What is the worst pain you've ever been in?

[Haole Girl]

How did you deal with it?

I could really use some inspirational stories

as my pain medicine runs out and

the doctor doesn't think I need any more until

August 12th!

:scared:

[LeftyMom]

1. 24 hours of unmedicated labor.

I rock. Or I'm a little bit crazy. Or both.

[Haole Girl]

2. Did you throw up from the pain?

That's pretty macho, btw!
:yourock:

[LeftyMom]

4. Nah, I'm not really a puker. Didn't even get nauseated in the pregnancy.

The only time I can recall throwing up as an adult was during my miscarriages.

Oh, wait, there was one other time. But like I said, not really a puker.

[Haole Girl]

6. My younger sis had induced labor

..and nobody warned her the labor pains are *twice* as severe. By the time she was throwing up and begging for pain medicine the nurse said, "Honey, it's too late now!" She never had another child! lol

[LeftyMom]

8. Yeah, inductions are no joke. And a lot of the time they end in section, because the body's just not

ready for labor.

Mine was a month late, but I stood my ground on being induced without a damn good reason, and insisted on a non-stress test showing a problem first. He was born the day my second NST (the first showed no problems) was scheduled. I think doctors lose sight of the fact that 40 weeks is an average, not an expiration date. Anytime two weeks before or after the due date is term (so my son was technically only two weeks late.)

[XemaSab]

12. And you've got a BIG KID

He's none the worse for wear for having been in a little long.

[LeftyMom]

16. He was even more giant as a baby.

Plus he had this massive stewie griffin head and linebacker shoulders, and because he was late his skull plates were already fusing and his head didn't mold.

It's amazing I didn't tear. Hot olive oil compresses- I now swear by them.

[MichiganVote]

3. Labor. But the skull fracture pain was persistent for about 4 days.

[Haole Girl]

5. Ouch

Did they give you pain medicine for it?

[MichiganVote]

9. I only had something for the kids at the time of their birth, an epidural I think.

I honestly don't remember much about the skull fracture, I think I asked the nurse for something once but the rest of the time I just hung on. I was only 16 so probably had more tolerance than I would have now.

[XemaSab]

7. Having never given birth

I'd say a charlie horse.

Damn those fuckers hurt. And I guess you deal with it by walking it off, which hurts.

Oh, and once I threw my back out, and DAMN that was several days of pain. Wow... I almost forgot about that.

Most of my pain is more chronic and intractable, and I guess you deal with it by trying to ignore it. :shrug:

[Haole Girl]

10. I'm going to have to deal with this f*ing pain somehow

And I curse the doctor who won't refill my pain medicine... and I hope he gets exactly the kind of pain I have - someday - somewhere where he can't get a hold of any relief!! *sigh*

[XemaSab]

17. Pain medication is bogus

in two ways: either the doctor overprescribes or underprescribes the meds, and either the meds are glorified tylenol or they're heavy duty shit that you're going to like a little too much.

You can't win. :P

(And yeah, I know overprescribing is rare, but if my grandma could get a heroin prescription for her arthritis, the doctor would have given it to her. :P )

[Haole Girl]

18. Well... people lived a long time before that $hit, anyway, right?

That's what I keep telling myself!!

[XemaSab]

20. Yeah, but did they WANT to live?

:P

Also, opiates have been around for MILLENNIA. Ditto for aspirin. :shrug:

[Haole Girl]

22. Oh yeah...

everyone just went to an opium flop house, back then, if they were in pain... didn't they? hmm.

[truedelphi]

66. In the 1800's people across the USA had whatever the travelling patent medicine show had

Sometimes opiates, sometimes other equally now forbidden drugs.

So I wouldn't say that people have lived okay without pain meds.

Marijuana is mentioned in Chinese herbal medical records going back thousands of years.

[loveable liberal]

11. testicle torsion. I could still feel it with 3 injections of demerol.

That sucked.

[Haole Girl]

14. OMG!

I've got to say, that sounds so much worse than this disk issue I seem to be having... though I may not say that by tomorrow. :-(

[loveable liberal]

24. my wife has had 6 back surgeries...

and finally a fusion. Pain is pain and I know that she has had extreme pain to the point of being unable to walk, sit or lay down. I hope you are able to find a liveable position until you are better.

[bicentennial_baby]

13. Broken femur

That sucked.

[Haole Girl]

15. How did you do it?

I know this is weird "therapy" for me, but it helps me not feel so sorry for myself. Hope you don't mind me asking.

[bicentennial_baby]

19. Horrific car accident at age 11

Driving home from school with my Dad. A girl on a bicycle rode out in front of our 30 mph moving truck, so my Dad had 3 options: Hit her, go into oncoming traffic, or hit a huge tree. The tree was the lucky recipient of the impact. Apparently, our truck looked like an accordion afterwards. I had my foot up on the dash, which led to my femur snapping. But, were that not the case, my skull would have been embedded in the tree. I did manage to crack the windshield with my face though. Wish they had bothered to straighten my nose back out, never been the same since. I was in traction for 6 weeks, and in a half body cast for 2 months after that.

My Dad had it worse. All ribs broken, both legs, shattered face, and punctured lung. He was in the hospital for 4 months.

[Haole Girl]

21. Wow... it sounds like *both* of you are lucky you survived that!

:wow:

[zingaro]

52. oh crap

What a hellish no-win situation. I am sure it was most unpleasant but I'm glad to hear you both came out of it OK. And from what I've seen in pictures around here, your nose is beautiful.

[bicentennial_baby]

55. Oh you...

:blush:

Well, my Dad never walked again after that (really screwed with his MS), but we survived, and that's what counts, eh?

:hi:

[fujiyama]

140. My God that is awful

Glad you both survived. :hug:

[Sequoia]

170. Oh no, that's just awful.

So glad you both made it though.

[easttexaslefty]

23. My worst pain has been emotional

I'm still learning how to deal with it

[Haole Girl]

25. Aww...

I do know what you mean. It can be worse, I know. :hug:

[loveable liberal]

30. have you read "emotional intelligence"?

I dont presume to know what you are going through but it is an excellent book on dealing with emotions and explains in lay terms emotional cause and effect. this is the second time I have recommended this book today. It helped me greatly is all I'm trying to say. Not only with love/hate/happy/sad but also with anger.

[easttexaslefty]

34. Thank you very much

I will order it. Who is it by?

[loveable liberal]

38. Daniel Goleman (sp?)

I lent my copy to a former buddy and will never see it again, but I think that is the name of the author.

