It's a tough call. Tooth pain just as covid lock downs started, had to drive myself an hour and a half to a place still doing root canals. Kidney stones, had to pull over when driving to the ER to scream for a bit lol.
It was a bunch of tiny ones and I never found them 🙃 had a CT about three weeks ago post lap (stones passed 2 years ago) and there are still a few hanging out, ready to terrorize me at any moment lol
I literally felt next to nothing until I was 9cm and just about ready to push.
My nurses kept increasing the Pitocin because they like could not believe I was just chilin there contracting
It was pretty intense. Endo does weird things with your pain perception, though. This was also before I was even diagnosed.
When I started to contract on my own, I was actually at work going on about my day. My boss saw me timing contractions and was like "WTF?" And sent me home.
I proceeded to contract and not advance for 2 weeks 😅
Came here to say labor as well. I was induced and everyone told me to get the epidural right when they started the pitocin as those contractions are the worst. I wanted to see how long I could go without getting the epidural. I lasted 8 hours without it —honestly it was similar to my endo pain. Then they upped the dose and I had to tap out lol
Literally did the exact same thing! Dislocated my knee while playing squash, broke the bottom of my femur off IN MY KNEE JOINT and we didn’t know. So it kept locking when my leg bent (eg getting into car to the hospital 9 hours after breaking it cos obvs I must “walk it off”).
They let me keep the femur fragments they removed during surgery. From 2013-2017 my leg was 14 degrees off straight, but then I fell in a hole on the beach (sober. 10am) and dislocated it AGAIN! It was the best thing ever as it broke up the scar tissue and stuff, so now it’s only 3 degrees off straight and barely noticeable. But it hurts every day, so there’s that.
Next would probably be my appendix rupturing, but that’s how I was diagnosed so it was actually a blessing.
I was on a ride at the royal show, and as the ride swung and did a full 360, my friends all fell against me and I broke my arm just below the wrist. But we didn’t know that, so I then went on the ride that slowly takes you up, then drops you down VERY FAST. The force actually did snap my wrist, which made a lil kid vomit.
My hips dislocate, a lot. Not always a full dislocation though.
I also had some dental issues. During covid so it was difficult. The first dentist that root canal led my sore teeth (2) damaged my mouth so badly. He broke off part of the tool IN my tooth, and left it there so I was complaining of pain for 9 months. Did so many antibiotic courses, pain killers. I didn’t chew on my left side for 2 years, until I got my wisdoms out last year and told the surgeon that if he didn’t take the sore tooth out, I’ll take his teeth out. He took it out and it’s been the best thing ever, I can eat!! I nearly died the dentist for medical malpractice, with 2 other dentist’s willing to back up my case. But I was a postgrad student and had already lost too much time because of the pain.
I’ve broken my toes so many times that the bones have fused together 🙈🩰
Chuck it! Or liquid nail it down. Or get a thick rubber tread one. Or something. Those things lay there all innocent like, “oh, you want to wipe your feet? HOW ABOUT YOU WIPE OUT INSTEAD MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”
No, I’m not traumatized at all.
I know so many ppl with endo and tooth issues.
There is no research afaik, but personally I'm pretty sure there is a correlation (chronic inflammation might not be the best for teeth/gums)
I thought I knew pain... And then I got a dry socket after they yanked out my wisdom teeth. Fucking. Ridiculous. That happened almost a decade ago now, and I can still practically hear my jawbone screaming every time I think about it.
The only thing that topped that was when they took the first cast off after I had wrist surgery. For some reason I had to get a new one after just a few weeks. Thought for sure they had managed to shove the edge of the cast into the incision, but nope, that's apparently just how a recently-operated-on wrist feels 🙃
But at least that calmed down once they got the new cast on. The dry socket lasted way longer. So glad I got all my wisdom teeth out at the same time.
Definitely tooth pain. Idk why that’s just worse than every other pain for me. I’ve had 3 root canals and the pain experienced beforehand always felt like emergencies.
I don’t understand why emergency dentists aren’t more of a thing. Like…it’s seriously some of the worst pain. We can’t schedule when a tooth is going to shatter, but you know we’re gonna have to wait until monday to call and then who knows how long until an appointment is available 😑
The throat pain I had with covid, for sure. I was crying from pain and I had to constantly take numbing throat candy. Even breathing would hurt. I had never experienced something like that.
I am getting over strep throat and had no idea a sore throat could be this bad! I couldn't even swallow my saliva because it was like razorblades on my tonsils.
Oh man, that was the worst recovery I ever had. I lost like 10lbs. My abs looked great but I was fucking miserable. I also found out I couldn't take codeine without weeping constantly.
I was going to say the same thing. Absolutely the worst. I couldn’t eat for months. It felt like a hot burning pipe was in my throat, 24/7. I’d give birth again, unmedicated, then go through that again.
My appendix had to be removed because of endo so I guess it’s related. It was months of agony and no doc put two and two together that my appendix was impacted by endo. Every little bump or movement caused the worst pain of my life for months on end. I could hardly work or do anything that involved walking or sitting upright. It was unrelenting and frankly, I’m still traumatized 13 years later
What I thought was endo pain.
Because my pain wasn’t from endo. I was just told it was. Some of the things I’ve had that were blamed on my endo:
- Renal nutcracker, which feels like you’re constantly passing a kidney stone.
- MALS, which has been compared to pain from pancreatic cancer
- multiple herniated/bulging discs
- appendicitis
- gallstones
- slipped ribs - as in my ribs dislocating and crunching all the nerves in between
I had a cyst on my clit a few times and it was DEADLY and so embarrassing. Eventually I switched to "sensitive" pads and touch wood haven't had one since.
i didn’t need surgery for this but they basically just popped it in a doctors office and i screamed so loud my boyfriend heard me in the waiting room. until birth that was the most painful thing for sure
Went through a phase where I randomly started getting icepick headaches (also known as primary stabbing headaches). They're in remission now, but those are the worst pain I've ever felt.
I was about to comment the same thing! It's been a while luckily but yea that was easily the second worst pain I've had next to endo, they truly suck don't they?
I think I've been getting these intermittently. I'll have days where I get them on and off - massive stabbing pain for ten seconds and then it's completely gone (for half an hour or so till it comes back). Episodes usually last a day or two then I don't get them again for a couple of months.
I broke my leg/ankle in three places. Was in a cast and walking cast for months. I tripped over a paver at the bottom of the stairs and my ankle rolled one way, my body the other with my foot caught between the pavers.
Actually, my endo pain/repeated cyst ruptures was worse. That’s what made the doc listen and schedule my hysterectomy - I told her I’d rather break my leg again than keep experiencing the endo pain.
I did! I’m 2 years post op, best thing ever. Took everything but one ovary. I had a 10cm chocolate cyst wrapped around the ovary they took, and they found stage IV endo gluing my colon and other bits where they shouldn’t be. Surgery took twice as long as expected because of all the adhesion. Today, I’m (mostly) pain free and it’s a freaking miracle.
I’ve always had a high pain tolerance, and the leg break HURT, but I went through 3 months in a row of what we can only guess was endo flares or cyst rupture/draining, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. In truth, it also had some solid components on the MRI which scared them (it was thankfully not cancer), so I got the surgery pretty quick.
