The most painful physical ailment you've experienced?

[Mr Silver]

Admiral M, dental implants are tough! I only have one (after two crowns and a root canal on it), but drilling into the jaw is so much worse than a filling, crown, or root canal. My entire head vibrated with the damn drill! It would be a last resort for me, but if your teeth are truly so bad, well, that's something else. Don't forget, you will still have nerves in your jaw, which has caused me occasional pain despite the root canals (I really clench hard in my sleep).

Hey, thanks for the heads up!

It really depends on how things turn out. Ideally it's something I would like done just to "start again" if you like. I don't fancy spending months in the presence of a dentist getting all the damage repaired and suffering with abscesses as the result of root canal (it does happen quite often, it's happened to me before!).

Ideally I'd like to have my wisdom teeth removed along with with 4 incisors in order to provide room for my teeth to straighten up. The only downside to this is the potential for swelling and other horrible gum pains from having my teeth relocated. I think I probably require some treatment in order to regenerate the tooth enamel on several teeth and I will probably need some repairs to older fillings.

Even this could set me back a couple of thousand for something that may not actually work. The benefit of having all my teeth removed and replaced with prosphetics is that it will work and the only thing I will need to focus on is keeping my gum hygiene to an excellent standard.

 

[Kira's Mom]

12 years ago I dropped a filter filled with boiled tea leaves on my foot- just boiled tea leaves. I had second degree-bordering on third degree- scald burns on my foot and ankle and the pain almost knocked me out. I still have the scars. I can't even imagine the agony people with bad burns all over go through. Burns suck.

I think the only thing more painful than being burned is being suffocated. I once had an asthma-like attack that felt like a thousand knives stabbing me from within. Being able to breathe again was like getting a morphine drip!

I had several ear operations as a child (due to damage from chronic infections). The worst was when the doctors had to remove tissue destroyed by infection. Waking up from that was hell, like hot, acid-tipped knives were digging into my inner ear...and thirty-odd years later, my mom tells me I could have died! Glad she kept that bit from me.

Having my wisdom teeth out or my two sprained ankles (different times) hurt like hell too, but not anywhere near as bad as the above three examples.

 

[spooky spice]

I've had kidney stones twice, the second one wasn't as bad, but the first one had me literally rolling on the floor screaming in agony while my [mentally ill] mother stood and asked if there was something wrong? Then when she finally decided there was something wrong she told me to go out to the car and she'd take me to the doctor...

I was on meds a few years ago as I was supposedly developing osteoporosis (bone scans have since shown my bones are in tip-top condition and actually much much better than they usually are for a woman in her 40s) one of the variations I was given gave me the most gawdawful period pain, I can remember walking across a car park and being knocked to my knees by what felt like a violent kick in the guts. My "friend" (a woman who's one of them self righteous "it's only a bit of discomfort once a month" bitches) stopped and starred at me - took me half a minute to get my breath back and get back to my feet. Oddly enough she didn't get so high and mighty about women having to take time off work due to being on their period. I got the GP to change the meds after.

I fell off a horse when I was a teenager, well to be more precise he threw me off. I landed on the jump we were supposed to be jumping over. I could hear someone screaming their head off and was wondering who was screaming and why, when I opened my eyes and realised where I was, and that it was me who was screaming! For several seconds I was in the most excruciating pain and thought I'd broken every bone in my body. I had a massive bruise all over the right side of my back from my hip to my shoulder for weeks after.
(Yeah I still ride)

But the worst pain I ever experienced was a dislocated pelvis. I sat down on a chair that [I have since learned was rigged to do so] collapsed underneath me - beacuse I was putting my bag down at the same time as I was moving to sit down, I twisted myself as I fell and dislocated my sacro-illiac joint (as well as damaging my back really badly) the perpetrators tried to pretend it was nothing to do with them and didn't admit to rigging the chair for over 20 years. I was in blind agony 24/7 for about 3 months - my mother wouldn't call the doctor out to me. When I finally saw a doctor they mis-diagnosed it as sciatica. If I was able to walk I had to walk literally bent double, I piled on about 3 stones in weight as a result (which didn't help matters) and was housebound for over a year.

Two years later my pelvis righted itself and I was able to walk upright, but I still walk with a pronounced limp and my back will 'go' on me for the slightest thing - opening a curtain, opening a door, putting my foot into my shoe ...

 

[RyanKCR]

I don't know how painful it was because it didn't happen to me but when my wife was very young she tripped on the sidewalk and fell face first on the concrete and slid a bit. It scrapped the front off of one of her teeth and the whole left side of her face was ripped up.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Sorry kidney stone people. I've had them.
Fucking childbirth ftw!

