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.

Pleurisy. 3 natural child births were nothing on that.

Meningitis as a teenager. I was sure I would die from the headache.

An ear infection from hell which was more painful than giving birth naturally. I screamed and nearly passed out from the pain. Had to be dosed up on the highest pain relief available whiles taking antibiotics. Could not keep medication down as I kept vomiting it so had to have anti sickness injected. I was left completely deaf on my ear for 2 month until hearing gradually came back

Periods (thanks to adenomyosis) even when fully loaded on codeine they occasionally made me vomit/pass out from the pain

Stepping on a plug

I broke my tib and fib in three places and had two metal plates and 19 screws put in my leg. To me, giving birth the first time when the placenta was retained and the doctor tried to manually remove it, was more painful.

Contractions with back to back babies - both mine were the wrong way round. The pain was incredible and relentless. The actual giving birth was a breeze compared to the lead up. I thought it would crescendo but actually once I was fully dilated the pain was not as crazily intense. Still v v painful though. Labour was too quick for me to get any pain medication though I got gas and air for the stitches.

It’s a three-way tie between middle ear infection that made me want to chop my own head off, wisdom tooth pain that also made me want to chop my own head off, and a 23 hour back to back labour.

Optic neuritis and gallstones. Not at the same time, thankfully.

Oh goodness me, I have seen a friend suffering with this. I've never seen another person in so much agony. I really do hope you've been able to get some effective help for it, wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I broke all my lumbar vertebrae. For two weeks it was absolutely excruciating. Moving my legs was agony. Tensing my core/abs was agony. Breathing too deeply or too fast was agony. Using my arms to drag, push, or lower myself was the only thing that seemed to be okay and even that wasn’t 100%.

I’ve had a lot of injuries and pain in my life and have a high tolerance but this was another level. That said, the doctors were utterly flabbergasted that I could still force myself to stand and shuffle a bit so I guess I was still doing better than they expected.

Have had 2 children and nothing compares to when my appendix burst but it also had an abscess on it and that burst too. My husband said it was like something out of the exorcist.. And if I had left it any longer I would have died!!

Trapped wind after a hysterectomy, I've never known pain like it. It felt like someone was driving a knife through my shoulder, horrendous.

Shingles in my ears was literally the worst - it burst an eardrum and left me with permanent tinnitus and hearing loss. Painkillers didn’t touch it.

kidney stones

Tooth abscess. Though deciding not to continue taking painkillers after a bunion operation was a close second.

Dislocated shoulder for 12 hours until they got me a theatre slot……thank goodness for morphine!

My organs moving back in place after surgeons discovered an abscess not appendicitis as they had thought. I screamed in pain and I'd had five babies naturally.

Toothache

A broken coccyx. The pain was constant whether standing, sitting or laying down. It was even worse when going from sitting to standing.

First time was uncomfortable , the second break was excruciating and just wouldn't heal.

Trigeminal Neuralgia. It’s called the suicide disease. I know why!

In no particular order…

Gallstones (thankfully gallbladder removal
sorted that!)
Calcification of the tendon in the top of my arm (I almost fainted on several occasions)
False widow spider bite (the blister was horrendously painful on my ankle - still have the scar three years later)
Auto immune disease that severely affected my ears and the pain is indescribable

Tooth abscess and c-section were a mere tickle compared to the above!

Being hit in the face by a football (then smacked for crying, 1980's!!) the 4 pain relief free kids were nothing in comparison x

Surgery to remove a tumour from my tongue. They had to do a wide excision so basically cut my tongue all the way across. I have no words to describe the pain - I could not swallow my own spit.

Ear infection that turned my eardrum black
Dry socket after a root canal
Sciatica down one leg
Childbirth, with a failed epidural that focused all the pain into my right hand side groin area

I think they are level pegging. Sciatica is the most recent one, I nearly lost my mind with the pain and at 3am I was convinced that they were going to have to amputate my leg.

I feel like the childbirth is lowest on the list because at least I knew it would end at some point!