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Original poster

What is the WORST pain you've ever had?

255 replies

Rnm62 · 04/12/2023 23:06

Apart from labour

I’ve had some pretty nasty migraines that were more painful than my 2 c section recoveries!

What’s the worst pain you’ve ever been in & how long did it last?

OP posts:
Marveladdict · 04/12/2023 23:49

Recovering from c-section- could barely walk then developing Endometritis (infection), then getting back spasms from epidural - worse than labour pains and migraine

IntheSnowySnowyMountains · 04/12/2023 23:49

Calcaneal osteotomy. I remember being in recovery and my surgeon/anaesthetist being surprised they couldn't get the pain under control. Well duh, they had just sawn my foot in half and shot two screws though it to fix it back together Hmm

I would put as a close second endometriosis pain, and the pain you get after laparoscopic surgery when they haven't managed to get all the gas out. And the pain after a difficult wisdom tooth removal. The dentist told me to take paracetamol. Screw that. I took 15mg of Oxycodone!

timeforacoffeebreak · 04/12/2023 23:51

2 really stick out. Worse than my labour..
A complete back spasm, I couldn't move at all. Caused my pelvis and shoulders to contort for months. Didn't help that they didn't know what caused it and that I was only 11.
Other one again when I was young was Achilles tendinitis. Ouch.

CornishHearty · 04/12/2023 23:52

LittleMissSunshiner · 04/12/2023 23:38

How does colon become twisted please? / serious question

Show quote history

I have a unusually long and twisty colon and part of it kind of looped the loop, was horrendously painful.

I was on my way to a ward to meet the surgery guy and it just unhooked itself so was sent home - two weeks later it happened again but this time I waited it out at home and it unlooped itself again - that was 4 years ago

Snugglemonkey · 04/12/2023 23:53

I think pleurisy wins for me. Every breath was murder.

I also had 2 herniated discs though. They took a long time to heal and I could not walk for the first 3 weeks. That was the worst until the pleurisy.

I have 2 children but had sections. They are not in in my top 10 painful experiences.

GoingOffOnATangent · 04/12/2023 23:55

I was run over and part of my leg was torn off.
Worst of the pain about 6 months.
Recovery, a year before I felt close to normal.
Effects still there to this day.
I'm ok though.

scoobydoo1971 · 04/12/2023 23:55

I have a complex medical history and lots of rare genetic disorders. I have had lots of surgery over the past 20 years. It amounts to a few procedures per year. I often joke I should have a nectar card for the operating theatre. In these various procedures, I have had rectal prolapse repair, two c-sections, various gynecology operations, gut puncture during colonoscopy, tumour removed from mouth, another from hand (three times), and four surgeries for arterial thoracic outlet syndrome (crushed vascular system and rib/ scalenes removed). I have ehlers danlos syndrome and my feet are falling apart due to bone necrosis in my toes and various tumours in the nerves there. I have arm and hand paralysis, with severe nerve damage on one side arising from botched surgery. Throw in neurofibromatosis, and it is hard to tell which causes most pain. Amongst all that, I pick out the recent sarcoma surgery as the worst hellish pain on earth. Despite strong opiates and ketamine, I can say that having skin removed from my abdomen to patch the massive tumour-related hole in my hand is 10/10 pain. Off the chart, and now an infection has walked into the surgical site which is being fought with antibiotics while swollen up.

Snugglemonkey · 04/12/2023 23:56

Actually, I had quote severe burns on my upper and inner thighs from a cup of green tea being dropped on me. That was horrendous.

finished31 · 04/12/2023 23:57

fridaynight1 · 04/12/2023 23:20

DVT I thought my leg was going to explode. It was literally weeks after giving birth but the pain in my leg was far, far worse than any of my 3 labours ( I’m including back to back keilands in that).

At least they give you pain relief in labour - I was told I couldn’t have more paracetamol until morning by a truly evil nurse. Paracetamol? Seriously I way beyond needing that. I had to wait until 6am until eventually an angel doctor arrived with intravenous morphine.

I’m not religious but prayed to God that night - I really thought I was going to die.

Edited

I second DVT pain. I'd of gladly cut my own leg off if I could .it last weeks as well.

Transplant pain has got to be my worst though!

mrlistersgelfbride · 04/12/2023 23:59

Sounds quite tame when reading what others have been through but I get aura migraines and once I had one so bad I could barely see or keep my head upright for about 3 hours. Unfortunately I had to look after DD and give her a bath and I kept closing my eyes every few seconds as the shooting pains behind my eyes were so intense.
It was a hot day and I'd been exercising, I think it was brought on by dehydration.

