What is the worst physical pain you've ever felt?

[MarkMgibson]

I've had a compound fracture, I suffer from cluster headaches (often called "suicide headaches), but the single worst pain I ever had was a Pulmonary Embolism. I was positive I was going to die - I didn't think you could be in that much pain without actually dying (and I came pretty close).

Of the non-life threatening type of pain, I reckon "Dry socket" dental infections rate very high.

[sneha1965]

I used to work at a custom tile company in Santa Rosa, CA back in the late 80's early 90's and one day feeding a slab of clay into the rollers of the tile machine I got my middle figure of my left hand caught. It pulled my hand into the roller and fortunately stopped the machine. There was a reverse switch which failed and I had to wait for the roller to be removed. The pain was so bad I threw up and passed out. Eventually they got the roller off and my hand out of the tile machine. My middle finger was crushed and split in two. Fortunately the Dr. was able to sew me up and I do not have any adverse effects today. It's a miracle I can still play.

[hover]

Falling off a ladder while securing stuff on a pallet 2 shelves up (ladder tipped)...I caught my arm on the edge of the pallet and ripped it open at the elbow, and then as I frantically grabbed for / wrapped my arm around the industrial shelving upright to try to slow my fall, I had the metal locking nubs that stick out on said upright continue to dig into almost the same part of my arm as 250 lbs of meat and cheese (me) forced downwards...

Made some good hamburger that day.

[Mr_Music90]

For me it was when I lifted up something heavy, and I went through my back... A lot of tendons on the lower part of my back were tightened cause of it. I couldn't walk for 21 days. Sitting and lie down on bed were a nightmare too.

[Mark Reccord]

Originally Posted by Exxcell

Mine is probably when I was burning some brush in a field near my house, it wasn't lighting, so what does any good ole boy do? He grabs some gasoline. After drowning the pile in gas, I walk up to light it and the fumes explode, knocking me backwards and onto my back. As I get up, I find out I'm on fire, and did the one your not suppose to do; run. After a few moments I remembered to stop, drop and roll.
2nd degree burns over 60% of my body (including my face..) and 3rd degree burns on my right arm, right side of my chest, shoulder and upper back.

And if anyone has had a pretty bad burn, they know that the pain doesn't go away. It's there constantly till it heals.
I couldn't sleep for 2 or 3 days because it hurt to bad to lay down.

I thank God every day that I didn't scare.

Burns are bad. A friend of mine got pretty badly burned a long time ago (major scarring) and he said the whole time he was in the hospital he wished he was dead because the pain was that bad.

I don't have anything that compares to that but I've had a couple of serious lower back issues due to a narrowed S1-L5 disc that crippled me. I went to get into my car one day and my back just spasmed as I was about to sit. I fell down in the parking lot and couldn't get up. I lay there for 10 minutes before someone came along and called an ambulance. I couldn't stand up straight for a month. Luckily, physio and regular exercise seems to keep it at bay.

The other big one was snapping my right humerus after overshooting a jump on my mountain bike. Particularly when the x-ray tech grabbed my elbow and pulled it up and out so he could get the x-ray. I collapsed on the floor and apparently cursed him out something fierce. I don't remember doing that.

[MarkMgibson]

I had 3rd degree burns on my back (friction burns after a motorbike accident). The burns were bad, but the skin graft was appalling, and this was an area about 5" x 6". Every time I here stories about people with horrible burns to 50% of their body, it makes me shudder - there's probably no worse pain over a long period of time.