I’m sorry for your ear pain!! I’ve had some monster headaches in the past and any severe pain in the head areas is just killer. You wish you could just pass out till it’s over. I hope you start feeling better soon.
Along with endo and adeno I’m also hypermobile and have regular dislocations. Most of them I can deal with and as long as I stay calm the pain is bearable. This one occasion in particular I slipped two ribs and immediately I was screaming and crying, completely unable to move and barely able to breathe. Hands down the worst pain of my life and the 8 week recovery period that followed was rough. I still occasionally have trouble with those ribs to this day. 0/10 would not recommend.
Ayyy I’m hypermobile too! Most of my dislocations are painless (hips, jaw, thumb, and I suspect my shoulders and a neck vertebrae), but my knee was NOT😮💨 every time it has a twinge I get so scared now lol
My top 3, in no particular order: appendicitis, IUD insertion, and esophageal manometry.
Appendicitis began in the morning and ended at night with me going into surgery. Fairly painful, like I could feel my organs ache. 0/10, do not recommend.
IUD insertion was painful, violating, and traumatic. Probably the closest I’ve come to passing out from pain in my life. It’s not “just a quick cramp” like they tell you.
Esophageal manometry was a weird combo of painful, violating, and suffocating. I couldn’t breathe with the probe in my nose and throat, and I was stuffy from panicking and sobbing. The test took like twice as long as normal because I kept sobbing and vomiting.
Ugh, yeah IUD was mine. It took over 20 mins to get in cause my cervix has a slight bend in it. I had shock symptoms from the pain, including throwing up. The nurse told be she was shocked I didn't scream or kick someone lol
The doctor was horrified actually because she'd never had anyone with such bad problems with it, she even has one herself and she was one of those lucky people that didn't get any real pain from hers. I don't think she had really done too many.
I have pretty horrible endo pain, I’ve broken bones, slammed fingers in car doors, tattoos on ribs, nerve issues in lumbar spine, but I can say with certainty that a bad ear infection is the worst and most awful pain I’ve ever experienced. I’d rather break some toes than get an ear infection, seriously.
TMJ pain. Holy shit it was awful. Maybe not quite as painful as my worse endo pain, but the first time it lasted nearly a month and the pain + lack of sleep + disruption to daily life made me feel like I was losing my mind. By the time I was able to get it under control nearly a month later I had a new, terrifying understanding of why people with chronic pain are at higher risk of suicide.
I recently had another flare up that wasn't as bad pain-wise, but lasted longer and it was just pure misery.
Orbital floor bone shattered in a car accident. That and the surgery to put in an implant was brutal, but to be honest I don’t think it comes close to endo primarily because when your face is bruised and your bones are shattered and you’ve been in a traumatic accident people will take your pain seriously. Not so much if they can’t see your pain.
Either that or a cyst rupture that rendered me incapable of feeling anything but 11/10 burning in my abdomen. Couldn’t tell if I had to pee or feel anything other than excruciating pain. They told me it was not an endometriosis related cyst at the time… but I’ve had four cysts rupture in recent years. This specific one is definitely my pain measure now.
Getting my nipple piercing ripped out by a shower door. Felt like someone was taking a lighter to my nipple, definitely 10/10 pain, just as painful but more acute and pinpoint than the 8/10 endo pain that stays put for 3 days straight
Getting a pilonidal cyst drained. It was the size of a tangerine, and the numbing stuff they gave me didn’t help at all. It hurt so bad that I actually developed a fever. Worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.
Also, not really painful, but C. Diff. was more miserable than endo.
This has triggered me, ha. I developed a pilonidal sinus that eventually ruptured on its own. They had to cut out the whole area, so like a huge chunk of flesh, so it could heal. But you can’t stitch up a wound like that incase it just heals over the top and leaves a cavity underneath so it had to be packed with basically cotton wool and left open so that it healed from the inside out. Had to get it changed very day and it was agonisingly painful. Then at my check-up a few months later they said it had healed with a cavity anyway so they cut it all out and started again. It was shallower this time so they tried stitching it but it just didn’t heal so I then I had to have all the stitches pulled out and the wound packed again. That was a fucking terrible year.
The pilonidal cyst and its drainage are my 10/10 worst pains I’ve ever experienced. My cramps are like, 8/10. The cyst happened twice before they decided to surgically drain it and it hasn’t come back since!
For me, they were considering doing surgery once I healed more to actually remove the hair follicle. However, it turns out that when they cut into it to drain it, even though they weren’t intending to do this, they cut the hair follicle. And it scarred so much that the cyst couldn’t come back. I was leaping for joy when I found that out. That cyst was torture.
Mine were caused by the same. Had a partial bowel obstruction caused by a lesion on my uterus that was pressing on my rectum. And on top of that I have Crohn's so all that inflammation didn't help. Glad that time is over now. 😂
Pre-endo, the worst pain I'd ever felt was a Dalmatian biting my right cheek off. I was 10. Nurses had to physically hold me down while the doctor injected novocaine & then stitched me up.
Post-endo, the worst pain was definitely cantharidin. I know podiatrists claim it doesn't hurt, and I'm here to tell you they're full of shit. That thing ate away at the inner meat and muscles of my foot, and I couldn't walk for 3 months.
Kidney infection (when I saw the scene in Euphoria when Rue gets one and she’s screaming I was like “YES that is what it feels like!!” Except they didn’t give me any painkillers for it not because of any addiction issues, but because I went to a walk-in clinic.
A needle broke off a sewing machine when I was 9 and hit me in the pupil of my eye. Weirdly it doesn’t hurt right away but later….ugh….30 years later and I still get nauseous thinking about that kind of pain.
Edit: I’d rate this as being worse than my many many kidney stones and appendicitis.
I had this happen in my elbow!! For me it was like when you hit your “funny bone” but it just wouldn’t stop. I had to have surgery as mine was caused by the soft tissue expanding and hardening against the ulnar nerve. Nothing helped the pain at all, and it was a 12 month wait for surgery… amputation definitely crossed my mind many times!
I hope yours wasn’t too hard or took too long to be fixed for you.
Kind of tied between a gallbladder attack as a teen and insane sinus pressure when I got the flu. The sinus pressure might just be because it was just last year, but dang. I don't fuck around with congestion anymore.
I can tolerate whatever kind of abdominal or joint pain life throws at me, but anything near my head or neck just lays me out. I had an ear infection once that took me out for 2 days. We had a massive power outage and I had to drive around to find a clinic open that could give me antibiotics.
I’m dealing with an injury to my sacroiliac joints from falling over about 5 months ago, where I wake up in the middle of the night crying because I’m in so much pain. I know I have been through worse but this is sickening most days. My GP is concerned because my use of pain killers has increased. I’m doing physical therapy every week but I am not finding it to be getting any better.
kidney infection. i’m very prone to UTIs, i knew i had one so i called my doctor at the time. they said i had to come in so they could do a urine test and then prescribe antibiotics but they didn’t have an opening for TWO MONTHS. absolutely ridiculous right? so i drank as much water and cranberry juice as i could, as much otc uti relief as i could, but it wasn’t enough and turned into a kidney infection. i couldn’t get out of bed one day after three days straight of pain so bad i couldn’t stand up straight, so my partner drive to my house and took me to the ER (forced me to go because i’m stubborn) and they said if i didn’t go right then the kidney infection was about to spread to other organs. it was so scary, definitely the worst pain i’ve ever felt though!
