The most pain you've experienced in your life?
Discussion
antspants said:
In all seriousness, how long did it take to recover from this and were there any lasting effects, it sounds bloody awful!
In comparison a couple of dislocations ad ripped ligaments pale into insignificance. Touch wood I've been very lucky.
I only spent about 2 weeks in hospital after the actual accident and was back at school with in a few months. I returned back to the hospital for my surgery about a year later because the fracture hadn't healed and spent another 2 weeks in hospital after my surgery to recover. I had to stay at home for about 3 months after to stay away from any infection or bumps to my head.In comparison a couple of dislocations ad ripped ligaments pale into insignificance. Touch wood I've been very lucky.
The only evidence of my accident is the scar from my operation, which I take as a blessing compared to what could have happened that day. Some one was definitely smiling on me
The scar goes right across my head ear to ear
Another renal colic'er. I'd previously had a burst
Appendix and colic was much worse. Cried, begged for it to stop and spent three days on morphine.
Nothing ever passed and I'm petrified I'll have to deal with it again at some point.
I have a tattoo sleeve as well so used to tolerating pain.
Appendix and colic was much worse. Cried, begged for it to stop and spent three days on morphine.
Nothing ever passed and I'm petrified I'll have to deal with it again at some point.
I have a tattoo sleeve as well so used to tolerating pain.
I was in a crash at Le Mans in 2006. 1 second before impact there was nothing wrong with me, 1 second after impact my hip socket had smashed out the back by my femur, arm snapped clean in half, 3 broken ribs, jaw in 3 pieces, broken nose, missing teeth, both lungs punctured, 3 stomach injuries and guess what....I remember NO pain! What did hurt though was when the pin through my knee was cut off with 18in bolt cutters. Jesus! The fella who turned up to remove it looked like a plumber with a tool bag. To speed the removal of the pin up he decided to cut the ends off while we waited for the anaesthetist to arrive. If you've ever felt the shock through your hand from hitting a metal bar on something hard, you'll know what I mean, but this went through the centre of my knee. I was told by the nurse that while my lights were out he used a hammer and centre punch to remove it and she'd never seen anything like it before. I don't think he liked me!
Adding to the list of kidney stones - though mine were broken up and removed, it was the painkillers wearing off at 3am with the pain that can only be described as someone squeezing your kidney as hard as they could.
This was repeated recently when I had eye surgery, the medication was not to be given to patients with previous kidney issues such as stones. Again, I had the same symptoms at 1AM though this time we called an ambulance who said they would be at least an hour. I got the wife and son up and got her to drive me to hospital. The first shot of morphine didnt touch it so had to wait a further 10 mins for second. When I confronted the doctor about the wrong prescription it was greeted with ok, we wont give you those again!
This was repeated recently when I had eye surgery, the medication was not to be given to patients with previous kidney issues such as stones. Again, I had the same symptoms at 1AM though this time we called an ambulance who said they would be at least an hour. I got the wife and son up and got her to drive me to hospital. The first shot of morphine didnt touch it so had to wait a further 10 mins for second. When I confronted the doctor about the wrong prescription it was greeted with ok, we wont give you those again!
Fireblade69 said:
Renal colic AKA kidney stones; the male equivalent of giving birth apparently. Lost 1/2 stone and 2 days whilst on morphine and I never want to got through that again. Even the acromioclavicular dislocation from a bike accident hurt less than that!
had renal colic twice in two months had the same injection as pregnant ladies while giving birth (pethadin) this plus gas and air and after two days of agony I was floating on clouds !LouD86 said:
Pilonidal Cyst that ive now had reoccur 5 times!! Serious pain right in the bum crack too!!
Ive broken legs, collar bones, wrist, ankle, cracked head open, sliced end of thumb off, but nothing compared to that pain for the 4 days
This. Absolutely this.Ive broken legs, collar bones, wrist, ankle, cracked head open, sliced end of thumb off, but nothing compared to that pain for the 4 days
Had five operations over a year to sort mine and housebound for nine months. To finally sort it, they had to take a chunk of flesh out the size of a man's fist. They can't stitch it up either, so you're left with a huge hole in you which has to be packed daily with gauze. Worst pain you can imagine before the operation, and the recovery is equally horrible. By operation three, I genuinely did not give a crap if I woke up after the anaesthetic.
Four examples, from racing motorbikes...these are the worst I can remember, pain wise, from so many I lost count - and weirdly the worst pain was from one accident that didnt actually result in any injuries..?