 

[Mr Silver]

Not to be a douche, because I do respect the sheer amount of agony that women go through during labour, but it's not that uncommon for women to have a pain free labour. Obviously a pain free labour is dependant on the circumstances, but the variety of treatment available to ease childbirth pain these days is pretty impressive.

I think most of us have probably heard that being shot in the kneecaps is the most painful injury that someone can suffer. I don't really put much stock in that though!

 

[propita]

Admiral M, dental implants are tough! I only have one (after two crowns and a root canal on it), but drilling into the jaw is so much worse than a filling, crown, or root canal. My entire head vibrated with the damn drill! It would be a last resort for me, but if your teeth are truly so bad, well, that's something else. Don't forget, you will still have nerves in your jaw, which has caused me occasional pain despite the root canals (I really clench hard in my sleep).

Hey, thanks for the heads up!

It really depends on how things turn out. Ideally it's something I would like done just to "start again" if you like. I don't fancy spending months in the presence of a dentist getting all the damage repaired and suffering with abscesses as the result of root canal (it does happen quite often, it's happened to me before!).

Ideally I'd like to have my wisdom teeth removed along with with 4 incisors in order to provide room for my teeth to straighten up. The only downside to this is the potential for swelling and other horrible gum pains from having my teeth relocated. I think I probably require some treatment in order to regenerate the tooth enamel on several teeth and I will probably need some repairs to older fillings.

Even this could set me back a couple of thousand for something that may not actually work. The benefit of having all my teeth removed and replaced with prosphetics is that it will work and the only thing I will need to focus on is keeping my gum hygiene to an excellent standard.

The one molar was $2500.00.

Pulling the tooth is the easy part. Then they put some stuff in the hole to help the bone grow, sew it up, and check in 3 months. If all is good, they drill, insert the implant, and sew it up for another 3 months. Then you get a crown on it, becuase the implant was just a post. Time consuming. Hubby had a tooth abcess and is in process now. His tooth went bad quickly, a matter of months, and smelled kinda bad from the infection. Pain and smell is gone now. His mouth is much bigger than mine, so it'll be easier for the dentist.

 

[Mary Ann]

Not to be a douche, because I do respect the sheer amount of agony that women go through during labour, but it's not that uncommon for women to have a pain free labour. Obviously a pain free labour is dependant on the circumstances, but the variety of treatment available to ease childbirth pain these days is pretty impressive.

Do you have any idea how many women cannot be given pain killers for any variety of reasons? My fast labours excluding me from having an epidural for what is medically accepted to be an especially painful type of labour is just the tip of the iceberg. Impressive doesn't necessarily equal helpful.

 

[Paradon]

When I smashed my two finger extremely hard with the sliding door. I probably didn't sleep for about a week.

 

[XwarlokX]

Hm, I've had the right side of my rib cage crushed which required a pretty good bit of surgery to repair. I have a shattered kneecap on my left knee, and this same knee grinds whenever I walk.

Stairs are a nemesis now because of this same ailment. My body is a living wreck.

 

[TrekNut87]

When I was 7, I had to have corrective surgery on my legs that would keep my feet from turning in when I walked. Said surgery involved my doctors going in and cutting my bones in half and re-attaching them so they were straight. I was out the entire time, so I never felt a thing but the recovery was one of the most painful, grueling things I've ever experienced in my life.

 

[Kestra]

Not to be a douche, because I do respect the sheer amount of agony that women go through during labour, but it's not that uncommon for women to have a pain free labour. Obviously a pain free labour is dependant on the circumstances, but the variety of treatment available to ease childbirth pain these days is pretty impressive.

Do you have any idea how many women cannot be given pain killers for any variety of reasons? My fast labours excluding me from having an epidural for what is medically accepted to be an especially painful type of labour is just the tip of the iceberg. Impressive doesn't necessarily equal helpful.

Don't tell me that!

 

[Mr Silver]

The one molar was $2500.00.

Pulling the tooth is the easy part. Then they put some stuff in the hole to help the bone grow, sew it up, and check in 3 months. If all is good, they drill, insert the implant, and sew it up for another 3 months. Then you get a crown on it, becuase the implant was just a post. Time consuming. Hubby had a tooth abcess and is in process now. His tooth went bad quickly, a matter of months, and smelled kinda bad from the infection. Pain and smell is gone now. His mouth is much bigger than mine, so it'll be easier for the dentist.

$2500?!

Over here you'd expect to pay a few hundred pounds tops. I really think the US healthcare system needs a serious reform because it seems that vital treatment will leave most citizens with financial difficulties.

