Are we human because we feel pain? Or do we feel pain because we are human?
Believe it or not, human beings can deal with a massive amount of pain. And if you work a job where you're constantly being asked to put yourself in situations that will cause you minor amounts of pain daily, your pain threshold goes up. But sometimes it's just too overwhelming--those stories need to be shared as well.
u/Addley1 asked:
What is the worst pain you have ever experienced?
Here were some of those answers.
Teeth Are Not Triflin'
Split tooth. Misdiagnosed for six months. Searing, insane pain. "Makes you consider suicide" pain that oxycodone and alcohol couldn't reach.
We found that Neurontin (gabapentin) could address the pain. next time I went to my dentist, I said, "you know, I wish you'd look harder at that tooth."
he was mortified to have missed it. When the tooth (now infected) came out, it was in two pieces with a live nerve root.
Not A Precious Stone
Kidney Stones. Thought I was dying.
I just had my first kidney stone a few weeks ago. I was literally in a ball the floor of my managers office crying and dizzy. I thought the alien from 'Space Balls' was about to jump out of my side. They gave me torodol at the ER and I forgot why I was there. Then the torodol wore off and I chewed percocet every six hours for a few days.
Emotional Pain
My high school sweetheart got into drugs, left me for her dealer, got pregnant and didn't want the baby because he was born with Down's syndrome so she gave him to me. She died three months later of an overdose. The worst pain is everytime my son asks me about his mom. He's 24 now, I will never tell him his mom was a druggie who didn't want to be burdened by him. It breaks my heart.
He sees my wife as his mom, my wife and I have been together for 20 years and have 3 more kids. So he does have a mom who loves him as if he was her flesh and blood like I do, it just hurts so much that he'll never know his birth mom.
Pain Is No Stranger
Physical pain? Two sources.
The first: I had severe endometriosis, and more than once I wound up in the ER for it. The pain was so bad they thought I was in labor. I found out later I basically was, I just didn't get stuck with a baby after it was over. This was the culmination of decades of severe monthly cramping, and when I finally had a hysterectomy, it was the best. F*cking. Thing. EVER.
The other was Trigeminal Neuralgia. Imagine fighting Muhammad Ali, and how much it must hurt at the moment he punches you in the jaw. Now extend that split second to last days or weeks. That's what it felt like.
We're still not sure what set it off, but I think it was maintained by a minor infection no one could seem to spot and nail. It finally went away, but while it was in full force, the tiniest of breezes could make it feel like there was no light in life, only pain, and I was cursed. It was recurring for years but it's been fine for a while.
Emotional? So many to choose from, but when I was in junior high, literally overnight, all my friends stopped talking to me. Hell, they stopped acknowledging I was even there. I'd be talking to them and it was like I was invisible. I begged and pleaded for them to talk to me, to just f*cking LOOK at me, but none of them ever had a real conversation with me again.
I never knew why, just that it was on orders of one of their mothers. Frankly, I don't want to know. F*ck all of them. (Except Scott. He was in survival mode by joining them, and I don't blame him. Sadly, he was the only one of the group to die young. He deserved better, and the rest can burn in hell.)
An Added Surprise
So picture me 7 playing Skyrim for the first time. I head into Bleakfalls Barrow or whatever its called get into the spider cave bit. As soon as i get jump-scared a huge sting travels from my foot up my leg. Turns out there was a bee in my sock for about 25 mins without me noticing.
It's A Miracle Any Of Us Survived College
'Twas college and Meatfrappe and his roommates decided to go drunken sledding in the middle of the night, and grabbed whatever objects they had lying around that could serve as improvised sleds. This included trays that had been "liberated" from the dining hall, a rubbermaid trash can lid, and Bridgette--an inflatable woman originally purchased as a gag gift that had become the dorm room, um, mascot.
The snow on the hill had been soft during the day, and those sledding pioneers who had come before us had packed it all down and constructed a formidable jump, which by midnight had, along with the rest of the hill, frozen rock solid.
Meatfrappe climbed atop Bridgette, whispered something sweet into her latex ear, and let gravity take over.
Let it be known that an inflatable woman makes an extremely fast and surprisingly stable sled.
As Meatfrappe encountered the jump at an impressive speed, the curvature of his path required an equally impressive centripetal force. The magnitude of this force was, unfortunately, much more than Bridgette's delicate Chinese-vinyl seams could withstand. She loudly popped and rapidly deflated just as Meatfrappe and a now limp Bridgette left the lip of the jump and began a parabolic path like a Ruthian home run.