1) Taken out by another bike at Mallory Park. Result - grade 3 separation of my Acromio-Clavicular joint, or collar bone in non-medical terms. The bone didn't break, but the fibrous joint at the end of the bone was torn completely away from it's mounting with the scapula (shoulder blade). Massive ouch for days - felt like my arm had been dis-connected inside my body and like it was hanging there with just flesh to hold it...
2) Highside off the bike at Cadwell Park. I was thrown into the air, and landed onto the track (moving under me at around 80mph) upright feet first. This folded both my feet 90 degrees under my legs, resulting in two dislocated ankles, and all the torn ligaments thereof...it also twisted a lower vertabrae in my back. For days and days after, once I'd taken enough painkillers to knock me out to sleep - if my body moved so much as an inch in bed, it woke me with the kind of pain akin to someone stabbing a red-hot knife into my lower back. And coupled with the ankles, I was basically a house-bound cripple...to get myself off the bed and into the toilet for a pee for instance was an hour's work against contorting myself for the least painful movement, and gritting my teeth with the white-hot agony of my back and ankles. Horrible.
3) Fairly non-dramatic accident, low-siding off the bike. Trouble was, my right foot got caught under the bike with the inside facing down, so as I fell off, my body pivoted around the knee joint the wrong way, resulting in my right knee being torn apart internally with the force of rotation that it isn't supposed to have. So, massively torn ligaments - medial, radial and anterior cruciate.
4) But the worst pain? Braking into a hairpin bend at Pembrey - a bike behind me didn't stop, and ran into the back of my stopping bike so hard, it turned my rear wheel egg-shaped and smashed the spokes, bent the suspension arm, and bent the back of the bike and the exhaust upwards into a huge banana shape.
So the impact made the stepped seat-unit on my bike behind me hit my lower body and throw me off the bike with massive force to my hips and lower back. Once it had all stopped, I was laying on the track, flat on my back, with what felt like every single nerve in my body shouting at my brain with the most immense pain I have ever experienced. This was combined with being winded so badly, that my diaphragm basically stopped working, went into a strange spasm, and prevented me from taking any kind of breath inwards.
I couldn't even rationalise or contemplate the pain, every single limb and the entire trunk of my body felt like it was fizzing, throbbing and screaming white-hot heat. And as I couldn't even breathe in deeply to begin to modulate it, my brain just said 'feck this, I'm stumped' so luckily and gratefully, I passed out.
I 'came to' a while later, with about 6 concerned faces of the circuit's medics and my girlfriend all looking down at me, and by now, the whole body pain had abated somewhat. I also found myself able to start to breathe in normally, and take some deep, regulated breaths.
After about 15 minutes of laying there, the all-over pain and throbbing had gone away enough that I was able to be helped to my feet. Once on my feet, I felt much more normal again, and I was able to walk back to the paddock.
Within about an hour or so, plus some Ibuprofen, I actually felt pretty good and mostly pain-free.
The next few days I was a bit stiff and sore, but nowhere near like experiencing the ongoing pain like the injuries above...so I find it strange that the one accident that didn't actually cause me bodily damage, was the most painful - painful enough to make me pass out!
1) Taken out by another bike at Mallory Park. Result - grade 3 separation of my Acromio-Clavicular joint, or collar bone in non-medical terms. The bone didn't break, but the fibrous joint at the end of the bone was torn completely away from it's mounting with the scapula (shoulder blade). Massive ouch for days - felt like my arm had been dis-connected inside my body and like it was hanging there with just flesh to hold it...
2) Highside off the bike at Cadwell Park. I was thrown into the air, and landed onto the track (moving under me at around 80mph) upright feet first. This folded both my feet 90 degrees under my legs, resulting in two dislocated ankles, and all the torn ligaments thereof...it also twisted a lower vertabrae in my back. For days and days after, once I'd taken enough painkillers to knock me out to sleep - if my body moved so much as an inch in bed, it woke me with the kind of pain akin to someone stabbing a red-hot knife into my lower back. And coupled with the ankles, I was basically a house-bound cripple...to get myself off the bed and into the toilet for a pee for instance was an hour's work against contorting myself for the least painful movement, and gritting my teeth with the white-hot agony of my back and ankles. Horrible.
3) Fairly non-dramatic accident, low-siding off the bike. Trouble was, my right foot got caught under the bike with the inside facing down, so as I fell off, my body pivoted around the knee joint the wrong way, resulting in my right knee being torn apart internally with the force of rotation that it isn't supposed to have. So, massively torn ligaments - medial, radial and anterior cruciate.
