Pain, whether emotional or physical, is an unnecessary evil that everyone has to endure at some point—or repeatedly—in their lives.
Curious to hear what strangers online have had to deal with, Redditor OkArm3430 asked:
"What was the worst pain you have ever felt and how did you get it?"
Procedures meant to bring you back to good physical health can be as painful as the ailment itself.
Restoring Perfect Vision
"Laser eye surgery, the numbing eyedrops did not work on me (genetics, they never worked on my grandpa either). When they put the vacuum suction cup onto my eyeball, I screamed (like directly on my eyeballs), that pain was so bad that I barely felt my cornea being cut open. (I fel that too, ofc)."
"In the end I couldn't move, I was in shock. Turns out, they messed up my cornea on my left eye, it was wrinkled up and had to be smoothened down a week after with a tiny metal tool. With no numbing eyedrops ofc. Worth it tho, I can seeeee :D"
Rather Be Asleep
"I had a feeding tube through my nose down into my stomach. One day the tube had moved so doctors told me it needed fixing into place."
" Long story short he was poking around my nasal passage with extremely long and sharp tweezers trying to fit a magnetic strip to this tube. The pain was excruciating. Turns out I was suppose to be unconscious for it 😑"
Stomach Pump
"Had surgery on my lower abdomen and a huge cut all the way across it. I thought the worst pain would just be the healing process itself,but no."
"I didn't know that they pump air into your stomach cavity after surgery, so once I woke up, my stomach was so bloated, it looked like it was about to explode. Im a really skinny guy and my stomach was like.. tripled in size. Your body slowly gets rid of it again, but this next level gas was easily the worst pain I've experienced."
Bone pain is a top contender for being the most painful experiences ever.
Twisted Torture
"Bones twisting."
"It's pretty much the same bone deformity that makes flat feet but turned to 11 so all your bones in the affected area twist as they grow."
"Used to regularly pass out from the pain while growing up and for context, testicular torsion was bad, but not bad enough to make me pass out, just throw up."
– Taneatua
Out-Of-State Trauma
"Went out of state and got a tooth infection the day of leaving. Spent a whole week with an exposed nerve. Luckily a family member had leftover antibiotics to fight the infection that week until I got back. I wanted to cry every single night. Don't know why I didn't just go to a dentist in that state... lmao"
It's bad news when something bursts inside your body.
Ineffective Pain Meds
"I had a haemorrhagic cyst on my ovary burst, filled my abdomen up with blood and infection and I had to have emergency surgery. All the pain meds they could give me did absolutely nothing and I honestly thought I was gonna die."
"They didn't take me seriously to begin with either, so I was left to get worse and become septic until they realised I actually had a medical emergency and not just period pain."
– fbbb21
Worst Kind Of Headache
"Brain anerusym rupture, 10/10 I was begging them to put me out. How I got it? I'm very unlucky lol"
– Zeliv
Appendicitis
"Ruptured appendix. It felt like someone stabbed me and then poured acid in, which is pretty much exactly what it is. Worse than kidney stones."
– fangelo2
The worst pain I ever experienced was when I got food poisoning when I was in Chicago for a gig.
I was so dehydrated after puking for the sixth time in a row and not being able to keep Powerade or water in my system.
The ensuing headaches I experienced as I lay on the bathroom floor literally made me ask for a higher power to put me out of my misery.
Fortunately, the pain subsided and I was able to nurse myself back to health.
I vowed never to eat slimy beef from Panda Express ever again.
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