The pain scale; highest rating you ever gave

In My Humble Opinion
101

Kidney stones for serious misery.

My first one was in 1999, I believe. I’d been having really startling nasty pain every morning for about 45 minutes. I didn’t feel quite as bad if I was lying down, but there wasn’t really anything I could do to make myself feel better.

The doctor at the student health center told me “Oh. It’s muscle pain, because you’re overweight.”

"But Doctor, I’ve had muscle pain. I was in track and cross country when I was in high school. I know I’m overweight, but I’m not THAT – "

“You need to talk to a dietician and do these stretching exercises. Lose the weight and you won’t have problems.”

I grumbled and groused and reminded myself we called that place the student death center for a REASON…

About a week and a half later I was sitting around outside with my friends when I started to have that horrible feeling again. I walked the six blocks or so to the center, and by the time I got there I was beginning to cry. I called my father, who took about 45 minutes to get there from work. The only part of the health center that was open was the sports medicine area, and it was two hours before they even gave me somewhere to lie down, let alone pain relievers. From my description, they figured I probably had a kidney stone.

Add to this a merry case of food poisoning I’d contracted after a breakfast at a convention. The pain was bad enough to make me puke and the food poisoning had given me diarrhea. The bathroom had been cleaned about five minutes before I went in there so naturally the floor was still wet. Let’s just say that when I knelt over the commode to empty the contents of my stomach I emptied more than I was expecting… I have never before and never since (and hopefully never in the future) been so mortified and miserable. The pain pills they gave me kicked in after about an hour (that’s three or four hours of me screaming in total) and I passed the stone two days later.

I passed a few more stones after that, but mostly they weren’t quite as painful – enough that I’d miss work, but it would always get me in trouble with my boss. I’ve lost more than one job to kidney stones, including one I actually loved (or at least at a company I loved). I’d started toughing it out since the doctors really couldn’t do much, but then I started having a great deal of abdominal pain and vomiting for maybe one or two days every two to four weeks. I thought it couldn’t be kidney stones because I never PASSED a stone and they usually just hurt, they didn’t tend to make me throw up.

Lost my job. Temped for a while, but it’s hard to keep temp assignments when you’re constantly out sick. Out of desperation I went to a doctor I couldn’t afford and got an MRI (I think?) of my abdomen where they discovered one stone about the size of a golf ball and another one in the other kidney “only about half that size!”

Kidney stones are worse than ear infections, even. Even really bad ones. Ear infections are happening right in your skull and they’re the same kind of constant pain, but the kidneys are still worse. I’ll writhe around in bed crying quietly and whimpering – but not sobbing or talking because that just makes the pain worse.

I used to think I was such a wuss for calling out of work for a stomachache. I belong to an organization that my old HR-person also belongs to; whenever we have events I consider going up to her and updating her on what exactly got me fired. :frowning:

I still call them an 8. I have no fear of childbirth.

102

The gallstone attack that finally sent me to the hospital was a solid 9.5, I was ready to throw myself down the stairs just to make it stop.

Being in recovery from my C-section wasn’t nearly as bad, more like an 8, but the morphine didn’t do any good (demerol is my friend). Being pregnant w/twins was an ongoing excursion from 3 to 7 and back again, month after month, and that got real old.

For sharp, intense pain, I’d nominate whatever stung me between my toes last summer. One minute I’m checking out our flowers, then in a flash my whole reality was concentrated on this tiny area of incredible pain.

I’ve had some IBS that caused me to break out in a sweat and nearly faint, I’d give that a 9. You guys mentioned that gut pain is especially wrenching - in Gone With the Wind, one of the characters remarks that it’s easier to march with a leg wound than with dysentery.

103

Worst pain, when I broke my leg about 4 years ago. I shattered the tibia, broke the talus in two, and ripped the achilles tendon from its attachment. MUCH worse than having a baby, and I’ve had two sans drugs.

That was probably about a 9. I wasn’t screaming or anything, but I was close to passing out a few times. The worst part was riding to the First Care. The whole bottom of my leg was just kindof flopping there (gross I know! :D), and every tiny bump jarred and flopped it round more. THAT was bad. Very VERY bad.

The First Care wasn’t even able to prescribe any pain meds for me, they put a temporary plastic cast on it and I had to wait until the next day. Thank goodness for my boyfriend’s mom who gave me a valium.