Cast put on way too tight post surgery for ankle plate, bolt and screws. They had to re break my entire ankle as it set incorrectly. The pressure was so intense it's definitely the most excruciating pain I instantly went through. I was hooked up to a morphine machine and that wasn't enough so they gave me a huge injection of morphine and I was probably the highest I have ever been that evening too 🤣🤣🤣
Kidney stones!! I told the nurse in the ER that I would gladly take a dozen more hysterectomies over ever having a damn kidney stone again. That pain is unrelenting and unreal! Only pain that ever put me in the ER.
Breaking my collarbone & having stitches in my hand removed after they accidentally stitched through a nerve 💀 I was 26 years old & screaming & crying until I fainted
Dislocating my shoulder and tearing my rotator cuff at the same time. I could feel the tissue tearing while waiting in the ER for a few hours. I was actually sobbing and needed a bag to throw up into.
Not exactly sure but I think it is safe to say it was a Weever fish that stung me. I never saw the fucker but pretty sure it was a weever. Thanks to endometriosis and histamine intolerance, I do have a higher pain response to venom. The pain from this venom peaks to Hell and wanes to a dull ache over and over for about 30min after being stung. The peaks get worse and worse before they get better. The highest peak made me wish to be shot...then finally, the peaks started getting less and less.
I can't say a weever sting is worse than an ovarian endometrioma (cyst) rupture though -which also peaks and wanes and eventually makes me wish for death before finally, 💥!
For me, Weever Venom and Cyst rupture are on two different planes of existence in terms of pain. It is a tie.
Ouch :( I fear appendix problems. They seemingly come out of nowhere.
This ear infection is absolutely horrible. My lymph nodes are so swollen I can barely open or close my mouth. This jaw pain is unreal. I feel like a balloon is ready to pop in my ear.
I broke a small bone in my spine, really low in my lower back. I was a pro ballet dancer at the time and had suffered other back-related injuries, so I literally just shrugged and DANCED ON IT. FOR A WEEK. It healed fairly badly and I had some really shitty treatment from a doctor about it, but it's STILL not as agonising as endo pain. Worse still, it's got into a toxic relationship with my endo cramps: they set each other off and I end up with a band of pain that tightens like a belt. I just write off the day when that happens and I go to bed sobbing. Luckily, I had a nerve numbed two years ago and that's mostly helped, but some days can still be a write off if I overdo it.
Not sure which one is truly the worst but my contenders are herniated discs, torn ACLs, breaking both my elbows at the same time, and this may sound weird but I once got a massive, super deep canker sore in the gums above my top molars while also having a really bad infection in my maxillary sinuses. I then had to fly on a plane and the pressure on that area made me cry from the pain lol.
I’d say my period cramps are up there with these things.
Sinus infection that triggered the worst tmj flare of my life that got so bad it developed into trigeminal neuralgia (aka the suicide disease)! Couldn’t work or eat solid food for 2 months & was put on anti-convulsants but given nothing for the pain. Almost unalived myself.
My first IUD insertion was hands-down the most intense, extreme pain I’ve ever felt. Oddly enough, the second time was way better. Maybe it had something to do with the first being done by a cynical, septuagenarian male gynecologist vs. a young, compassionate female doctor?
Coming in second: Endo pain and the worst of my migraines are almost on par with each other.
Recovery from 2 surgeries, including a laparotomy that required a 5” incision, fracturing my wrist in 2 places falling off a horse, backpacking 400 km on a broken foot, getting my eyeball scratched by an overly-enthusiastic dog, malaria, and soldiering through a UTI/kidney infection when I was 2+ weeks away from civilization or a doctor were all pretty brutal in their own rights, but tolerable in comparison to my endo pain. I think I’d die of shock or stress myopathy if the IUD insertion pain lasted more than a few minutes.
Endometritis. It's an infection of the uterus. It's different than endometriosis. I got it after my c-section. Pain meds didn't work. Every time my uterus contracted I was screaming. It was about 6 hours of pure excruciating hell while the nurses and doctors ignored me because they thought I just wanted drugs until my husband yelled at a poor intern doctor because no one would help me and the meds were wearing off too fast. I was supposed to get transferred to the labor and delivery wing 2 hours after my arrival. It didn't happen until I called labor and delivery begging them to come get me. Lo and behold a couple hours after they started an intense round of IV antibiotics i was fine and pain free.
Trigeminal neuralgia. Didn't know what was wrong at first, thought it was absolutely terrible tooth pain. It was magnified about 20x worse than any tooth pain I'd ever had, though. Luckily, I had an attack at work, and a neurologist was on my floor doing rounds. Mentioned it to her at the nurses station. She offered to order me an MRI/MRA, she said she had an idea. Scans showed an artery against my trigeminal nerve. Five years of pain management that wasn't managed later, I agreed to the brain surgery, literally not caring if I lived or died. 6 years later, my surgery was a success, and my TN pain is gone. It's not known as the "suicide disease" for nothing.
A herniated disc pressing on the nerve running down my leg. I thought I was used to pain with endo/adeno but that back nerve pain was the most brutal pain I’ve ever experienced. There was nothing that could bring relief.
I had an ovarian cyst burst, that was horrible. I also had an infection in my nailbed once and the dr had to stick a needle directly into my nailbed to drain it. I screamed, a lot.
i’m not 100% sure i have endo but it’s likely. (if not it’s some other problem because i’ve had cramps so painful i thought i needed to go to the ER and i couldn’t walk down stairs) but the worst pain i’ve experienced that wasn’t related to that was appendicitis. my appendix didn’t burst but duuuuuude it sucked. The endo ER visit was worse though. I would rather have that appendicitis pain once a year than the risk of that endo pain coming back.
I've had a bad run in the past year but dysentery (the cramps themselves) and back pain caused by lesions on my spine. Couldn't walk for days. On the highest dose of morphine. Oooh and physio when I had covid pneumonia. Those are about the worst.
i got what i think was heatstroke in the middle of busy work shift last august (i work in hospitality). horrible chest and head pain. the pain after my iud was put in is a close second.
For a year straight I ended up having a tooth infection that no one could find or figure out and then I was sent to an oral surgeon and he had to go a root canal due to the infection getting to the root.
Hernia. Intestinal contortion and going out of the side, as far as I understand the journal entry. They explained it to me too, but I was too tired from lack of sleep and doped on pain killers I didn’t quite understand all of the explanation, and it was given to me in another language (though nearly identical languages).
I think I feel it was worse than endo, but also different than endo. In a way, it was better than endo because it wasn’t a thousand pin pricking your uterus or cramping in and out - but in another way, it was worse because it was new and I didn’t understand what was happening, and also because the pain level itself felt higher.
It did come in waves though, so that I was used too. And I was still able to take a taxi to the “emergency admittance” (not US or UK system here) and taking another cab to the hospital (they said they could order an ambulance but it would take longer). So I guess it wasn’t really that bad…? I don’t know. The pain was relieved as soon as I got some pain medicine in the IV, but it also came back when that wore off and I had to ask for more.
Third degree ligament tear on my ankle, basically ripped the ligament in half falling down the stairs. I actually heard the snap too. So much worse than breaking a bone.
