What was the worst physical pain you’ve ever felt in your life?

Question

Jeremiah · Accepted Answer

When I was 13, I (for the first time in my life) saved a slice of pineapple cream cake to eat the next day, in the fridge. It was on my mind right from the moment I left the house and I was thinking about enjoying it as soon as I got home, all day. My classmates used to enjoy playing football after school but I skipped the sport that day, ran to get the bus and almost sprinted home to enjoy that love slice of cake. When I got home, I ran through the living room into the dining room, straight to the fridge only to find that the shelf was empty. The slice of cake was missing. It took me a few seconds to collect myself together and then I walked back into the living room only to learn that my mum gave that slice to my sister's friend who happened to visit my sister that day.  I have suffered fractures before but I distinctly remember the unexplainable amount of pain when I realised that my sister's friend at my slice of cake.  Sixteen years later, I still despise all her fri

Kinana · Answer

Late to the party, but easily when I had pneumonia when I was 15. I only remember feeling like I was constantly suffocating and the few times I was conscious, my entire chest felt like it was about to implode. The pain was so extreme at points that I was blacking out from it (though I'm sure the oxygen deprivation didn't help.)   Apparently I should've been dead. One lung almost completely full and the other almost halfway, oxygen at critically low levels. I'm sure I have permanent lung damage now. I still get random, unexplainable chest pains and when colds and allergies hit me, they hit me hard. At some point in my life, I plan on getting tested for COPD.  Otherwise, probably when my lady bits decided to be a bitch and create a disease that apparently, 80% of doctors around here didn't know existed. (It's not uncommon.) I still deal with residual pain from that, too. Good ol' 'murican healthcare!

Debbi · Answer

Kidney stones.

DOMONIQUE · Answer

45 hours active childbirth with a stuck baby and on pitocin with no pain meds or epidural

Antje Bohm · Answer

Throwing up blood when my jaw was wired shut. A. When throwing up, your brain tells your mouth to open. When it's wired shut, it can't, so insane amount of pain there, notably this was maybe 10-30 minutes after a jaw surgery. B. When your mouth is full of blood/chunks, your only option is to either swallow it (I didn't even think of this route at the time), or use a strategy the doctor explains to you similar to heavy forced breathing to push whatever's in your mouth through the small spaces behind your molars. 10/10 the worst/most painful experience of my life, took around 5 minutes before I went into a numbing shock and just sort of zoned out while doing the heavy breathing thing. Only time I saw my dad cry besides his fathers funeral was standing next to me watching while not being able to do anything to help me.

Cathe · Answer

Kidney infection from an undetected UTI. Fuck that.

Kastanja · Answer

Kidney stones, the first one i ever had the pain came so fast and so hard that i fell to the floor and started vomiting. that was the beginning of my nightmare. every few months from then on for the next 15 years i would get kidney stones i have had more surgeries than i can remember. in 2008 i almost lost a kidney because of a 20 mm stone. took 15 years to figure out and get what was wrong with me fixed. hyperparathyroidism, my body was leaching the calcium from my bones and putting it in my blood stream which then went filtered into my kidneys causing the stones.

Lesley · Answer

Sciatica. I agree with the infected, broken wisdom tooth. I have one now, actually. I couldnt get an oral surgeon appointment quickly because they don't consider it an emergency even though the root is exposed. :-/

Onida · Answer

Aerosinusitus/sinus squeeze on airplane descent.

Sorella · Answer

Food poisoning. I felt like I was going to die for two days straight. The cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, the dizzy spells were the worst.

Oswell · Answer

I had a seizure and but through my tongue. That was fun to wake up with.

Lizette · Answer

Yesterday my kids woke me up by jumping on and they landed on my nuts a couple times

annelie · Answer

Currently a sophomore in college but back during my junior year in high school I threw out my back, now my high school didn't have desks only lab tables with stools. I had to sit at those damn stools for a week with shooting pain in my lower back. When I dropped my pencils I just left them there because I literally couldn't move. I can't really describe just how painful it was except that it felt like something was continually stabbing and compressing my lower back. I couldn't even sleep because when I moved in my sleep the pain would wake me up. Worst 2 weeks of my life.

