I just had my first kidney stone before Christmas. First you’re afraid you’re going to die, and then you’re afraid you won’t.
I ain’t birthin’ no babies anytime soon, but have already been told by three women who have that kidney stones are worse.
Depends on the baby and the kidney stone.
My husband’s kidney stone was small, passed relatively quickly, and once he figured out it was bad, they put him on good drugs. When it passed two days after the first pain, he hadn’t even needed the drugs for 32 hours - and once it passed it was done.
My labor contractions lasted about the same amount of time, but they wouldn’t give me pain meds until I was sufficiently dialated - and it was really painful. During delivery I tore, and it took about two weeks to get so I could walk into and through Target for diapers.
And hormones with a birth do help with the pain and the memory of the pain. You don’t get those with a kidney stone.
My labor was worse than his kidney stone. But some people take weeks to pass a kidney stone (I can’t imagine) and some people give birth easily.
I present another issue that causes the kind of pain no one ever wants to have, omental infarction. The pain is in the chest and abdomen and circles the whole body. I could barely breath, I could only take short shallow breaths till I was but on oxygen. Caused by a virus in the chest cavity. The first time I had no idea what was causing the pain, I spent 12 hours in ER, an ultrasound and CT scan showed nothing. I overheard a doctor calling me a druggie going through withdrawals. Some good pain killers and time and the pain subsided.
6 months later it hit again. Went to the same ER so they had a record of my previous visit. The doctor treating me diagnosed me with the omental infarction. A couple of shots between the ribs and some good pain relievers in the IV, I was out of the hospital in about 9 hours.
The third and last time I was on vacation when it hit. My only option was a small town hospital and again, I was treated as druggie going through withdrawals. This time the pain was much worse than the first 2 times. Apparently someone writhing in pain on the floor is common at this hospital, none of the doctors or nurses did anything for over 2 hours. I truly wanted to die the pain was so bad. My wife was going to drive me 4 hours to another hospital before I was admitted. After reviewing my previous medical records, I was finally given the treatment I needed.
What ever caused this has healed apparently, it’s been 4 years since my last attack. I also carry my medical records on a thumb drive with me at all times just in case I have another attach.
I’ve never experienced childbirth, but I have had kidney stones. The first time I ended up in the ER, curled into a ball, moaning from pain.
Even though I dislike that “There are 2 kinds of people in the world…” statement, I did decide that there may in fact be only two kinds of people in the world: Those who have had kidney stones and those who don’t understand what all the moaning and puling is all about.
Having said that, I’ll point out that many folks have kidney stones and don’t know it – it’s only when the stone obstructs the flow of urine that you get the pain. Well, usually you get pain. I had a stone that was found sort of by a fluke – I had a CT scan for something else. That stone was obstructing and my right kidney was at least a third larger than my left, but I never experienced pain. Most medical people were dumbfounded, but the nephrologist told me that if the stone forms in a spot where it gradually cuts off the flow of urine, sometimes there’s no pain.
I can’t find it, but somewhere doing some research for a class I found the statement that the worst pain humans can experience is any kind of obstructive pain, where something solid is trying to pass through an opening that cannot stretch far enought to accomodate it. Which explains why childbirth is compared to kidney stones… but the cervix and vagina are infact designed to stretch enough for a baby. Not often, and not easily, but at least they are built to stretch. Not so with ureters.
I’ve had bad kidney stone pain 3 times (once for stones on both sides - laser up my penis for one side, ultrasound for the other) - the only thing that might have been worse for me was one time I hurt my back, which pain dropped me to the ground immediately.
Question: I know that evolution doesn’t actually work this way - but what the hell is the reason for pain receptors in the kidneys? Pain is your bodies way of saying “stop doing that” - and what does my hunter-gatherer body think I’m going to do about a kidney stone, beyond writhing on the ground to tell the passing tiger “here’s an easy meal”?