I think the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life was when I had a kidney stone when I was 20-years-old.

Oof!

It was so painful that it makes me shudder with fear all these years later.

What’s the worst physical pain you’ve ever felt?

Here’s what AskReddit users had to say.

Sounds horrible.

“Tooth Abscess.

Imagine someone taking a red hot nail and are hammering it into your gums. Each heart beat is another hit of the hammer.

And Florida will not hand out pain medication for them. You just have to suffer while antibiotics kick in over a week.”

OMG.

“Infected gallbladder. By the time it was removed, it was gangrene.

It was a hell of a time to discover i’m one in about 100k people for which opioids do not work. Morphine does nothing for me, and they took half a day of me writhing in agony to believe me (dr had me do a ‘sobriety’ test, after he gave me a dose ‘that would have knocked a horse out’–and i had ZERO indications i had been given any).

But yeah. That.”

In pain.

“About 14 years ago I decided to get my tonsils out.

My ENT noticed how closed up my sinus passages were and before the surgery asked if I’d like them opened up as well.

Sure! Let’s get it all done. Recovery was okay. About 3 months later I started getting a headache. Within 24 hours I was pretty mulch immobilized from the pain and kept a warm compress over my eyes to keep the light out.

I went back to my specialist, he said “you have a migraine” and prescribed Vicodin or Percocet. When that didn’t do anything to help the pain, even doubling the dose, I called my ENT back. He said “Go to the ER” but in that tone that says “ya big baby.”

They stuck something in my arm, I passed out, and woke up feeling great. Next morning I looked like someone punched me in the eye. Went back to my ENT, and he showed me the scan they took in the ER.

I had such a severe sinus infection I was fit to burst. He was very apologetic for basically brushing off my concern.”

Worth it, but…

“Full extraction of all teeth, all at once, plus 4 implants across the bottom to lock my bottom plate in.

Jaw broken in 7 places. Took months for the swelling to go down.

And for the record, worth every penny.”

The cyst.

“Pilonidal cyst.

I’ve had gallstones, I have nerve pain in my jaw, I’ve broken bones, I’ve had bone bruises, none of that hurt like this cyst. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the tailbone with a white hot poker and simultaneously like my tailbone was trying to push itself out of my body.

It was infected, and the first doctor I saw just gave me some pain meds, not even an antibiotic. I was back in there in tears the next day because I couldn’t sit, couldn’t lay down, couldn’t do anything but be in pain.

The second doctor immediately did a mini surgery and yelled at the first doctor for not doing anything immediately.”

Nerve issues.

“Severely pinched sciatic nerve.

Went to stand up from the toilet. It was only about 12 steps from there to my recliner. By the time I made it to my recliner, I was in tears and couldn’t move anything without being in pain. That’s when I let my doctor know that I definitely needed the MRI he had offered if the steroids didn’t make it better.

Had to wait almost a week for the MRI because that happened on the Wednesday before thanksgiving. Oxycodone barely touched my pain so it was a pretty miserable 6 weeks in total until my surgeon could squeeze me in.”

That’s a new one.

“Dislocated left kneecap during a badminton tournament. The sound was so loud it made my playing partner throw up on the court.

I passed out instantly and woke up with medical people trying to stabilize my knee before putting it back into place which was worse.”

Horrible.

“I had Plantar Fasciitis for three years.

Maybe it was the length of time or severity, but it was the worst. You wake up and wonder if you just want to go through excruciating pain to go to bathroom at night or just p**s yourself in bed.

For reference I’ve had migraines, a close second, concussions, broken bones, displaced/dislocated shoulder, arthritis in my neck, dry socket from wisdom teeth, strained calf and lots of others. Of all things the consistent plantar was the worst.”

Good Lord…

“Playing football (Soccer) on astroturf and gave myself a huge friction burn by doing a slide tackle. Took that like a champ.

The thing was still weeping the next morning and I had a pretty dirty job, so to stop it getting infected I wrapped a bandage around my leg. 10 hours later and I get home to have a shower only to find the bandage had stuck to my leg with puss, other fluids and the heat from the burn.

Had to get my dad to hold me down and my mom to start ripping it off whilst I was biting a towel.

Went to the hospital and after a few chuckles from the nurse I left with as many wet bandages and gauzes as I could carry.”

Bad accident.

“I spilled a pot of boiling water on my bare feet. Yes water at 500⁰F will pull skin off instantly. At first it felt cold then excruciating, agonizing pain for weeks.

Took 3 months before I could walk with a cane and another month before I could walk without it. Now my feet like feel like fine leather. Don’t ever cook barefoot.”

Brutal.

“I severely bruised a testicle by falling on the bar of my bike. Couldn’t walk, couldn’t stop throwing up.

Almost needed emergency surgery to remove it. It was swollen and purple for a good few weeks.”

Ouch!

Be careful out there, fam!