To ask what's the worst (physical) pain you've ever experienced?

[canwetalkaboutcake]

I've never broken a bone or given birth, but I have had some very painful periods that have made me feel like I'm going to pass out. Also terrible travel sickness / vomiting on a 20 hour trip that left me wishing for death due to how crap I felt.

Colonoscopy, period pains and rheumatoid arthritis flare, particularly in my shoulder. Couldn’t sleep for more than ten minutes at a time with the latter.

Giving birth (gas & air only)

Closely followed by pain from an arthritis flare up as I have axial spondyloarthritis in my spine.

Removal of an infected/rotting/ abscessed/broken tooth (molar). Awful. Worse than child birth.

Was meant to be a standard extraction (30 min appointment).
I was in there for 2.5 hours. The anaesthetic just wasn't touching it at all.

The tooth finally came out (in 3 broken parts😭) and even the dentist was shocked at how infected the root was! She told me she'd had to give me 5x the normal amount of local anaesthetic and she had never given that much in one go before (had to consult with a senior manager before giving me that amount😄)

I've vowed to have general anaesthetic if I ever need anymore out!

Post c section trapped wind and constipation

Oh God, I had forgotten how that was worse than the labour and induction…

Gallstones. I remember one time when it was really bad and I was waiting for surgery, eyeing up the kitchen knives and wondering how hard it'd be to diy it.

Unmedicated labour. Gallstones (made me pass out). Cardiac stress MRI. (Mimicks a heart attack, apparently some people are "very sensitive" to the chemical, others not at all. I'm some people, lucky me!)

Recovery from c-section was hideous.

Also, I got an infection in the gum around one of my wisdom teeth. That was horrendous- had codeine prescribed for the pain!

I don't like dentists but had he offered to pull the tooth out there and then, I would have agreed! Could barely open my jaw it was so painful.

Dry socket after a tooth extraction.. I've had a c-section and been kicked in the face by a horse and it was definitely the worst...

Wisdom teeth. Worse than labour.

Ruptured ACL, never felt anything like it. Being stitched up after childbirth is a close second

Ooh actually, this has to rank fairly highly; I think I'd blocked it out of my mind!

Three broken ribs and having the last bit of cervix manually moved.

Thankfully not at the same time.

Toothache.

Apart from horrific peri - period pain that made me vomit and left me unable to urinate,
Today came a close 2nd; I was trying to squeeze into my car because someone had parked too close and I smacked my elbow on the metal ‘hook’ where the door locks. I thought I was going to pass out with the pain, it knocked me so sick.
I was taking some shopping to my Sister and she said I was really pale when I got there, I was dizzy and shaking for a good 15 minutes, I don’t actually remember driving the 5 minutes from Sainsburys to her flat.

I have had two children, one of which was extremely large and ended in an episiotomy and forceps, both labours were a walk in the park compared to a bruised rib I had when I was 19 and the pain I had from an impacted wisdom tooth, I honestly wanted to cut my own face off.

A twisted rib - way worse than childbirth

Lumbar puncture with no anaesthetic. Still can't have anyone touch my back and that was 25 years ago. The follow on meningitis (chemo replaced the spinal fluid) was a doddle in comparison.

Dry socket

dental abscess

dislocated collarbone

migraine

nerve damage from c section

Dental absesses for me I think! Contractions were pretty bad but as you had a bit of relief in between I can’t say it was the worst. I had easy births though!

Bronchitis, where every breath I took hurt so badly I cried, but then I'd hyperventilate and it would hurt even more. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't sit still, it was far worse than both my labours!

Brachial Neuritis which is nerve damage from shoulder down through arm to hand. Intolerable shooting pain. I thought someone was putting a red hot poker through my shoulder blade and at the same hammering my elbow with an iron mallet.

Couldnt sleep for days was told it would take 3 weeks to resolve and seriously thought I can’t do this and wanted to jump off a bridge. Was put in Valium. It did resolve in a few weeks but I still have painful spasms in my hand years later.

Have also given birth x4 with no pain relief as have a high pain threshold but that was on another level.

I'd like to think that the reason for the majority of female responses of childbirth not being that bad is due to the fact that the body and mind knows the pain is short term, that there is an end goal in sight. I.e. the pain will end pretty soon after this baby comes out. Other pains of the body don't always have a ready solution and end to the pain.

I have personally given birth, with the pethidine and gas and air not touching the sides, 2 epidurals that didnt work, and a spinal block that wasnt given to me until i was almost 10 centimetres, then i also had forceps and was cut. So i understand many levels of pain. Plus, I have also broken my foot.

I don't think either were as bad as having 3 rotting wisdom teeth removed during the late stages of pregnancy, with not much painkillers, and one of the teeth was in pieces and that one took 45 minutes to remove. I would like to believe its because I didn't know when the pain was going to stop. It was continuous until way after the teeth were removed.

Being examined in labour with DC3 by a student midwife.

Pain like I'd never experienced or have experienced since.

Pancreatitis caused by a condition where my bile duct spasms .
Hideously awful.
Second to that would be a paper cut on my cornea ! Had to have the flap cut off

Oldest DS Labour , active labour for 3 days and then he got stuck at the shoulder and they had to cut me . I’ve had 4 c sections since , gallstones and gallbladder removed and 4 wisdom teeth removed at the same appointment and still nothing compares. Probably because it was pain for so so long more than the biggest pain it was prolonged pain , the gallstone attack was probably next in the list .

Impacted wisdom tooth.