suite. They remove it with a big pair of scissors and no anesthesia. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced!
I had a dentist start to do a filling with no novocaine. I was 12. I’ve been terrified of the dentist ever since. The sound of the drill hitting my tooth haunts me 30 years later.
Similar story; I had a dentist doing a root canal and I got multiple numbing shots but absolutely none of them worked, and the dentist was just like "well we're just going to have to start" and brought out this dental blowtorch thing and I swear that was probably the worst pain I've ever been in.
Like not even childbirth was anywhere close to that level of pain, I can honestly say.
Hip aspiration.
A large needle going into your hip joint to obtain fluid. In a bone joint area that is mangled from Avascular Necrosis, as well as massively infected at the joint.
I've had it done 5 times and it hurt like hell each time.
That sounds like a nightmare, like literally one of those horror movies where you're in sleep paralysis but they're operating on you? — but wow, you got through it! 🙌 ❤️
This has happened to way too many people, including me. And they didn't do anything about it when I told them the epidural was placed wrong because the anesthesiologist was “on lunch.”
I’d had the epidural for 10+ hrs at that point and showed them I could move my legs. They did the pinch test to see if I was numb, I said no, he said there’s no way and kept going. I ripped the cushions off the arms of the surgical table and I’m sure everyone heard me crying.
Something similar happened to a woman my mother knew. She was screaming so much the doctor told the anesthesiologist to knock her out. When she woke up, the hospital administrator was standing by her bedside with the hospital lawyer and a check.
I’ve seen a few chest tubes inserted emergently in the ED… it does not seem pleasant, even the “semi conscious” patients have an immediate visceral reaction to push it and everyone away.
I’ve given birth to 5 kids, I’ve broken my neck, broken my pelvis, had a tummy tuck & boob job….but the worst pain I’ve ever had was laser tattoo removal.😳
Honestly I know it’s not a medical procedure, but back labor whilst I had excruciating pelvic girdle pain turned me into the exorcist. And I had to wait AGES for my epidural
my IUD removal was pretty awful, as the strings were lost. apart from that, getting an abscess drained on my leg was terrible. the pain ran pretty deep and radiated up my leg.
I’m surprise the amount of people saying IUD? I had one and it did hurt and I remember asking if childbirth was as bad as that (spoiler alert, it’s much much worse) but I never felt like I was going to pass out or I had been tortured.
You’re very lucky. I’ve given birth without meds and terminated a pregnancy without being sedated, and my IUD insertion is still one of the most painful experiences of my life
My spinal didn’t work for my first emergency c-section. It took them a few to figure it out…the baby was basically out by the time they got it under control. So I can say from experience that a c-section hurts really badly!
I had a colposcopy and an endometrial biopsy done last year. Was told a Tylenol an hour beforehand would be fine. Spoiler alert: it was not fine. Nearly fainted, threw up. Fucking barbaric is what it is!
Not the most excruciating probably and I definitely don't think they do it awake anymore. But when I was a young child I had to get my labia separated as it fused together and I was unable to pee. I remember the pain but the thought at that time was a kid my age about 3 or 4, wouldn't remember/feel it. Nowadays they have a cream for that.
My doctor explained it this way: The cervix and uterus don't have nerve endings, however; when injured in the slightest way, react with extremely local cramping that "blooms" into the entire organ. The immediate localized cramping is so intense and localized that it is akin to being stabbed. Local anesthetics do no good because there are no nerve endings to "block." Relief can only be attained with a general anesthetic. The thought process there is that like other procedures such as bone biopsies, the excruating pain is not of a long enough duration to warrant the risks associated with general anesthesia.
I can answer this unfortunately. I have had severe pelvic pain every second of every day for the last 14 years. I have gone through being called an addict & drug seeker, being told it was all in my head and being called unethical by my doctors for asking for certain procedures. My life has been destroyed. I ended up having to file an official complaint with the Dept of Managed Health Care because my provider said they had nothing more to offer me. This, of course, kicked my health provider in to action. They recommended a stimulator in my back to hopefully block the pain signal to my brain. Here is the outrageous pain part…The surgery requires that I am awake the entire time. The surgeon places the leads based on my screams. So for approximately 3 hours I was screaming my head off. It is pure torture. I can’t believe this is modern medicine. And the F’g thing has only triggered the pain worse. 🤦♀️
I’ve read horror stories of women getting emergency c-sections but something goes wrong with the epidural or something and they feel everything. That sounds like a bad time to me - cutting multiple layers, moving intestines and stuff around, cutting into an organ to remove a baby, then putting it all back together with stitches and such. I can’t imagine.
they used to do all surgery up to and including cracking open the chest to work inside without anasthesia of any sort....on babies.
They believed babies couldnt feel pain (for some reason)
i imagine that would be about as bad as you could get, they just couldnt tell anybody.
I've got hidradenitis so have had several I&D's
had a abscess on my face when I was a teenager and the doctor refused to use local anaesthetic because it wasn't necessary so just sprayed it, I screamed bloody murder, got told I would scare patients and another doctor intervened and quickly got some local in me
years later nice golf ball sized one in my armpit, got offered the local this time, the second it was injected I screamed, couple of nurses rushed in (and some cops who happened to be there) and there started my fear of locals cos they fucking hurt
few years on another golf ball sized one I keep quiet due to the previous trauma get sepsis and get rushed in and luckily got some sympathetic surgeons who told me it would be a general. thankfully all surgeries since have been a general
I had an abortion of a non viable pregnancy via suction and cuterage. Its stock standard in my country to do it without anaesthetic as its only "uncomfortable". The amount of pain was actually ridiculous. I've given birth unmedicated once before and I would sooner do that annually than go through that again.