4) But the worst pain? Braking into a hairpin bend at Pembrey - a bike behind me didn't stop, and ran into the back of my stopping bike so hard, it turned my rear wheel egg-shaped and smashed the spokes, bent the suspension arm, and bent the back of the bike and the exhaust upwards into a huge banana shape.
So the impact made the stepped seat-unit on my bike behind me hit my lower body and throw me off the bike with massive force to my hips and lower back. Once it had all stopped, I was laying on the track, flat on my back, with what felt like every single nerve in my body shouting at my brain with the most immense pain I have ever experienced. This was combined with being winded so badly, that my diaphragm basically stopped working, went into a strange spasm, and prevented me from taking any kind of breath inwards.
I couldn't even rationalise or contemplate the pain, every single limb and the entire trunk of my body felt like it was fizzing, throbbing and screaming white-hot heat. And as I couldn't even breathe in deeply to begin to modulate it, my brain just said 'feck this, I'm stumped' so luckily and gratefully, I passed out.
I 'came to' a while later, with about 6 concerned faces of the circuit's medics and my girlfriend all looking down at me, and by now, the whole body pain had abated somewhat. I also found myself able to start to breathe in normally, and take some deep, regulated breaths.
After about 15 minutes of laying there, the all-over pain and throbbing had gone away enough that I was able to be helped to my feet. Once on my feet, I felt much more normal again, and I was able to walk back to the paddock.
Within about an hour or so, plus some Ibuprofen, I actually felt pretty good and mostly pain-free.
The next few days I was a bit stiff and sore, but nowhere near like experiencing the ongoing pain like the injuries above...so I find it strange that the one accident that didn't actually cause me bodily damage, was the most painful - painful enough to make me pass out!
I have a bad habit of nibbling the skin on the sides of my thumbs. A word of advice, if you have any cuts at all on your hands, wear gloves before you decide to clean out a putrid water butt full of stagnant water and toads and slime and crap.
Both thumbs became severely infected. There's not much you can do without using your thumbs. Total agony for weeks. An absolute nightmare. The worst time of my life.
I dislocated my shoulder once playing football. That was really bad, but the thumbs were worse.
Both thumbs became severely infected. There's not much you can do without using your thumbs. Total agony for weeks. An absolute nightmare. The worst time of my life.
I dislocated my shoulder once playing football. That was really bad, but the thumbs were worse.
Sometimes I think it is hard to compare pain.
I have 3 main pain experiences
Childbirth
Fractured elbow
Chronic back pain
I would say the most intense but actually short lived pain was giving birth, I only used gas and air (and tens) so I felt it well and truly, however the most intense of it was over relatively quickly and once I had him the pain was over. (midwives did say I had a high pain threshold though)
My fractured elbow was truly unpleasent, sharp strabbing pain for a few weeks (boy was six months old at that time and he regularly managed to kick me in the arm -ouch!)
But I would list my back pain as the most excruciating. At it's worst it reduces me to tears regularly and the pain is so acute that I physically cannot move for minutes at a time, when it eases I get sharp stabbing shooting pains if I move slightly awkwardly when the worst has settled it's a general ache which is copable!
I have 3 main pain experiences
Childbirth
Fractured elbow
Chronic back pain
I would say the most intense but actually short lived pain was giving birth, I only used gas and air (and tens) so I felt it well and truly, however the most intense of it was over relatively quickly and once I had him the pain was over. (midwives did say I had a high pain threshold though)
My fractured elbow was truly unpleasent, sharp strabbing pain for a few weeks (boy was six months old at that time and he regularly managed to kick me in the arm -ouch!)
But I would list my back pain as the most excruciating. At it's worst it reduces me to tears regularly and the pain is so acute that I physically cannot move for minutes at a time, when it eases I get sharp stabbing shooting pains if I move slightly awkwardly when the worst has settled it's a general ache which is copable!
A fistula in my a
hole whilst developing C.Diff was an enlightening experience. Everytime you go to the toilet it feels like you're passing an angry hedgehog and having a steady flow of blood fill the toilet I was beginning to wonder how much I could actually lose. Add in the fact you've got the worse sts known to man and you have a recipe for a grown man in tears sat on a toilet.
