When Redditor ToastOfWar3 asked strangers on the internet, "What was the worst pain you have ever felt?" people described the most excruciating moments of suffering.
After reading through many of the comments, I started to wonder if there was anything wrong with me.
When I was six, I was fiddling with the lock and door handle from the passenger seat of the car my mother was driving.
She was coasting at a reasonable 15 m.p.h. when my door flung open and I tumbled out onto the pavement and rolled like Jill tumbling after Jack.
I didn't feel any pain. Just shock. But the hurt I felt was emotional as I saw my mom hurtling away from me without stopping. Ouch.
Turns out she didn't seize on an opportunity to abandon me for being perpetually petulant.
She had panicked and slammed on the accelerator instead of the breaks after seeing the open door and realizing I was missing.
She would later tell me as an adult that my numerous near misses in life have caused her much anguish. So, yeah, I guess that constitutes as pain.
Loud Snaps Are Never Good
"I rolled my foot in a hole (like it made a loud snap) in my driveway and tore my Achilles. I did a front flip tumble onto the ground, and couldn't get up. 10/10 worst pain."
Double Whammy
"Part of a kidney died. Close second is a screwdriver through my hand."
Organ In Pieces
"I have the x-rays somewhere that shows my kidney in pieces after I got in an accident, pretty much looked like a bomb went off in my stomach I got hit so hard."
– MrDabb
Like A Deleted Scene From "Final Destination"
"Kind of a weird story but I got hit with a telephone pole, I pulled over to call 911 after a drunk driver had crashed and knocked down a telephone pole. The lines on the pole running across the freeway dropped and got hung up on the median that split the lanes and a truck coming down the freeway hit the line that was hung up and threw the pole into my right side. Broke my femur, pelvis, 8 ribs down my spine, compound fractured my humerus, punctured my lung, lacerated my liver, ruptured my right kidney and tore my eyelid almost completly off. Yea I only have my left kidney, but on the bright side i'm a twin so if I ever need a kidney im gonna take his when he's sleeping. Heres a couple pictures of some xrays."
– MrDabb
Sexy Headaches
"A cluster headache I had once after sex, like right after. Put a real dampener on the whole thing and it's hard to convince a person that the reason you're up out of bed straight after, groaning in pain and vomiting into the sink, isn't some kind of personal judgement on them."
The Very Definition Of A Splitting Headache
"I've had this happen twice, trust me its no fun. literally right after climax I thought my head was going to explode. had a similar thing happen at the gym during squats, halfway down I got a splitting headache that lasted all day."
– Lygasm
When It Bursts
"Appendicitis"
– Will8475
"I second this. Mine ruptured, nearly killing me. I developed peritonitis, I became Septic, caught a staff infection, then became anemic. I was in the hospital for a while."
Dislocated Anything
"I dislocated my elbow when I was 16 and I wasn't allowed to have any water or painkillers before they put me under to re set it. Unfortunately for me, the had to do x rays before hand. This meant moving the dislocated joint into multiple positions for different x rays, none of which were natural."
Passing Stones
"I've broken a fair amount of bones, including my jaw, but a kidney stone is the worst pain I've ever felt."
"My stone was on the small side and it still hurt like hell. Luckily, it was small enough that I didn't feel it when I peed it out."
When You Can't Even Scream
"Attempted childbirth but she tried to come out shoulder first and I went from no contractions to contractions every 30 seconds in an hour."
"I remember not being able to talk or scream. I just made noises like a distressed bull apparently."
Post Tooth Extraction
"Dry socket after wisdom teeth removal. Painkillers didn't help, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat. Absolutely agonising. Hurt worse than breaking my kneecap (which definitely comes in second)."
When Pain Meds Don't Even Work
"Pinched nerves from a broken back. The best description I can come up with is it was like having a white hot knife blade pulled straight from the forge and plunged into my back. Pain meds did absolutely nothing to stop it."
– Ibchuck