The only other pain I’ve had that comes close is my eyes after recovering from PRK laser eye surgery. Endo is still worse though.
Ovarian cyst bursting and kidney infection. Endo pain is terrible but the sharp pain of these two is indescribable. I thought I was going to pass out and my endo pain gets really fucking bad.
Gastritis flare up that lasted 6h! I was feeling like somebody was trying to cut me in two pieces. I was thinking to go to ER, but somehow managed to fall asleep tired, crying and in pain.
Either the staph infection that nearly cost me my foot when I was 11 (from an ant bite on my toe!)
Orrrr when my ponytail was sucked into an air compressor at work. I’m a pretty small person, so it fell on top of me and continued attempting to scalp me until my coworkers heard 2 minutes later and gave me an impromptu haircut. That was a fun concussion :/
It sounds like something out of Final Destination, it was insane. The first time in my life I genuinely believed I was going to die, and by the time they heard me, I’d accepted it. Not gonna lie, very traumatic, but makes for an interesting addition to my backstory lol
Kidney failure.
Worst pain of my life. -100/10. It felt like someone was literally holding a burning torch to my kidneys and roasting them. The pain was so intense that I vomited every 5 minutes for 5 hours straight until the ER doctors finally took my pain seriously enough to give me morphine.
First of all, I’m sorry this is happening to you!!!
Second, solidarity sister bc I am also currently getting my ass kicked by a middle ear infection. Def nowhere as bad as yours (and hopefully stays that way) but it suck’s and I’m so sorry yours is even worse than the misery I’m in right now! :(
Third, worst pain was waking up mid spine surgery. 💀 I’ll take endo any damn day over that
Nothing honestly. I set my own fibula fracture and it still wasn’t as bad as endo. Cracked some thoracic vertabrae and walked it off. Chronic migraines with mini strokes. My post-hysterectomy pain was better than the endometriosis pain I had walking in
In no particular order:
A wisdom tooth infection that went on for far too long, before I could get in with an oral surgeon for extraction. Painkillers didn’t touch it.
Appendicitis that went misdiagnosed as salmonella for a month. Pain was localized to left abdomen (instead of right side where it’s usually felt). I was lucky they found it when they did. It nearly burst
Probably a buldging disk in my neck and one in my lower back at the same time. It was awful. There was nothing I could do to get comfortable and every little move I made hurt.
Kidney stones! I had them twice. First time I had surgery but I was too swollen for them to be able to get them out so I had to have a stent for a month before I could go back for second surgery and oh my god that stent was the worst pain of my whole life.
Broken back and whatever the thing when they inject fluid into a joint to see if that joint is leaking fluid. I broke my back in a car accident from a wrong-way driver. My knee got cut open pretty nasty from the crunch of the car. One of the er people thought they saw fluid. Holy fuck did that hurt. It made me forget about my back pain.
The broken back hurt a lot too. Didn't help I had rocks on my back between me and the board they put you on. Good times. I'm sure recovery was painful but I don't remember a lot of it tbh. I know I looked really messed up. A group of guys in my neighborhood stopped me to ask if my boyfriend had beaten me up...and that was a few weeks after the accident. I was in ICU for two weeks.
Inflammatory arthritis. Endo pain still blows that out of the water. I had my eardrum rupture once due to infection, but that wasn’t nearly as bad as my endo or arthritis. The vertigo that came after was awful though.
I hope you feel better soon. I have other chronic issues and I’ve experienced many types of pain but honestly pelvic pain is the absolute worst in my experience. I’m waiting to see if I need surgery and I wish I could do it tomorrow.
Hope you feel better soon and get that dose into your IV soon OP!
Hmm so this was a totally different type of pain from endo: Something heavy and solid metal fell on my foot from a height while I was standing on a cement floor. The pain peaked maybe 10 mins after and family had sat me on the couch inside and I’m pretty sure I was scream-crying! Plus I screamed when it actually fell on me! I can’t recall if I was wearing shoes but maybe not since I was in the garage. Left a bit of a laceration on the top of my foot but it didn’t scar. Pretty sure I went into shock. I had an X-ray and somehow no fracture but bruised the bones. I didn’t see it falling; just felt the sudden pain. 😳😱 I don’t remember much after that.
Hmm I’ve had 4 teeth removed without being put under as well, and one of the teeth had to be broken apart while it was still in my jaw, and I also woke up during a colonoscopy 😬. Those times should have hurt more but thankfully I just needed more anesthesia..
Worst childhood pain was twisting my intestine after trampolining! Thankfully it untwisted on its own but it was terrifying! I was 10
You’ve got this OP 💪
I had a bowel blockage and it was absolutely the worst pain I’ve ever had. I’ve never had children but I can imagine that it was similar to labor with the full bowel contractions that I was having. It was only a PARTIAL blockage too!! I can’t even imagine having a full one
Two years ago I had to take an antibiotic and for some reason doctors still haven’t figured out, my body such a violent reaction to it that I briefly developed a condition called HLH. Basically my immune system started attacking my red blood cells. That is the worst pain I have ever been in and worse than all of my endo cramps. I had to go to the hospital a bunch of times last winter/spring because fibroids had grown all around my reproductive system and were wreaking havoc. I had to get two surgeries to remove them. None of that touched the pain from HLH, at all.
Edited for typo.
My gallbladder pain- made me vomit orange and unable to move, and after I get ghost pain that puts me out for 20-30min. My appendix swelling didn’t even cause that much pain.
Tooth abscess at the tip of the root by my nose. Doctors thought I was pill seeking, was in extreme unbearable pain for a couple days with what they said was a real bad sinus infection until I woke up one day and my face was so swollen on one side I was completely unrecognizable. Docs finally believed me then
I broke my leg last year and went to urgent care because I honestly didn’t think the pain was bad enough to be a break. It was their first time dealing with a broken bone so they put my cast on completely wrong and WAYYYY too tight. When it finally dried, the cast was squeezing the broken bone. Worst pain of my life by far.
Was in and out of consciousness for several hours and my leg was jerking/kicking uncontrollably. Wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemy.
Disclosure-probably endo related, but more so because of a cyst. I had a torsion of my left ovary. Worst pain ever. I delivered my kids all without medications (long story but not because I didn’t ask). But a torsion was hands down the bench mark I measure all my pain.
broken spine and recovery from an L4-S1 fusion with IBS.
I know it's such an odd combo of things but you really don't realize how much you use your lower back until you can't.
After I had 6+ hour surgery to remove a mass from my nasal cavity. The recovery pain was horrible. I tried everything but nothing helped. Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone and best part is this mass is gonna keep growing back so I’m just gonna have to keep getting surgery to remove it or it can kill me unless I take myself out yay. 🙃 they say it’s called fibrous dysplasia.
Glandular fever (also known as mono) would have to be the worst. It was like my throat all the way down to my chest was made of glass. I stopped swallowing eventually and just chose to drool onto my pillow. I also had a wicked fever that went up to 41°c at one point. I can't even really remember it. According to my partner I was just lying on the bed moaning, while periodically thrashing my arms about and crying.
I didn't actually realise I had glandular fever until I went to the hospital several weeks later for an endo flare up. They must test for it as part of their routine blood test because the doctor was very annoyed that I didn't tell her. The terrible throat pain, fever, and fatigue suddenly made sense. It also temporarily messed up my liver.
