pain threshold

[happywheezer]

Having recently had my second CS and this time I needed a drain apparently.
Having it taken out with only paracetamol and voltrol as pain relief, and asking the MW to stop twice because it was as if somebody was standing on my wound and pulling, I wondered whether anything could be more painful.

Say that giving birth is a 10, what is your pain threshold? Have you experienced anything more painful than childbirth?

I used to nthink that injections and blood taking were painful but not anymore!

[Crawling]

I have felt three more painful to me than birth one was the mw putting her hand in to check for cervical tears after giving birth it was twice as bad as contractions or crowning, and when I was 11 I dislocated my shoulder had to run 10 minutes to get home it was pure agony every step I thought I would pass out the third was my ear canal collapsed and I od on pain relief being delirous and unable to think clearly enough to go to a doctor.

[StiffyByng]

More painful than childbirth? My SPD, a labial abscess, broken collarbone and foot, post-operative muscle spasms in my jaw...

But I DID have gas and air.

[WidowWadman]

Don't know how painful childbirth itself is, as I only ever had CS, however would say that the pain of oxytocine-drip induced contractions and the pain caused by acute pyelonephritis is pretty similar and at the 10 end of the painful scale.

[PipCarrier]

I had gallstones a few years before I had a baby and I'd say that the gallstone attacks were far more painful than giving birth.

[voodoomunkee]

I swear toothache/abcess was more painful than childbirth ever was! Least I could get relief from childbirth! Also childbirth had the added advantage of being productive! Not really up to the same things others have had sorry for being flippant lol

[Beamur]

I had v low pain threshold for labour - but was induced, other than that the only other pain that was hard to bear was toothache - although a chum of mine ( has kids too) says pain from a kidney infection was worse than labour.

[mrsravelstein]

i've had 3 cs's so can't comment on childbirth per se, but on my 3rd section they stitched a nerve in on one side, apparently it happens quite often, and it was the most unbelievable pain i've ever felt, it would be fine for a few hours then suddenly spasm and a few times i passed out. (then again i passed out when i had a very small tattoo done too, so i am probably just a wimp)

[Backinthebox]

Root canal surgery and being hit by a car are both definitely more painful than childbirth.

[Backinthebox]

PS mrsravelstein - I used to be a pain control product specialist once, a long time ago, and nerve pain is the only pain drugs can't touch.

[sloathy]

Slipping a disc was the only thing that came close to the pain of labour for me. But then DS was back to back and my epidural stopped working just as they hooked me up to the syntocinon to speed things up...ouch....

[maxbear]

After three normal births I would say that the worst pain I have ever experienced is.....having the verucas burnt off my foot!

Childbirth wasn't great either but I did get a fab baby out of it (well 3 after 3 births) and it was ok to make a bit of noise, not so acceptable in a doctors surgery!

And it felt like I was walking on hot coles for about a week after having the verucas burnt off, the week post childbirth was never that bad for me! (apart from the first evening after dc1 when I forgot I had just given birth and plonked myself down on a hard chair, now that was NOT comfy!)

[emsyj]

Never done the crowning and pushing part - had very fast emergency section at 10cm dilated - but IMO toothache is infinitely worse than contractions. I would labour all night rather than suffer an hour of toothache.

[Spudulika]

Pushing out an 11lb baby with no pain relief was pretty excruciating. Do remember whining frantically about how it REALLY hurt and I just wanted a break from it all. DS's head was half way out at that point and the midwife told me I just had to get on with it!

[cory]

I've had pleurisy twice and it was a lot more painful than childbirth: both times I was sobbing non-stop with the pain.

[idlevice]

At 6mths pregnant I had degeneration of a fibroid. A fibroid is a benign growth in the uterus & if it's bloodflow gets cut off (eg cos of more blood going to the foetus during pregnancy) part of its tissue starts to die. It is also called infarction, like cardial infarction. It was exquisite agony & I could not have any pain relief cos of the baby. I was in so much pain I didn't care about the pregnancy. I then went on to labour (at full term luckily) under syntocinon with a posterior baby but with no pain relief & although that was like being tortured at least I knew it was going to end at some point, so not as bad.

[mrsravelstein]

backinthebox thank you, i feel less wimpy now!

[LiegeAndLief]

The difference with childbirth is that at least when in labour you get a break between contractions (although I realise some people have back to back contractions, which thank god I have never experienced!). I had epigastric pain as a symptom of pre-eclampsia and, although it was never as painful as the height of a contraction, it was still extremely painful and relentless for days, had no "purpose", and so seemed much worse to me.

Getting stung by a jellyfish (no idea what kind) off the coast of Malaysia comes a close second. Was so painful I couldn't swim and had to be towed to shore by my brother.

[DefNotYummyMummy]

From these experiences above I am lucky that I have just experienced a drug free enforced labour ! (Epidural didn't work). I have never felt pain like it and hopefully never again.

But I will say that the high you get after the baby actually comes out is the most amazing experience. I didn't get this with my two CS's (although they weren't that bad at all pain wise compared to labour).

Also the stitches were pretty bad after the natural birth - given 7 hours after the birth without anaesthetic - so common as I would find from the brave ladies on this site !

[sc2987]

I've had a baby, a fracture reduced and a gastroscopy without anaesthetic/sedation, didn't find any of them painful. The fracture hurt, the other were just mildy uncomfortable.

By far the most painful thing I've experience was breastfeeding for 10 weeks with a tongue-tied daughter (now divided, thankfully!).

[RAlover]

Slipped a disc last year......would rather go through childbirth again than have that pain.

[nannyl]

not actually given birth yet to compare...

but im guessing (/ hoping!) when i was run over (at 50mph, wrote off the car) and had a compound fracture to my leg.... as both tibia and fibular where right out, and my foot was dangling, and the ambulence men poured liquid iodine all over it, might have hurt a bit more.

No pain relief either as i was heading straight to theatre (and at that point, despite being conscious, they thought i was going to die)

Also broke my shoulder and using crutches with a broken shoulder (as i couldnt weight bear at all for months) was not particularly pleasant

[MotherMountainGoat]

Two things were way more painful than childbirth (and I had two natural births with no pain relief whatsoever):

When I had an abscess in my back and the doctor whacked into it with a scalpel and NO pain relief. Was this the Middle Ages? Nope, late 80s in Wales.

When I had taken a strong prescribed laxative in preparation for an operation the following day, and the stomach aches it caused were worse than the strongest contractions.

[fraktious]

YY to laxative induced stomach cramps.

Ripping a toenail off and then walking around for 12 hours.

I agree labour has an end point which is important to how I react to pain.

[firstforthought]

severe constipation in early pregnancy I was on my hands and knees rocking ! You know the type of pain where you "don't know where to put yourself" Thought I would pass out from the pain...
For the birth of dc2 I was 7cm when I got seen at the hospital and felt like I was coping after that its all abit of a blur tbh. My labour seemed ok but the birth consisted of involuntary roars with me saying to mw "sorry i don't know where that came from". Shoulder/Dys and hand to face presentation might have something to do with that...?

[firstforthought]

As a child I broke my leg and one of my painful memories was the Nurse heavy-handedly removing the drain..Ouch.