Alvina · Answer

Gall stones are terrible. You cant do anything for about 4-5 hours. Cant lie down, cant walk around. Just have to wait it out

Afagh · Answer

"I broke my ankle. That didn't hurt. It was a stress fracture that got worse over time. It was a dull pain with spikes of intermittent pain. A 4-5 out of 10 at worst. But, to fix it required surgery. When the anesthesia wore off I was doped up on Percocet.  That was almost 30 years ago and I still remember feeling the pain, like the doc was going in with the scalpel dry. I felt every nerve down to the bone, and the screw he put in. It lasted for hours. 8-9 out of 10 pain in a 3" area of my foot. It would have been agonizing. But, I did not care. That was the Percocet talking. I don't like Percocet.  "

SANTANA · Answer

Deep Vein Thrombosis wasn't very fun.

Marjaana · Answer

Inflammatory bowel disease. Pain so bad I can't move while simultaneously throwing up and having uncontrollable bloody diarrhea. It's super glamorous.

Frans · Answer

I woke up in the middle of the night to a testicular torsion. It wasn't just the pain, but the panic and sweating, and cramping, and general badness of the situation that made it so unenjoyable. edit: I thought of a worse one. I got some sort of mystery virus that made my insides get really swollen and painful. They gave me all the pain meds they could, but I laid in a hospital bed for about 18 hours just moaning. I was fully conscious but couldn't really respond past grunts. In moments of control, I would always ask for more pain meds, but the doctor told me he didn't know how I was even awake, that they were giving me maximum doses at closest intervals allowed.

Welby · Answer

UTI.  I woke up at 2 AM with a UTI then had to wait 6 hours in excruciating pain for Urgent Care to open + 7 more hours to actually get my prescriptions filled because I had issues with my pharmacy.  Whole time I was gripping my vagina and jumping around like a crazy woman because it felt like my nether region was splitting open and running to the bathroom because I constantly felt like I needed to piss acid, not to mention screaming in pain when I did actually manage to pee cherry kool-aid urine. I've had kidney stones and had a botched wisdom tooth surgery and this remains the worst.  Occasionally, I feel a burn in my vag come from nowhere and I terrify myself into thinking I have another one.

Johanna Cole · Answer

Cluster Headache also called suicide headache. Most painful experience humans can have.

CHINA · Answer

Compartment syndrome

Pammie · Answer

Getting an IUD

Maria-Terttu · Answer

I had oral surgery and the lidocaine shots in the center of the roof of my mouth were absolutely horrible. The needle felt like it went in a full inch and the doc kinda jiggled it as the injection went on (seems common with lidocaine in the mouth, as with every surgery I've had this occurs). My entire body tensed up to try to cope with the pain while keeping my mouth open.

Lisa Wurfel · Answer

Being in labour. Cliche, but true.

Rojina · Answer

Gall stones. I would rather give birth with no drugs than have gall stones

Gregor · Answer

"When I was about 16 I experienced the worst "cramps" I have ever had. I told my dad that I was in a lot of pain and he said suck it up. I was laying in bed in so much pain and the only way I could walk was by bending over at my waist. I went to school like this for a few days when my stepmom told my dad that it probably isn't cramps. Went to the doctor and they did a scan. It was a giant ovarian cyst and if it had been any bigger they would have had to remove it surgically. Second most painful experience was after my jaw surgery they had to remove a lot of drainage pipes from my neck. It felt so gross and hurt pretty bad when they were pulled out. "

KINDRA · Answer

I was holding a road flare. The ones you're supposed to leave laying on the road. Well, it dripped onto my thumbnail and burned deep into my thumb.

Supatra · Answer

Occasionally when I wake up I move my leg into a very weird position that causes an excruciatingly painful leg cramp to happen and my leg will hurt for the rest of the day. This is how bad days usually start.

Anica · Answer

Small bowel obstruction with an NG tube. Multiple times. Crohn's.

Stephanie Vogt · Answer

Bowel strangulation. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Took a blast of Fentanyl to get me to stop screaming in the ER.

JACQUILINE · Answer

My big toe was ingrown and infected on both sides. The doc that tried to fix it the second time took the needle, for numbing, and stuck it right in the tip of my toe. I thought I was going to die from the excruciating pain, then she pressed on the plunger of the syringe. When the lidocaine was being injected it literally felt like my foot was being crushed in a vice and I was a pube hair away from blacking out. For fucks sake take care of your feet. By the way, she didn't fix it so I had to have that procedure done again.