[easttexaslefty]

42. thanks again

[Kali]

26. well I have grunted out a couple of kids, broken various bones, gall bladder, had the back sieze up

a few times, but I would say the kidney stone episode was probably the worst. Gall bladder was pretty bad a few times before they yanked it, but the stone...yeah I think that would be it.

How did I deal? Tried to walk it off, hot tub, OTC meds and finally went in to the ER. They gave me morphine. It did the trick and maybe loosened things up - at any rate the thing passed and I was ready to go home. The doc said (in thick Egyptian accent) "I have never seen anyone stay awake with that much morphine, much less talk and walk around" I told him I was a tough old broad and went home.

[Haole Girl]

28. You have been through a lot!

You are my hero!!

:loveya:

[Genevieve]

27. 35 hours of labor with no medication followed by an "emergency" C-Section.

eom

[Haole Girl]

31. Oh God...

I can't even imagine.

:wow:

[Genevieve]

33. That labor was worse than when I got hit by a car

and thrown 60 feet (and stayed 3 months in the hoxpital).
I'm serious!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

69. Weren't you just screaming for a c-section?

I'd be like "CUT ME OPEN NOW!"

:D

[Genevieve]

97. Yes, I was. I was pleading.

I've never heard of anyone else going through
a labor that got so botched up.

[tbyg52]

29. Menstrual cramps before they came out with ibuprofen.

Aspirin hardly touched them, and an amount sufficient to do any good at all made me sick to my stomach as well. A heating pad helped a little. Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) turned them off like a switch.

[Haole Girl]

32. My cramps were very bad... for many years...

but can't even touch the pain my shoulder gets now.

In fact, as much as I enjoy being on here, I better sign off for awhile...

I'll check back later.


Thanks everyone!!

:hi:

[tbyg52]

36. Hope you find something that helps.

(Ideally, your doctor coming to his/her senses..... ;) )

[LostInAnomie]

35. Broken tail bone was the most constant pain.

Most acute pain was when I hurt my back. Either that, or when my jawbone hit my sinus cavity and I would get blinding head aches that lasted for about 5 seconds at a time.

[zanne]

152. My niece has you beat...

She broke her tail bone during delivery.

[hobbit709]

37. Pinched nerve in my back

When my wife came in the bathroom I had one hand on the sink, one hand on the doorknob and I was frozen in place. She said my face was white as a sheet and by breath was hissing out between my teeth like I was doing Lamaze breathing. After an hour with a heating pad I was able to use a chair as a walker to get to my bed. She found me an Oxycontin and I was out like a light. I woke up the next day and the pain was gone. I still don't know what triggered it-all I did was stand up after using the toilet.

[tbyg52]

45. Oh, I'd forgotten about *that* pain!

I got mine when I was cleaning the carpet in anticipation of my mom's visit, a little too vigorously. I'd apparently put the muscles in my back right on edge and when I pushed the steam cleaner just the right (wrong) way, something snapped. I was on the floor immobile, in the fetal position for at least a couple of hours. Took months to get back to anything approaching normal.

[Connonym]

114. that was mine as well

Labor pain is not fun but at least you know it's going to be over in a relatively short period of time. I slipped on water on my basement floor and herniated 2 disks in my back. I had some of the most awful prolonged pain in my back along with numbness and tingling in my leg. It's been 8 years and my back will still randomly flare up and I have foot numbness at least once a month. Worst thing is now my doctor doesn't want to prescribe narcotic pain meds any more and I'm not allowed to take ibuprofen because of stomach issues and I was hospitalized about a month ago because I had taken too much tylenol and Xanax so now they don't want me to take Tylenol either. That pretty much leaves me with the simple option of just dealing with the pain. Which would be fine if I didn't have to work and stuff. :sigh: Feeling sorry for myself I guess

[AwakeAtLast]

39. I had a child with the help of pitocin because my water broke and no contractions

and that pain was bad - but - that pales in comparison to three others: Airplane trip with a sinus infection, pleurisy, and pneumonia settled in my muscles.

None of them responded to pain medication (on the plane I just didn't have any meds, because I didn't know I had an infection). I just had to focus on a spot, either be really still for awhile or get up and move.

I always tell people who ask that everyone is different and responds differently to both meds and pain itself. Have you checked into any natural remedies or can you approximate dosage using OTCs?

Hope you find what you need! :pals:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

40. When I dislocated my elbow back in November, that was some

of the worst acute pain I have ever experienced. I have dealt with chronic pain all my adult life, thanks to scar tissue from a major surgery at the age of four. That constant pain can really wear a person down over time. It takes a lot of energy to fight pain.
~:hug:~

[truedelphi]

67. I've heard that dislocations are very bad, pain-wise

And then they just jolt the offending member back into place - is that painful too??

[Tuesday Afternoon]

103. They put me under "conscious sedation" and then manipulated the

bone back into the joint. I was given morphine. The person who was with me said I yelled and screamed while it was happening but, I don't remember any of the procedure.

[fizzgig]

41. i've never had any major injuries or given birth, but i've a few

1) when i got my first and only ear infection at age 19. all i wanted to do was curl into a ball and sob the pain was so bad. i alternated tylenol and advil for the pain.
2) when the sockets got infected after i had my wisdom teeth pulled...i had percoset for that one but didn't use it much, i stuck with the advil
3) when i had tonsillitis earlier this year. swallowing anything felt like i had broken glass going down my throat...i went the, uhm, herbal route to dull the pain so i could eat because nothing else came close to touching the pain.

i get pretty severe cramps a few days a month, but i'm usually able to ride those out

[dropkickpa]

43. Having given birth, I say gallbladder attack

I wanted to die. Squeezing a kid out was *nothing* compared to that.

[Lex]

121. Gallbladder attacks are worse than childbirth pain

according to a nurse I know who had given birth to 3 kids. She said gallbladder attacks were far worse for her!

[dropkickpa]

124. Me too!!

Absolute agony, and morphine did very little to ease the pain. I ended up getting the fucker removed, and though I suffer a lot of not so great side effects from the removal, I would have it done again in a heartbeat. The pain from those attacks was horrid. I've broken my nose (sled + tree) dislocated limbs and fingers, mangled my ankle/foot, and none of them compare to the pain of a gallbladder attack. Having Dropkid (back labor) was a walk in the park compared to that. I honestly thought that child birth was the worst pain a person could feel, just from stories, until my gallbladdder started acting up.

[Inchworm]

44. Having a baby

no.. wait.. that wasn't me! :silly:

The worst pain I can remember is my 4-wheeler toss about 2 months ago. My arm still isn't right and I still have a know on my head.