[MEKer]

Without getting too longwinded its this: Shot twice in Vietnam in 1969. My right foot had the top blown apart. The other wound was a half-dollar hole in my arm.They do not close wounds in Nam, they debrided it, left it gaping open and put a cast on it. It turned purple. I got 10-15 injections a day for infection. After almost 2 weeks I get sent to 249th Army Hospital, N. Camp Drake in Japan. In a ward with about 100 others, you are awakened every morning at 6 by screams. The medics are going down the beds one by one, ripping off bandages and debriding, cutting bad flesh off, no anesthetics. My turn, the cast had be "bivalved" to relief pressure as wounds like that make the area swell up horribly. 4 Medics held me down, 2 others started wrenching and pulling the cast off. By this time the blood, tissue and cast had inter-grown and they spent 5 minutes ripping it off. Yes, I am screaming like everyone else. They finally yank the cast parts off, Blood, pus flew everywhere. They are not done. They start digging and cutting off scab and tissue--cleaning it so I could have surgery the next day. The hole is probably 6 inches deep, 4 inches wide, swollen hugely. Everyone else in the ward is screaming and crying either from already having it done, terrified because they are next or if they are sewn up--in sympathy from knowing exactly what I am undergoing and having their own agony too close in memory. When the foot is done, they turn to my arm. Same thing.
When I am done, snotty, teary and in great pain, they wrap me up and move on to the next guy--screaming starts again. When the whole ward has been finished couple of hours later they bring in breakfast. I am told the process is repeated after lunch and every day until surgery finally closes you up. I am terrified. Later lunch comes, I steal a knife from the lunch plate. The screams start again at the end of the ward. My turn again. As they approach I up and cut the hell outta the Medic in charge--his name was SGT Tingle (of all names). I started screaming and-long story short--held them off for over an hour. The Colonel in charge finally came after no one could get to me. I threatened him. The chaplain came. I threatened him. BTW, Tingle was rushed away and never came back. Meanwhile the ward is in an uproar, other patients are yelling and cheering. Chaos. Colonel comes back. I told him what was happening. He said the damn medics were supposed to soak the casts and bandages BEFORE removing and debriding--but unfortunately still with no anesthesia or pain-killing shots. Thats the regulation. He was quite angry at Tingle and his crew who just wanted to get it done quickly. Hmmph--I saw no doctors or nurses telling him to do otherwise---bastards. He promised not to let them back and a medic named Suzuki came, after I finally gave up the knife, soaked my bandages and --although still agonizing, changed everything. I had to go through this the next morning and then went to surgery after that.
But that is how wounds were dealt with then in 1969. When shot again in 1970--same thing but not in the "SGT Tingle" fashion. But still hell. Really Civil War medicine back then at that stage of the war. When I took some shrapnel in 1971 I did not report it as anything worthwhile---"lemme alone, just a bloody scratch"--and took care of it myself (face and armpit) because I was afraid of the hospital.
The hospital was one screaming nightmare the whole time in it.

When I see a Nam vet who was wounded in any serious way, I know what he went through. And he has my sympathy and understanding. Just the memory of that could put tears in my eyes 10 years later. I am over it now, but jesus christ------
Thank God they do not do that stuff anymore to our wounded.

BTW I was not charged with any disciplinary action.

[sneha1965]

/thread.

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by sneha1965

/thread.

Yeah, I think we're done here.

[Hobobob]

MEKer, if you're ever in SoCal I'm buying you a beverage.

[MEKer]

If I was on the West coast anymore I'd take you up on that!

[hbarcat]

Blunt trauma injuries produce the most pain because they involve every nerve ending in the affected area. Ask any EMT what a car crash scene is like when the victim has multiple crushed and mangled body parts. They usually scream uncontrollably until they get nitrous oxide.

[rtslinger]

I fell off a cliff and landed on my back my left hip on a large rock the pain went through my entire body. wasn't able to move right away but got up with the help of my son. sitting down some minutes later both of my legs locked up and I wasn't able to straighten them right away. Damage to the L4 AND L5 nerve damage in my right thumb and left foot back pain 24-7 shoots down my left hip down to just before my foot burning sensation like a hot match on your skin. pain about and #8 daily Lucky for me when I play live the thrill of being on stage takes my head out of the pain zone and I can jump around like a 16 year old till I come down then I have to be helped out of the car after the show. but not as bad as some of the things you people went through.

[mongo2]

Very bad tooth just before a root canal. Second is on going sciatic nerve pain where ever the heck it decides to land.

