What level is your pain? Somewhere between the and the …
I had my gallbladder removed a week ago and I was asked this question too many times to count. At first I thought it was funny to have the little faces on the bottom, but as I thought about it, everyone judges their own pain differently. For me, I don’t think I’ve ever been at a 10 on the scale, although labor and childbirth are probably an 8 or 9. After my surgery I was rating the pain at about a 4 or so. Enough to hurt, but more annoying than painful. I’m not a fan of pain meds (I don’t like that buzzed/loopy feeling), so I didn’t take any that they prescribed me.
I’ve never been beyond 5 or so personally (which to me means “hurts quite a lot but can still function”) My most painful experience was after surgery on my achilles tendon. It just shades out dislocated fingers and the aches of a really bad flu. For transient pain a bad wasp sting is proabably as bad as I’ve had it. I’ve been pretty lucky I guess.
The first time I was given the pain scale, I was told that “10 is the most painful thing you can imagine.” I immediately imagined being burned at the stake, and ended up rating my appendicitis a 6. Early labor was maybe a 4-5. The highest I’ve ever gone is a 7-8 from back pain, which was actually causing me to grimace, sweat, and tear up.
I always tell my physicians anything higher than a 0 (the sensation of dozens velvety baby bunnies snuggling against your cheeks for warmth) is indication that I need morphine. Scale be damned!
My worst pain was having my toenails pulled off. Well my toes were frozen by the time they did the nail pulling but what sent me almost out of my mind with pain was the doctor sticking needles under my toenails for the freezing. I actually tried to turn over and crawl away.
I have two that need to come off again but I’d rip them off myself before I ever went through that again.
I’ve had other pains, a boulder fell on my hand and broke it, attacked by a dog which broke my hand again. I had a dentist somehow not realize that he was pulling out my wisdom teeth and thought he was only removing molars and the assistant had to keep slapping my cheek saying “stay awake now, come on, stay with us”. Which was actually really horrible but nothing can compare with the needles under the toenails.
I passed a kidney stone last month and the last attack of renal colic I had before it passed a couple days later required an ambulance ride and a visit to the emergency room where I got some strong painkillers by IV. The nurse asked my pain level when I arrived, and I said 10 without any exaggeration. it was hellish pain that went on and on for a few hours without respite.
Because I was told that “10” pain meant the worst pain I’d ever experienced, the hematoma across the top of my butt was a 10. (Said hematoma came from sliding down a set of wooden stairs. It was sensitive to the touch, and made bending difficult. I hurt badly enough to get a taxi to the hospital, scared to death I was going to need surgery. I got a note to stay home from work for 3 days, a prescription for vicodin, pelvic x-rays, and a annoyingly expensive (and unneccessary) pregnancy test). )
I’ve never been in labor, never had a kidney stone or gallbladder attack, but have had two broken bones–one before and one since.
My Dad, in major pain from pancreatitis, was told that 10 was the worst pain he could imagine, and claimed 7 pain, while turning grey from pain. Grey skin, that is, not grey hair–he already had that. Mom thinks he underestimated his pain, and believes that his pancreatitis pain (and gall bladder attack pain) was worse than her labor pains for either of her babies.
Worst I can remember clearly is the first time I had a kidney stone, when I actually vomited from the pain - that’s pretty much my personal 10, though like Drain Bead I can imagine worse.
In the running, but not as clearly remembered ( except that it was much messier and hurt a whole heck of a lot ) was when I ran through an old sliding glass door ( plate glass, not safety glass ) as a youngster while wearing only a pair of underwear and sliced myself to ribbons.
The most painful thing I can remember is forcefully hitting the underside of my kneecap on the hard, sharp corner of a desk. It was so instantly and excruciatingly painful that I nearly vomited. All I could do was to lie down and curl up until the pain passed.
Still, I can imagine worse pain, so I would only rate it an 8 or so.
In contrast the pain of my heart surgery was much less, although it went on for a whole lot longer.
I think the only time I’ve had a “10” was when I slipped on a wooden step and came down with all my weight on the right side of my butt - on the edge of a sharp wooden step. I was bruised from my waist to my thighs for weeks. At first I thought I had broken my back; if my husband hadn’t been there I would have drowned because I couldn’t move my legs for a few minutes. He’s known me for almost 25 years and says it’s the only time he’s seen me cry from pain.
Breaking a bone in my foot off from the ankle and walking on it wasn’t the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had, either. Driving a straight shift (thank goodness it wasn’t the clutch foot) was miserable - I could feel the foot swelling. The doctor lectured me for walking on a broken foot, but had to admit I had saved myself surgery. If I had let the foot swell with the bone displaced I would have required surgery instead of only a cast.
When my stomach perforated it hurt so bad I begged God to take me home. I can’t even imagine a pain worse than that.
They gave me several shots of morphine which didn’t seem to help and then gave me a shot of something that “took me out of myself” - something that I can’t describe very well. I still felt the pain, and yet it also seemed like it was happening to someone else (sort of.)
Jebus. FloatyGimpy- needles under toenails is not the usual way to numb toes prior to toenail removal- for reasons which you have made abundantly clear.
The most painful things that have ever happened to me was developing a bit of plantar fasciitis around a matatarsal fracture which I had been walking on for about a week, and developing an allergic reaction to an antibiotic which meant I broke out in severe blisters and ulcers over the entire surface of my mouth, tongue, gums and tonsils (no speaking and no solid food for a week- seriously unfun). Both probably about a 6.
Getting the wisdom teeth out (the reason I needed those antibiotics), and which involved gums being cut open and unerupted teeth being chiselled from my jaw-about a 2.
Laparoscopy about a 4, C-section about a 3, early days of breast feeding probably about a 4.
Hands down, however, I would go through all of those painful experiences in preference to the 10 weeks of severe and unending nausea and vomiting I experienced during my pregnancy. Vomiting 3 or 4 times a day, every day, for weeks on end, feeling sick all the time despite anti-emetics, and knowing there is no end in sight- truly miserable.
Wisdom teeth and tonsilectomy - 2-3
Early stage labour - 2-3
Active labour (no drugs) - 4-5
First 4 weeks of breastfeeding - 5-6. There was a lot of swearing and tears, and I began to physically recoil from her each time it was time for a feed. No idea how I managed to keep going.
I guess it would be the endometriosis (or rather, what my doc thinks is probably endometriosis.) I thought I was dying. I was shaking so hard. I could barely call out to my husband. It felt like my guts were being ripped out of my body. That was about a 9.
More recently, I injured my back through improper use of a rowing machine. I have never in my life had back pain that bad. I spent the day throwing up. I couldn’t eat or sleep or focus on anything, not even a simple TV show. Just pain, all day. That was about an 8. It took over a month to recover.
The pain from my IBS would range between 7 and 9, if only for brief moments. Interestingly, once we began treating me for endometriosis, the IBS stopped almost completely.
I reserve 10 for ‘‘incoherent screaming’’ levels of pain, which fortunately I’ve never experienced.
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