:hi:

[Mutley]

46. I had an abscessed tooth.

It was infected and the infection went into the jaw bone. I was feverish and delirious and in so much pain that I spent most of that time in tears. I was on those super, kidney-killing antibiotics and it still took two weeks to go away.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

47. Abraded corneas are pretty miserable.

[tbyg52]

49. Oh gosh, *another* one I'd forgotten about!

I had some kind of allergic reaction once that made it feel like I was sandpapering my eyes every time I blinked, or even moved my eyelids slightly. I just sat there and sobbed until the Benadryl kicked in.

You have my sympathy for what I imagine is somewhat similar except Benadryl wouldn't help!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

51. Particles or scratches in the contact lenses can do it.

And yeah, you can't blink or even roll your eyes. You pretty much have to go to bed and keep your eyes shut for about 24 hours, loaded up on painkillers. You wouldn't think such a minor injury as a scratch on your cornea, which you can hardly even see, would hurt so much, but it's pretty bad.

I don't wear contacts any more.

[MorningGlow]

48. In order of intensity...

1) Picking some jalapenos in my garden and then accidentally touching my eyeball. x(
2) Ndovocaine shots straight into my lower lip so the doc could sew it up (car accident).
3) Migraines.
4) Gallbladder attack.
5) Broken tailbone after giving birth. (Darned kid had his arm flung up over his head. And you know what? He still sleeps like that more often than not.)
6) Having a cavity drilled and filled with only gas, not novocaine (several times).
7) Giving birth with no meds.

[DeepBlueC]

50. waking from AV fistula repair

I think I was still in the operating room. Blind (eyes still taped shut). Screaming. I heard "morphine" which I got and then felt immediate need to puke. Got some Gravol (aka Dramamine) injected & then I was okay, but wrung out like a dishrag.

[zingaro]

53. The worst ever? It will sound so wussy.

Newly pregnant with my first, I "sprained" my ankle. In fact, what I did was step onto some deck steps that were not attached yet and so my right foot folded up to my shin AND I fell six foot down.

The Emergency Department staff said the internal tears were so bad that I'd have been much better off if I'd broken it.

There was nothing I could take for it since I was pregnant and so, as that evening wore on and the thing swelled, I was in more pain than I've ever been in, before or since. The intense stuff lasted about six hours and just didn't let up. Nothing I could do positionally, so I just rolled and rocked on the floor, crying.

I've since had two children. I would gladly bear them both all over again before I'd take that ankle pain again.

I wish you relief.

[tbyg52]

123. *Another* I'd forgotten about....!

Heard the snap. Ugh.

Nothing compared to *any* pain that can't be treated. Pain that can't be treated because of idiot doctors, laws, or policies are the worst.

[YankeyMCC]

54. Scratched corneas

Ill-fitting contacts (this was back in the 80's and I have a very thick prescription) left in to long.

Felt like and elephant wearing very sharp pointed cleats standing on my eyeballs.

I didn't deal with it well...there was plent of yowling, lots of pain med (a suave put directly on my eyes) and having my eyes covered with patches for about 3 days.

[amitten]

56. After bunion removal surgery. Un-freakin'-godly pain. n/t

[Mz Pip]

57. Cluster migraines

Thankfully I haven't had any in 30 years but I remember how painful they were. Now I get regular migraines which are pretty bad. I take MaxAlt which works about half the time.

Labor was pretty bad but even at its worst the pain lasts a minute, then you get to take a breathe.

I've had some pretty severe intestinal cramping where I was pretty sure I was going to die.

[TZ]

58. My first bone marrow biopsy

Done with a local anaesthetic. Do you know they stick a needle into your bone-twice? Once to numb the bone and the second time to drill into the bone..numbing the bone...A-G-O-N-Y..fortunately it only lasts a minute or so..but it still hurt when they drew out the marrow too! And for the next few days..It HURT.
Now I had a second one done at Mayo earlier this year and it was done under sedation and it was MUCH better...

[latebloomer]

101. Bone marrow biopsy is an art

I've had 3- the first two performed by the same doc- hurt like a motherfucker.

Second time, a woman doc- hardly hurt at all. I will never let the first doc do it again!

Each time- lidocaine, but no other anesthetic or sedative.

[KitchenWitch]

120. Oh gods, I forgot about my one BMB!

x(

Make me unremember.

I will be curled up in the fetal position for the next couple of days...

[mnhtnbb]

59. Waking up from my hip replacement last summer. I had a spinal and the damn

anesthesiologist didn't get the timing right for the morphine to kick in BEFORE I woke up.
Drove the RR nurse nuts. She'd ask, "how's your pain 1-10?" My answer. It's a fuckin' 20
and I've had a kidney stone. That was about the second worst pain. Both my boys were
born C-Section and I had epidurals--so labor wasn't that awful although the first one was fairly prolonged before we did the section.

You do have to be careful about getting addicted to pain meds. But if you have chronic pain
that can't be fixed, then that's a whole different story.

[AngryAmish]

60. I had a sunburn once

I was red for like 18 hours.

[Mojambo]

61. Abscessed tooth.

And almost 30 hours before I could get to the dentist.

I honestly contemplated suicide.

[applegrove]

62. Two years ago. In the summer. My adrenaline was shot because of PTSD. And I was

in constant pain for a bit. It really really hurt. Then a year later ...just to confirm what I suspected about the pain...I went on an amusement park ride and it was back. Agony the whole ride relative to how much adrenaline I was pumping and how high the ride was swinging.

Found meds that made it go away two years ago. Thank god. It really, really hurt.

[Redstone]

63. As famous as my shoulder pain is, it's not the worst I've felt.

After I had the blown aneurysm in my left gut repaired, my friend and lover at the time (Elaine, where DID you go?) decided to take me to the movies.

Guess what was playing.

Yep, a Marx Brothers festival.

Try laughing for six hours straight five days after large-scale abdominal surgery.

But hey, at least she brought a bottle of gin along. That helped.

Redstone

[SPKrazy]

64. Esophageal stricture with vitamin that dissolved in it.

it has been when I had a stricture in my esophagus and something like a vitamin got stuck there and dissolved, it burned the place and hurt like hell. It kept getting worse over the course of hours and I couldn't swallow. I went to the ER and sat for 5 hours (with chest pain which is to be evaluated within 10 min of arrival in ER by EKG, how did they know I wasn't having an MI?) It got worse and worse as I sat there. Finally around 4 am I saw the doc as a nurse who knew me found me in an exam room and the doc was there in no time at all after that. They gave me an elixer of lidocaine and maalox, helped a little. 4 hours later I had my esophagus dilated and that seemed to be the most helpful as it got rid of the stricture. They put me on Protonix after that and I've been on it since, knock wood no more dilations have been needed. I'd had 3 prior to that instance, but none as painful as that.

