# The pain scale; highest rating you ever gave **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468 "2007-03-25T21:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/141 "2012-05-08T21:11:36Z")
I had surgery to repair a torn labrum in my shoulder. It was 10’S FOR THE NEXT 2 WEEKS!!! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/142 "2012-05-08T21:13:34Z")
Transitional back labor with a stuck baby. I said it was a 9 out of 10 just in case third degree burns or kidney stones are worse. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/143 "2012-05-08T21:22:30Z")
Spiral fracture of the lower left leg - 6 places. I was 12. It honestly felt like someone was pouring boiling oil all over my leg. I passed out twice and was vomiting uncontrolably before the paramedics could sedate me enough to take the edge off. That was no fun at all. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/144 "2012-05-08T23:50:44Z")
Rereading this thread, I can’t believe I forgot about getting a chemical burn on my right cornea. I was only little at the time, eight or so, but I still remember lying on the floor whimpering most of the night (our HMO wouldn’t approve an e.r. visit, damn them) - can’t remember why I didn’t try to sleep in my bed, though. **That** was probably a 9. TMI On top of all the pain I also got to be horrified by getting to see the little shallow \*\*holes \*\*burned into it the next day at the opthamologist’s. Eww. Fortunately there was no lasting damage. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/145 "2012-05-09T00:17:01Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > These people who get body piercings (nipples, penis, other areas)-what do they report? Probably less than 5. I’ve had a few parts pierced, and while no genitalia were involved, it’s really just above uncomfortable. Maybe a wince, with soreness that can last a few days, but not what I would consider “painful” or needing anything more than a Tylenol. I did report an 8 or 9 once - I don’t remember which I actually said, but I remember giving myself room for worse, just in case. It was a weird throat infection that wasn’t strep, and I was started out on the wrong antibiotic so it didn’t work, and by two more days later I hadn’t eaten or had anything more to drink than the couple sips needed to get the antibiotic (that wasn’t working) down. By the time I got to the ER all I could do was whisper with my eyes constantly leaking tears and while sitting in the waiting room all I could do was rock myself and continue leaking tears. It was getting difficult to breathe, and I only waited a few minutes after triage before they semi-admitted me with IV fluids, steroids and morphine, and a CT scan because the swelling was so bad the doc wanted to make sure there wasn’t an abscess. Still pretty much the weirdest and most painful thing I’ve had. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/146 "2012-05-09T16:30:23Z")
I have a fairly high tolerance for pain, but I have two that rate well over 9. 1. First year in college, I had just gotten contacts. Everyone in my family had hard contacts, but I got soft contacts, which I think were still (relatively) new at the time. Several of us were having dinner at our Japanese professor’s house. It got late, and the professor’s wife invited us to just spend the night. I mentioned that I had contacts, and she gave me her bottle of contact solution. Of course the whole bottle was covered in Japanese writing. Which I couldn’t read yet. Did I neglect to mention that the professor’s wife had hard contacts? And the solution she gave me apparently was just for washing and had to be put in a second solution for at least six hours to neutralize before the contacts were put back in your eyes? Next morning, I wake up and put my contacts in. Hmm - feels slightly uncomfortable. 15 minutes later my eyes are definitely starting to burn. I decide to take my contacts out. 10 minutes after that I am on my knees, begging for a spoon so I can carve my eyeballs out. 30 minutes after that I’m in the car on the way to the emergency room, screaming/crying for someone to just cut my head off. The doctor at first thought I had some sort of chemical burn to the cornea and thought I might be going blind, but they got some solution into my eyes, and after about 30 minutes of blinding white pain, the burning started to subside. Still hurt like a sumabitch for the entire day tho. To this day, just thinking about the pain can make me sick to my stomach. 1. Close buddy of mine from high school and I went and saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the first weekend it came out. On the way home we were going to get something to eat, so we jumped on to the main highway to hit the local Dairy Queen. For Og only knows what reason, we both had our seatbelts on - and I can’t stress strongly enough how odd that was, because we were young punks only thinking of how cool we are - we never put on our seat belts! Well, a drunk driver went through a red light and we t-boned him head-on at 60mph. I broke pretty much every rib bone. If you can imagine getting stabbed with a dozen rusty knives every time you take a breath - that’s what it felt like. That was a fun couple of months. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/147 "2012-05-09T21:09:06Z")
Aaaaaaand here’s a relevant [Hyperbole and a Half](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/02/boyfriend-doesnt-have-ebola-probably.html) comic. I’ve had pretty painful leg cramps, and for me they were about a 6, but nothing like what any of you guys have experienced. Yikes! ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/148 "2012-05-10T01:25:45Z")