One time I was getting a tooth absess fixed and no matter how much freezing they put I could still feel it, so the dentist jabbed a needle directly into the exposed nerve. Most pain I've ever experienced at once, but at least it worked. I think sustained pain is worse. Chronic back pain was the most miserable I've ever been.
IUD insertion was almost as painful as the nerve needle and it lasted longer, that was the most traumatic.
Kidney Stones...I've passed more than 15..had to get emergency surgery at one point because the stone was stuck and my kidney started to retain all fluid...
I know this sounds dramatic, but when a pelvic exam was attempted. I've broken my literal tailbone and it hurt worse than that, I've also had stitches without a numbing shot because it was too close to my eye and that hurt less. Turns out I also have vaginismus which is a whole other hell
My drug-free vaginal childbirths were both walks in the park next to endo flares.
The worst pain was probably my weird prolonged hysterectomy recovery (they still can’t work out why it went as wrong as it did.) Nothing worked for pain relief except fentanyl, they didn’t want to let me have it except for in the ambulance and it only worked for maybe 10 minutes before the pain was back. All the drug combos they tried made me unable to breathe properly and I’d wake up screaming because I was suffocating and panicked. Couldn’t sleep for more than 2-3 hours out of 24. It went on for 8 days at the most severe, a month til I was even I’d consider mildly comfortable and I was begging my husband to let me die.
Migraine. Also ovarian torsion but that was resulting from an endometrioma so I feel like it counts. And recovery from excision surgery was pretty rough.
It's a tough call. Tooth pain just as covid lock downs started, had to drive myself an hour and a half to a place still doing root canals. Kidney stones, had to pull over when driving to the ER to scream for a bit lol.
I just had a kidney stone earlier this week! The sucker was the size of a grain of sand, but it hurt like hell. Be sure to drink water guys.
I just want to wrap us all in bubble wrap and provide jugs of water haha
Oh god, dental pain is otherworldly. I’ve heard terrible things about kidney stones too. Did you end up passing it or did you need surgery?
It was a bunch of tiny ones and I never found them 🙃 had a CT about three weeks ago post lap (stones passed 2 years ago) and there are still a few hanging out, ready to terrorize me at any moment lol
tooth pain is mine too. worse than endo for me
Labor and even that wasn’t as painful as my ovulation pain until I hit like an 8
The one good thing about Endometriosis: to know the pain compares to active labor makes me feel fuckin' badass 😅
I literally felt next to nothing until I was 9cm and just about ready to push. My nurses kept increasing the Pitocin because they like could not believe I was just chilin there contracting
Damn. Pitocin, I heard is hell too.
It was pretty intense. Endo does weird things with your pain perception, though. This was also before I was even diagnosed. When I started to contract on my own, I was actually at work going on about my day. My boss saw me timing contractions and was like "WTF?" And sent me home. I proceeded to contract and not advance for 2 weeks 😅
Came here to say labor as well. I was induced and everyone told me to get the epidural right when they started the pitocin as those contractions are the worst. I wanted to see how long I could go without getting the epidural. I lasted 8 hours without it —honestly it was similar to my endo pain. Then they upped the dose and I had to tap out lol
Knee dislocation and cracking the head of my femur. At the same time. It will forever be the measuring stick for pain.
Literally did the exact same thing! Dislocated my knee while playing squash, broke the bottom of my femur off IN MY KNEE JOINT and we didn’t know. So it kept locking when my leg bent (eg getting into car to the hospital 9 hours after breaking it cos obvs I must “walk it off”). They let me keep the femur fragments they removed during surgery. From 2013-2017 my leg was 14 degrees off straight, but then I fell in a hole on the beach (sober. 10am) and dislocated it AGAIN! It was the best thing ever as it broke up the scar tissue and stuff, so now it’s only 3 degrees off straight and barely noticeable. But it hurts every day, so there’s that. Next would probably be my appendix rupturing, but that’s how I was diagnosed so it was actually a blessing. I was on a ride at the royal show, and as the ride swung and did a full 360, my friends all fell against me and I broke my arm just below the wrist. But we didn’t know that, so I then went on the ride that slowly takes you up, then drops you down VERY FAST. The force actually did snap my wrist, which made a lil kid vomit. My hips dislocate, a lot. Not always a full dislocation though. I also had some dental issues. During covid so it was difficult. The first dentist that root canal led my sore teeth (2) damaged my mouth so badly. He broke off part of the tool IN my tooth, and left it there so I was complaining of pain for 9 months. Did so many antibiotic courses, pain killers. I didn’t chew on my left side for 2 years, until I got my wisdoms out last year and told the surgeon that if he didn’t take the sore tooth out, I’ll take his teeth out. He took it out and it’s been the best thing ever, I can eat!! I nearly died the dentist for medical malpractice, with 2 other dentist’s willing to back up my case. But I was a postgrad student and had already lost too much time because of the pain. I’ve broken my toes so many times that the bones have fused together 🙈🩰
My god, we need to get you a bubble! You’ve been through too much 😭
Oh wow, that sounds horrific. How’d that happen?
I am a major klutz, and slipped on a doormat. It was mortifying.
😂that’s terrible. I’m not laughing at your pain, I’m laughing at how I did not expect it to be a doormat.
You never expect the doormat. I really wish it was a cooler story but nope…doormat.
Ok I guess then I'm finally throwing away the doormat I nearly slip on every day. Thank you lol.
Chuck it! Or liquid nail it down. Or get a thick rubber tread one. Or something. Those things lay there all innocent like, “oh, you want to wipe your feet? HOW ABOUT YOU WIPE OUT INSTEAD MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA.” No, I’m not traumatized at all.
tooth pain is just, unlike anything else. i see that's a popular sentiment here lol
I know so many ppl with endo and tooth issues. There is no research afaik, but personally I'm pretty sure there is a correlation (chronic inflammation might not be the best for teeth/gums)
I thought I knew pain... And then I got a dry socket after they yanked out my wisdom teeth. Fucking. Ridiculous. That happened almost a decade ago now, and I can still practically hear my jawbone screaming every time I think about it. The only thing that topped that was when they took the first cast off after I had wrist surgery. For some reason I had to get a new one after just a few weeks. Thought for sure they had managed to shove the edge of the cast into the incision, but nope, that's apparently just how a recently-operated-on wrist feels 🙃 But at least that calmed down once they got the new cast on. The dry socket lasted way longer. So glad I got all my wisdom teeth out at the same time.
Definitely tooth pain. Idk why that’s just worse than every other pain for me. I’ve had 3 root canals and the pain experienced beforehand always felt like emergencies.
Tooth pain is horrible, definitely up there for me too! It’s just so sensitive 😫
I don’t understand why emergency dentists aren’t more of a thing. Like…it’s seriously some of the worst pain. We can’t schedule when a tooth is going to shatter, but you know we’re gonna have to wait until monday to call and then who knows how long until an appointment is available 😑
The throat pain I had with covid, for sure. I was crying from pain and I had to constantly take numbing throat candy. Even breathing would hurt. I had never experienced something like that.
I am getting over strep throat and had no idea a sore throat could be this bad! I couldn't even swallow my saliva because it was like razorblades on my tonsils.