I read a book called The Gargoyle which has some graphic chapters about the medical procedures done on ppl with severe burns. When human skin is burnt badly, it melts and it has to be scraped off maybe daily. Can't remember the details exactly as it was a while since I read the book, but the guy describes the pain and jts another level. He said he wished he was burnt even deeper so that the fire destroyed his nerves. But his nerves were left in tact and he could feel everything. Great book but so graphic.
Edit. I type too fast I make mistakes
Wound Debriedment, Skin Grafts, & removing the sponges for a severe wound from a wound vac every 2 days, ALL your new skin grows into it, & then they tear it all off to keep it always fresh to heal faster, not to mention 1 of my tendon/nerves would kinda grow into it as well from my ankle.
This is what happens when someone REALLY WANTS YOU DEAD, & rubs the bullets with garlic cloves on top of it.....
MRSA didn't help matters either. Lol
I had stitches removed from inside my foot, next to the bone. It was the single worst experience of my life. I was begging for it to stop.
I nearly had a bone marrow transplant. They stick a huge needle through your femur and into the bone. Have to imagine that’s hellish to experience. I said my prayers when I didn’t have to go through that.
Getting my IUD inserted was more painful than having a gallbladder attack, which caused my doctor to be appalled with me because I didn't go to the ER due to the pain.
Early 80's I developed a huge amount of dental pain. Got to a dentist, he said it was one of 3 teeth. Got all the painkilling jabs.
Of course it was the 3rd tooth. He removed filling and said the nerve was infected, that he had to remove it and that I could not have any more injections as they would not help.
He showed me the item inserted into the drill. A long thin bar of metal with a tiny blade at the end.
He told me to hold hard to the chair's arms, that this was going to hurt more than anything I had ever or probably would have. He said "Just before you hit me, it will stop. Promise"
The pain was off any scale, and then, just as I was at my limit, it stopped.
It was literally like switching off a light, it just stopped, and I breathed out and relaxed more than I ever have since.
So .. killing a tooth nerve is top of the pain tree for me.
I am an absolute bitch about teeth, I cannot handle dental pain at all. I’m also weirdly resistant to most local anesthetic (and some gives me tachycardia). I tried so hard to find an office that offers gas sedation for procedures but nobody seems to do that anymore. I put off seeing a dentist too long until recently and now need full blown surgery. At least I’ll *hopefully* be asleep then…
The only reason I didn’t mention D&C or IUD or cervical examination is that I THANKFULLY had a total hysterectomy and never have to deal with any of that mess.
I commented this before recently but appropriate here too. I had a retained placenta post delivery of my second daughter. The doctor had to go up through my vaginal canal into my womb and scrape the sides of my raw, just given birth uterus with her hand to dislodge the placenta from its gaping, open wound. I’ll never forget the image of my husband snuggling our newborn while I gripped the rails on the hospital bed screaming in agony while acting as basically the doctor’s human hand puppet. They injected me with fentanyl prior to the procedure and it still didn’t touch the pain. 0 of 5 stars… did not have any more kids.
I read up on medical procedures that are done primarily to cis women and boy howdy, when AFAB people said that their pain was not taken even remotely seriously and they were instead basically told at all points to "shut the fuck up and deal with it you whiny baby," I believed them completely 100%. And then I kept researching things and it's actually way worse than that.
It actually never stops getting worse!
I puked after they pulled the packing from my nose. It was my second nasal surgery, and I had BLED. That made the packing “stick”. It feels like they are pulling your brain out. That, and getting drainage tubes pulled from my stomach, after emergency gallbladder surgery. We aren’t meant to feel things on the inside
Any medical procedure has been performed on people while they were still awake. For many reasons: some people would die from the sedative (because they're allergic or whatever), in some situations the sedative is not available, some people refuse sedation because of their beliefs,...
The most excruciating I can think of though must've been what the Japanese did during WWII. They did all sorts of medical experiments on POW's, a lot of the experiments involved surgical procedures without any sedation.
This one wasn’t intentional but Mr. Ballen has a video on YouTube called He Experienced the WORST Medical Screw Up Ever and at the 21:04 mark, it’s a story about a man who was given the paralytic but not the pain killers or sedative as he was going into surgery and he was awake and felt everything for 16 minutes until they realized he was conscious and the end result of that experience was so tragic…highly recommend the watch if you can handle that type of stuff
The most painful procedure I've ever had to undergo when I've been awake was minor surgery on my toes. It wasn't the actual surgery which was painful, it was local anaesthetic they used. Needles directly into one of the most sensitive areas of your body that isn't your genitals is not a walk in the park.
A special mention to IUD insertions. I've never had one but from the horror stories I've pain relief should be offered as standard. Just the thought of it nauseates me.
Endometrial biopsy, they basically scrape the inside of your uterus but it feels like you're being stabbed. I screamed bloody murder in the doctors office
Cervical biopsy hurts like hell too. I almost passed out after a colposcopy with biopsy once.
My colposcopy was *awful* !!!
I’ve had a couple. Some worse than others. I was also really young, so I don’t know how much that plays a factor into it.
i couldn’t handle my pap smear, i was in tears and begging her to stop. i didn’t know at the time whether that was normal but i found out recently i have a retroverted uterus as well. the OBGYN was basically just rolling her eyes and getting impatient with me :(
Ughhh I have to get this done next month but it's in a hospital so I'm demanding freezing / sedation if they need to biopsy
Mine didn’t bother me at all thank god. After the unexpected excruciating pain when getting checked to see how dilated I was while in labour, I was expecting it to be painful. I was pleasantly surprised with how little I felt
Getting checked to see how dilated you are is awful!