[iamlowsound]

I had a corneal ulcer, basically an infected cut on your eye. The pain shoots down your optic nerve. T3s did nothing for the pain, all I could do for a few days was lay down, keep my eyes closed and cry. Broken ribs, pulled groin muscle ect don't compare. Although I have nothing on MKer.

lowsound

[TomA1234]

Cramp in my jaw...
(And I hope it stays that way)

[ThudThudThud]

Perhaps we need a cluster headache support group on here.

[mrpackerguy]

Kidney stones, gall stones and childbirth

[mrpackerguy]

Originally Posted by MEKer

Without getting too longwinded its this: Shot twice in Vietnam in 1969. My right foot had the top blown apart. The other wound was a half-dollar hole in my arm.They do not close wounds in Nam, they debrided it, left it gaping open and put a cast on it. It turned purple. I got 10-15 injections a day for infection. After almost 2 weeks I get sent to 249th Army Hospital, N. Camp Drake in Japan. In a ward with about 100 others, you are awakened every morning at 6 by screams. The medics are going down the beds one by one, ripping off bandages and debriding, cutting bad flesh off, no anesthetics. My turn, the cast had be "bivalved" to relief pressure as wounds like that make the area swell up horribly. 4 Medics held me down, 2 others started wrenching and pulling the cast off. By this time the blood, tissue and cast had inter-grown and they spent 5 minutes ripping it off. Yes, I am screaming like everyone else. They finally yank the cast parts off, Blood, pus flew everywhere. They are not done. They start digging and cutting off scab and tissue--cleaning it so I could have surgery the next day. The hole is probably 6 inches deep, 4 inches wide, swollen hugely. Everyone else in the ward is screaming and crying either from already having it done, terrified because they are next or if they are sewn up--in sympathy from knowing exactly what I am undergoing and having their own agony too close in memory. When the foot is done, they turn to my arm. Same thing.
When I am done, snotty, teary and in great pain, they wrap me up and move on to the next guy--screaming starts again. When the whole ward has been finished couple of hours later they bring in breakfast. I am told the process is repeated after lunch and every day until surgery finally closes you up. I am terrified. Later lunch comes, I steal a knife from the lunch plate. The screams start again at the end of the ward. My turn again. As they approach I up and cut the hell outta the Medic in charge--his name was SGT Tingle (of all names). I started screaming and-long story short--held them off for over an hour. The Colonel in charge finally came after no one could get to me. I threatened him. The chaplain came. I threatened him. BTW, Tingle was rushed away and never came back. Meanwhile the ward is in an uproar, other patients are yelling and cheering. Chaos. Colonel comes back. I told him what was happening. He said the damn medics were supposed to soak the casts and bandages BEFORE removing and debriding--but unfortunately still with no anesthesia or pain-killing shots. Thats the regulation. He was quite angry at Tingle and his crew who just wanted to get it done quickly. Hmmph--I saw no doctors or nurses telling him to do otherwise---bastards. He promised not to let them back and a medic named Suzuki came, after I finally gave up the knife, soaked my bandages and --although still agonizing, changed everything. I had to go through this the next morning and then went to surgery after that.
But that is how wounds were dealt with then in 1969. When shot again in 1970--same thing but not in the "SGT Tingle" fashion. But still hell. Really Civil War medicine back then at that stage of the war. When I took some shrapnel in 1971 I did not report it as anything worthwhile---"lemme alone, just a bloody scratch"--and took care of it myself (face and armpit) because I was afraid of the hospital.
The hospital was one screaming nightmare the whole time in it.

When I see a Nam vet who was wounded in any serious way, I know what he went through. And he has my sympathy and understanding. Just the memory of that could put tears in my eyes 10 years later. I am over it now, but jesus christ------
Thank God they do not do that stuff anymore to our wounded.

BTW I was not charged with any disciplinary action.

Just wow, and thank you for your service.

[MarkMgibson]

Originally Posted by ThudThudThud

Perhaps we need a cluster headache support group on here.

Maybe we do. I've been taking Kapanol (morphine) for 15 years for cluster headaches. Before that, I tried a few different ways of offing myself. "Suicide headaches" is an apt description, that's for sure.