Weird question for those that have suffered severe physical pain and then got all better.

Hmm, isn’t this basically what drug addiction is? Drugs give you euphoria and/or give you a sense of pain being gone or lessened, and you spend your time waiting for the next chance to feel that again. Heck, even smoking is this.

Not accusing you of being an addict, **Rhiannon **:slight_smile: Just what you wrote made me think of how addiction works.

I’m not sure I’m a candidate for ‘severe pain that got all better’…like the OP, I can occasionally develop sciatica that takes a while to go away, but it will be back…it was the result of a lower back injury…I was shot through the foot when I was 16, and while it healed well enough that it’s never stopped me from doing anything in life, today, I have bone fragments throughout my foot that occasionally ache and now, 40 years later, one toe is moving painfully towards the other…I had shoulder pain from playing sports through high school and college that has resulted in three surgeries - two on my left and one on my right…and they still hurt and I have limited strength when I try to lift anything above my shoulder line…

I guess in my experience the severe physical pains I have had don’t ever get ‘better’, they’ve just become manageable…

Oh, I have no doubt this is exactly how drug addiction begins. About 10 years ago, I was very, very sick and in the worst pain of my life. In the ER, they gave me IV fluids and morphine for the pain. All I can say is, at the moment it hit my system, I knew exactly how people could be come addicted. Thankfully, the “no pain high” I get after migraines isn’t due to anything stronger than Excedrin and the passage of time.

I have suffered quite a few traumatic injuries and then a whole lot more that hurt but had no significant recovery time (i.e. knee going out on a flight of stairs, etc.) and I remember each and every one very particularly with VIVID detail, sometimes, like now simply thinking about them. I don’t like re-visiting them even tho I know it’s all in my head now, but it does happen from time to time.

Forgetting the pain is pretty common. I think you hear about it with childbirth, because for most women, that is the worst pain they’ve ever experienced.

Personally, I have experienced migraines, lower back pain, and an adult tonsillectomy, all of which were way worse than contractions, albeit, I did opt for pain relief during labor (my labor ended up being 27 hours, so, good call, I think).

My lower back pain was so bad that if I walked more than a block, I’d feel like I had to throw up. I tried a couple of different therapists, and neither did a lick of good. My PCP said “Try therapy one more time, and if it doesn’t work a third time, I’ll send you for surgical evaluation.” The third therapist was a miracle worker. Pain was gone after eight weeks of first twice weekly for four weeks, then once weekly for four weeks sessions. She should specialize in back pain.

I can’t decide whether the tonsillectomy of the migraines were the worst pain I’ve ever had. They were both pretty awful. The tonsillectomy was at least planned. I had not work that got disrupted, and it got a little better every day. Migraines came for no rhyme or reason. I got an aura, so I’d get a warning one was coming, but only about five hours in advance, and the worst ones happened in intermediate school and high school. I couldn’t do my homework for the next day. It really screwed with my in intermediate school, but high school was a little better, because at least my aunt believed I was sick, and would get me out of my morning classes the next day.

I remember something of what the pain was like, and I certainly remember* that *it hurt. I also know I’d recognize the pain in a second, but I can’t recall exactly what it felt like to the point of re-experiencing it in my mind. That’s probably good, or it would give me PTSD.

Part of what drives the intense suffering of those who experience intense/chronic pain is not knowing when or if it will ever end. This sucks your soul right out of you, makes your fear white hot from the flames of irrationality. So experiencing similar physical pain but k owing that it will only last 30 seconds is really not much of a comparable experience at all. Apples and oranges. To get an accurate comparison, you’d need to be able to experience the pain thru that interpretation. I guess i mean, you’d have to not know that it would only be for 30 seconds.

Not too long ago I got my first tattoo (this won’t make sense, but it was for [self imposed] “medical” reasons).

Anyway the worst part about it was, I miss the pain of getting it. The feel of the needle dragging through my skin, while painful, was intoxicating in the end. Now I want another tattoo just to feel the pain.

Yeah. Part of the horror of migraines was knowing they would go on for hours and hours. And they accomplished nothing.

With childbirth, you get a baby, and with surgery, you usually get some kind of positive outcome. My tonsillectomy improved my life, and as painful as it was, I would do it again. In fact, I wish I’d done it sooner. The one thing I don’t understand is why my stupid doctor gave me pain pills. Oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and adult strength Tylenol all come in liquid. I had to crush the damn pills and mix them with baby food pudding.

Doctor did the same thing to me when I had jaw surgery, my jaw was wired shut and they gave me pills…:smack: And by the way having your jaw wired shut is a great way to lose weight!!