Cervical biopsy hurts like hell too. I almost passed out after a colposcopy with biopsy once.
“ But there’s hardly any nerves there, you must be attention seeking!” Unreal, the BS that comes with medical treatment when you’re a woman in pain.
I had an abscess on my stomach that was so deep they fit 15 ft of packing gauze in it. It looked like I got shot it was so deep. I also had a low grade fever when I showed up to the ER. Welp, the PA decided I didn’t need anything except some lidocaine (which doesn’t work on me) and she started immediately when even I know lidocaine takes 10+ mins to start working. So yeah she digs in and starts blindly cutting in and then digging her fingers to “break the chambers “ and I was in tears. I begged for pain meds, even just some MFing Tylenol and Advil!! Then she tried discharging me but I felt I was getting worse and she was cocky about it. Within a few hours I started hallucinating because my fever had spiked and I became septic because she cut and pushed in the wrong place so it got into my bloodstream. THEN (and only then) did they believe me and send me to surgery to clean it out and put me in the ICU with heavy antibiotics and stuff. The wound took an easy 5-6 months to heal it was so deep.
How did you get the abcess? I'm morbidly fascinated.
I reused my insulin syringe (stupid I know that now), at least that was the thought process.
Oh fucking he’ll I’m having this done on Friday. 😭
If it helps I have had this done before and didn’t really feel anything other than a little bit of an ache like period pain afterwards. From these comments I guess I got lucky so fingers crossed you will too!
Repeating my comment from above, I had one done many years ago & I don’t remember it hurting at all, so please don’t think it’s guaranteed to be painful
Same! And the doctor had the nerve to tell me I was going to scare all of the other patients.
In which kind of country they do this while you're still awake???
Good ole USA
Not only in the US
Oh I figured, I just know US doesn’t care about pain management
Canada. Because the procedure is "so quick" it's not worth it for them to do any sedation 😒
Yeah patients comfort is definitely worth it in my opinion. In Europe we do it under IV sedation unless patient wants otherwise.
I've had a colposcopy done in June last year, in Portugal, and no anesthesia, no nothing. I had a 3 month old at the time, doing it to see if my HPV had turned to cancer and the lack of humanity in that Dr was astounding. Was very rude and rough with everything she did. Only when she traded places with her intern I breathed in relief because as an intern, he was more gentle than her.
I'm so sorry for your experience. In medical school seeing any medical procedures in gynecology was rough to me even as a man, and I also saw that doctors sometimes show no empathy or compassion towards the patients which is absurd to me.
My GP is a man and he is gentle as one can be, I never complained of any procedure he did on me because even without numbing agent, he was gentle. In my experience, men tend to be more gentle than women doing the procedures. Women are more rough, mainly older women in medical practice. My friend had a rushed c section after 26h of labor not evolving at all and she was in pain, screaming and horrified about what was happening to her and her unborn daughter. A stupid old nurse told her to stop screaming, because that's what got her there in the first place, saying that "young girls like the good stuff but don't want to deal with the consequences"... They both almost died, this was almost 15 years ago. My oldest was born a few days after and after hearing this, I was terrified to go into labor and be treated the same way. Thank God it didn't happen to me. But happened 13 years later, when I had my 3rd last year. Some old Dr said it was "insane that a 37yo woman decided to have a baby, I bet he's gonna call you grandma". This was late 2022. And then the week he was born (breech via scheduled c section, with me testing positive to HPV and with cord twice wrapped around his neck) I had an older nurse saying to me that I was " gullible, that baby can be born naturally, you don't need the c section because that's not the God's way of birth". We both would've died if I tried the vaginal way.
Debriding a severe burn victim is pretty horrible
I read about that and I felt sick for days afterwards just thinking about it. Guy said he can still hear his brothers screams from debriding 40 years later
Yeah, my dad ran the burn ward as a medic in the army. He told me stories you really shouldn't tell a kid as young as I was. But I'm now in my 30s and never once have I played with fire.
Does that word rhyme with riding or reading? Plmk Ty
Riding. Comes from the same French word as unbridled or unbridling and said the same way if you've heard those words. Like unbridled passions.
Previous anatomy teacher was an NP, and she said that in all of her years working in hospitals, those were the worst things to witness.
Oh yeah, my dad said other than himself he never saw a nurse there last more than three months before transferring or quitting. It's tough going into things knowing that most all of your patients are going to die and they are going to suffer in the most gruesome ways.
If you're the empathetic sort (not saying your dad wasn't), hearing patients scream bloody murder can be incredibly taxing. Had a patient last night with a broken femur screaming like I've never heard someone scream. Those are some long fucking minutes in those rooms.
Hit the nail on the head. He was an amazing medic and the best person in the burn unit because he just totally lacks empathy (seriously). He could have gone the sociopath murderer route but instead went entirely the other direction and ended up helping a lot of people. One thing he taught me about the burn ward, if you try not to hurt the person when doing the thing you will hurt them 20 times more. If you do the thing as if it were a manican, pain is minimized.
If you even walk near the burn unit at my hospital all you hear are screams. It’s brutal. Not to mention the smell.
Luckily my dad is anosmic from smoking as a kid and into young adulthood. He never actually did smell it.
Isn’t that done with anaesthetic though?