[yellowdogintexas]

65. kidney stone, and it made me throw up it was so bad. Having a baby without

drugs was a piece of cake by comparison.

[Redstone]

75. I've heard that a kidney stone trumps all for pure delivery of pain.

Glad I've never had one.

Redstone

[yellowdogintexas]

93. Be very glad nt

[REP]

142. Don't have to take care of a kidney stone for 18+ years

I pass stones every 30-45 days, and have done so for over 20 years. I've had to have one dug out of the lower pole of one of my kidneys and then had a stent left in place for ... a long time. Still better than giving birth.

[TommyO]

146. My brother just had one, and he said it truly was beyond a 10

on the pain scale, far more so than when he had his arm snapped in several places by somebody running for third base.

[GOPisEvil]

68. Kidney stones.

Worst pain ever.

[madrchsod]

70. number one----heart attack.......

number two-kidney stone

[Awsi Dooger]

71. Sciatica in fall 2004

I was practicing on a golf range when my back had sudden pain after an 8 iron. I knew immediately it was different from a typical pulled muscle. Pain shot down my left leg and I felt it in my ass.

For some reason I kept hitting the bucket of balls, probably because I had barely started. Major mistake. I had frequent stretches of horrific pain for a month. During one visit to the grocery store I had to sit on the floor 7 different times until the pain subsided and I could stand again.

Once I was stuck on the floor of my bathroom, completely naked on all fours. I was trying to take a bath but physically there was no way I could climb into the tub. I couldn't move at all. Finally I managed to crawl to the bed and slowly move onto it, staying there until the next morning. Another time I tried to drive to work but there was no way I could maneuver my body to get inside the car.

Luckily I've had only brief episodes of major pain subsequently. The sciatica is still there, verified by stinging pain in my left foot, upper area above the instep, more or less a constant. I can't even allow sheets to touch that region at night.

[Haole Girl]

72. ** Thank you for all the stories **

I would respond to more posts, but I really think I should try to stay off the computer. My right thumb is almost completely numb now & the only real relief I get from the pain in my upper arm and right shoulder is when I'm sleeping. I'll get through this... I'm tougher than I look. Thanks again for the great replies! :hi:

[Lorien]

86. It sounds like you have carpel tunnel

or has it been diagnosed as something else?

[Haole Girl]

89. I seriously doubt it's carpal tunnel

My wrists and other joints, usually associated with carpal tunnel (repetitive motion disorder), seem fine. It originates in my spine. The MRI will show more, though. If I make it until then. :-(

[Lorien]

96. That's why it sounds like (one form of) carpel tunnel

mine started about the third or forth vertebrae down from my neck, and the pain radiated through my shoulder and arm. My thumb would go numb if I worked for too long. I didn't think it was carpel tunnel because my hand and wrist didn't hurt that much-everything seemed to radiate from the spine; there was a shooting pain through my right shoulder blade that kept me awake at night. My doctor couldn't figure it out, but then a cartoonist friend told me that my pain sounded identical to his. He got it after signing autographs at the ComiCon for a week straight. Cyclobenzeprine and ultram helped the most, along with changing the hight and angle of my drawing board and the chairs at my computer.

Whatever it is, I hope you find relief soon!

[Haole Girl]

98. Thank you.. may I ask you then...

Did it feel as if you'd had 8 immunizations in your upper arm?
Sorry if this sounds melodramatic.

[Lorien]

106. Yep. Burning, unending, relentless searing pain for well over a month

it was fucking agony. I thought my whole career was over, but with lots of rest and DRUGS it eventually disappeared completely. My poor friend had it for two years, but his case was pretty extreme because of what he had been doing for the prior ten years.

[Haole Girl]

108. Thank you

I will tell the doc what you said. :hi:

[truedelphi]

115. Have you tried Alleve?? I use that when I run out of vicodeine

It is the only pain med that has ever helped me (Outside of vicod.)- motrin makes me feel relaxed but I still feel the pain.

I've only known about Aleve for the last fifteen years - wish I'd known about it long before that. (Originally it was prescription stuff but it is over the counter now.)

Also you have to use two when you first take it. Then you can see if just one will work.

[Haole Girl]

154. Yes, I have tried Aleve..

I've tried massive amounts of every kind of OTC pain medicine. It's pretty bad. I'm going back to the doctor's office tomorrow-- with my husband.

[truedelphi]

158. It is so criminal in this country that you have to beg and plead for pain meds.

Took me two years to get pain meds from the HMO I was using. And then after the insurance for them expired, I found out that the reason they gave me the pain meds was to keep from having to perform a procdeure that would have eliminated the pain forever - hey great way to save money for an organization, right!!

I used to housesit and whenever I housesat for doctors, they had whole wardrobe closets full of pain meds. It is just we the consumers who have to beg and plead!!

[FloridaJudy]

73. Abscessed tooth

I've been through labor, and I'd honestly rather have another baby than deal with that again! I had a third year dental student do a root canal on it: he hadn't taken the general anesthesia course yet, so he was only allowed to use a local. I later learned that locals often don't "take" when a tooth is infected - so essentially, I had a root canal without anesthesia. Dentists who've seen the x-rays say he did an excellent job, though.

I'm never going back to that dental school, however. What was his faculty supervisor thinking?

And what kind of hell did people go through in the days before we had any anesthesia?

[Pierre.Suave]

74. Marine Corps career ending motorcycle accident

I broke damn near every major bone in my body and a whole lot of not so major ones.

it was a year before I was not in the hospital, or back to the hospital every single day.

I am glad I survived, but damn that wreck was painful...

[Haole Girl]

76. Well, you know I've got to ask...

Do you still ride?

[Pierre.Suave]

79. I did buy another one

and stopped riding it the day I almost died again.

Have not been on one since, although I still have the urge.

[backscatter712]

77. Broke/dislocated my arm a couple times, also had club foot surgeries.

Oh, and I might add that sprains and tendonitis suck big donkey balls.

[backwoodsbob]

78. sliding into home plate at a company softball game

me 160...catcher 300+..I slid...he tried to block...we locked cleats...something had to give and it was my ankle.

Compound fracture of the ankle HURTS!!!

[Pierre.Suave]

81. Ouch

I broke my ankle my Sophomore year in HS during the first football game of the season. it HURT.

I feel your pain, I had pins and shit put in my ankle, that eventually came out. That HURT though.

[Trajan]

82. Damn ....

Company games should be 'flag' softball ....

No sliding, and DEFINITELY no blocking ....

The fun kinda ends when broken bones stick through the skin .....