Bobbie · Answer

I was sawing a tennis ball in half in 7th grade when the handsaw slipped down the side of the ball and sawed deep into my thumb down to the bone. I remember sitting there in disbelief looking at the inside of my thumb until all the blood rushed up and out in what felt like slow motion. 6 stitches later and now one of my thumbs can bend to the back of my hand

Helja · Answer

Ruptured lower disc pressing on my sciatic nerve. Had to get a discectomy to fix it.  Worst 2-3 months of pain prior to the surgery. Couldn't walk, sit, stand, lay, sleep, etc as the feelings of numbing, dull, and sharp shooting pains ran up and down my entire left leg and buttock. Truly debilitating.  Surgery instantly fixed it thankfully.

Ursula Eisenhauer · Answer

I wrecked my car years ago and my mouth hit the steering wheel. Three of my teeth sheared off at the gumline leaving a white knot of nerve fibers exposed for two days while I tried to get an emergency dental appointment. If I even opened my mouth while breathing the cooler temperature of the air would have me buckled over in pain. Luckily I got pain pills from the ER and after taking a couple too many I got brave and decided I was curious about the nerve clumps and if they were soft or hard. I ever so intelligently poked one of them just barely with a needle. I woke up on the bathroom floor about 1-2 minutes later after seeing a bright flash of light and my ears were still ringing. A definite 12 on a scale of 1-10.

Sinikka · Answer

I had Streptococcus Arthritis, basically I had a strep throat infection the moved into the joints of my legs. Over the coarse of a day my legs got stiffer and stiffer until I couldn't walk. I was 13 at the time and home alone all that day. When my family came home from shopping I was laying in the couch crying because I had to go to the bathroom so bad but couldn't stand up.    My Dad didn't believe me, thought I was being dramatic, so he picked up my ankles and threw them down to the floor, forcing my into a sitting position. I screamed so loud, it hurt so bad I almost passed out. He believed me then (He carried me to the car) and we rushed to the hospital.    I'm ok now, no lasting damage. I have run 3 marathons and this spring I will hike the Application trail. But for a few weeks at 13 I was in a wheelchair.

WILDA · Answer

Dry socket from a wisdom tooth they had to literally crush to get out, some of it is still left in there. Could hear 19yo me crying from the waiting room as they repacked it. Or a golf ball sized abscess in my armpit. Turned out to be staph. That shit BURNED and I was out of work for a week after it was drained.

PEARLY · Answer

Bone Marrow Biopsy. It doesn't last very long but absolutely excruciating while it lasts. I've had 12 and more to come. Gall Bladder attacks are a close second.

Marmaduke · Answer

Crohn's disease, feels like an alien is about to burst out of my abdomen at times. I've passed out from the pain before.

Marjoriitta · Answer

Kidney stones was the longest.... curl up in a ball and scream silently. Hardest was when I woke up during a surgical manipulation of what they thought was a dislocated shoulder. It was actually shattered into 7 pieces. I woke up screaming curses.

Chet · Answer

Tonsillectomy at age 20. Hardest recovery I've had. The only relief was to drink room temperature water and lay with an ice pack under my chin. I had to spit my excess saliva in a cup because I couldn't swallow anything. Unpleasant is an understatement.

Rolf · Answer

Cold water accidentally being injected below my eye socket during a root canal. Apparently the root didn't end, but rather lead to one of the empty cavities in my face. Which I found out later is extremely rare. My face swelled up to twice it size, I looked like the elephant man. It took a month for it to return to normal. I don't remember it happening. The doctor said 'I'm just going to clean out this last root and...' The next thing I remember is holding the doctor wrists in a white knuckle grip and then this wall of pain hits me like I can't describe.

Harrie · Answer

Gall bladder. I was shaking uncontrollably and just curled over in pain on the bed. Went to the ER and they just gave me a GI Cocktail and a Percocet and sent me home. Didn't make a difference. But then I fell asleep, woke up an hour or two later, and the pain was gone. *Edit after sleeping the night: Looks like a lot of people got your gall bladder removed. Did that have any negative impact whatsoever?  I saw a gastroenterologist who dx'd me (unlike the 13-year old ER doctor.) But she said that we could wait and see if the pain is recurring and then consider removing the gall bladder. But it only happened twice, and hasn't happened since.

