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'
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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
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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.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.