[backwoodsbob]

88. yeppers

*The fun kinda ends when broken bones stick through the skin .....*


yep..pretty much. :cry:

the pain was horrid but I SWEAR dealing with the hospital was worse.The only good part was the 22 or so year old nurse who dealt with me :9

[HamdenRice]

80. Post surgical pain, for back surgery

I had cervical spondylotic myelopathy, which to simplify a complicated condition is like bad disks, but affecting the spinal cord rather than root nerves.

The corrective surgery was a laminectomy -- sawing off the back of my spinal column over three vertebra.

Ironically, it was not the surgical wound pain that was the worst. It was that my spinal cord had been compressed 90%, and as a result of the surgery, blood flow and feeling returned to the spinal cord and root nerves. It's kind of like what happens when you fall asleep in an awkward position and your arm goes numb, and you get in a normal position and the feeling returns and you get "pins and needles."

It's called reperfusion -- the return of blood to an organ (the spinal cord in my case) that has been denied blood flow.

The return of feeling felt like someone was sticking a red hot poker iron between my muscles and arm bones for about 2 weeks.

[liberaltrucker]

83. Hit in the family jewels by a batted baseball

I was 13. Little League. I was pitching.......

Town doctor was in the stands and ran to help.

Administered 10 mg MS IV. Pain went away. Spent the next
2 weeks on Darvon.

Those couple minutes of agony are, so far, the worst pain
I've experienced.

Good luck, my friend. You may want to consider another doc.

[Lorien]

84. Parvo virus that kicked my fibromyalgia into overdrive

it caused a full body charlie horse that lasted over two weeks. My hands and feet also inflated to grotesque proportions and I couldn't walk or feed myself. I'm single, so some of my coworkers and their fundie friends from church took care of me. That was the first time that I've been grateful to see a bunch of right wingers show up at my home! The doctors just loaded me up with muscle relaxants and heavy duty pain killers, but I was still screaming into a pillow for most of those two weeks. Not fun.

[stuntcat]

85. a wreck

I'm lucky I was knocked out for a couple of weeks so I don't remember anything of the pain.

Far as pain I can remember.. one time I fell down the stairs to the basement and almost broke my hip.. I don't know, my memory is so bad, I forget.


You have to make that medicine last somehow, good luck!

[Iggo]

87. Amoebic Dysentery.

Sometime back in '79 or '80. My friends all thought I got hit with the paraquat poisoning. But I'm pretty sure that was supposed to cause lung problems, not butt problems...lol. Doc said it was dysentery, for sure.

Anyway, I got knocked down for two weeks, and the pain...oh, the pain.

How did I deal with it? I cried. A lot.

[Haole Girl]

91. I just had a little crying spell myself..

after the nurse told me the doctor definitely won't refill the pain medicine and... and...
here's the good part: IF it really hurts that bad, you can go to the ER.

I just lost it.

:cry:

[HEyHEY]

90. When I dislocated my shoulder

It was hanging there for a good ten minutes... fuck that hurt.

[bridgit]

92. mid 80's: drunk chick pulled out in front of me and killed me for over 3min...

soon came the pro bono plastic facial surgery from a doctor in Beverly Hills who's son i had counseled through his AIDS experience and into the grave; though not before the setting of many broken bones i.e. hands (both), lower face (smashed), pelvis/legs (broken), forearms, reconstructive bladder surgery (burst upon impact), un-mendable crack in my forehead causing headaches to this day...some days, 3rd degree burns on my chest, etc, yada-yada blah-blah...

i'm sure they gave me something in the hospital but i was out of it, i never took any pain meds after they released me

it ended my secondary career in dance, they said i'd never walk again; but i walked across the stage on my own steam where i was handed my degree from UCLA magna cum laude so---------> :shrug:

[Orrex]

107. Holy shit!

That's about the worst laundry list of injuries I've ever read!

:hug:

[bridgit]

144. Orrex!! Long time no drive each other round in circles...

:hug:

[Orrex]

150. I know! We haven't wound up on opposite side of an issue in quite a while

I must be losing my touch!

[Care]

135. I Don't Like Derogatory Terms

Chick is an inappropriate term to describe women.

I am sorry for your accident. :-)

[bridgit]

143. I see you have *no* problems with the "derogatory", depreciative acts of people...

Keep up the good work :thumbsup:

[Care]

148. Of Course I Do.

Thank you. I am glad you have recovered beyond the doctors' expectations.

[fujiyama]

141. Hey "inspirational" and "amazing" and "admirable"

are all thrown around a lot but what you went through is something else.

I hope life has been better for you since then. :hug:

[bridgit]

145. morning fujiyama, and yeah...

better ups/downs, tears/giggles it's life what can you do; sometimes it is what we make it, other times it is what it is :) :donut:

[Left Is Write]

94. You might think I would say labor and childbirth, but that'll have to run a close second.

The worst pain I've ever been in was when I had an advanced kidney infection. I'd already had three children and could not have IMAGINED this kind of pain.

I didn't really deal well with it until I was in the emergency room loaded up with Percocet.

[Bombero1956]

95. kidney stone

hurt like hell and I started passing blood.

[elocs]

99. I had a ruptured disc--in infamous L5-S1 that was compressing my sciatic nerve.

I had no pain meds since at the time of my first MRI there did not "appear" to be any nerve compression even though I could not sit down. They sent me to work hardening where I ended up laying on the floor, so they iced my back and sent me home where the only way I was not in pain was to kneel on the floor, leaning over a footstool. That night while walking back from the bathroom the pain started to really hit so I hurried to get down over the footstool and I dropped to the floor too quickly and as my right knee hit the floor severe waves of pain went through my leg and back and nothing would stop them. I took a ride to the hospital that night in an ambulance and my next MRI showed distinctly that my ruptured disc was compressing the sciatic nerve.

I had surgery (laminectomy) that was performed by a neurosurgeon who had just come from the Mayo Clinic (I was at a hospital associated with Mayo). I spent one night in the hospital and went home the next day. The doc sent me home with a bottle of percocet and I never took one of them because I never had any bad pain. Within a couple of days I was walking a couple of miles. That was 9 years ago and I have never missed a day of work since then because of my back. I have had a little pain now and then, but usually I end up throwing out a bottle of ibuprofen because it has reached its expiration date. I consider myself lucky.

[bikebloke]

100. I'll second the kidney stone.

I learned the hard way that when working outside in the desert, you keep drinking lots of water. My work ethic kept me working. Boy, did that ever hurt. And humiliating. I'm one who doesn't like to tell people I'm ill - thanks to a toxic parent who gave me haranging whenever it happened as a kid. So I suffered longer before finally going for help.