Meatfrappe, knowing that his flaccid sledding partner would provide no cushioning whatsoever, attempted to maneuver into a position that might minimize the violence of the impending impact, but his efforts were futile. He landed kneecap-first, exploding his patella into a multitude of fragments--a most unpleasant feeling.
You Don't Know Better Than A Doctor.
My step mom was an RN so she had that attitude she could doctor and cure any illness the family had so my brother and I ended up with strep throat for over a month. It got so bad the only thing that could help me from nearly crying when i swallowed was a cough drop but even it caused excruciating pain. I think I lost maybe 15 pounds that month because I just couldn't eat or drink anything more than jello and lukewarm water
Backs Are So Complicated
I thought 5 years of gallstones was bad. Until I strained my back go-karting. No accident or anything, just drove fast for too long in an ill fitting seat.
Result? 1 displaced disc and 1 torn disc. The tear leaked some matter that pressed on my nerves around the L5/S1 disc. The pain was utterly excruciating. Full on 11/10 for hours. I passed out from the pain on the toilet at 2am, had a huge drop in blood pressure and heart rate. Wife thought I'd done an Elvis as apparently I did a sort of death rattle... (She was wrong)
I was given gas and air, which helped, but also made me feel like time was altering speed as I was talking. Weird stuff.
From Bad To Worse
Oh, I've got this one. It's the stuff of nightmares.
Imagine getting a haircut, and getting a staph infection from the electric shavers on the back of your neck, at the base of your hairline.
Now imagine a day later, that staph infection is a baseball-sized, infected abscess that has to be operated on.
Now imagine when the nurse is cleaning/dressing this wound every couple of hours, dunking a bunch of gauze in saline, and packing it into this massive infected hole. Just feeling the air of somebody walking past is enough to make your eyes roll back in your head, and they are packing it with saline-soaked gauze.
Now imagine instead of saline, they accidentally used alcohol.
Now you can imagine the adrenaline dump that can cause a normal person to actually rip the metal arms off a hospital bed.
Playing Hooky
My cousin, uncle and I went fishing. We caught some small fish and started packing to go home. My uncle gave me the fishing rods to put them into his car. As I was putting them in, I moved my hand rather quickly downwards the rod.
For a moment, I was lost, as if I had lost consciousness. When I recollected my self, I was still standing. Confused, I looked over to my hand and the f*cking hook was deep in my finger (like 1,5 centimetres deep).
My cousin quickly called my uncle and he told me to sit down and stay calm. Alright, it didn't hurt at all at this point. Then, my uncle started to pull the hook out. It hurt like LITERAL HELL. Mostly due to the way the hook was shaped, it's not meant to let things go that easily. I almost passed out due to the pain (it was like when you stand up quickly and your brain loses oxygen and everything becomes blurry, hard to see the edges of your vision).
Goo Goo Gout
Gout, The very first flare up I had was misdiagnosed as Cellulitis a painful and potentially life threatening bacterial infection, spent 2 days in excruciating pain while they filled me full of I.V. antibiotics. While laying on a cot in the Hospital hallway a passing Doctor stopped looked at my foot pressed on my toe causing me to nearly pass out from the pain and asked "did that hurt?" I said yes, he said I think you have gout, one blood test later confirms it and I'm prescribed meds. 3 days later still in horrible pain go to the local walk in clinic where I am informed I was given the wrong medication, it was for preventing a Gout flare up, if taken during a flare up it makes it worse.
Finally given the right medication pain starts to go away in a few hours. Flare ups still occur and have landed me in the ER on a number of occasions. Every injury since when the Doctor asks what my pain is I have to say "well I have gout so this is like a 2 or 3 compared to the worse pain I've ever felt." And those injuries have included broken bones and a hand that was crushed bad enough I was off work for 4 months and almost a year later still doesn't work right.
You'll Shudder In Pain
Having my toenail ripped off. Accidentally.
My horse trod on my toe - no big deal, happens all the time if you have horses and I was wearing solid leather riding boots. But it must have done something to the nail, because later that day I was playing with friends, barefoot, and a friend accidentally stood on my toe and the action of putting down her heel ripped the nail clean off. It was absolute agony.
Oof, No Thanks
Dual ear infections and one with severe pressure on my ear drum.. I could only lay on my face and cry for 4 days.. My father almost punched the doctor in the face when he was swabbing my ears with those over sized q tips.. I was screaming in pain, my whole body was trembling. My dad knew this and couldn't take seeing.the doc causing this pain to me.. They doc was a nice man and my dad apologized after.. But that's the worst pain I've ever had in 30 years of life.
Bum Bum
I wrote on another question about pulmonary embolisms that I had.