104

…

and according to Googlage, the best way to avoid these ogawful stones is drinking water.

blast!

105

Maybe not the worst pain intensity wise but the worst cumulative was when I shattered my heel jumping down from a semi truck.
The pain as I was laying on the ground was close to blinding a ten for the worst I have ever felt, probably an 8 for the worst I could think of. I could still talk, but just barely.
I was taken to the hospital and was promised pain meds as soon as the X-rays were taken. Forty five minutes later I still waiting. I did not realize just how much pain I was in until the Demerol was injected and the pain went away.
I went home thinking that a broken bone would not hurt too bad. Then the Demerol wore off. All I had was Vicoden, and all that did was take just the edge off the pain. The doctor was concerned that I was going to get hooked, and refused to give me anything any stronger. I did not sleep for more than one hour at a time for almost three months.
When I started physical therapy everyone told me that the harder I worked in PT the sooner I would get better. I went through three therapists before I found one that took me at my word, that the doctor said aggressive physical therapy and damn it aggressive is what I want.
Be careful what you ask for you just might get it. I would take two extra strength Vicoden and a couple of Naproxin Sodium and head off to PT. During PT the therapist would take off the shoe from my good foot to compare my range of motion. I would bite down on my Nike to keep from screaming. Tears would run down my face. Every so often she would stop and ask if I was OK. I would spit out my shoe, and say I’m fine, keep it up. As soon as I got home, I would take some more Vicoden and have a large glass of wine.
Bottom line is I can now walk, and most of the time I don’t limp.
For sharp but not long lasting pain, I think breaking my ribs is right up there.

106

Aw, crap, I forgot about the kidney infection I had as a teenager. That was bad. Rolling around on the floor-throwing up-bad. 9.5 for me.

I had a cavity filled without any anesthesia at all, that was a 7 - if I could’ve slapped the asshole dentist who suggested it, I’d knock off a point for the revenge factor.

I also had some problems with cystitis in my early 20s, with several episodes of burning pain that I’d call an 8.

107

A 9.5, ranging up to 10. (That’s on the “pain you’ve ever felt” scale, not “pain imaginable” scale.) It was bad enough that I was ok with the idea of my life ending to get rid of the entire body PAIN. There was no end in sight, and I’d been sick for hours. (I took the Sulfa in the morning before school, and had been gradually getting sicker until I couldn’t sit, couldn’t stand, and felt like puking. I told my teacher I was hurting badly, she took one look at me and sent me to the nurse. By about noon the school nurse took me into the doctor’s to get medical attention.) He gave me a shot, and a anti-nausea suppository. I was better fairly quickly after that, but I won’t forget the raw current of pain I felt. That wasn’t the worst reaction I could have had, either. :eek:

108

To clarify: Reaction to Sulfa was 9.5 to 10. The blisters on my feet, after they “thawed” were 10s. (But the Sulfa reaction was longer term, and more scary. It built over the hours and got worse, until everything hurt, and I didn’t even want to breathe. My feet were numb, then in about 20 minutes I started to feel the pain.) The period pains in my early youth could spike to 9s, they’d double me up so my head would slam into my desk and I’d let out involuntary groans. I couldn’t walk upright with them, first thing in the morning I’d crawl to get Midol. Overall they were 8 to 8.5 when they’d hit.

109

Mine too. I would gave it a 10.

110

Giving birth without painkillers, for the most part was 6-8, with the stitching of the tear going to 9.
Kidney stones which were usually a 4 sometimes something would slip quickly and be a 10 briefly. With 10 pain everything went black and spiky and my knees buckled.

I also had an extended exacerbated migraine cause by going off a medication too quickly that caused a 10 pain. I can’t remember that too well. Vernon tells me I screamed and screamed. Normal migraines are 6-8.

111

I took a piece of cable (3/0 THHN copper wire) to the eye once. A square hit flush to the cornea. The doc could count the individual wire “dents” (19!) on the eye.
I don’t remember lots of pain, but the eye was numb and I almost passed out right after it happened. I recovered, no permanent damage.
Kind of like the pain I get when I dislocate a shoulder, numb general type of pain that overwhelms the senses, but not the kind that you can pin-point and call it a number like 8 or 9. At least for me anyway.