I wrenched my back really bad a few years ago. Hurt from my left shoulder through my left buttock and down to my left knee with the main focus of pain being the lower back and left cheek. I was really in severe throbbing pain for several days and quite a few times when I moved wrong I spiked to 9 I’m sure. I screamed like a little girl more than once. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/149 "2012-05-10T02:12:12Z")
renal colic from a kidney stone I had last year, 10. No doubt. I was at a clinic for an ultra-sound for it when the pain hit. I was in the restroom for 2 1/2 hours hoping the pain would pass and I could have the ultrasound done. No such luck, so the clinic called an ambulance at my request. I had the realization that I would rather be dead than bear that pain for long. Fortunately, there are drugs for even this level of pain. The emergency room did an MRI, and found the stone, plus it’s silent brother still in my kidney. The painful one passed, but the other one is still in my kidney. I call it a “time bomb”. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/150 "2012-05-10T02:32:01Z")
When my ear drum burst from infection, some time in high school. It was a 10, I wished for death. There is nothing that can make a burst ear drum (from infection) feel better or get any further away from your brain. It happened 2 more times. The second time I had my mom take me to the ER. The third time the infection must not have been that bad, it didn’t hurt as much. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/151 "2012-05-10T03:08:03Z")
Back pain can hit 11. Most pain that gets to me is a 5+ that chews and nags at me and distracts me enough that i can’t focus or get anything done and makes me tempermental. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/152 "2012-05-11T00:37:46Z")
There is no 11. the pain scale is a subjective thing. YOUR worst pain ever is a 10. A broken bone you had in high school may be your 10 for 15 years, then you discover kidney stones or labor and you have a new 10. We use computer charting were I work and it doesn’t go to 11. If you insist on 40 because it’s ‘off the chart,’ I’m going to record 10, and in 2 hours when your eyes aren’t quite focused and your speech is slurred bercause of all the morphine I’ve given you and you say ‘now it’s a 10,’ I’m still going to record 10 and no one will take you seriously. (true story) ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/153 "2012-05-15T12:45:42Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > There is no 11. the pain scale is a subjective thing. YOUR worst pain ever is a 10. A broken bone you had in high school may be your 10 for 15 years, then you discover kidney stones or labor and you have a new 10. We use computer charting were I work and it doesn’t go to 11. If you insist on 40 because it’s ‘off the chart,’ I’m going to record 10, and in 2 hours when your eyes aren’t quite focused and your speech is slurred bercause of all the morphine I’ve given you and you say ‘now it’s a 10,’ I’m still going to record 10 and no one will take you seriously. (true story) . . . but this goes to 11. 11 is more. Seriously, I experience what I would call intense pain on a regular basis in physical therapy and massages. There are times when I’m sweating and using all my willpower not to wince away and/or kick the therapist in the face. Still, I’d only call that a 7 or so, since I’m not actually screaming and I do retain control of myself. The only thing I could possibly class a 10 was when I was giving birth to my second daughter. She was fairly sizable, but only one point was that terrible. You know the “ring of fire,” as your perineum stretches and bulges to allow the baby’s head to emerge? Well, I had pretty intense ring of fire, and then before her head came all the way out, the contraction ended. Longest minute of my life. I fully expect that if there is actually a hell, my experience will be existing in that moment for eternity. I’m comfortable calling it a 10, as it was accompanied by full-on screaming, begging, and writhing. Having a congested ear act up on an airplane was a (mercifully brief) 9. But in that 10 seconds or so, I was worried I was about to fall into the aisle screaming. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/154 "2012-05-16T02:31:11Z")
Yeesh. It’s a combination of the duration, the suddenness, and the _type_ of pain (internal ache vs. jab with a needle, for example). Childbirth, induced labor: 8 (with extra points for the fact that it kept going… and going… and going… Epidural administered for same: 10. Yeah, that sucked (and it didn’t work). You’re not supposed to jump and scream in agony when they’re putting a needle in your spinal column, but I didn’t have much control over my reactions. Shoulda bitten the bitch nurse’s shoulder who yelled at me. C-section (different child), with not-quite-right epidural: 5. Yeah, the regular labor was worse than the c-section. In fairness, I didn’t feel them _cutting_ for the c-section, just when they were shoving the innards around. First shot of novocaine for a root canal: 9.8. The rest of the root canal: 9. Novocaine didn’t work. You see a pattern here? Slamming my finger between the flimsy plastic seat of a cafeteria chair, and the top of the metal chair leg, as I scooted it forward and flopped my entire rubenesque weight on top: 9.5. It was brief, so that loses points. I have to give myself