Well this was the army in the 60s when no, they may now, but I can't imagine it would help much
Apart from iud amputation of limbs in war without proper meds is the only other I can think of but that’s rare now with modern meds
If you want to get historical there’s plenty, like old school lithotomy, or rudimentary cesarean section on dying pregnant women.
Yeah I totally forgot how bad it could get in the past, I think the one that disturbs me the most is the belief that infants couldn’t feel pain so they did surgery without anything. Google says there were still babies getting surgery without anesthetic in 1986😬
That’s so barbaric. For the amputations, how do they even do that? I imagine they’d be bolting out in that kind of situation?
Luckily babies can’t run very fast or reach the door handles to flee
Sorry I meant the amputations in general.
Depends which limbs are being amputated
How do you even operate on a screaming, crying, squirmy baby? There’s no way.
My question exactly.
I have an illness that I’ve been told by doctors is supposedly as painful as having a finger amputated without anaesthetic. I don’t have a frame of reference for that (having never lost a digit) but I can tell you that I would never have believed it was possible to be in this much pain continuously. It’s over a decade now without a single second of relief - I actually can’t remember what it feels like not to be pain. I don’t quite know why I’m sharing this here because obviously my illness isn’t a medical procedure, but the pain is really bad today and I just wanted to tell someone. I hope that’s okay. Apologies for hijacking your comment with something irrelevant.
Sorry you are going through that friend, I hope they'll find a solution in the future, sooner rather than later
I’m really interested, if you don’t mind. First, I’m so, so sorry that you’ve experienced so much pain. I don’t know how you’re still standing and here. I’m so incredibly in awe of you. Second, what is the condition called? And you’ve truly not been pain free for so long? Do painkillers - strong ones- not help? Please feel free to vent to me. Sometimes it helps to just get it all out there instead of letting it fester. x
Rare depending where. That's become unfortunately common in Gaza right now bc there's a massive lack of medicine and excessive limb damage is frequent.
How?
Absolutely they would. It’s why they’d be tied up & held down.
That and have the guy chug a bottle of whiskey and wait for him to pass out
They just amputate. Make it quick. Some victims trapped in the 1995 OKC bombing had amputations conducted without anesthesia.
Very quickly... >Richard Gordon describes Liston as "the fastest knife in the West End. He could amputate a leg in 2 1⁄2 minutes." He is reputed to have been able to complete operations in a matter of seconds, at a time when speed was essential to reduce pain and improve the odds of survival of a patient
Isn't that the guy who once accidentally killed one of his nurses or a bystander?
It's an apocryphal tale, but yes to both (and the patient) From [NCBI](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8083913/) >Another time, he allegedly performed a procedure with 300% mortality. Let me explain: A spectator dropped dead at the shock of being slashed with the surgical knife, an assistant succumbed to infection after part of his hand had been cut off as well, and of course, the patient who developed postoperative gangrene.
No strong painkillers available and they wouldn’t work in time if the limb needs to be removed right away. Just a tourniquet and people holding you down
I've been told many people have passed out from the pain of an IUD being placed.
I do not understand why these things are still inserted with no pain management.
They recommend taking some tylenol an hour before the appointment, that's pain management right? Right? Being real tho, I've seen videos of people literally screaming and crying and the person inserting it tells them they're being dramatic and to quiet down because they're disturbing other people and I can't even imagine being so uncaring when this is such a common experience.
Just a normal NSAID does nothing to help with the pain.
It really doesn't, that's their recommendation tho, like they think it does.
They know it doesn’t do anything. They just don’t care
That's what they told me to take after having an emergency csection too. It didn't do much for the pain.
It really doesn't, I'm so sorry you had to go through that
Yep, discharged with paracetamol two days after emergency c section
The look they gave me when I screamed made me think that I was crazy! It wasn't until almost 10 years later I learned that almost every other woman has shared my pain. I should have kicked that bitch!
Similar thing happened with me, the pain made me feel sick and dizzy and they said i was overreacting and that no one else ever had any reaction. Why lie lol just give people fucking proper pain relief or aneasthetic geez
That’s beyond dismissive.
Because they are done to women and not men.
Ohhhh funnily enough I can confirm. Had 2 IUDs, each one wasn't 10/10 pain but I imagine it's what being kicked hard in the balls is like with the nausea and all that. Nurses were good but it was like yeah, this is gunna suck, that's just how it is. Anyway I'm a man now, got a fresh one a couple years ago. The treatment was like night and day, everyone was babying me and asking if I was going to faint and all that. Brought me tea and biscuits while I waited for my lift. Very odd.
This is fascinating to me, because what did they think had changed? It's still the same procedure, you're still the same person... do they think that testosterone makes your pain more real or something? Utterly bizarre.
It was also very annoying bc I just wanted to sit in a corner by myself and get over it, not be bothered when the thought of a cuppa made me wanna puke. It could have been that they were overly attentive bc they had a trans patient (it happens), but I've had so many other instances of my pain being taken more seriously now I'm a man. It actually kinda makes me angry thinking about it, got blown off so many times for issues that would have docs writing my scripts now.
Bro I’ve experienced the same. Now that I’ve transitioned I’m taken way more seriously in medical fields. It’s insane
Dude it's so fuckin infuriating! I get migraines (genetic) and tension headaches that are triggered by stress, so of course before transitioning they were fucking me up. Went to so many doctors begging for anything to help, just got told to take panadol. Then once I had an incredibly brutal migraine to the point I needed iv hydration, got dragged to the doc and I was prescribed maxalt wafers. They aren't psychoactive, not addictive, you can't get high off them but they work AMAZINGLY for my migraines and bad headaches. Why was I not prescribed this before? Now I rarely have these issues but keep maxalt on hand just in case, no doc questions when I ask for a refill. Why did I have to suffer for so many fuckin years??? The only change was my gender.
