# Worst Pain? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922 "2023-10-22T16:05:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/1 "2023-10-22T16:05:40Z")
At the Doctor’s office now waiting to be seen. Did something to my back while picking up a towel off the floor. Aside from giving birth to children, what is the worst pain you’ve ever experienced? I want to exclude childbirth because I think that as much as men can see and sympathize, I don’t think we can truly understand that pain completely. I’d like to keep the experiences limited to things both men and women can directly experience. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/2 "2023-10-22T16:10:28Z")
Mistake. Deleted. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/3 "2023-10-22T16:11:54Z")
Dislocated kneecap. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/4 "2023-10-22T16:15:06Z")
Abscessed tooth. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/5 "2023-10-22T16:16:01Z")
Kidney stones. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/6 "2023-10-22T16:18:18Z")
Doctor cut out ingrown big toenail with no anesthesia, after sticking a half dozen needles in the wrong place. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/7 "2023-10-22T16:20:10Z")
Gout. A friend of mine’s mother experienced both childbirth and gout, and reported the gout was worse. I throw out my back occasionally. The last time, I passed out (vasovagal reflex) and fell as I was heading for the couch (I didn’t make it, and slammed my face on the hardwood floor). ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/8 "2023-10-22T16:20:10Z")
Rupturing my lower spine discs. Worst pain was at the point of initial rupture, plus 2-3 days. Took my breath away if I shifted my weight ever so slightly the wrong way, or seemingly rolled my eyes too hard. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/9 "2023-10-22T16:30:08Z")
Shingles is very unpleasant. Indescribable pain. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/10 "2023-10-22T17:02:24Z")
Easy choice for me. I had a root canal done, with what seemed like very excessive filing, where the numbing agent was ineffective. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/11 "2023-10-22T17:04:29Z")
I’ve had a kidney stone and a second-degree burn. The kidney stone hurt the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/12 "2023-10-22T17:22:20Z")
Fingers with Raynaud’s Syndrome. Kidney stones (on multiple occasions) are second worst. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/13 "2023-10-22T17:34:48Z")
The first six or eight hours after I woke up from open-chest surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/14 "2023-10-22T17:37:29Z")
Before one of my back surgeries I had a cyst pressing against a nerve that gave me a flare of pain that literally knocked me off my feet. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/15 "2023-10-22T17:49:13Z")
Burst appendix when I was 14 in 1975. I still get chills when I recall being curled up in a ball on the floor at the hospital admittance desk and them telling my parents they could not admit me without the proper insurance papers. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/16 "2023-10-22T17:54:40Z")
Kidney stones. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/17 "2023-10-22T17:56:49Z")
I had CMV Colitis five years ago. Until then, I would have sworn that I would never experience pain worse than gout (and I’d had kidney stones before that and still think the gout pain was worse) but the CMV was debilitating in a way pain had never been for me before. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/18 "2023-10-22T17:57:29Z")
Pleural effusion. Liquid in the chest cavity, in my case stomach acid leaking through an ulcer. Can’t breathe, can’t swallow, pain from the neck to the groin. It has meant 4 emergency room visits. In 3 of the 4 visits I had doctors diagnose me with drug withdrawals till blood test showed I was clean. The only thing to stop the pain is morphine. The 4th ER visit I was seen by a doctor that had seen it once before. A radical change in diet has worked so far. The list of stuff I no longer eat is long. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/19 "2023-10-22T18:18:15Z")
In a plane crash, I got my humerus smashed, my scalp torn open, a metal rod jammed deep into my inner thigh, and I bit a hole thru my tongue. It was the tongue that hurt the most, but the whole pain situation was truly unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922/20 "2023-10-22T18:19:51Z")
Agreed, Kidney Stones. I’ve had some back issues that were pretty bad, but nothing compared to 2 bad incidences with kidney stones. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-pain/991922.md?page=2)