# What is the most pain you have ever been in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553 "2014-01-23T20:10:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/41 "2014-01-24T01:25:07Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Hit on my bicycle. > Broken femur, partially avulsed hamstring, full degloving of the back of the thigh, partial degloving of the front. > Yeah, I whimpered. šŸ˜ƒ Hit on my bike too, when I was about 12. Ended up with a compound fracture of my leg ā€“ bone sticking through the skin. Fast forward to when I was twenty-something. Freak slip and fall, onto a metal spike that went _through_ my knee. Same leg, too. Hurt like hell. But I have to say, maybe because of shock or something, it wasnā€™t that horrible. I mean, they hurt afterwards. They were definitely seriously unpleasant. But it wasnā€™t unbearable. And Iā€™m not bragging about having some incredible pain tolerance ā€“ I donā€™t. But all the descriptions here, and decriptions Iā€™ve heard IRL, of _internal_ pain (gallstones, kidney stones, migraines, appedicitis, cancer, etc.) sound worse. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/42 "2014-01-24T01:25:11Z")
Unmedicated transitional back labor with a stuck baby. I couldnā€™t figure out why I wasnā€™t passing out. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/43 "2014-01-24T01:39:38Z")
Iā€™ve broken bones, sprained ligaments and suffered third degree burns but nothing was worse than shingles. Because the pain didnā€™t stop for days. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/44 "2014-01-24T01:41:13Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > \ That wasnā€™t so bad until I didnā€™t stay on top of my pain killers because I was dumb and in college. Then it felt like someone had cut off my arm. It took 48 hours to get back on top of the pain. > > When I had my other arm done 9 months later I was incredibly anal about taking my fistful of pills and While I couldnā€™t move or lay down i could at least think.\ I think it was the medical people on the Dope who taught me that staying on top of pain is much easier than trying to wrestle it down after you let it get too bad. Iā€™m not nearly as inclined to under-medicate any longer. > [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I had a migraine that lasted around 36 hrs. My head was pounding so hard I wanted to drill through my skull to release the pressure. I couldnā€™t see anything because any light was too much. Any sound was too loud. It was far and away worse than being in labor. I donā€™t get migraines, but I do get bad headaches, and I have nothing but sympathy for migraine sufferers. Just a bad headache is so miserable - I have no interest in trying to endure anything worse. > [@pohjonen](#): > > \ But oddly enough what must have been the very worst was when I swiveled my chair and banged my knee on the corner of my desk. I woke up on the floor. Iā€™ve done that a couple of times - occasionally it has been bad enough that I had to put my head down while I greyed out, but I havenā€™t actually passed out from it (yet). > [@bump](#): > > Why in the world would they do that? It just sounds sadistic. Iā€™ve heard rumours that that was how they used to do dental work in Jolly Olde England. As a person who is hard to freeze, I can assure you that dental work while not being frozen is indeed quite painful (I do sedation dentistry now - Iā€™ve had enough of that shit). My worst was probably a frozen shoulder. We spent eight or so hours in the emergency room before I got any painkillers for it; there was no position standing, sitting, or lying down that relieved the pain at all; at one point I was just standing there, being held by my husband as I sobbed from pain. The funny addendum to this story is that when we went home and I lay down in bed, my arm fell off the side of the bed, forcing my shoulder backwards. I screamed from the pain of that, but I think it actually caused my shoulder to loosen up and heal up much quicker than it normally would have. If I had been given a choice in that yank, I donā€™t think I could have done it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/45 "2014-01-24T01:45:10Z")
I had a disc in my spine bulge out into my sciatic nerve. It eventually had to get sliced away, but not before several weeks of excruciating pain whenever I was standing for more than about two minutes. Unbelievable pain. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/46 "2014-01-24T01:58:39Z")
> [@jrsone](#): > > Kidney stones and a recurring Pilonidal Cyst on my tailbone is the only thing I can really say has been painful for me. I know we have to have had some worse here. Hey, pilonidal cysts are no joke. I had one several months ago (cried about it here even) and it hurt like a bitch. When they lanced it that was probably the worst pain Iā€™ve ever been in. Much worse than childbirth. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/47 "2014-01-24T02:07:36Z")
Kidney stone and an ear infection. Both hurt badly enough to send me to the emergency room, and for the ER staff to be very quick to hand me the good meds. Vicodin for the ear infection - but for the kidney stone, it was morphine all the way. Sadly, it turns out that when youā€™re in real pain, morphine doesnā€™t get you high at all. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/48 "2014-01-24T02:16:36Z")
Pneumonia, I got pleurisy pain twice and it was different each time and each lasted about 5 days. With every breathe I took it felt like my lungs were RIPPING and TEARING off my chest wall, the pain had me half insane I think as the entire time is a bit of a blur. I was regulating my breathes and had fastened belts around my chest to minimize the pain. And anything could set off an unstoppable coughing fit, that would cause such intense pleurisy pain I couldnā€™t get control of the coughing to stop it and jesus. Worst pain and for the longest Iā€™ve ever felt, crazy thing is this isnā€™t even supposed to be so painful according to doctors! ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/49 "2014-01-24T02:17:13Z")
Most acute (lasting nearly an hour, before I got the shot) - kidney stone acting up. Most acute (lasting only seconds) - ant entered my ear and bit. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/50 "2014-01-24T02:23:59Z")
Spinal tap. Iā€™ve heard theyā€™re painless for some people, but this felt like when a dentistā€™s drill hits a nerve. Except it was my spine. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/51 "2014-01-24T02:31:37Z")
