Ouch :(.
Are you using a cane to take a little weight off of it? (if so, do NOT use it the way House MD does; he uses his completely wrong, LOL).
Not sure if you noticed, but the link I posted includes many exercises that you can do sitting down. As I mentioned, the more you can do those, the sooner you’ll be on your feet comfortably. Rehab is so much more helpful than people give it credit for.
Something I had no idea was going to be torture: getting chickenpox as an adult. I was 20 at the time. I had blisters everywhere. EVERYWHERE. And every single one of them itched and hurt. For two weeks. Thankfully my mother’s a nurse, bless her, and drugged me out of my head for most of the time.
I also sprained the shit out of my ankle last year, but it’s not nearly as interesting as the rest of the stories here.
Thanks for pointing those out again. Don’t know how I missed them. I agree with you that the value of rehab is grossly underestimated.
I had rehab for a busted knee a few years ago and it actually had my knees working better than they had before because it gave attention to those muscles I was neglecting during training.
Depending on how bad it was, a couple of months or longer. Sprains do take longer than breaks to heal. A break could be set in 4–6 weeks; a bad sprain in roughly double that time. Mobility exercises are good, along with doing some active stretching. Don’t push things. Don’t get so anxious to get back into a routine that you injure yourself again and therefore double or triple your recovery time, or worse, possibly cause more severe and long-lasting damage.
With my injury (solid grade 2, possibly verging on a 3) It took me almost 3 months before I felt like the joint was stable enough for running. I was able to do some very light walking around my neighborhood in about 2.5–3 weeks. I had it wrapped petty much constantly when I wasn’t doing rehab exercises for about 5 or 6 weeks. I didn’t even try to run for at least 2 months, and believe me, I’m not shy about being uncomfortable if it will help recovery. My first runs were very short and very light. I’d suggest no sprinting at all for about 4 months unless your injury was a lot milder than mine.
If you’re really anxious to get back into running, I strongly suggest talking to a good sports injury therapist or specialist orthopedic surgeon. They’ll be used to dealing with athletes, who typically want to push themselves and recover as quickly and well as possible. That’s a different mindset from regular joes who just want to be able to walk normally again. They’ll be able to give you good advice on what you can do and what you can’t do, and the type and intensity of the exercise you can get away with.
Broke my right patella (kneecap) when I was a kid. Full leg cast for 6 weeks. I had slipped on a wet floor at a Boy Scout meeting, knee slammed into a cinder block wall, and I fell ass-end onto a tile over concrete floor. My rear end hurt like a BITCH when it happened, but the knee didn’t hurt at all. The only reason we knew something was wrong was when I tried to walk and my right leg just crumpled underneath me.
Broke a wrist when I slipped on some icy steps going into a T station in Boston. I may have been a bit tipsy at the time, which was why I couldn’t entirely blame the city for not properly clearing the ice, and why it didn’t hurt that much when it happened. They put a cast on my wrist at a very awkward angle at the hospital, though, and a few minutes later it started to hurt so badly that I passed out, and they cut the cast off.
Fractured a couple vertebrae swimming over a waterfall in Quebec (don’t ask). Again, my butt, which I landed on, hurt more than anything, and it was fine.
Got into my car to head to work one morning, running a bit late. I forgot something in the house, so I ran out of the car and back into the house, hit one of the front steps at awkward angle heading in, and sprained an ankle. Needless to say I didn’t make it to work that day. It hurt far more than any of the above. I instantly crumpled to the ground when that happened.
Worst pain ever, though, was a couple bone marrow biopsies. It’s over after a couple minutes, though, and was just a dull ache for a couple days afterwards. The pain while it’s happening, though, I couldn’t even begin to describe. They numb up the skin and flesh, but you can’t anesthetize the bone.
I am a little prone to injury. I have sprained my left ankle 17 times and my right 19. I have broken my right leg. I have fractured my left arm twice. I have dislocated my knee so many times I can’t count.
As to the breaks hurting less and healing better than sprains, this has been my experience. I can count about 7 or 8 times when I had very bad sprains (of the not walking on it since you will just fall on your face so bruised you are amazed at the colours the human body can produce variety). I was in so much pain I barely slept. When I broke my leg, it kinda hurt and there was no walking on it (until it was casted and set) but I could sleep without drugs.
As for the most pain, there is a toss up. I was given medication to hasten along a miscarriage. The doctor said it would be crampy ‘like a bad period.’ My ass. I ended up in the ER a few hours later unable to sit down and stop babbling I was in so much pain.
Then there was the first time I dislocated my knee. I was walking down a flight of stairs with a load of laundry. I was headed to Disney World the next day for the first time and I was being extra careful. I felt a pop and then my knee just folded. I remember excruciating pain. Suddenly, I was on the floor and my roommate (who was not there a moment ago) was freaking out. Apparently, I had been sitting there just yelling, ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’ over and over at the top of my lungs for several minutes. That was definitely the worst pain for the short moment I felt it.