If I were you, I'd take a holiday (or vacation as you guys call it) to Asia where you can enjoy yourselves and get quality dental treatment for probably less than it costs you to have it done at home.

I hope your husband's treatment goes well, especially with what you are paying for it!

 

[propita]

We got a family vacation, all the family--my mom, sister and family, brother and family--to Disney World in a couple of weeks. Should be fun, but I hope being with my family 24/7 for a week isn't going to be a problem. You know how family can be.

 

[auntiehill]

I've been fairly lucky when it comes to painful injuries. I have dislocated my knee caps so often that I have very little cartilage in my knees at all now, so when I walk up stairs, it sounds like breaking twigs. I have damaged my lower back--the sacroiliac--and that causes constant pain when I exert myself too much (like this week. OW.) but if I take it easy, it doesn't bother me much at all.

The surgery I had this year to remove a tumor from my shoulder, right where my arm bends, was painful, but it was healed for the most part, after a week. It was hard to sleep for a few days, but it was manageable with meds. When I first woke up from surgery, though, the pain took my breath away.

I had boiling hot soup dumped on me, by accident, by my Dad when I was in 5th grade. I had second degree blisters all over my thighs. That actually made me scream out loud. It healed quickly, but that moment when it hit me was excruciating.

I've broken my foot and ankle, I've had a root canal, kidney infections, minor cuts and burns. Right now, the thing that hurts the most, and the most often, is my lower back. Once it's messed up, the pain lasts for days.

All in all, though, I have had it fairly easy, compared to most, I think.

 

[RandyS]

I was born with cerebral palsy. My life has never been pain free.

 

[JiNX-01]

I got an infected ingrown toenail when I was a kid. My mom took me to the doctor to have it removed. He gave me a shot of novocaine and proceeded to remove the nail. Unfortunately, it turns out, novocaine doesn't work in the presence of infection, but that didn't stop the bastard. The nurse and my mother had to hold me down while I screamed bloody murder for ten minutes it took for the procedure. My mother never took any of us kids back to that monster.

 

[Kemaiku]

I got an infected ingrown toenail when I was a kid. My mom took me to the doctor to have it removed. He gave me a shot of novocaine and proceeded to remove the nail. Unfortunately, it turns out, novocaine doesn't work in the presence of infection, but that didn't stop the bastard. The nurse and my mother had to hold me down while I screamed bloody murder for ten minutes it took for the procedure. My mother never took any of us kids back to that monster.

I've had 6 such operations. The very first one was at the hospital, a student doctor who didn't have a clue what he was doing, no anesthetic, wrong (too large/serated) surgical scissors, so yeah.

The other 5 were carried out by a much better surgeon at the local health village, but the second surgery was complicated by the nail curving and impacting the bone, so it required more cutting.

Those were all pretty bad.

 

[Mary Ann]

Not to be a douche, because I do respect the sheer amount of agony that women go through during labour, but it's not that uncommon for women to have a pain free labour. Obviously a pain free labour is dependant on the circumstances, but the variety of treatment available to ease childbirth pain these days is pretty impressive.

Do you have any idea how many women cannot be given pain killers for any variety of reasons? My fast labours excluding me from having an epidural for what is medically accepted to be an especially painful type of labour is just the tip of the iceberg. Impressive doesn't necessarily equal helpful.

Don't tell me that!

Don't worry, Kes, you could have easy, relatively pain-free labours, and the results will be worth it (even if they do grow into teenagers and drive you nuts sometimes ).

People talking about recovering from surgical procedures made me think of the jaw surgery I had in 1981 when I was 12. I had an upward curvature of the upper jaw bone so during a 6-hour surgery my jawbone was cut away from my skull, cut into 4 pieces, realigned and sewn back in place with some wires holding the jawbone bits in place. I still have about 25 stitches running along my top of my upper gum and my dental x-rays show the wires. What I didn't appreciate at the time but amazes me now is that I had no pain during the 6 months it took the jawbone to knit back together (my braces were wired shut for just the first 6 weeks). Somehow the surgeons managed to freeze my jaw for the entire 6 months with no top-up of pain meds. Never mind the bone knitting back together, the nerves growing back together could have been very painful. I wonder why this could be done for my surgery but not for other surgeries, especially since almost 31 years have elapsed since my surgery.

 

[backstept]

some more that I remembered

2nd degree sunburn when I was 11 . . . couldn't sleep well for a few weeks
took a hockey puck to the gentleman parts in gym class, could barely stand or walk for a few hours afterward