112

I have just read all the way through this thread, and I think it rates a good 3 on its own…

113

Last summer, sitting in my office chair, I had one ankle on my other knee when I happened to sneeze. A searing pain shot into my lower back. I was in so much pain I couldn’t even un-cross my legs.
Later I remember the paramedics showing up and trying to get me out from behind my desk and onto a gurney.
I felt myself graying, then blacking out. First time I ever blacked out in my life.
They say I was “gone” only a minute or two.
I would give that one a solid 8.
Pinched nerve I guess it was.

114

oh great, now i am a thread killer.

115

Aw, the thread was dying anyway.
I should have named it “Over-analyze the pain scale with me.” Because I was really more looking for people’s relative perception of pain and how they felt about looking wimpish. But people wanted to post about their painful experiences and I let them run with it; and now this is probably the most popular thread I’ve ever started.

116

Well I’ll chime in, I had a fun experience at work that I’d like to share.

But first my experience with the pain scale is both personal and professional. It’s an attempt to objectify something which is intrinsically subjective, a dicey proposition. Useful? sure, but limited; and limiting if taken too seriously.

Having said that when I had my gallbladder surgery I noticed an interesting change in my perception before and after. I gave the same numerical rating to my pain before and after, even though before was a dull ache and after was a sharp stabbing. But before was much more distressing because of my condition. I suppose fear had a part in it, but I had the best surgeon in the area and I know it’s a pretty routine procedure. I think the real difference was the feeling, pre-op that there was something REALLY WRONG in my belly, post-op the red alert light was off and I knew I was over the top and just had to right it out. Interesting experience.

Anyhoo, yesterday I was taking a history on a little old lady with pain;

“On a scale of 1-10 how bad is your pain?”

“well it’s kinda hard to hem and haw and gee and well”

I cut her off cuz we’re mighty busy
“if 10 is natural childbirth and 0 is a day at the beach where are you right now?”

“I’m in the kitchen scrubbing the floor.”

“Ma’am you just made my night”

117

That may the best analogy I’ve ever heard used. I understand her immediately.

118

Yep. Had there not been people around who knew about the vinegar, I’d be one of THOSE lurkers…

119

I think my highest is probably a 8.99999.

I got shot in the eye with a paint ball. Imagine having a ~15 pound weight dropped on your eye from about a foot. That is basically what it felt like.

When I was in the emergency room they decided that they had to clean out the paint. Without painkiller. It took 6 people to hold me down while they did that. Two on each leg and one on each arm while they squrited water into my eye. Man, that sucked.

Slee

120

I don’t know that I’ve ever had more than a somewhere between a three and five that I can remember.

The worst pain I can actually remember- Waking up with a charlie horse has to be the worst pain I can remember, because I woke up in the middle of the night with a keening cry. I didn’t know where the pain came from, it felt like my muscle was tearing and burning, and I felt like I should be bleeding out from my leg. I didn’t know how to call out for help because it hurt so much I couldn’t think in words, and I didn’t know when it would stop, or how to stop it. - But it only lasted for 30 seconds and I can imagine things hurting so much worse, or longer, or not localized to my calf…

The pain I get in a muscle between my shoulderblades is close to as bad, but I never remember how bad it feels unless it is actively hurting.

Times that I know I’ve been in pain, but can’t quantify anymore: I’ve had ear surgeries (and while I remember that I was in a lot of pain from the surgery, I don’t remember the pain itself) and bad ear infections, and my wisdom teeth removed.

The strange thing is that I view discomfort as much worse than actual pain in my life, because discomfort can be changed, and it isn’t being changed at that moment, while pain just has to be dealt with.
Discomfort- The crunching of my wisdom teeth by the doctor while the teeth were up in my jaw. Headaches (pain behind my eyes, irritation with light and noise. not that bad, but it would be so much better if I could just go be alone in the dark). My knees after work (when I’m having trouble walking because it hurts to move my legs or put pressure on my joints). All that sucks so much to me because I know it could be changed.
Pain- is either there, and has to be accepted (or medicated if possible) or it’s not. I am terrified of the day when I find worse pain that I’ve had.

About the redhead thing- I am a redhead. I do know that I’ve never used pain meds for more than 24 hours after a surgery (ear with a behind the ear incision, or wisdom teeth removed), which would speak to a high pain tolerance, but that I am slow and stupified with minor pain (headaches, gas cramps, knees, bad sunburns).