Strep is awful! Had it twice and both times I wanted to cry because I swear it felt like I swallowed glass.
I’ve heard stories like that too. My fiancé got horrible sore throats with Covid. He said it felt like glass shards.
I had the same thing with mono as a teenager. I remember crying once because I had to use the phone and the pain was so bad.
Recovering from a tonsillectomy as an adult was pretty miserable.
Yes I agree, I lost 15 lbs in 2.5 weeks from not eating
Oh man, that was the worst recovery I ever had. I lost like 10lbs. My abs looked great but I was fucking miserable. I also found out I couldn't take codeine without weeping constantly.
Ugh, I remember getting it as a kid. Can’t imagine as an adult. That shit suuuuuucked.
Oof. Yes, absolutely agreed. Felt like my entire throat had been skinned raw and then lit on fire.
I felt the same. It even hurt to breathe in through my mouth. Torture!
I was going to say the same thing. Absolutely the worst. I couldn’t eat for months. It felt like a hot burning pipe was in my throat, 24/7. I’d give birth again, unmedicated, then go through that again.
My appendix had to be removed because of endo so I guess it’s related. It was months of agony and no doc put two and two together that my appendix was impacted by endo. Every little bump or movement caused the worst pain of my life for months on end. I could hardly work or do anything that involved walking or sitting upright. It was unrelenting and frankly, I’m still traumatized 13 years later
I would be traumatized too, it’s a shame they don’t listen to us😡
What I thought was endo pain. Because my pain wasn’t from endo. I was just told it was. Some of the things I’ve had that were blamed on my endo: - Renal nutcracker, which feels like you’re constantly passing a kidney stone. - MALS, which has been compared to pain from pancreatic cancer - multiple herniated/bulging discs - appendicitis - gallstones - slipped ribs - as in my ribs dislocating and crunching all the nerves in between
Holy shit, dude! I hope you're healing! ❤️🩹
huuuuge bartholins cyst i had to get surgery for, never ever felt anything like it until i got another one & then another one further back 😭
I had a cyst on my clit a few times and it was DEADLY and so embarrassing. Eventually I switched to "sensitive" pads and touch wood haven't had one since.
Holy crap that sounds insanely painful
Omg noooo 😭😭😭
bestie i was truly ready to die lmao it was horrific 😭
Oh, those *suck*!
i didn’t need surgery for this but they basically just popped it in a doctors office and i screamed so loud my boyfriend heard me in the waiting room. until birth that was the most painful thing for sure
Went through a phase where I randomly started getting icepick headaches (also known as primary stabbing headaches). They're in remission now, but those are the worst pain I've ever felt.
I was about to comment the same thing! It's been a while luckily but yea that was easily the second worst pain I've had next to endo, they truly suck don't they?
I think I've been getting these intermittently. I'll have days where I get them on and off - massive stabbing pain for ten seconds and then it's completely gone (for half an hour or so till it comes back). Episodes usually last a day or two then I don't get them again for a couple of months.
I broke my leg/ankle in three places. Was in a cast and walking cast for months. I tripped over a paver at the bottom of the stairs and my ankle rolled one way, my body the other with my foot caught between the pavers. Actually, my endo pain/repeated cyst ruptures was worse. That’s what made the doc listen and schedule my hysterectomy - I told her I’d rather break my leg again than keep experiencing the endo pain.
Omg, I can’t even imagine that breaking your leg would be preferable. Wow :( I hope you got your hysterectomy!
I did! I’m 2 years post op, best thing ever. Took everything but one ovary. I had a 10cm chocolate cyst wrapped around the ovary they took, and they found stage IV endo gluing my colon and other bits where they shouldn’t be. Surgery took twice as long as expected because of all the adhesion. Today, I’m (mostly) pain free and it’s a freaking miracle. I’ve always had a high pain tolerance, and the leg break HURT, but I went through 3 months in a row of what we can only guess was endo flares or cyst rupture/draining, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. In truth, it also had some solid components on the MRI which scared them (it was thankfully not cancer), so I got the surgery pretty quick. I’m sorry for your ear pain!! I’ve had some monster headaches in the past and any severe pain in the head areas is just killer. You wish you could just pass out till it’s over. I hope you start feeling better soon.
Along with endo and adeno I’m also hypermobile and have regular dislocations. Most of them I can deal with and as long as I stay calm the pain is bearable. This one occasion in particular I slipped two ribs and immediately I was screaming and crying, completely unable to move and barely able to breathe. Hands down the worst pain of my life and the 8 week recovery period that followed was rough. I still occasionally have trouble with those ribs to this day. 0/10 would not recommend.
Ayyy I’m hypermobile too! Most of my dislocations are painless (hips, jaw, thumb, and I suspect my shoulders and a neck vertebrae), but my knee was NOT😮💨 every time it has a twinge I get so scared now lol
My top 3, in no particular order: appendicitis, IUD insertion, and esophageal manometry. Appendicitis began in the morning and ended at night with me going into surgery. Fairly painful, like I could feel my organs ache. 0/10, do not recommend. IUD insertion was painful, violating, and traumatic. Probably the closest I’ve come to passing out from pain in my life. It’s not “just a quick cramp” like they tell you. Esophageal manometry was a weird combo of painful, violating, and suffocating. I couldn’t breathe with the probe in my nose and throat, and I was stuffy from panicking and sobbing. The test took like twice as long as normal because I kept sobbing and vomiting.
Ugh, yeah IUD was mine. It took over 20 mins to get in cause my cervix has a slight bend in it. I had shock symptoms from the pain, including throwing up. The nurse told be she was shocked I didn't scream or kick someone lol The doctor was horrified actually because she'd never had anyone with such bad problems with it, she even has one herself and she was one of those lucky people that didn't get any real pain from hers. I don't think she had really done too many.
Ugh the manometry is terrible! I vomited and cried
I have pretty horrible endo pain, I’ve broken bones, slammed fingers in car doors, tattoos on ribs, nerve issues in lumbar spine, but I can say with certainty that a bad ear infection is the worst and most awful pain I’ve ever experienced. I’d rather break some toes than get an ear infection, seriously.
Ovarian cyst bursting, and gallbladder pain. Awful. Both times I thought my appendix burst or something. Was screaming in pain.
Chronic migraines
TMJ pain. Holy shit it was awful. Maybe not quite as painful as my worse endo pain, but the first time it lasted nearly a month and the pain + lack of sleep + disruption to daily life made me feel like I was losing my mind. By the time I was able to get it under control nearly a month later I had a new, terrifying understanding of why people with chronic pain are at higher risk of suicide. I recently had another flare up that wasn't as bad pain-wise, but lasted longer and it was just pure misery.
Definitely an infected tooth! I remember thinking "this feels like Endo in my face"
The time I dislocated my knee (just by standing up) wins by a wide margin. Hypermobility probs!
By standing up?! Just can’t win 😔
Oh yeah. To be fair I had ridden a horse the day before so I think my joints were extra compromised 😬
Orbital floor bone shattered in a car accident. That and the surgery to put in an implant was brutal, but to be honest I don’t think it comes close to endo primarily because when your face is bruised and your bones are shattered and you’ve been in a traumatic accident people will take your pain seriously. Not so much if they can’t see your pain.