[latebloomer]

102. 18 hours of labor followed by a C-section

Total agony.

The second birth was also unmedicated, but not nearly as painful because I used relaxation techniques and stopped tensing up and fighting it.

[Roon]

104. TMI!! TMI!!

but I had some growths burned off my anus. Third degree burns on the anus. I bled for years after that operation. The pain was incredible. Morphine, Demerol, and Tylox got me through that. I know, it's TMI, but i feel like your guys are my family and I fell comfortable telling you this.

[Critters2]

105. The emotional pain of depression.

I'd take physical pain any day.

[Haole Girl]

110. I used to think so

Tonight, though, I'm not so sure. :hug:

[Silver Swan]

109. I am sorry that you are in pain.

I have had a few very painful experiences in my life, but thankfully, most did not last long.

Obtaining pain relief in this country is often difficult on account of the anti-drug philosophy.

Last week my spouse had a painful dental episode,and the dentist prescribed a narcotic-anti-inflammatory combo drug.

Although spouse did not feel his pain warranted the drug, I insisted he fill the prescription, because you never know when a bad pain might occur when such a drug would be welcome, but unobtainable.

[Haole Girl]

111. Thanks

Thanks again, for all the great responses. I really need to get off of here now. :hi:

[mdmc]

112. when I had untreated RA I thought I was gonna die

all I could do was lay flat on my back and not move. No amount of bong hits or vicoden could ease the pain.

Now I have meds and I am almost entirely recovered.

[begin_within]

113. A back injury in the lumbar area - the area between L3 and L4 was inflamed I think

I could not stand straight up or even at an angle for several days. It was too painful to put any pressure on it whatsoever. I could only get around by crawling. I had to crawl to the bathroom, and somehow go to the bathroom with my back horizontal, and do everything else without lifting up to a vertical position. Mostly I just laid in bed. My cat sat there next to me the whole time, just looking at me. After 3 days it finally subsided, but every once in a while when I sneeze I can feel that area again.

[mike_c]

116. gout....

It's not the most intense pain I've ever experienced, but I still rate it the worst. It infiltrates your whole consciousness. And goes on and on.

[MonkeyFunk]

117. Last February when a lumbar disk went out

far worse than any other time it's happened. It was OK at first, but progressively worse. By the 4th day, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't stand, I couldn't lie down, I couldn't sit. Everything was exceedingly painful, some things excruciating.

The worst of it was when, after about a week of hardly getting any sleep at all, I laid down on the bed, and had my body all twisted to find a position that wasn't agonizing. I was sort of on my back, but my legs were way off to the right, hanging over the bed. It was the only position that was remotely bearable. I finally fell asleep and my boyfriend came in, and in the dark, walked right into my foot, jamming my leg up into my hip.

Yes, that was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. I was in agony for about 24 hours after that.

[KitchenWitch]

118. Top 5

1. Hip replacement surgery

2. Laparatomy (abdominal - cut from stem to sternum)

3. Hip replacement revision surgery

4. Induced labor with my daughter - with my 10 pound son and his giganto head, things progressed naturally. Not so with my daughter all 7 pounds 14 oz of her at birth - who will always be the more difficult child I have.

5. the two weeks prior to my back surgery

[ncliberal]

119. Retrobulbar optic neuritis

This was swelling of my optic nerve which led to an MS diagnosis. I went blind in my right eye and the pain was excruciating. My eye was bulged out and I felt like my eyeball was being pushed out of the socket from the inside. (I call it my Mad Eye Moody phase.) The headaches were at least 10 times worse than any migraine I've ever had. I couldn't tolerate light and couldn't move my head without blinding pain. I did eventually get my eyesight back after the swelling went down. I went blind in the other eye three years later but the pain wasn't anything like the first time.

I have developed a high pain tolerance due to having MS and Fibromyalgia and nothing has ever compared to that pain... not even a botched lumbar puncture. That was the strangest experience. I felt like I was floating outside of my body... like I was dying or something. It was totally weird. I will never have one of those again.

Sorry you are in so much pain. It definitely sucks. :hug:

[Lex]

122. My SO has MS and has had optic neuritis

but the optic neuritis was caught early (she already knew she had MS anyway & her eye doc did too). She was put on a drip steriod that very day, and massive steroids over 2 weeks and averted some damage.

I'm sorry for how awful it was for you. You sound like one tough cookie. :hug:

A fellow North Carolinian here.

~ Lex

[ProfessorGAC]

164. Same Here

My first major symptom of MS was the neuritis. I still have a perfectly good eye, but can't see a thing out of it. (Well, i do have peripheral vision.) But, the center of my field of vision, about 40% or so, is opaque to light.

It never got any worse, it just never got any better. Tell your SO to hang in there. I'll try to do the same.

The Professor

[ncliberal]

167. Hi, fellow North Carolinian!

Hugs to you and your SO. I hope she's doing well. I did the drip and oral steroids the first time. I hated them so much that I didn't do them the second time.

Does your SO like her neurologist? I really want a new one that is more open to alternative or complementary medicine.

[ProfessorGAC]

166. That Didn't Happen To Me

I had, and still have a neuritic condition that renders me blind in the left eye. But, i never got any physical manifestation like you did. That's a bummer for you! My eye never bothered me, aside from the fact that the center 40% of the field of vision is opaque to light.

BTW: I've got MS too. Diagnosed in early 1995.

Hang in there!
The Professor

[ncliberal]

168. Hi! I hope you're doing well.

I'm sorry you still have the neuritic condition. I have been very lucky. I still have residual blurriness when I'm extremely tired and have optic migraines but I regained sight in both eyes. My eye doctor was shocked with the second because I refused to do steroids for that one. Of course, I didn't have the physical manifestations with that eye like I did with the other.

I have heard that MS is worse for males than females so I hope you're hanging in there. I have also read on the MS boards about a few people regaining their sight after several years. This is a crazy disease. :hug:

[sakabatou]

125. Had an intestinal blockage

[tbyg52]

126. Assuming it's some kind of trauma, stress, or arthritis....?

Have you tried a *serious* heating pad? Not the kind they sell in drugstores, but the kind you have to go to a medical supply to get? Can't lock it in the "on" position because it becomes hot enough to burn you in a few seconds?

(I had a bad back/neck problem at one time, and a serious heating pad helped a lot.)

[Adsos Letter]

127. Well, lets see... three contenders come immediately to mind...

1. 12 years old, very badly dislocated thumb (through the cartilege with the tip back where the base nuckle "should" have been; however, no broken skin amazingly enough), mom takes me to family doctor, doc attempts to "snap" my thumb back into place by grabbing my wrist and yanking full-out on the tip of my thumb...twice...without anesthetic.......nothing moved. It took surgery to put it back into place...