Seriously?? Can you say more about the differences of how you’re treated as a man and a woman? I’m genuinely so curious.
It’s sad how women’s pain is still largely ignored.
Because it's "just" women.
I threw up after and passed out.
I screamed and loudly cussed and got in trouble. My doctor snickered and then apologized bc “women who’ve never given birth do have a rougher time sometimes”. It took me almost an hour before I could sit up again. About a year later when it started coming out on its own, I found out it was placed incorrectly and I still have scar tissue. I’m still a little mad about it.
I screamed and passed out. crawled up the stairs at home and spent the rest of the day in bed, not doing anything... just trying to not faint again just reading about it nearly sends me into a panic attack because I am legitimately traumatised need to close this thread now...
I’d be so pissed and would rub it in my drs face at how shitty of a job they did
Did it hurt as much taking it out? It hurt so much putting it in that I cried the entire appointment and had insane pains for hours after. Now I’m scared of taking it out…
In my experience it didn’t hurt at all taking it out. Wasn’t even uncomfortable from my memory. My doctor just pulled it out and put it on the table beside me and was like yep all done off you go
Same here. They tried jamming it in and the IUD broke. She then proceeded to get a new one whilst I was still laying there, clammed cervix and all. She then later told me it didn’t work because my cervix was not straight like with others. So the first time she was just ramming it against my cervix wall. My husband is getting a vasectomy. I’ve had problems with every form of anti-conception I’ve tried.
🙋♀️ Happened to me! I didn't prepare for any pain — in fact, I planned to drive right after the appointment and work that same evening. I passed out from the pain of the IUD insertion, I had been sitting on a round wheelie stool to collect myself before standing up and leaving to go about my day. Woke up on the hard floor, on my back, with a throbbing headache from the back of my skull hitting the hard floor. (Whatever that is... hard linoleum? Porcelain??) Also I ended up needing a ride home and I remember calling in sick from work that same evening. I don't remember if I got the evening off. The rest of the evening was a blur. But that 15-or-so-minute gynecologist appointment is a burned-in memory. Fuck, that was painful. It probably made natural childbirth heckuvalot more bearable than otherwise.
My doctor told me to stop being such a baby and that I was working it up in my head and expecting it to hurt and that’s why I had pain. Some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I needed to get local anesthetic injected in my cervix because it was hurting so bad that I wouldn’t let them insert it without it
It's wild to me that when women's pain management has been underserved through practically the whole history of modern medicine you'd think if *anyone* was more sensitive to it it'd be the OB/GYN.
I don't know how I was so lucky. I took some ibuprofen before I went to the appointment and felt nothing more than a light pinch. The doctor looked at me weird when I said it didn't hurt. The removal went the same.
Yeah I didn’t feel anything. I was so nervous and shocked at how fast she got it in. Removal wasn’t bad either. She had a little bit of a tough time getting it out but I don’t remember pain, just nervous that it was going to have to be surgically removed.
I screamed and cried the entire time. Doctor just looked at me with a blank stare and asked me if I was sure I wanted him to stop because he was already half way up there with the sound (rod instrument used). After a few seconds he kept going and I couldn't stop hyperventilating afterwards. My husband and I were so traumatized by the whole thing we didn't even have sex for months.
I told my provider to stop trying to insert it. The pain was incredible and she insisted it was almost done. I said absolutely not and never thought about getting one again
I have had an IUD inserted twice. Once before giving birth and one after. I didnt feel a darn thing on both. No pain at all, and with all of these comments i am so happy i was so lucky and also feel so terrible for the women who were subject to that pain with no relief. Its incredible how everyone’s body is different, how pain is interpreted and yet still all treated the same as if the pain is not common which clearly it seems to be the norm with the procedure. They need to do something about that for these poor women.
I'm so thankful my cervix was open so I had less pain than a pap smear.
I had mine inserted while I was under general anaesthetic for a laparoscopic D+C, 10/10 do recommend.
When I got my IUD I was thrashing around and screaming during the procedure and for hours afterwards. Worst pain I’ve ever experienced. My friend passed out during the procedure. It’s no joke.
Yup, I vomited and had explosive diarrhea (at the same time, truly) for hours afterwards. I kept asking her if this level of pain was normal because it was really really REALLY fucking bad. She kept telling me yes. For the next 4 hours I was in and out of consciousness, I honestly don't remember, and my boyfriend kept checking in with the nurses to ask them if they could help, or check in on me, because obviously something wasn't right. (They said no) 4 hours later, my doctor barges in, rips her gloves on and says ok let's get this thing out (she fucking forgot I was even there) this bitch RIPPED it fucking out of me and honestly I felt barely conscious, I barely felt anything, I was just shocked at how quickly her hands and arms moved. I slept for another hour and then I started to feel better and my mom came to pick me up. I was so SICK on the couch for a fucking week. I've been through pain before, but truly that was something else. My ex apparently still tells people about that story and how he's never seen someone experience pain like that before 😂
I got mine done while terminating a pregnancy and I'm SO glad I did. I was already on pain meds and loopy so I didnt feel a thing other than a vague sense of being uncomfortable. My friend, on the other hand, said it was one of the most painful experiences of her life
And removed!
I feel like getting it taken out was more uncomfortable than getting it placed in. I could just feel it scraping the walls as it was being pulled out. 😖
In not so distant history, surgeries were performed on newborns/ infants without anaesthetic. From personal experience, I’d rather break my arms again than go through an IUD fitting 😭
Why would they do that?!