(It, however, had the best recovery ever. It popped back in and felt fine within hours.)
I turned my ankle just last night omw home from work in the parking lot. Stepped down off the curb wrong, twisted my left ankle and fell on my right side. Today, tenderness, swelling, toes ache, all that. About to head to Urgent Care to get it x-rayed.
But, the worst pain, I have 2 herniated discs in my lower back, and degenerative bone disease in my spine. The 2 discs herniated in Sept of 2007. Been on painkillers and muscle relaxers ever since. The pain when it happened. I don’t know how I got through it. Felt like my back was being ripped to shreds, and the nerves that went down into my left thigh made it feel like acid was running through them.
When you’re walking around barefoot and you smack your little toe on an exposed corner. Always makes me want to curse up a storm.
Ouch, Bruj! Hope you heal quickly and completely. Hang in there!
So, since this thread has bounced back after almost a year, I’m curious enough to ask: have you bounced back, overlyverbose?
Ouch indeed, Bruj!!!
Oh, and since someone has to ask:
Q: what does a zombie klutz moan?
A: Spraiiiiiiinssssssss
Didn’t realise it was a zombie.
Standing on an upturned plug barefoot is also pretty unpleasant 
I managed to twist my ankle so that my foot was pointing in a very very wrong direction. In addition to the multiple breaks, there was also much ligament damage. Yay! The pain when I was crawling across the floor to my phone, so that I could call for help was just sheer agony.
Nine years on, after surgery and the installation of permanent metal fixtures, the ankle is still much bigger than the other, and still looks a bit bruised. The pain is constant, but low-level. I only really notice it when lying in bed, nice and comfy, where the constant throb throb throb cannot be ignored.
My worst toothaches were worse then my healing pains from my cesarian and another abdominal surgery.
The time when a severe cough, combined ith ligament pain, made sure I didn’t get more then five minutes of sleep at a time, was worse then anything. I could easily have killed somebody to get some fucking sleep after the fourth day or so.
I was going to say this. I don’t know what it is about toes, but that instant after you stub one is excruciating.
My other answer is IBS. I was absolutely shocked when I went to the doctor and found out I didn’t have Crohn’s or cancer or some other horrible stomach disease. It hurts. So bad. And it doesn’t just hurt in your stomach, it sends waves of pain through your entire body.
ETA: Ulcers are another thing that always surprise me with their intensity. I had an ulcer turn into a hernia once… aghgh!
Otitis externa, otherwise known as swimmer’s ear. You’d think that with such a playful name (who doesn’t like swimming?) it wouldn’t be so bad.
It’s the only thing that’s ever made me voluntarily take pain medication. It had me shouting in the doctor’s office when he had to vacuum out the crap from my ear. I’ve sprained my ankle before–it bruised and swelled and it still sometimes gives out if I step a little funny, or if the stars are misaligned. I call it my trick ankle.
I’d rather sprain my ankle a dozen times than go through even one more bout of the ear thing.
I punctured my calf once trying to kick start my new dirtbike. I was wearing sneakers and had just unloaded it and wanted to start it up. Well, it was cold and wouldn’t start. I decided to give it a good, healthy kick with all my weight, but my shoe slipped and the ~1/2" diameter kick start lever punctured my calf.
My friend said it looked like a gut wound with dark muscle fiber spilling out of the new hole in my leg.
I remember a cold, numb pain at first that slowly became hotter and hotter. Within 20 minutes my leg was useless and I couldn’t support my weight. The following morning was the most aching pain I have ever felt. I had throw-up feelings trying to get of bed. Not fun.
I’ve sprained my ankle three times. Same ankle, come to think of it… I wonder if it’s still under warranty? Anyway. The first two times, it was Ow. That feels wrong. It kind of hurts. I think it would be best to ask a doctor about this. The swelling and the interesting color were also bad signs. The third time went more like OW OW OW THAT HURTS MY ANKLE IS EXPLODING I THINK I BROKE EVERY BONE IN MY LOWER LEG GET ME TO A DOCTOR NOOOOWWWWWW!, but to my surprise, the X-ray showed nothing, just another sprain. The fact that I was in my late teens-early twenties for the first two, and 40 for the third, might have something to do with it, or maybe I was just really unlucky the third time.
Along with a bad attack of trigeminal neuralgia (I am too damn young for that!) and three or four really severe headaches, that third sprained ankle was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. And I gave birth to two giant babies with no drugs, so I’m not exactly the delicate type…
I had a very bad sprain once, when I was playing hide and seek in the dark as a kid.
It was instant agony, and we went immediately to the hospital. I wouldn’t even have considered walking on it. I was on crutches for a while.
OTOH, I’ve had several mild sprains that I don’t even notice until well after the injury occurs.
I sprained my foot quite badly one Thanksgiving evening. It hurt like twenty hells - I couldn’t sleep that night for the pain.
It depends on the sprain.