Lanni · Answer

accidental anal

Sophia Meier · Answer

Ovarian cysts.

Clinton · Answer

Gout. Holy hell.

Christopher · Answer

Getting a shot in the bottom of both feet for plantar fasciitis... the shot it self didn't hurt, the dr slides the needle up and down looking for the spot. I honest to god saw stars when he hit it, if I could have reached him while laying down I'd have beat him to death. The next two days felt like walking on legos

Jodee · Answer

"Not as epic as some other comments, I have endometriosis that causes me extreme abdominal pain. Like, i've vomited and passed out from the pain before. I still remember the day I found out my period pains weren't normal was while I was in high school, my mom came to wake me up and I had these sharp, searing pains that were so severe I literally could not move. It was almost time for me to leave and my mom came to check on me only to find me still in my bed, eyes rolled back, in a cold sweat and more or less convulsing. I was taken to the ER and after a bunch of tests over the years, it was determined to be endometriosis. I will however never forget that morning. After that, I think back to all the times prior to my diagnosis where I had crippling pains and was told "every woman gets this, just deal with it" and I feel a little angry at how much I was dismissed.  "

Reba · Answer

I had an infection in my dry socket from wisdom teeth removal. I wanted to die and all the worlds lortab couldn't put a dent in that pain. One time I suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm where I was hospitalized for days and almost died. My brain basically tried to self destruct and still that fucking dry socket was worse.

Vanessa Lehmann · Answer

In a wrestling accident, I had a bone breach out of the tip on my finger & thereby pushing my fingernail straight off. Maybe there wasn't enough novocaine, but when that was pushed back in place......holy hot hell.

TIESHA · Answer

When I was around 10 years old, I stepped on a piece of glass. I thought I pulled it all out. However, after a few days of walking around, I realized I still had pain where the wound was. My dad took me to the doctor and both him and my sister had to restrain me while the doctor tried to fish it out with tweezers (I screamed in pain during his whole long attempt.) After a few unsuccessful attempts, my dad offered to try. He got it out in like two tries. The glass wasn't very big, but it still hurt quite badly.  TLDR: Being held down while someone pulled glass out of my wound.

Ros-Maj · Answer

Worst migraine I ever had. Had I been on a bridge at the time, I woulda jumped.

Andrea Konig · Answer

Was moving a couch for a then girlfriend that was weak as hell. She couldn't hold her end whole going up some metal stairs at her apartment. The couch fell on me and I tumbled down the stairs with it bouncing on top of me. L4/L5 and L5/S1 injury with tearing along the discs. 10/10 pain and I lost the ability to walk for several days. Also, it turns out that she was a lesbian.

Sanna-Riikka · Answer

Dragging my hand across a shitty wooden table fast enough to lodge a huge piece of wood under my fingernail that went all the way to the end of the nail bed. Had to take public transit to an urgent care to get it removed. Two hours of hell right there til the lidocaine hit.   Thanks for the silver stranger! My most upvoted comment ever about something I wish had never happened.

Tomt · Answer

Meningitis headache then the spinal tap. Even my epidural for the birth of my daughter wasn't as painful compared to the spinal to rule out bacterial meningitis even with them having to reposition it several times...

Marie Wolf · Answer

I've broken bones and had a non functioning gall bladder. Nothing compares to the pain and cramping I experienced after drinking an herbal laxative tea. I legit thought I was dying

Merike · Answer

"Broke my femur while on vacation in Shanghai. Had to fly home with it in just a small "basket brace" thing. (13 hour flight, approximately). Upon landing took an ambulance straight to the hospital where they took more x-rays to confirm what the hospital in Shanghai already told me. In order to take x-rays they had to move my leg into various anatomical positions.  I haven't cried from physical pain in a long time, but I did that day. "

Yutong · Answer

Struck by lightning. Felt like getting hit by a truck, burned all over, and turned inside out all at once, topped off with my brain trying to have every possible thought all at once. -100/10 ... do not recommend

Henryetta · Answer

Ripped my asshole while pooping.  Roughage is important, kids.