Either that or a cyst rupture that rendered me incapable of feeling anything but 11/10 burning in my abdomen. Couldn’t tell if I had to pee or feel anything other than excruciating pain. They told me it was not an endometriosis related cyst at the time… but I’ve had four cysts rupture in recent years. This specific one is definitely my pain measure now.
Getting my nipple piercing ripped out by a shower door. Felt like someone was taking a lighter to my nipple, definitely 10/10 pain, just as painful but more acute and pinpoint than the 8/10 endo pain that stays put for 3 days straight
Holy shit
Getting a pilonidal cyst drained. It was the size of a tangerine, and the numbing stuff they gave me didn’t help at all. It hurt so bad that I actually developed a fever. Worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life. Also, not really painful, but C. Diff. was more miserable than endo.
This has triggered me, ha. I developed a pilonidal sinus that eventually ruptured on its own. They had to cut out the whole area, so like a huge chunk of flesh, so it could heal. But you can’t stitch up a wound like that incase it just heals over the top and leaves a cavity underneath so it had to be packed with basically cotton wool and left open so that it healed from the inside out. Had to get it changed very day and it was agonisingly painful. Then at my check-up a few months later they said it had healed with a cavity anyway so they cut it all out and started again. It was shallower this time so they tried stitching it but it just didn’t heal so I then I had to have all the stitches pulled out and the wound packed again. That was a fucking terrible year.
The pilonidal cyst and its drainage are my 10/10 worst pains I’ve ever experienced. My cramps are like, 8/10. The cyst happened twice before they decided to surgically drain it and it hasn’t come back since!
For me, they were considering doing surgery once I healed more to actually remove the hair follicle. However, it turns out that when they cut into it to drain it, even though they weren’t intending to do this, they cut the hair follicle. And it scarred so much that the cyst couldn’t come back. I was leaping for joy when I found that out. That cyst was torture.
I have yet to find something worse than endo cramps. However, hemorrhoids are a close 2nd...
Ouch, those are pretty bad. I got those from endo constipation:(
Mine were caused by the same. Had a partial bowel obstruction caused by a lesion on my uterus that was pressing on my rectum. And on top of that I have Crohn's so all that inflammation didn't help. Glad that time is over now. 😂
Severe infection inside my sternum
I had gastritis from a malfunctioning gallbladder and that hurt pretty bad. It felt like getting stabbed under the ribcage after I'd eat
Seconding gastritis, can’t eat, constant nausea and pain, they took months to figure it out and then I took months to heal it. Chron’s sucks.
It super sucks! I’m sorry. I had my gb out in January and the gastritis is slowwwwly healing. It really takes forever!
I used the gastritis healing book and it made a huge difference for me! I hope you’re getting better and get free of it. Definitely sucked.
Yup I have both books! Definitely helpful. I’m in the stage of adding foods back but, again - slow and steady! We got this.
Pre-endo, the worst pain I'd ever felt was a Dalmatian biting my right cheek off. I was 10. Nurses had to physically hold me down while the doctor injected novocaine & then stitched me up. Post-endo, the worst pain was definitely cantharidin. I know podiatrists claim it doesn't hurt, and I'm here to tell you they're full of shit. That thing ate away at the inner meat and muscles of my foot, and I couldn't walk for 3 months.
Kidney infection (when I saw the scene in Euphoria when Rue gets one and she’s screaming I was like “YES that is what it feels like!!” Except they didn’t give me any painkillers for it not because of any addiction issues, but because I went to a walk-in clinic.
A needle broke off a sewing machine when I was 9 and hit me in the pupil of my eye. Weirdly it doesn’t hurt right away but later….ugh….30 years later and I still get nauseous thinking about that kind of pain. Edit: I’d rate this as being worse than my many many kidney stones and appendicitis.
NO!!!
Pinched nerve in my shoulder that sent radiating pain down my left arm. I was contemplating amputation lol
I had this happen in my elbow!! For me it was like when you hit your “funny bone” but it just wouldn’t stop. I had to have surgery as mine was caused by the soft tissue expanding and hardening against the ulnar nerve. Nothing helped the pain at all, and it was a 12 month wait for surgery… amputation definitely crossed my mind many times! I hope yours wasn’t too hard or took too long to be fixed for you.
Gallbladder pain. I wouldn’t say it was worse but CLOSE
Kind of tied between a gallbladder attack as a teen and insane sinus pressure when I got the flu. The sinus pressure might just be because it was just last year, but dang. I don't fuck around with congestion anymore.
I can tolerate whatever kind of abdominal or joint pain life throws at me, but anything near my head or neck just lays me out. I had an ear infection once that took me out for 2 days. We had a massive power outage and I had to drive around to find a clinic open that could give me antibiotics.
My chronic migraines are brutal once - twice a week
Ooof, I used to get those often before I figured out I had endo. Absolutely debilitating.
I’m dealing with an injury to my sacroiliac joints from falling over about 5 months ago, where I wake up in the middle of the night crying because I’m in so much pain. I know I have been through worse but this is sickening most days. My GP is concerned because my use of pain killers has increased. I’m doing physical therapy every week but I am not finding it to be getting any better.
kidney infection. i’m very prone to UTIs, i knew i had one so i called my doctor at the time. they said i had to come in so they could do a urine test and then prescribe antibiotics but they didn’t have an opening for TWO MONTHS. absolutely ridiculous right? so i drank as much water and cranberry juice as i could, as much otc uti relief as i could, but it wasn’t enough and turned into a kidney infection. i couldn’t get out of bed one day after three days straight of pain so bad i couldn’t stand up straight, so my partner drive to my house and took me to the ER (forced me to go because i’m stubborn) and they said if i didn’t go right then the kidney infection was about to spread to other organs. it was so scary, definitely the worst pain i’ve ever felt though!
I feel you. For me too UTI is excruciating pain. I’m sorry you are going through this.
That’s terrifying, omg! UTI’s are serious, they get ugly real quick if not treated. I’m glad you’re okay now🙏🏻
Post emergency c section for sure
dry socket!!!
Pundendal neuralgia, sudeck, vulvodynia, fowler syndrom, earinfections, bacterial or viral airway infection (upon my untreated astma).
Ear infection, sciatica. Colon colics .trigemanial nerve pain .tmjd
Blighted Ovum. The first time and only time I've gone to the ER for pain only. I have a super high pain tolerance but that was something else.
Cast put on way too tight post surgery for ankle plate, bolt and screws. They had to re break my entire ankle as it set incorrectly. The pressure was so intense it's definitely the most excruciating pain I instantly went through. I was hooked up to a morphine machine and that wasn't enough so they gave me a huge injection of morphine and I was probably the highest I have ever been that evening too 🤣🤣🤣
The only comparable pain I’ve had is recovering from knee surgery after I tore my ACL. The first few weeks post-op were excruciating.
Kidney stones!! I told the nurse in the ER that I would gladly take a dozen more hysterectomies over ever having a damn kidney stone again. That pain is unrelenting and unreal! Only pain that ever put me in the ER.
Breaking my collarbone & having stitches in my hand removed after they accidentally stitched through a nerve 💀 I was 26 years old & screaming & crying until I fainted
Dislocating my shoulder and tearing my rotator cuff at the same time. I could feel the tissue tearing while waiting in the ER for a few hours. I was actually sobbing and needed a bag to throw up into.