> [@grude](#): > > With every breathe I took it felt like my lungs were RIPPING and TEARING off my chest wall, the pain had me half insane I think as the entire time is a bit of a blur. I was regulating my breathes and had fastened belts around my chest to minimize the pain. And anything could set off an unstoppable coughing fit, that would cause such intense pleurisy pain I couldnā€™t get control of the coughing to stop it and jesus. Yeah, the first time I got pleuritis, I thought I was gonna die. It felt like someone slamming a knife between my ribs with every breath. And it lasted for _weeks_. The concussion I gave myself falling on some ice sucked pretty damn bad, too. Iā€™d have either of them a dozen times over before Iā€™d have another Bartholin gland abscess, though. That fucker _hurt_, even before they started stabbing it with needles full of Novocaine (which doesnā€™t work with a damn on infected, inflamed tissue), slicing it with a scalpel, and mashing it to get the gunk out. Then they couldnā€™t get control of the bleeding and alternated direct pressure and attempts to cauterize it. If youā€™ve never had an electrocautery applied to your sore, inflamed, already traumatized and not at all anesthetized genitals, Iā€™d strongly recommend against it. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/52 "2014-01-24T02:35:07Z")
Shattered my tibia and fibula just above the ankle by slipping on my auntā€™s front sidewalk. My foot was pointing backwards - it looked like I had a spare ankle. I was 2 days short of having health insurance at a new job. Someone asked afterward why I hadnā€™t just waited a couple of days to get the bones set. I had to try hard not to throttle him. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/53 "2014-01-24T02:35:16Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Sadly, it turns out that when youā€™re in real pain, morphine doesnā€™t get you high at all. I donā€™t know if Iā€™ve ever had morphine but once I got totally fucked up on Diluadid which was given to me in the ER for some very, very real pain (intestinal infection). ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/54 "2014-01-24T02:42:59Z")
Iā€™ve broken several bones over the years and even had a heart attack. I even punctured a lung with a broken rib bone, but donā€™t remember much of that one as I also suffered a concussion. However I think a few of my gout attacks beat most of the broken bones. As for the heart attack, I went to see a doctor the next day. With the gout attack I got up in the middle of the night and went to the ER. ---
**Author:** ![WheatCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@WheatCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WheatCat)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/55 "2014-01-24T03:02:43Z")
(1) toothache (2) kneed in the stomach Iā€™m lucky those are by far the worst pain I have ever felt, and the pain went away within 20 minutes. I have had some bad gout attacks, but I would not rank them with 1-2 above. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/56 "2014-01-24T03:06:52Z")
Kidney stone was the most severe pain as an adult. I had a severe kidney infection when I was 9, and I remember it hurting a lot, but I didnā€™t have any prior pain to compare it to. Iā€™m not sure which was worse. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/57 "2014-01-24T03:14:09Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Kidney stone and an ear infection. Both hurt badly enough to send me to the emergency room, and for the ER staff to be very quick to hand me the good meds. Vicodin for the ear infection - but for the kidney stone, it was morphine all the way. Sadly, it turns out that when youā€™re in real pain, morphine doesnā€™t get you high at all. For my first kidney stone I went to the ER since I didnā€™t know what it was, I thought I slipped a disc or broke a rib or had a UTI or something. A kidney stone wasnā€™t even something I had thought of. I was surprised when they said ā€œYou have a kidney stone, hereā€™s some morphineā€. ---
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/58 "2014-01-24T03:42:44Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Unmedicated transitional back labor with a stuck baby. I couldnā€™t figure out why I wasnā€™t passing out. Yeah me too. My water didnā€™t break. We drive to the birth center and there were huge pot holes. Every time we went over one it felt like someone was shoving needles into my cervix. My ex said it was like driving someone with a gun shot wound. Then I had back labor and she got stuck. Dr/midwife did something to change her position and that was the worst pain of my entire life. Itā€™s actually difficult for me now to judge his serious anything is. Iā€™ve got myself in trouble for waiting too long to get something taken care of. Two years ago I bruised my ankle bone and tore a tendon. It still hurts. I would rather give birth naturally again than have this ankle pain. Birth was one day, and I wasnā€™t expected to do anything but give birth. My ankle has been the biggest pain in the ass for so many reasons and has limited me in so many ways. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/59 "2014-01-24T03:50:35Z")
Painkillers donā€™t work too well for me. After my double fusion surgery, I was not convinced there were any actual drugs in the IV pump and on the second day, I was begging for oxycodone, hoping it might at least take the pain from a 9 to an 8. About 20 years ago, I had a spinal tap done, and it leaked. The next day, it felt like my brain was sitting on the sharp bony ridges in the bottom of my skull. When I got to the ER, (someone else drove) I handed over my insurance card, said Iā€™d had a tap the day before and needed a blood patch, then collapsed. At least I think I was at the front desk. I was so blind with pain that I may have been talking to a pop machine. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553/60 "2014-01-24T04:57:19Z")
Iā€™ve had some moderate pain such as a ruptured eardrum, a broken leg while skiing, and a bad tooth that needed pulling, but the most painful experience Iā€™ve had is the test a specialist physician did for possible nerve damage to my arms related to carpal tunnel syndrome. He told me to let him know when it was too painful, but it was painful from the first shock and quickly got worse. The pain was concentrated in my HEAD and I couldnā€™t motion him to stop the torture or he enjoyed inflicting pain and continued on (Iā€™m not really sure which). Since that test, Iā€™ve had low tolerance to stress such as while driving, and my brain gets unpleasantly ā€œfuzzyā€ if stressed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-pain-you-have-ever-been-in/679553.md?page=4)