Sievi · Answer

When my mom beat me with a samsung charger

Anna-Karin · Answer

Viral meningitis.  Exposed nerve in tooth.  I gave birth to an 8lb 7oz baby without an epidural and would rather do that again than get meningitis or have an exposed tooth again.

Bay · Answer

I cut a huge chunk out of the center of my cornea. Looked like sliced ham with a tiny piece holding it on. Every time I blinked, it'd flap back down. Had to go to ER, but they could only put so much numbing medicine in my eye. Had to wait until the next day and get a contact bandaid put in for it to heal alittle bit.  Literally worst pain I've ever felt. Even when my eye was closed, I felt it. To this day, that eye gets dry faster and I can wake up and my eyelid be stuck closed from dryness.

Minna-Kristiina · Answer

I suffer from vulvodynia - a chronic pain condition which means anything touching my vulva hurts. I had 12 Botox injections into my vagina...without any analgesia. Even the gynaecologist was crying as she did it to me.

Burke · Answer

Had an ear infection that got to the point that my ear drum burst. The pain and pressure leading up to that was horrible, felt like someone hitting my brain with a jackhammer. When my eardrum burst the pressure finally left

Paju · Answer

Got my fingers slammed by a car door.

jorunn · Answer

My story isn't nearly as painful as many of these, but it's the stuff of nightmares, and it is my worst physical pain. It's worse than breaking your little toe (supposedly one of the worst pains you'll ever feel) and worse than cracking your knee cap (yes, done both). I was in sixth grade running a 100 yard dash in mid-spring. I got about ten yards and felt something hit above my upper lip and go up my left nostril. I stop running and I can feel whatever it is moving up my nose. I try to snot rocket and nothing. I try to pick and I bump it with my finger, and that's when the worst pain I ever felt in my life happened. I tried two more snot rockets and the last one succeeded in firing out a yellow jacket from my nose. That sucker stung me from inside my nose. I harbor a deep seeded hatred of all things yellow jackets.

Alberto · Answer

A horse stepped on my toe once when it got scared. Over the following months, I watch my toenail fall off and grow back like nothing happened. The human body is fucking metal.

Seliina · Answer

2 simultaneous ingrown toenails on the big toe that had gone very deep (over half an inch on each side) after many failed attempts at fixing them. The big toe was more than twice its normal size... at that point even the pain caused by wearing socks was impossible to bear. So many bad memories but I remember the one time where I was walking around barefoot and a friend accidentally stepped on the big toe... with her high heels... I woke up on the floor, in a pool of blood, surrounded by traumatized people.

Celestina · Answer

Back in 2005 I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Shortly after I experienced what is called an Intracranial Pressure Headache. Excess spinal fluid was pooling in my brain pressing against the inside of my skull.  Basically pressure was building, trying to crack open my skull from the inside.  It was horrific. I couldnt move or walk. I had to be physically carried to the car and driven to the hospital.  The hospital did an emergency brain surgery to install a shunt (a tube that drains any excess fluid from my skull to my stomach)

Cyrene · Answer

Gall bladder attacks. I remember waiting for emergency surgery to get my gall bladder removed on Dec 30th 2012 and I was laying on a stretcher, throwing up and crying out in pain.

Bellamy · Answer

Getting my IUD inserted.

Indira · Answer

Testicular Torsion had me on the floor crying

Christine Lowe · Answer

The nerve pain from shingles. The open sores inched, burned, and ached but it was nothing compared to the stabbing pain from the nerve bundle. Edit: Since this blew up I figured I'd take the time to leave some advice. If you suspect you have shingles, go to the doctor asap because the sooner they prescribe antiviral treatment, the smaller the risk of postherpetic neuralgia (phantom nerve spasms and pain that last up to years after your shingles have gone away, caused by nerve damage from the shingles virus). If you don't have insurance in the U.S. go to an urgent care clinic ( around $150 + $20 for prescription antivirals for treatment and prescription anticonvulsants for pain). Don't risk permanent nerve damage and severe pain to save less than $200 and don't risk at home homeopathic treatment because it most likely won't do anything.