2. 24 years old; really, really severe case of ulcerative colitis that I refused to see the doctor about until I had lost close to 14 pounds...I thought I had some kind of "super stomach flu"...I never said I was bright...

3. Three years ago, passing a nice sized kidney stone on a jobsite way back in the hills, with nobody else around...it felt like an extremely pissed-off flamenco dancer was having at my balls while Bruce Lee delivered a consistent stream of kicks to my somach, groin, and back...


I'll spare you the emotional pain stuff...

[many a good man]

128. I once fell eight stories from a balcony on my apt bldg

Fractured the top three and bottom three vertebrae, busted my collarbone and a rib cage. I smashed my face and the back of my head into a couple of brick balconies on the way down.

I can remember the doctors drilling two holes in my skull and inserting the screws for my neck traction. The worst part was my entire body was like one big raw nerve. Think of the pain you get when you accidentally hit your thumb with a hammer: the world blacks out and all you can sense is intense throbbing pain for about thirty seconds. Now imagine your entire nervous system pulsing with that kind of pain for three days.

I almost went mad. The high point of the pulse was intolerable pain, the low point just barely tolerable. I lived pulse to pulse, trying to squeeze the maximum amount of rest during the low point of each pulse. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes like hours, and hours like days. I thought it would never end. The doctor came in after a day and said "Congratulations. You've gone from a 50-50 chance of living to a 50-50 chance you'll never walk again." At that moment I would have preferred death.

Miraculously, I was up and walking again a week later. After a few months all the pain was gone (though I do suffer from occasional vertigo). I can't imagine the suffering someone must go through with chronic pain. I'm very grateful my pain was only temporary.

[snailly]

129. When the pain meds wore off after a metal implant device

was put in my arm. Labor pains didn't even come close. It went on for 3 weeks. I was seriously considering suicide. I aged 5 years in a month. Worst experience ever.

[Fox Mulder]

130. Depression.

Still going through it.

[easttexaslefty]

159. I know, right

those depression hurts commercials are spot on.......:cry:

[Fox Mulder]

160. I know.

:(

[Lorien]

171. I completely understand

:hug:

[UndertheOcean]

131. GallBladder paid , oh my good , that was horrible

Three shots of morphine did not even touch it . I could barely breath and was sweating like a pig . Feeling hot then cold then cold then hot the cold at the same time ,then very nauseous, but I couldn't puke . Just collapsing on the ground did not help either . The nurse had to get the doctor out of the OR so he can authorize them giving me the strongest pain medication they had . I still had pain , but I didn't care.

I did take the fucker out. But they pumped so much meds in me I was itching for a whole week like a junkie.

[Paladin]

157. Gall Bladder Attack---Worst Pain Ever

You've described the exact symptoms I had. By the time they got me to the hospital, I was ready to take it out myself with a letter opener.

That was in 1986, and I haven't missed my gall bladder since.....

[Lorien]

172. Yep. Those are bad

I couldn't afford the surgery, but my mom's roommate found an old Chinese remedy online that worked! 1/2 cup of virgin olive oil and lemon juice on and empty stomach, every half hour for five hours. It was horrible, but not as horrible as a $25,000 medical bill!

[krispos42]

132. A soda can full of pennies to the yamsack

My entire 15-year-old body went numb and my muscles turned to water. Eventually the pain lessened to the point that that my brain decided "yeah, I can stand that", at which point it began hurting like a sunofabitch.

[SarahB]

133. emotional pain is always harder

I've been looking over this thread and I've had 4 c-section (2 of which were after two days of labor, one of which the anesthesia didn't fully work and I felt being cut into), a spinal headache, migraine headaches, two kidney infections, and a gallbladder attack (still in, but I'm waiting for it to hit me again one day and it's out for good, and a bowel obstruction. Nothing has come close to the pain of some of the experiences and heartache in my life that I have had to go through. I've been through a lot and come out a positive person who is truly happy and sees far more good things in my life than negatives. THAT'S what gets me through the tough times. Faith in myself to be ABLE to get through the tough times. :hug:

[Cant trust em]

134. A friend of mine got paid $500 to be part of a Stanford University pain tolerance study

The story is hilarious.

[ashling]

136. Kidney stone

[Withywindle]

137. 1. When my first love told me he didn't love me anymore.

Sure, an emotional hit only, they say. But I felt it all through my body. Every inch of my skin was realizing that he was saying, 'I don't ever want to touch this again' and it was so awful on every level that I fainted. Laid out cold for a while on the tiles of a college library. I didn't want to come back. (That was 22 years ago, and there is still some small petulant part of me that wishes I hadn't.)

2. My first intense attack of endometriosis. All the details are totally TMI, but I was in bed for three months with friends taking care of me, and the after-surgery pain was a giant relief.


3. Sitting on a tree stump with a wasp's nest in it and being stung repeatedly for what felt like hours until my parents found me and rushed me to the ER. I was six. I was in the hospital for three days. (Yeah, still not as bad as being dumped.)

[alphafemale]

138. Waking up and feeling everything during C-Section but being paralyzed so I couldn't make that known,

That was terrifying. I was finally able to move one hand a little.

[fujiyama]

139. Chest Fracture

as far as I can remember.

It was AWFUL. Every time I caughed, sneezed or laughed it would pain. It was ABSOLUTELY EXCRUTIATING.

But I kept reminding myself it was temporary. And Finally I went to the Doc and I had Vicodin after that which kicked ass. I couldn't imagine how I would get through it without prescription drgs, whhich are expenaive as hell. I don't know how people without health insurance make it.

[cleveramerican]

147. sunburn on the bottoms of my feet

wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

[bertha katzenengel]

149. I am so sorry you're in such pain

and i hope your doctor pulls his/her head out.

mine: after my hysterectomy, they took me from surgery to my room, and made me get up off the gurney and into my bed by myself. I thought my sisters were going to kill someone.

[Haole Girl]

155. Thanks sweetie

I'm getting through today, because I have to. Tomorrow I am going back to the doctor's office, with my husband, and explaining that someone is going to have to either make the spine specialist see me sooner than August 12th or prescribe me enough pain medicine that I can sleep more than 4 hours.

These stories have helped me feel less sorry for myself.

