I was in the emergency room with leg cramps and they showed me the “happy-to-sad” 1 to 10 pain chart. My response? I screamed, blacked out, and came to as they were rolling me over and sticking a needle in my ass, at the same time telling me that if I count backward from ten I’ll be out before I hit four.
I’d say the worst I’ve ever felt was due to eating dairy even though I’m lactose intolerant.
It usually doesn’t affect me much, but when it does, it’s just a searing agony in my stomach for 5-10 minutes straight.
I’d say that’s probably still a 4 though, as I can imagine a lot worse.
I once hit the side of my head on a couch arm, bursting a tooth absess. You can snap off my wristbone, break my tailbone, and crush my foot that has two broken toes on it. But do not break any absesses, please.
This. I had two kids natural child birth. After the first I had so many stiches, the little bastard came so fast, that they stopped counting after one hundred. But that was nothing in comparison to the toenail thing. I think podiatrists are sadists masquerading as doctors. And mine prescribed multiple daily applications of merthiolate that made my toes weeping open sores for weeks. I tried to tell her this stuff wasn’t helping but she would not listen so I painted my toes red with food coloring when I went back for check-ups. Bitch.
The only 10 I’ve had was my heart attack. The only thing I could do was thrash around.
I’ve broken a number of bones, which never ranked above a 7 on my scale, and gall bladder pains were only a 5 or so. Worst toothache was maybe a 3, so that gives an idea of what that heart attack was like.
Maybe she was reading a Jane Austen novel.
The worst pain I ever had (screaming, profanity, and immediate demands for drugs) was abdominal, during a liver biopsy gone wrong. Previously, I’d had a liver biopsy where they went in through the ribs, which was supposed to be risky for the lungs, but it had gone well with no complications. The second time in a different hospital they put the needle in from below, which was thought to be less risky. Ha! They must have torn open a blood vessel, because internal bleeding suddenly flooded inside my liver capsule, and the pressure instantly sent the pain to my personal 10. Around the liver capsule is heavily innervated with nociceptors (translation: lots of pain-feeling nerves, hurts like fuck!!!), and it was the only time in my life I’ve screamed right out loud in pain.
Runners-up include my recurrent occipital neuralgia, which can be incapacitating. I’ve heard that trigeminal neuralgia is the worst thing in the world, and I can believe it, having experienced its relative in back of my head.
About 8 months ago I started having a bit of pain in right hip area. As time wore on the pain increased and the pain meds started. After an MRI it was discovered that I had a tumor in my abdomine. Byopsy revealed a soft cell sarcoma. As the tumor grew so did the pain level. I’m currently taking 100mg of extended release morphine 3 times a day as well as 15mg fast acting morphine to take as needed. Without the morphine I would easily reach the 8-9 level.
I’m under going treatment and have fingers crossed.
I’m extremely thankful that this has only happened to me a couple times in my life, but when I had a migraine I was essentially a non-functional human being. I couldn’t do anything but lay perfectly still in a quiet, dark room and it was still agony.
Before my mom discovered a pediatric dentist she took me once to hers - the old style nonwater cooled drill [I think the water cooled one is called an Eastman Drill?] and no painkiller. Til the day he retired he had a wicked deep scar on his thumb where I bit almost to the bone. Of course the drill damned near went through my tongue on that one [we need a devil smiley]The unfortuante upshot of the whole mess is that I need to be sedated to get a filling or any serious dental work now. Talk about anxiety issues …
Ok, two most painful encounters in my life…
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Appendicitis. Horrible experience because the pain lingered for so long and me being stubborn and confused, tried to wait it out. Big mistake. Started with a funny feeling at lunch time in the office, actually thought they were hunger pangs, so I went for a second helping of lunch. The ‘hunger pangs’ quickly progressed into what I thought were the worst menstrual cramps I’ve ever had in my life, so I called it a day and went home, took some advil and suffered by myself in bed in a fetal position. Only, the problem didn’t go away, my double lunch left my body and for the rest of the night I tossed and turned trying to get any sleep, but the excruciating pain refused to let me get in a wink. The next morning, I drove to the walk in clinic, they took a few tests, tried to touch my abdomen (bad move) and sent me to the ER. The ER took my appendix a few hours later! On a scale of 1-10, personally an 8…just for the shear unrelenting pain over the course of 24 hours.