Glynda · Answer

"When I was 16, my appendix burst at summer camp and I went without medical treatment for three days. The camp nurse told me I had altitude sickness, and the adult volunteers didn't recognize that it was an emergency when I had stomach pains so bad I couldn't walk and told me to drink lemon soda. It wasn't just regular appendicitis, the appendix actually burst and my body apparently "walled off" the infection, stopping me from getting septicemia or a blood infection or whatever... I actually felt somewhat better the day after. Definitely would not recommend. Fortunately, I eventually got to an excellent surgeon and made a full recovery. "

Mikel · Answer

Meningitis. Think the worst cluster headache that lasts for weeks, and every step jolts it so hard you puke so you can't walk. Any sort of light makes you puke. And the painkillers barely take the edge off. Your bones ache, your joints throb, you can't sleep, eat, but you can't watch any screens or read... basically you get to lay there trying not to move. I didn't even close my eyes to sleep a couple nights because I was convinced I wouldn't wake up if I did.  Hospitalized for two weeks, spinal tap on my birthday, and took months to fully recover.  0/10, would not recommend.  EDIT: Ooooo fancy platinum - thank ya. Also this is in context of appendicitis, broken bones, ovarian torsion (close second!), (benign) tumors, never ending dental surgery and a few other odds and ends. Meningitis ain't no joke, take care of ya body and don't keep going to class or work if ya sick.

Briggs · Answer

Had bronchitis while I had three broken ribs. I still remember laying in bed at night trying to sleep and being just plain miserable.

Anno · Answer

When I was 17 my mom passed away, I was living with a boyfriend at the time and we were in the process of moving (we were starting to pack). I ended of getting appendicitis a week after she passed and then a day after I was discharged I got pneumonia. My boyfriend at the time wasn't all that great so he left me to unpack so he could go out to the bar. He came back home at 3 in the morning with a girl, forgetting that I was at the new place and not the old one. I was on antibiotics for the pneumonia but had only taken Tylenol for the surgery pain (my mom had overdosed on opioids and I was sensitive to that at the time), every time I cried (in grief or jealousy) or coughed it felt like my stomach was going to fucking burst.  This was a very long time ago, but it definitely was the worst pain in all areas that I have felt, all at once.

LOURIE · Answer

I broke my wrist at a 45 degree angle. Setting it was the worst pain I've ever experienced. They put my fingers in a little Chinese finger trap thing with weights on my bicep. I had to pull as hard as I could to set the bone back in place. Felt like I was going to pass out, throw up and shit myself all at once.

JAYE · Answer

Nerve pain. I pinched a nerve in my back. You may have experienced a lighter version with a tooth while at the dentist. That is about the closest I felt before but that is much more temporary. It sits in the back of your brain just eating away at your sanity.  Painkillers don't kill it but can get you so high that you care less. You may have a position that doesn't trigger the pain. If you're lucky you can be comfortable in that position. If not you'll end up cramping up certain muscles trying to avoid the pain.

Karin Zimmermann · Answer

Pancreatitis. Basically I called 911, said the door was unlocked, and I'm lying down. I passed out, woke up ten days later in the hospital. I only vaguely remember the paramedics wheeling me out.

Gun-Britt · Answer

I got key hole surgery to have my appendix removed when I was about 12, all was going well and everything apart from pain in my stomach, which was why my appendix was removed.  Turns out I had an abscess bellow my belly button somewhere, and it started pushing on my intestines, it burst my scar open and pushed part of my intestines our of my stomach. When I got to hospital I was in agony, I've never felt anything like it, and one of the junior doctors didn't know what it was so pulled on it with tweezers. fucking ouch that was my intestine senior doctor comes running in when she hears the screaming and looks at my stomach, immediately starts shouting at the junior doctor and I got rushed to theatre. bitch that was sore but yes my appendix was also inflamed which is why I was discharged, they thought the pain was just from surgery and me being young or some shit edit: yes the intestines don't hurt themselves, but the surrounding tissue does

Gilbertine · Answer

When I was in high school, I put my contacts in the wrong solution and essentially soaked my eyes in hydrogen peroxide. I thought that the pain would go away eventually and that I could muscle through it, so I went to go pick up a friend. By the time we got to her home, my eyes had swelled shut, so we had to go to Urgent Care for the doctors to numb my eyes enough for me to stick my fingers beneath my eyelids and take out the contacts. I couldn't open my eyes for 3 days.

What was the worst physical pain you’ve ever felt in your life?

Blakelee

Cesya

Chantal

Clare

Jean

Johnette

Lucila

Madelin

Noell

Rayshell