I think sepsis may of been slightly worse as I can't stand hospitals and I will do anything within my power not to visit one but being curled up in a ball sweating and shaking with the worst all over body pain I had to get my mum to take me in. Cue 2 weeks on the strongest antibiotics they had on an IV drip being woken up every few hours to have blood pressure etc taken. I literally felt like I was dieing.
hole whilst developing C.Diff was an enlightening experience. Everytime you go to the toilet it feels like you're passing an angry hedgehog and having a steady flow of blood fill the toilet I was beginning to wonder how much I could actually lose. Add in the fact you've got the worse sts known to man and you have a recipe for a grown man in tears sat on a toilet.I think sepsis may of been slightly worse as I can't stand hospitals and I will do anything within my power not to visit one but being curled up in a ball sweating and shaking with the worst all over body pain I had to get my mum to take me in. Cue 2 weeks on the strongest antibiotics they had on an IV drip being woken up every few hours to have blood pressure etc taken. I literally felt like I was dieing.
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Four examples, from racing motorbikes . . .
1) Taken out by another bike at Mallory Park. Result - grade 3 separation of my Acromio-Clavicular joint
Most of mine stem from bike racing as well and I think I've done that one . . . is that when your collar bone pops vertically out where it meets your shoulder? Left my collar bone S-shaped and permanently proud of my shoulder. Effing painful that was. Mine was courtesy of being nerfed off by someone at turn one at Snetterton.1) Taken out by another bike at Mallory Park. Result - grade 3 separation of my Acromio-Clavicular joint
With one exception though, I've found most of my muscular injuries more painful than bones breaking . . . I've broken wrists, arms, elbows, ankles, fingers & toes, my nose, legs, collar bones, pretty much most things and I've found that unless ligaments, tendons or muscles go at the same time, your body does a pretty good job of anaesthetising you.
The one exception happened at Pembrey (turn 4, the one after Dibeni, can't remember it's name). Passing someone around the outside, I got pushed onto the rumble strip, the rear broke loose and I got into a mahoosive sideways episode that seemed to last forever. Just when I thought I'd dealt with it, the rear gripped, my inside foot (left one) came off the peg and slid underneath the bike, just as it was in the process of violently highsiding me.
Result? Multiple tib/fib fractures from the knee to the ankle with the worst being a 4 inch spiral fracture in the centre of the tibia. That really did smart . . . proper intense pain. The drugs they gave me barely touched the sides. Even after 6 weeks I could feel the ends of my bones rubbing together whenever I made the slightest movement. The first week was particularly unpleasant though.
The muscular injury that I've experienced that was probably the most painful was a snapped l/h side adductor (120mph highside passing through a 12ft somersault directly into the splits) which was absolutely excruciating and rendered me the gait of an 80 year old for 2 or 3 weeks.
On the positive side though, it has left me with the ability to perform a genuinely unique party trick, so it's not all bad!
missdiane said:
I was hoping a lady would come on kind of comparing childbirth to back pain as I've only had the back pain it would be good to compare the two, I'm expecting my 3 years of sciatica rolled into 12/24 hours of childbirth, then it's not so scary 
I asked Mrs UTR as she's had a 24hr labour with assisted delivery, a routine 8 hour labour and a section and she's had back pains (horse riding injuries) and sciatica (from running) She says labour/giving birth is physically more painful but psychologically it is easier because you know it's a time limited event and it will be over within hours. On the same theme a GP once told me that research had shown that women, as a rule, "forget" the pain of birth so they will do it again. Darwinism, I guess.Having had a slipped disc and after giving birth to a rather large baby with an assisted (forceps) delivery I thought I had experienced pain...however having sat on acute appendicitis for 2 days at home and experiencing a burst appendix with peritonitis I truly know now what bad pain is!
It was the worst experience of my life - I didn't think pain could be that bad!
It was the worst experience of my life - I didn't think pain could be that bad!
Mainly broken bones, currently sat in bed with both legs in plaster but they don't hurt just cumbersome, the almighty pain is the six compressed spinal fractures, the first week in hospital was agonising and I've been through some pain in my life, took 3 nurses to move me from bed to bed with me screaming at the top of my voice.
Ribs are another one that I'm currently experiencing... Again!
But the worst is possibly yet to come, unsure on my knee ligaments hopefully in 2 weeks when the casts come off they would have healed, but busting my right knee previously I remember all too well the months of agonising physio getting me walking again, something I'm really not looking forward to again 25 years later
Ribs are another one that I'm currently experiencing... Again!
But the worst is possibly yet to come, unsure on my knee ligaments hopefully in 2 weeks when the casts come off they would have healed, but busting my right knee previously I remember all too well the months of agonising physio getting me walking again, something I'm really not looking forward to again 25 years later
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