Dartmoorcheffy · 04/12/2023 23:59

Tooth abcess

Ripping 2 fingernails off as I grabbed the stairs bannister when I slipped

Abcess inside a very intimate area

All 3 were utter agony to the point I was screaming in pain

Avacardo2023 · 04/12/2023 23:59

Gallstones with pancreatitis. Kidney stones a close second. Childbirth was nothing compared to gallstones.

SkiingIsHeaven · 05/12/2023 00:01

Ulcerated corneas. My eyes were in fire and I couldn't cope with any light at all. So painful.

HeathrowQuestion · 05/12/2023 00:03

first, induced childbirth with a syntocinon drip and malpositioned baby

second, natural spontaneous labour with DC2 But at least it was over quick.

third double otitis media and viral meningitis but it wasn’t as relentless as childbirth.

have had dental abcesses and a dry socket, for me they weren’t as bad but everyone is different.

GoingOffOnATangent · 05/12/2023 00:03

@scoobydoo1971 😮😪💐

sanityisamyth · 05/12/2023 00:06

Dislocating my knees. My shoulders/hips don't hurt when they sublux but they do when they properly come out. The right shoulder and both knees are now held together with screws!

Luna42 · 05/12/2023 00:06

The pain after ectopic pregnancy surgery, as the surgeon accidentally damaged my bowel.
And sciatica with spasm that has literally floored me!
Neither were as bad as childbirth, especially my third ( shoulder dystocia)
Migraines have been fun too.
And one stomach bug when the cramps were so painful I nearly passed out.
I have never had gallstones or a tooth abscess though, and totally believe those are the worst pain from what I've heard!

CumbrianYorkshireHybrid · 05/12/2023 00:07

CRPS
Perforated bowel and peritonitis/sepsis (twice!)
Both equally hideous, far wrse than a drug free precipitous back to back labour.

almondflake · 05/12/2023 00:08

After child birth I think it has to be " javelin arse " then dry socket and sciatica all three are draining and very painful .

dixeypeach · 05/12/2023 00:08

It's a toss up between

Migraine

Abscess

Burned eyeball

Hope I haven't jinxed myself 🤞🏼🫣😬

Katbum · 05/12/2023 00:08

Worse than labour: cystitis (chronic), arthritic hip pain.

AFieldGuideToTrees · 05/12/2023 00:11

Extensive abdominal surgery with an epidural. Only the epidural didn't work (it froze my legs and I was paralysed for a day and a half) and it took a loooooong time to get me set up on morphine and for it to take effect. Thankfully the anaesthetic cushioned things a bit.

TiaraBoo · 05/12/2023 00:11

Pancreatitis and gallstones. Got quite a high pain threshold so when it finally got too much, I went to hospital and got admitted to intensive care.

It made the barbaric use of what can only be described as giant bbq tongs on my delicate bits as I attempted to squeeze out a human seem quite tame.

user1471453601 · 05/12/2023 00:13

14years ago I had part of my lung removed. I don't remember the pain, but I recall a nurse in HDU telling me that she was going to put me in my pyjamas and out of my operation gown. All I recall is thinking "who the fuck is screaming?" Turns out it was me. It must have hurt, but my brain has successfully blocked the actual moment out.

apart from that, which doesn't really count because of the brain blocking, the worst pain was from a frozen shoulder.

elliejjtiny · 05/12/2023 00:13

  1. Post c-section pain with my 4th baby. Not quite physically as painful as Labour but knowing that if I lay still in bed the pain would just be a dull ache. But I had to get up and whenever I moved I had this horrible searing pain. One time I rang the bell to be let back into the postnatal ward and it was a few minutes before anyone came. I was leaning against the wall sobbing, desperate to be able to shuffle the final few steps to my bed. I remember crying while counting down the minutes until the bottles had finished sterilizing too.

  2. Labour with youngest when they took the gas and air away just before my c-section. I was screaming at them to get the spinal in NOW as we raced down the corridor to theatre.

  3. my first miscarriage. I was lying there whimpering and begging for pain relief while the nurses said I couldn't have anything because I'd taken paracetamol at home 2 hours before. A year later I was terrified because I thought Labour would be like that times 3 or 4. Turns out Labour with ds1 was less painful.