Fractured rib. Strangely, didn’t feel much pain until the next day at work, and then it really hit. One of my co-workers said I turned white as a sheet and she was afraid I was going to pass out. The intensity of the pain faded soon and the main problem was difficulty sleeping because it was almost impossible to turn over. Silly doctor prescribed Tylenol-3, in a typical exercise of extreme medical conservatism. Tylenol-3 is what a dentist gives you for mild tooth discomfort. I was back there first thing next morning and demanded something that actually worked. Demerol did the trick! I only needed it for a few nights, as I recall.
When she tells you she’s going back to Jimmy because he really understands her.
I’ve had both a tooth abcess and a couple of kidney stones , so I am clearly the final arbiter on their relative anguish levels. Both way off the scale.
However, as a rough guide:
Both left me in so much pain I was afraid I was going to die.
But kidney stones took me to the level where I was afraid I wasn’t going to die.
On my personal pain scale.
Had my thumb roll through a pedestal grinder…6
Was rolling marble blocks into a dumpster, jagged edge snagged my hand, and smashed between block and dumpster. Peeled the skin off like a banana down to the bone…8
Ruptured disc in my lower back…11(didn’t know this thing went to 11)
If those other things are worse than a ruptured disc, I hope to never experience them.
Concussion when I was eleven. Part of it could have been being young and part of it could have been the shock. Apparently my blood pressure took a dive.
I don’t remember the first day in the hospital, which is probably just as well.
Lots of surgeries here. The worst was rhinoplasty/reconstruction. My mouth wouldn’t even open. Uncomfortable and not breathing good was pure hell.
I’ve had migraines and abscessed teeth, and I had a bunion repair that was bad enough I chose not to get the other foot done. I’ve also had a couple of other surgeries, but the worst thing so far was an incarcerated hernia, especially when the surgeon tried to see if she could push it back in (no, and ow). Childbirth, while certainly painful, at least has an end goal. This was something that felt like I might not survive it.
Oh, yeah-- definitely worse than a single contraction during childbirth. Thank gawd they go away, and that’s it-- the only advantage they have over childbirth. I’ve heard of people who get them repeatedly through the night, though, and have to take several different medications to get a night’s sleep.
Unstable Angina episodes that occurred several times a week for a month or two. Because I didn’t die I thought it was GERD and I was being a wimp.
When I finally saw a doctor, it turned out I’d lived through a heart attack or two along with the angina pain.
Gallbladder pain is in second place. Severe pain and constant for several days before I saw a doctor.
My gallbladder pain wasn’t THAT bad, but was just constant unending pain until I went to the ER.
Infected tooth was worse, but only hurt when I did something silly like brush or drink.
Threw out my back last spring, that was the worst so far. Spasms of pain from shifting my foot 1 inch while in bed. Curled on the floor pain, just hoping it goes away long enough so I can crawl to the bathroom.
Same thing happened to me, and I thought the same as you, plus I ate a healthy diet and my blood numbers were always pretty damned good. As such, I thought it couldn’t be heart related, and just had to be stomach related. Pain was bearable but definitely had a “you better stop what you’re doing and relax a bit” quality to it.
Check. When I did, even though I was in no discomfort whatever that day, I was told to get to the ER right away. 3 days later I emerged with a stent. ( and now eating an even healthy-er diet, more exercise, and married to medication one or twice a day for the rest of my life ).
And to think I thought to have a heart attack was Fred Sanford clutching his chest because “It’s the big one!!!”.
Sorry this is a man only thing, but I have to share it. It happened to my son when he was going through test after test at the Mayo Clinic for his cancer. They had to check his bladder. When he came out after the procedure he was in tears. He said they had to insert a tube up into his penis all the way to his bladder. The nurse or whoever was doing the procedure started inserting the tube. My son asked - don’t you need to use lube? SHE said no, it will be fine. It wasn’t. As we were leaving, he had to use the bathroom. I could hear him out in the hallway screaming in pain.
A broke my thumb waterskiing in a lake about six hours to the closest hospital. I was 16 at the time.
It didn’t hurt that much at first, but it kept getting more and more painful. Made it to the ER in Salt Lake City and they gave me something for the pain and told me to see the doctor in the morning.
The bone kept slipping the next day and I wound up fainting several times.
After I got the meds, it wasn’t that bad of pain, but just really tiring.
Kidney stones. (Sob!)
When I was a teen and my eardrum burst from ear infections. It has happened to me THREE times in my life! The third time wasn’t as bad. With the first one, I remember laying in my bed wishing I would die.
I have a friend with a rare condition which gives her hundreds of kidney stones a year. The doctors didn’t believe her until she brought in a tub full of 'em.
She also has basically every autoimmune disease and a bunch of other issues. Very unfortunate person, very kind and upbeat, especially given the circumstances. I do not think I could be in a good mood with all that.
When I was giving birth I checked it against the pain of gallstones (on morphine, before the epidural.) I decided they couldn’t be compared. Very different experiences. I think pain is more manageable with an end goal.
I wanted to mention IBS here. It isn’t sustained pain, but the brief spikes I experience on any given day are immensely painful. If those feelings endured for longer then a few seconds, they would be in the running for this thread. It’s amazing to me how much pain you can be in without dying.
For me it’s a toss-up. One was having a nurse incorrectly inserting a catheter after surgery on my neck. The other was having to swallow following radiation therapy on my neck. It was like shoving a hedgehog into my throat ass first.
I guess the throat pain was worse because it lasted a week before any relief. I lost 30+ pounds because all I could eat was pudding.
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Testicular cancer. It’s like getting kicked in the groin all day, but also worse.
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After abdominal surgery. The cut the facia between my abs and clamped the muscles open for 6 hours. They had me wrapped pretty tightly, but when they opened up that girdle to change my dressing I passed out.
But, the worst of all was cause by a sinus infection. Inflamed tissue around the sinus compressed the trigeminal nerve on the left side of my face. Not only was the pain really bad, it lasted for several days.
Fast forward to today; do you like pudding?
Oh, pudding is still fine. The radiation knocked out my taste and smell, so tasting it now doesn’t trigger those memories.