Thanks again...

sorry I am not able to respond to more posts in this thread. :hi:

[Lyric]

151. I have had a LOT of experience with pain.

1. The absolute worst pain experience I have ever had was when I badly herniated my L5-S1 spinal disc. The reason is was so horrible is because I was refused any pain medication beyond ibuprofen. I was on Medicaid at the time, and obviously poor, and I still believe to this day that I was refused pain medicine because they pre-judged me and assumed that I'd just go sell it. Anyway--months of utter agony and disability. It was so bad that my left leg was partially paralyzed and numb; it took me eight months to learn how to walk again, and another year before the pain subsided to a tolerable level. I still have chronic pain there, and part of my left leg will be numb for the rest of my life. My stomach eventually bled from the massive amounts of ibuprofen that I was taking in a futile effort to find SOME relief--not that it worked. *sigh*

2. Infected, inflamed, and partially perforated gallbladder. I'd had gallstones for a while beforehand, so when I started feeling pain and nausea on September 5th, 2005, I went to the ER thinking that it was just a really bad gallstone attack. The ER was packed, and I was forced to wait for about an hour as the pain got worse and worse, and I started sweating and shaking. When I finally collapsed to the floor of the waiting room, they rushed me back pretty fast and shot me up with Fentanyl, then Dilaudid about an hour later for breakthrough pain. Then they misdiagnosed me utterly; they told me it was a simple gallstone attack, and admitted me for testing "just in case." My white cell count was up, but I wasn't running a fever, so they didn't think it was an infection.

After four days on unrelenting pain, one doctor actually insinuated that he thought I was making it up in order to get pain medicine--again, I was a Medicaid patient. My Mom and partner went ballistic, and another doc finally ordered an abdominal CT scan with oral contrast. Less than 30 minutes later, I was surrounded by internal surgeons who told me that my gallbladder was swollen to bursting with pus and infection, and had already perforated slightly, which was causing a massive internal infection. It was so bad that they couldn't even DO surgery to remove it, because it was "adhering" to the other organs around it and inflaming THEM too. Surgery would have damaged my liver, large intestine, and common bile ducts.

I wound up in the hospital for a month on Imipenem (a gorilla-cillin akin to Vancomycin) with a biliary drain tube inserted into my gallbladder to keep it drained and empty of pus and bile until they could safely remove it. I was getting Dilaudid shots every 4 hours, and 2 Percocet every four hours (alternated, so I was getting SOME kind of pain meds every 2 hours.) It still hurt like hell.

3. Related to above--having a biliary drain tube inserted into my swollen, painful gallbladder while fully awake, aware, and tied down to the bed. They gave me Fentanyl (which didn't work) and Versed (which was SUPPOSED to knock me out and make me forget the whole thing afterward.) They miscalculated the doses--I felt everything, and I remember everything. I was restrained on the CT scanner "bed" (so they could image me and see where to put the tube.) Then I was stabbed in the belly with a sharp, hollow metal rod, RIGHT into that gallbladder. Then they inserted the tube through the metal rod, and pulled the rod back out. They also fucked up and stabbed through my diaphragm muscle, so even *breathing* was agonizing for about four days. Surgical procedures while you're awake, aware, and unable to move are horrific. They never apologized for it, either. In fact, on my "official chart"--it apparently never happened. I should have sued the bastards.

4. Kidney stones. I've had two--I passed one earlier this year, and there's still an 8 mm stone sitting in my right kidney like a ticking time bomb. *sigh*

5. Endometriosis. It's horrific--like a belly full of broken glass and sharp rocks that *move* every time your intestines move. Using the bathroom is agony. Walking or sitting up is agony. And they don't give pain meds for endometriosis--at least, not to me.

I fucking hate doctors who treat Medicaid patients like potential criminals. If I'd have been a nicely-dressed middle-class soccer Mom, I would NEVER have been forced to endure all of this pain, and the everyday pain of fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis. Obviously, all poor people are just looking for pills to sell. THEIR pain can be safely ignored--it's not like they can afford lawyers. :eyes:

[LaurenG]

153. Induced labor - no meds

incredible amount of pain but it was transient and I knew that. And yeah, that was the deal breaker for future children. (I really didn't want any more anyway but I did get my tubes tied within the year.)

[Wetzelbill]

156. dislocated shoulder (I lost count around 23 times)

But let's see, I have had probably around 30 or so surgeries in my life for various things. I do have a disability I get chronic kidney infections, so I sort of live with some pain, but it's more monotonous.

I've had my shoulder reconstructed.

Blew my right knee out, had ACL reconstruction.

Herniated disk in my back.

Bone chips in left elbow and it would lock up.

My left pinkie dislocates, but that's not that bad.

Broke my leg. Not that bad. Broke my arm, that wasn't too bad either. Bruised my heart and a lung, kind of sucked but not too bad in the end. A few concussions, not that bad. Herniated a disc in my neck, that hurts sometimes, but not that bad. Head lots of little nagging injuries, ankles etc, basic athletic type stuff, nothing that bad.

All in all, I think the dislocated shoulder was the worst. I had a doctor say that female patients have said it was worse than childbirth. A few times when I did it, I nearly passed out because of the pain. After awhile I could pop it back in pretty easy, but the first few times, wow, that was really rough.

[fudge stripe cookays]

161. A ruptured "chocolate ovary".

For the uninitiated, it's a side effect of endometriosis. I'd never had a single symptom my whole life.

They weren't sure what was up. I was doubled over and could barely move, so they went in a did a laporoscopy, and there was so much mess and nastiness all wrapped around my girlie parts that they ended up having to take out my left ovary.

On edit-- my best friend in the world afterward was something called propoxyphene, that caused me to sleep for 24 hours at a time.

[Sheets of Easter]

162. Abcessed tooth, right on a nerve.

Even on percocet, I didn't sleep more than 20 minutes at a time. I called my dentist the next morning, begging for more pain meds and antibiotics.


The antibiotics finally knocked out the infection later that day, and it made a world of difference.

[Orsino]

163. Appendicitis, 1970.

I remember groaning all night long.

My kidney stone a few years only made me uncomfortable.

[av8rdave]

165. Back spasms about 5 years ago - hurt worse than cutting off my thumb.

[Sequoia]

169. Aside from childbirth, I'd say ear ache hands down.

The worst....the worst pain ever. Deal with it? Heh, heh...I don't think so.

[Xipe Totec]

173. Chewing on a whole raw Habanero pepper

one pain can take your mind away from another pain.

Get some serrano peppers and start chewing.

Let the endorphins kick in...

[GoneOffShore]

174. It's a tossup

Gout pain in my ankle and big toe or the sciatica that I've got now.

the gout made me want to either score some heroin or cut off my foot, myself.

The sciatica wakes me at night and the Tylenol 3 (that's with codeine) isn't helping. The acupuncture is helping though.

Breath deeply, that helps. And find another doctor if you can. Make sure it's someone who understands that pain is not your friend.

Oh yes, and good weed helps.