What's worse: kidney stone or childbirth?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The first time I had a kidney stone (I’ve now had about 7 or 8 I think) I went to the emergency room because I didn’t know why I was suddenly having this unbelievable pain. The doctor there diagnosed the stone, and mentioned that his aunt had had five children, including a pair of twins, but she always said that her kidney stone was a worse pain than any of the childbirths. (The doctor also said that kidney stones can produce the most intense pain a person can experience and survive.)

So for the women here who have experienced both, do you think kidney stone pain is really worse than childbirth? (Of course I know that individual childbirths vary greatly, as do individual kidney stones, so we can’t conclude anything definite from these anecdotes.)

2

While being male and having experienced neither; my late grandmother said the same thing, that kidney stones were far worse.

3

Always heard that to be true. I can believe it.

4

I never had a child, so I can’t speak from experience, but my urologist told me that he’d had mothers say that stones were the worst

I seem to remember a similar thread, and one poster spoke of her sister who, while in labor, started to pass a stone.

5

You don’t have to raise the kidney stone.

6

I have personally heard women say that they want another baby and I have never even heard of anyone claiming that they want another kidney stone.

Therefore I can only conclude that kidney stones are worse.

7

I wish we had upvotes.

8

I’ve been asking my female patients for years, >9/10 said the kidney stone was worse without hesitation.

9

A childstone is the worst.

Lithopedion.

10

I think memory of pain can be quite unreliable. Since childbirth is otherwise a joyful occasion, I wonder if that influences the memory? It would be interesting to know whether pain levels reported during the experience tally with the remembered experience.

11

I’ve had natural childbirth and a large kidney stone. I’d want to do neither again (although I did have another kid). They were both unbelievably horrible. With the kidney stone, the nurses were coaching me in lamaze breathing because I was hyperventilating with the pain, and they don’t give painkillers until they run a bunch of tests. With the baby, I remember focusing on a picture in the room through the contractions. After the delivery, my blood pressure was dangerously high (apparently due to the pain, per the doctor) that I was held for several hours until it dropped, before they moved me to another room.

Things vary from stone to stone, baby to baby. They were both horrendous.

12

Neither. A ruptured appendix is worse than kidney stones or childbirth.

13

A swift kick in the nuts. Absolutely.

14

I once gave myself a bad papercut to the eyeball.

Worse than childbirth. Although, the papercut pain was over more quickly than childbirth, it was a sharp, overwhelming sort of pain that I hope to never see the equal of again. I’m guessing it’s about on par with passing a kidney stone.

15

My sister, also an RN for 40 years now, has delivered twice, had kidney stones and gall stones. She reports kidney stones are nearly as bad as giving birth. “Without question the closest a guy will come to that type of pain.”

I’ve only had kidney stones, the first time when the unknown was also in play was severe, the second time was also really bad. I’ll admit the third and last time was only painful. What I am saying is I am saying is I am glad I can’t experience childbirth.

16

Good points all, and both vary, from event to event.

17

I’ve not had kidney stones or children but I saw what kidney stones did to my dad. 6’4" 350 pound guy laid flat from the kidney stones.

My boss has twin boys and just recently had a bout of kidney stones. She said no contest the kidney stone pain was worse than giving birth.

18

I posted the same question quite a few years back, and IIRC got 17 replies from people who had experienced both. All 17 said the stone was worse.

But I doubt it would stay anonymous. I’ve had more than 40 stones myself, and they vary quite a lot. If you want to know what a stone really feels like, ask somebody who has only had a few. I had a 13 mm stone removed by lithotomy and it was very painful, but I had a stone of about 3 mm that I passed while driving. Big difference.

19

Bad enough, but overrated. I’ve had worse pain than that (from pinched nerves, broken ribs, etc) and I’ve never had a kidney stone or given birth.

20

Male perspective - on one hand, the kidney stone was so painful (it took four days to pass) that I started out vomiting and writhing around on the hospital bed. On the other hand, they gave me dilaudid and I felt great! - and I’m not sure anyone giving birth has a similar option. So, in my admittedly male ignorance of childbirth, I’d rather have the kidney stone (presuming the right drugs are available). Plus, you do get to have a kid when it ends.