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I know this will sound corny and weak, but I remember the pain very well. When I was a teenager, I was vacationing at a beach house on the Cape. My parents me on my own for a few hours, so I thought it would be fun to venture down the sandy beachfront and onto the built up rock jetty, barefoot. I jumped in the water at the very edge, but when I tried to climb back out over the sharp rocks, my foot slipped and punctured my foot. Huge hole in the middle of my foot and salt water was an absolute 10 on the scale. As well as the walk over the sandy/salty beach.
I can say both of these incidents made me a better person though. I read through a few of the others’ posts and I will be sure to guard my achilis tendon for life. 
Zombie bites are a bitch.
Pain? One word, Shingles!
God yes. And it lasted for WEEKS. Had I not been given hydrocodone, I would not have slept at all for the duration. With all of the hullabaloo about opiates, I expect if they ever return, they’ll tell me to go home and pop tylenol. After several years, I still have residual numbness down the inside of my arm. Fun times.
You have post-herpatic neuralgia, probably. IANAD, I only suffer. Lyrica helps. And you’re right about the opiates. My husbands Aunt developed a rash. I said shingles as soon as I saw it. She went to the Doctor, not much help there. She’s still in pain and miserable. No pain meds. I would’ve jumped off a cliff by now.
Welcome, Aradia112, to the Dope. Beckdawrek has, in accordance with fine Dope tradition, noticed and played upon the fact that you have resurrected a zombie thread, one dormant for, lo, nigh half a decade. Perhaps you came across it in a web search – the very way I first found the Dope. Have fun!
Hi, Aradia112, glad you found us. My worst pain was just before my abdominal cancer surgery. It was excruciating and I’ll put it at a nine. I would’ve said ten until I read the descriptions of being burned alive, OMG.
I operate on the assumption that if I experienced a 10, I’d be dead. Instant cognitive failure due to pain overload. Anything above an 8 and I most certainly wouldn’t be able to answer the question due to being otherwise insensate to the world around me. Anything above a 5 and I wouldn’t have been able to get myself to the doctor.
I think I may have experienced a 3 from a toothache once. Perhaps that was a 2.
(Dammit, I answered a zombie thread. Psychological pain level 0.2.)
Back labor was probably a 6
Last year I had the most horrendous headache imaginable. I have never experienced anything like it. It went on for over 24 hours without letting up. I took every OTC pain med I had in the house and nothing would touch it. I was in bed in tears, it hurt so bad. I’d press my forehead hard into the pillow so I could sleep for a few minutes. I hadn’t cried because of pain since I was a little kid. My sweet dog heard me crying and came upstairs and laid with me the whole time. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and had my husband take me to urgent care. The doc asked me where I rated my pain and I said 10 - the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life. At first, she was going to make me go to the hospital for a spinal. But, thankfully, she first asked me if I had a sore throat. I said that I had a scratchy throat a few days ago, but it was fine now. She did a strep test just for the heck of it and it came back positive. Craziest thing ever. She gave me a pain med through injection and then prescriptions for tramadol and an antibiotic. I was wiped out for days.
The highest I got waivered between a 7 and 8. My wisdom tooth that I didn’t know I had got infected and I tried to put off seeing a dentist until the next day because I assumed the emergency room was going to cost thousands of dollars because I’d never been to one, but the pain was so bad that I went anyway (turned out to be less than $500.) I rated it as an 8 and then explained that it was the worst “long-term pain” I’d ever suffered, meaning sure, the instantaneous pain from a bad whack or fall, or torture, would hurt worse but only for a few seconds. A little antibiotics and vicodin and I was okay.
The worst was tearing ligaments and tendons in my foot 35 years ago at HS basketball practice. My foot is clenching up as I write. Mom was working late and couldn’t take me to the ER until the next day.
I was in so much pain it made me barf, I couldn’t stand to even have a sheet touch my foot.
This is my 10.