When you have those you get this really bad sharp pains around your chest area. This on top of bearly being able to breathe sucked. They weren't able to drug me until I got to the ICU, it took maybe 40 minutes to an hour get me there, pain the whole way.
Other than that, I got a paper cut the other day.
Nerves Are A Kicker
My cluster headaches. The pain feels deadly. "I can't possibly be in this much pain and not die soon" pain. I am in awe of the level of pain humans can endure and still live because of this condition. I didn't know it was possible. It is so absolutely visceral and debilitating. The kicker is that they disappear for years at a time so I almost forget that I am afflicted with them until they kick in for a month, out of nowhere, every day around bed time. Easily the worst pain I have endured and will again and I have been stung by a Man o' War jellyfish. The fact that they are clinically called "Cluster Headaches" makes explaining their severity to non-sufferers infuriating.
Take Care Of Yourselves, Folks
Rupturing ovarian cysts. It's such an instant, blinding, sickening pain that my brain literally had no idea how to process it. Do you scream, nope that doesn't describe it. Cry? Nope still not right. Wish for death? Yep, going for that one. The second time I had one was in the middle of the night, right as my boyfriend was coming home from work. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to crawl out of the bathroom, in the dark, all "the ring" like and just grabbed him. I couldn't even gasp out words, just mouth open silent scream. Scared the bejesus out of him.
Dating and the search for love and companionship... What a nightmare.
This journey plays out nothing like in the movies.
Every Prince or Princess (or everything in BTW) seems to have a touch of the psycho.
The things people say during what should be simple dinner conversation can leave a dining partner aghast.
Like... do you hear you?
Redditor detroit_michigldan wanted to discuss all the best ways to crash and burn when trying to make a romantic connection. They asked:
"You're on a date and it's going really great. What can another person say to ruin it completely?"
I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Despite the advancement of technology rendering people left to their own devices–literally–to entertain them, there are some leisurely activities that will never go out of style.
Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"

Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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When we first meet someone–whether through mutual friends, at school, or in a new work setting–we generally feel people out to determine if they're worth getting to know.
While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"

Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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Children tend to believe just about anything they hear.
That there are monsters under your bed, watching too much TV will make your head explode, and silly faces will be permanent if you make them too often.
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to silly things that children will believe.
Some call it naivitée, other's youthful innocence.
But it's hard not to look back with embarrassment on certain things we believed as a child, that today might simply seem dumb.
Redditor Disastrous_Toe_6548 was curious to learn the multitude of silly things people believed when they were children, leading them to ask:
"What's the dumbest thing you believed as a kid?"
Pleading to deaf ears...
"My dad told me he had hearing loss and couldn't hear me if I whined because my pitch would get too high."
"Would completely ignore me until I asked him questions in a normal voice."
"Trusted him implicitly until I was 12 and he yelled at my younger brother for whining."- Tyrion_Stark.
Get it while you can.
"That they took everything off the shelves when the supermarket closed."- fgyfddg.
Silly superstitions.
"My grandfather used to tell me that if I played with the fire, I'd pee the bed."
"I believed him for a while, until I got older."
"I think he was just trying to protect me from the fire."- teddypa1981.
"Rain, rain go away..."
"That if it was raining where I was, it was raining everywhere in the world."- morningshartz.
Age is just a number.
"My parents used to seem really old to me, so much so I believed they grew up like cave people as children, wearing giant leaves for clothes and what not."- Laleena_.
So that's how they're made!
"That smokestacks from the power plant created clouds."- Scaniarix.
An instant cure.
"The sun gives you sunburns, therefore, moonlight should heal them."- velocipeter.
Better safe than sorry.
"Don't drink and drive meant all drinks."
"My dad was super confused when I told him he wasn't allowed to have any soda until we got home."- hulagirlslovetoparty.
Don't believe everything you see on TV.
"There was an episode of Mickey Mouse where Mickey couldn’t reach something at first, so he tried again and somehow his arm was long enough to reach it."
"As a small kid I believed that if I couldn’t reach something, I should just try reaching for it again and my arm would then somehow be long enough to reach it."- That-Dutch-Person.
The miracle of childbirth.
"That babies are pooped out."
"When I was like 7 I was listening to my aunt as she explained that childbirth was pretty intense and painful for her, and I was all solemnly like, 'yeah, sometimes just my poops are painful, I don’t think I could get a baby out' and she went 'um, WHAT?' and her reaction made me realize real quick that I had f*cked up somewhere and I tried to change the subject while my mind was just reeling lol."- thesoundingfurrows.
Oh to be a child again.
And to believe literally everything you're told.
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