credit, I did _not_ throw up on my cafeteria tray (especially fortunate since I’d just sat down at a table full of strangers). That is the only time I’ve had pain so sharp and sudden that it nearly resulted in hurling. Gallstone attack: 7 (some extra points for it occurring when we were in the middle of a blizzard and would have had no way to get to the hospital). The following 48 hours, where my hands and feet itched constantly and I couldn’t sleep, ranked about a 9.9 for sheer misery but were not actually painful. Electromyelogram and nerve conductance test on my legs: ranged from 1 to 8 as they went on. Then they did the other leg. Yeah, that sorta sucked: with the second leg, I knew what was happening. The thing is: most of those things, would reasonably be expected to hurt - which helped with tolerating it. Well, except for the root canal: there was no way to grit my teeth and bear it. And the EMG testing similarly. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/155 "2012-05-16T05:03:43Z")
I’ve been in the 9.5-10 range three times: A ruptured appendix that went misdiagnosed overnight. A spinal tap, in which the doctor couldn’t get the needle in the right place for almost an hour. A 10-day migraine. ---
**Author:** ![missinformation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@missinformation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missinformation)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/156 "2012-05-29T19:59:14Z")
Only time I ever hit a 10 was after my car accident. The doctor told me the pain in the back was all “in my head” but kept dosing me with Demerol to keep me quiet…needless to say, I slept ALOT. (The pain from perforating my bowel in 7 places was a 3, staple removal from said surgery 1 5 (no pain meds)). I found out, the day before I was to be released, that I crushed my tailbone. I had been walking around for the past 4 days (8 day hospitalization) not realizing it. I also fractured and separated 2 vertebrae. The surgery for the vertebrae did not hurt too bad. When I broke my wrist, it really did not hurt too bad, slight headache from putting my head through the wall. However, when Dr. B set the wrist, it was a solid 7, with a well-placed kick he managed to step away from… When I fell down a few years ago and pasted my face on the driveway and broke my teeth, it was a 1…I guess I am developing a tolerance for pain…doing my usual backwards falls does not even hurt anymore, and I land flat on my spine… ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/157 "2012-05-30T17:14:05Z")
Migraine definitely pushes me closest to a ten. I have never reported a ten even in the ER, puking and sobbing from the pain because honestly, a ten to me would mean that pain without end - I KNOW that eventually the headache will end. Eventually. I have had cramps bad enough that they actually took out my appendix (which was not inflamed), and prevent me from walking. I had 36 hours of back labour followed by a c-section since Little Precious wouldn’t tuck her chin and help get her 9.8 pound, 23 and 3/4 inches body out. All of these were agonizing (at least the labour I knew would result in a positive), but at least I knew eventually it would pass. But the migraines are the worst. I have considered just bashing myself in the head with a hammer and knocking myself out before. Adding to that was when I had to fly on a Twin Otter with one. It sucks crying with a headache. Sucks more in front of a bunch of Army guys. One actually turned to me and said, “Don’t worry about it, men understand pain and you are clearly in a lot of pain.” ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/158 "2012-05-30T17:57:12Z")
Kidney stone hit a 9. I can only imagine that being burned would be worse. ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/159 "2012-05-31T01:02:07Z")
I spent over a month in the burn ICU (with Necrotizing Faciitis) and had a 3" wide by 7-8" long and 2 1/2" deep _trough_ cut out of me and left open due to the infection still spreading and requiring further surgery. It looked like someone had attacked me with an ice cream scoop! The pain from that hit a 8-9 on my scale, bad enough to cause me to moan in pain, break out in a clammy sweat and go white as a sheet. I spent most of the month getting IV morphine and Percocets alternating every two hours. Never enough to make the pain go away, just enough to bring it down to a 3-4 where I could handle it. I’d rather be in some degree pain than to be non-lucid. I’ve had several concussions, fractured facial bones, broken teeth, broken ribs and hands, torn cartilage in my knees and ankles, forehead chopped to ribbons by flying glass in a car accident only a ruptured disk putting direct pressure on my spinal cord came close to that level of pain. FWIW the burn ICU is _not_ a fun place to hang out in. The screaming, especially from the children when they debride the burns was simply horrifying. The staff loved me due to my generally happy demeanor, non-demanding nature and very high tolerance for pain. They stopped giving me the pre-debridment anti-anxiety meds after the second day when they were cleaning my wound and I wasn’t screaming or moaning like everyone else. Nurse: “Doesn’t that hurt?” Me: “Yeah it does. So?” ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468/160 "2012-05-31T13:01:28Z")
I’ve had migraines that i rated as tens. I had penile/scrotal surgery and the recovery was at least a 12. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pain-scale-highest-rating-you-ever-gave/397468.md?page=9)