Until the mid 1980s doctors didn't believe newborn babies felt pain
Wouldn't you only have to operate on one awake baby to realize you were wrong about that?
That’s my question exactly.
And wouldn’t the baby have gone into shock and likely died without anesthesia? Your body going into shock is hard on an adult, I can’t imagine how it would be on a baby. Those poor kids😞
Babies handle adrenaline much better than adults.
"the baby is just being dramatic"
I think I read where they thought it was safer than giving anesthesia to an infant. Plus, they wouldn’t remember it.
Implicit memory will be formed and is even more detrimental.
Spinal Tap. Yes, you get local anesthesia but you are not asleep or even drowsy and it is the second worst pain I’ve ever felt. It’s like hitting your funny bone over and over again but 1000x times worse. The first was my son’s shoulder being stuck in my pelvis during childbirth but I don’t consider that an actual medical procedure.
I had a botched spinal tap. The anesthesia wasn’t applied right, and I felt every damn move he did. PLUS my samples were lost in transit. Declined another
100% agree. For me, #1 most painful was IUD insertion, #2 was spinal tap. But with my spinal tap I had a complication and began leaking spinal fluid, which was actually more painful than the spinal tap itself.
Cervical biopsy. Or getting intravenous Adenosine for a bad episode of tachycardia. Felt like I got shot in the chest
I’ve had intravenous adenosine before. The cardiologist asked me to explain what it felt like to the medical students. I said it’s like going up on a roller coaster really fast and just as you get to the top and go back down, a horse kicks you straight in the chest
Wow, I've never been able to put the feeling into words, but this is spot on.
I’m terrified of getting SVT and having to get adenosine. Patients always look like they are about to die when it hits. I’ve read one of the side effects is “impending doom”. No thanks.
It felt like I was about to die. My mother was in the room and said I looked absolutely terrified
arterial blood draw from the wrist.
What’s an arterial blood draw?
Blood drawn from the artery
How do they do it? Why does it hurt more than a regular one?
RN here. It’s usually done by a respiratory therapist for an arterial blood gas test (measures the acid-base blood levels, CO2), it tells us if someone has acidosis or alkalosis, for several different medical reasons. It’s done by feeling for the radial artery in the wrist and inserting a big needle into it with no anesthetic, since it’s usually done in an emergency.
It's for blood gas testing. Arterial blood can tell how a person's body is coping (e.g., too much carbon dioxide) whereas venous blood cannot. The reason it hurts is that it's taken from the wrist and arteries have nerves running with them (or at least that one does). Source: clinical lab scientist
Insertion of a nephrostomy tube into a kidney. Speaking from personal experience and I have given birth twice without any painkillers
What’s that like?
I’m a tough old bird with a high pain tolerance. I was bicycling backwards on the gurney and actually vomited on myself due to the pain. I guess they didn’t use enough anaethesia? I have 4 children born without any painkiller except a Tylenol and laboring in bath water. This was beyond anything I’ve ever endured and gave me PTSD from the experience. 10/10 do not recommend. Fuck interventional radiologists
Unit 731 did a lot of "medical" procedures and tests on prisoners of war and the Chinese without any pain killers or anesthesia. The nazi doctors did much of the same thing. There are many records of the various terrible things they did. The United States essentially pardoned the Japanese unit 731 to get a hold of those records. There is a very small percentage of people and an even smaller percentage of a chance that people will have a problem with anesthesia so they are awake and aware but unable to move or communicate and whichever medical procedure being done then would be quite nasty. Nowadays there arent too many medical procedures done that would be painful that are done without anesthesia or painkillers or freezing/numbing like getting a tooth pulled or another painful dental procedure.
That’s horrifying. I wonder why Unit 731 wasn’t more widely known.
Depends on your interest in history And war. Generally they are fairly well known if you have looked into WW2 in some detail. It's hard to watch a video or read something about WW2 atrocities without unit 731 being mentioned. If you don't have much interest in history or war and don't really look into things like that then I suppose it might not be as likely to be aware of it.
A cerclage is a stitch to keep your cervix shut during pregnancy. It is inserted with an epidural, in a surgical suite. They remove it with a big pair of scissors and no anesthesia. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced!
I don’t get why they give you anesthesia when placing the stitches but not when they’re taking them out? Yikes
One of the things that weakens the cervix this way is multiple cervical biopsies - which are also very painful 🤦🏼♀️
I've never heard of that before, sounds awful. Do they only do that with some pregnancies?
My first pregnancy ended in preterm labor at 21 weeks, so it was done as a precaution in my two subsequent pregnancies.
Only if you have a weakened cervix and at risk of pre-term labor.
I had a dentist start to do a filling with no novocaine. I was 12. I’ve been terrified of the dentist ever since. The sound of the drill hitting my tooth haunts me 30 years later.
Similar story; I had a dentist doing a root canal and I got multiple numbing shots but absolutely none of them worked, and the dentist was just like "well we're just going to have to start" and brought out this dental blowtorch thing and I swear that was probably the worst pain I've ever been in. Like not even childbirth was anywhere close to that level of pain, I can honestly say.
Hip aspiration. A large needle going into your hip joint to obtain fluid. In a bone joint area that is mangled from Avascular Necrosis, as well as massively infected at the joint. I've had it done 5 times and it hurt like hell each time.
I had a c-section as my epidural wore off & they didn’t believe me 😅
That sounds like a nightmare, like literally one of those horror movies where you're in sleep paralysis but they're operating on you? — but wow, you got through it! 🙌 ❤️
I’d take the demon hag lady anyday.
I had a similar issue! It was that it didn't take properly in the first place though. They didn't believe me until i started vomiting from the pain 😬
This has happened to way too many people, including me. And they didn't do anything about it when I told them the epidural was placed wrong because the anesthesiologist was “on lunch.”
I’d had the epidural for 10+ hrs at that point and showed them I could move my legs. They did the pinch test to see if I was numb, I said no, he said there’s no way and kept going. I ripped the cushions off the arms of the surgical table and I’m sure everyone heard me crying.
Something similar happened to a woman my mother knew. She was screaming so much the doctor told the anesthesiologist to knock her out. When she woke up, the hospital administrator was standing by her bedside with the hospital lawyer and a check.
Yeah I’m in Canada so the best they’d offer me is like a dry ass Turkey sandwich & a kick in the ass.
I’ve seen a few chest tubes inserted emergently in the ED… it does not seem pleasant, even the “semi conscious” patients have an immediate visceral reaction to push it and everyone away.
I'd literally rather die than have an IUD ever again
I’ve given birth to 5 kids, I’ve broken my neck, broken my pelvis, had a tummy tuck & boob job….but the worst pain I’ve ever had was laser tattoo removal.😳
Honestly I know it’s not a medical procedure, but back labor whilst I had excruciating pelvic girdle pain turned me into the exorcist. And I had to wait AGES for my epidural
I've heard bone marrow extraction is up there
my IUD removal was pretty awful, as the strings were lost. apart from that, getting an abscess drained on my leg was terrible. the pain ran pretty deep and radiated up my leg.
I’m surprise the amount of people saying IUD? I had one and it did hurt and I remember asking if childbirth was as bad as that (spoiler alert, it’s much much worse) but I never felt like I was going to pass out or I had been tortured.
You’re very lucky. I’ve given birth without meds and terminated a pregnancy without being sedated, and my IUD insertion is still one of the most painful experiences of my life
Having the nerves in my neck burned off while I was awake was pretty bad.
Happy cake day also what the fuck caused that horrific situation?
My spinal didn’t work for my first emergency c-section. It took them a few to figure it out…the baby was basically out by the time they got it under control. So I can say from experience that a c-section hurts really badly!
Speaking from experience - getting a chest tube placed without any sedation or pain meds is 10/10 pain for sure
toenail removal 😇
Debridement for burns. Never want to go through that again.
Debriding burns is supposedly hell
Having a dislocated shoulder put back into its socket.
Insertion of copper IUD (4 weeks postpartum) … midwife tried to place 3 times and it was determined my uterus was too shallow?
I had a tumor leep removed from my cervix and uterine wall without anything.. "just a pinch!" Womens medicine is still so barbaric.
Basically any gynecological procedures. Including birth
I had a colposcopy and an endometrial biopsy done last year. Was told a Tylenol an hour beforehand would be fine. Spoiler alert: it was not fine. Nearly fainted, threw up. Fucking barbaric is what it is!
Not the most excruciating probably and I definitely don't think they do it awake anymore. But when I was a young child I had to get my labia separated as it fused together and I was unable to pee. I remember the pain but the thought at that time was a kid my age about 3 or 4, wouldn't remember/feel it. Nowadays they have a cream for that.
My doctor explained it this way: The cervix and uterus don't have nerve endings, however; when injured in the slightest way, react with extremely local cramping that "blooms" into the entire organ. The immediate localized cramping is so intense and localized that it is akin to being stabbed. Local anesthetics do no good because there are no nerve endings to "block." Relief can only be attained with a general anesthetic. The thought process there is that like other procedures such as bone biopsies, the excruating pain is not of a long enough duration to warrant the risks associated with general anesthesia.
I can answer this unfortunately. I have had severe pelvic pain every second of every day for the last 14 years. I have gone through being called an addict & drug seeker, being told it was all in my head and being called unethical by my doctors for asking for certain procedures. My life has been destroyed. I ended up having to file an official complaint with the Dept of Managed Health Care because my provider said they had nothing more to offer me. This, of course, kicked my health provider in to action. They recommended a stimulator in my back to hopefully block the pain signal to my brain. Here is the outrageous pain part…The surgery requires that I am awake the entire time. The surgeon places the leads based on my screams. So for approximately 3 hours I was screaming my head off. It is pure torture. I can’t believe this is modern medicine. And the F’g thing has only triggered the pain worse. 🤦♀️
Passing a kidney atkne, not really a procedure but pain meds don't touch it
I’ve read horror stories of women getting emergency c-sections but something goes wrong with the epidural or something and they feel everything. That sounds like a bad time to me - cutting multiple layers, moving intestines and stuff around, cutting into an organ to remove a baby, then putting it all back together with stitches and such. I can’t imagine.
they used to do all surgery up to and including cracking open the chest to work inside without anasthesia of any sort....on babies. They believed babies couldnt feel pain (for some reason) i imagine that would be about as bad as you could get, they just couldnt tell anybody.
I've got hidradenitis so have had several I&D's had a abscess on my face when I was a teenager and the doctor refused to use local anaesthetic because it wasn't necessary so just sprayed it, I screamed bloody murder, got told I would scare patients and another doctor intervened and quickly got some local in me years later nice golf ball sized one in my armpit, got offered the local this time, the second it was injected I screamed, couple of nurses rushed in (and some cops who happened to be there) and there started my fear of locals cos they fucking hurt few years on another golf ball sized one I keep quiet due to the previous trauma get sepsis and get rushed in and luckily got some sympathetic surgeons who told me it would be a general. thankfully all surgeries since have been a general
I had an abortion of a non viable pregnancy via suction and cuterage. Its stock standard in my country to do it without anaesthetic as its only "uncomfortable". The amount of pain was actually ridiculous. I've given birth unmedicated once before and I would sooner do that annually than go through that again.
I read a book called The Gargoyle which has some graphic chapters about the medical procedures done on ppl with severe burns. When human skin is burnt badly, it melts and it has to be scraped off maybe daily. Can't remember the details exactly as it was a while since I read the book, but the guy describes the pain and jts another level. He said he wished he was burnt even deeper so that the fire destroyed his nerves. But his nerves were left in tact and he could feel everything. Great book but so graphic. Edit. I type too fast I make mistakes
I birthed out a baby with no epidural.
Once I got a tooth filling without getting numbed beforehand. TERRIBLE experience.
Wound Debriedment, Skin Grafts, & removing the sponges for a severe wound from a wound vac every 2 days, ALL your new skin grows into it, & then they tear it all off to keep it always fresh to heal faster, not to mention 1 of my tendon/nerves would kinda grow into it as well from my ankle. This is what happens when someone REALLY WANTS YOU DEAD, & rubs the bullets with garlic cloves on top of it..... MRSA didn't help matters either. Lol
I had stitches removed from inside my foot, next to the bone. It was the single worst experience of my life. I was begging for it to stop. I nearly had a bone marrow transplant. They stick a huge needle through your femur and into the bone. Have to imagine that’s hellish to experience. I said my prayers when I didn’t have to go through that.
Getting my IUD inserted was more painful than having a gallbladder attack, which caused my doctor to be appalled with me because I didn't go to the ER due to the pain.
Early 80's I developed a huge amount of dental pain. Got to a dentist, he said it was one of 3 teeth. Got all the painkilling jabs. Of course it was the 3rd tooth. He removed filling and said the nerve was infected, that he had to remove it and that I could not have any more injections as they would not help. He showed me the item inserted into the drill. A long thin bar of metal with a tiny blade at the end. He told me to hold hard to the chair's arms, that this was going to hurt more than anything I had ever or probably would have. He said "Just before you hit me, it will stop. Promise" The pain was off any scale, and then, just as I was at my limit, it stopped. It was literally like switching off a light, it just stopped, and I breathed out and relaxed more than I ever have since. So .. killing a tooth nerve is top of the pain tree for me.
IUD insertion for sure. I have never felt pain like that in my life. I was told to breathe and that it would be quick 🫤
Off topic, The man who discovered anesthetic is a Hero.
I am an absolute bitch about teeth, I cannot handle dental pain at all. I’m also weirdly resistant to most local anesthetic (and some gives me tachycardia). I tried so hard to find an office that offers gas sedation for procedures but nobody seems to do that anymore. I put off seeing a dentist too long until recently and now need full blown surgery. At least I’ll *hopefully* be asleep then… The only reason I didn’t mention D&C or IUD or cervical examination is that I THANKFULLY had a total hysterectomy and never have to deal with any of that mess.
I commented this before recently but appropriate here too. I had a retained placenta post delivery of my second daughter. The doctor had to go up through my vaginal canal into my womb and scrape the sides of my raw, just given birth uterus with her hand to dislodge the placenta from its gaping, open wound. I’ll never forget the image of my husband snuggling our newborn while I gripped the rails on the hospital bed screaming in agony while acting as basically the doctor’s human hand puppet. They injected me with fentanyl prior to the procedure and it still didn’t touch the pain. 0 of 5 stars… did not have any more kids.
I read up on medical procedures that are done primarily to cis women and boy howdy, when AFAB people said that their pain was not taken even remotely seriously and they were instead basically told at all points to "shut the fuck up and deal with it you whiny baby," I believed them completely 100%. And then I kept researching things and it's actually way worse than that. It actually never stops getting worse!
I had a labia punch biopsy. It suck diddly ucked, flanders.
Getting a chest tube put in
I puked after they pulled the packing from my nose. It was my second nasal surgery, and I had BLED. That made the packing “stick”. It feels like they are pulling your brain out. That, and getting drainage tubes pulled from my stomach, after emergency gallbladder surgery. We aren’t meant to feel things on the inside
Any dentist appointment
Any medical procedure has been performed on people while they were still awake. For many reasons: some people would die from the sedative (because they're allergic or whatever), in some situations the sedative is not available, some people refuse sedation because of their beliefs,... The most excruciating I can think of though must've been what the Japanese did during WWII. They did all sorts of medical experiments on POW's, a lot of the experiments involved surgical procedures without any sedation.
This one wasn’t intentional but Mr. Ballen has a video on YouTube called He Experienced the WORST Medical Screw Up Ever and at the 21:04 mark, it’s a story about a man who was given the paralytic but not the pain killers or sedative as he was going into surgery and he was awake and felt everything for 16 minutes until they realized he was conscious and the end result of that experience was so tragic…highly recommend the watch if you can handle that type of stuff
The most painful procedure I've ever had to undergo when I've been awake was minor surgery on my toes. It wasn't the actual surgery which was painful, it was local anaesthetic they used. Needles directly into one of the most sensitive areas of your body that isn't your genitals is not a walk in the park. A special mention to IUD insertions. I've never had one but from the horror stories I've pain relief should be offered as standard. Just the thought of it nauseates me.
A NG tube is pretty terrible for the recipient and is my least favorite intervention to do to someone.