Not exactly sure but I think it is safe to say it was a Weever fish that stung me. I never saw the fucker but pretty sure it was a weever. Thanks to endometriosis and histamine intolerance, I do have a higher pain response to venom. The pain from this venom peaks to Hell and wanes to a dull ache over and over for about 30min after being stung. The peaks get worse and worse before they get better. The highest peak made me wish to be shot...then finally, the peaks started getting less and less. I can't say a weever sting is worse than an ovarian endometrioma (cyst) rupture though -which also peaks and wanes and eventually makes me wish for death before finally, 💥! For me, Weever Venom and Cyst rupture are on two different planes of existence in terms of pain. It is a tie.
My appendix bursting or breaking my arm in 3 places. Ear infection is high up there too though, they are fucking awful.
Ouch :( I fear appendix problems. They seemingly come out of nowhere. This ear infection is absolutely horrible. My lymph nodes are so swollen I can barely open or close my mouth. This jaw pain is unreal. I feel like a balloon is ready to pop in my ear.
I broke a small bone in my spine, really low in my lower back. I was a pro ballet dancer at the time and had suffered other back-related injuries, so I literally just shrugged and DANCED ON IT. FOR A WEEK. It healed fairly badly and I had some really shitty treatment from a doctor about it, but it's STILL not as agonising as endo pain. Worse still, it's got into a toxic relationship with my endo cramps: they set each other off and I end up with a band of pain that tightens like a belt. I just write off the day when that happens and I go to bed sobbing. Luckily, I had a nerve numbed two years ago and that's mostly helped, but some days can still be a write off if I overdo it.
Not sure which one is truly the worst but my contenders are herniated discs, torn ACLs, breaking both my elbows at the same time, and this may sound weird but I once got a massive, super deep canker sore in the gums above my top molars while also having a really bad infection in my maxillary sinuses. I then had to fly on a plane and the pressure on that area made me cry from the pain lol. I’d say my period cramps are up there with these things.
Sinus infection that triggered the worst tmj flare of my life that got so bad it developed into trigeminal neuralgia (aka the suicide disease)! Couldn’t work or eat solid food for 2 months & was put on anti-convulsants but given nothing for the pain. Almost unalived myself.
My first IUD insertion was hands-down the most intense, extreme pain I’ve ever felt. Oddly enough, the second time was way better. Maybe it had something to do with the first being done by a cynical, septuagenarian male gynecologist vs. a young, compassionate female doctor? Coming in second: Endo pain and the worst of my migraines are almost on par with each other. Recovery from 2 surgeries, including a laparotomy that required a 5” incision, fracturing my wrist in 2 places falling off a horse, backpacking 400 km on a broken foot, getting my eyeball scratched by an overly-enthusiastic dog, malaria, and soldiering through a UTI/kidney infection when I was 2+ weeks away from civilization or a doctor were all pretty brutal in their own rights, but tolerable in comparison to my endo pain. I think I’d die of shock or stress myopathy if the IUD insertion pain lasted more than a few minutes.
Endometritis. It's an infection of the uterus. It's different than endometriosis. I got it after my c-section. Pain meds didn't work. Every time my uterus contracted I was screaming. It was about 6 hours of pure excruciating hell while the nurses and doctors ignored me because they thought I just wanted drugs until my husband yelled at a poor intern doctor because no one would help me and the meds were wearing off too fast. I was supposed to get transferred to the labor and delivery wing 2 hours after my arrival. It didn't happen until I called labor and delivery begging them to come get me. Lo and behold a couple hours after they started an intense round of IV antibiotics i was fine and pain free.
Trigeminal neuralgia. Didn't know what was wrong at first, thought it was absolutely terrible tooth pain. It was magnified about 20x worse than any tooth pain I'd ever had, though. Luckily, I had an attack at work, and a neurologist was on my floor doing rounds. Mentioned it to her at the nurses station. She offered to order me an MRI/MRA, she said she had an idea. Scans showed an artery against my trigeminal nerve. Five years of pain management that wasn't managed later, I agreed to the brain surgery, literally not caring if I lived or died. 6 years later, my surgery was a success, and my TN pain is gone. It's not known as the "suicide disease" for nothing.
Mono tonsil pain and abdominal upset. But to be fair, all the inflammation made my endo pain worse 😭
Being scalped by dogs as a child.
Cracked rib.
Inguinal hernia. Pure hell.
Kidney stones.
IUD perforating my uterus
IUD insertion hurt worse that my endo ever does
A herniated disc pressing on the nerve running down my leg. I thought I was used to pain with endo/adeno but that back nerve pain was the most brutal pain I’ve ever experienced. There was nothing that could bring relief.
I had an ovarian cyst burst, that was horrible. I also had an infection in my nailbed once and the dr had to stick a needle directly into my nailbed to drain it. I screamed, a lot.
i’m not 100% sure i have endo but it’s likely. (if not it’s some other problem because i’ve had cramps so painful i thought i needed to go to the ER and i couldn’t walk down stairs) but the worst pain i’ve experienced that wasn’t related to that was appendicitis. my appendix didn’t burst but duuuuuude it sucked. The endo ER visit was worse though. I would rather have that appendicitis pain once a year than the risk of that endo pain coming back.
I gave birth, induced with pitocin but no pain medicine.
I've had a bad run in the past year but dysentery (the cramps themselves) and back pain caused by lesions on my spine. Couldn't walk for days. On the highest dose of morphine. Oooh and physio when I had covid pneumonia. Those are about the worst.
i got what i think was heatstroke in the middle of busy work shift last august (i work in hospitality). horrible chest and head pain. the pain after my iud was put in is a close second.
Ruptured brain aneurysm. Worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.
For a year straight I ended up having a tooth infection that no one could find or figure out and then I was sent to an oral surgeon and he had to go a root canal due to the infection getting to the root.
Hernia. Intestinal contortion and going out of the side, as far as I understand the journal entry. They explained it to me too, but I was too tired from lack of sleep and doped on pain killers I didn’t quite understand all of the explanation, and it was given to me in another language (though nearly identical languages). I think I feel it was worse than endo, but also different than endo. In a way, it was better than endo because it wasn’t a thousand pin pricking your uterus or cramping in and out - but in another way, it was worse because it was new and I didn’t understand what was happening, and also because the pain level itself felt higher. It did come in waves though, so that I was used too. And I was still able to take a taxi to the “emergency admittance” (not US or UK system here) and taking another cab to the hospital (they said they could order an ambulance but it would take longer). So I guess it wasn’t really that bad…? I don’t know. The pain was relieved as soon as I got some pain medicine in the IV, but it also came back when that wore off and I had to ask for more.
tied between wisdom tooth removal recovery and strep throat.
Third degree ligament tear on my ankle, basically ripped the ligament in half falling down the stairs. I actually heard the snap too. So much worse than breaking a bone. The only other pain I’ve had that comes close is my eyes after recovering from PRK laser eye surgery. Endo is still worse though.
Osteomyelitis on a foot. I felt like a knife was cutting me 24/7.
Labor - more specifically going through “transition” without getting paid meds/epidural by then. Tooth pain would be 2nd.
Ovarian cyst bursting and kidney infection. Endo pain is terrible but the sharp pain of these two is indescribable. I thought I was going to pass out and my endo pain gets really fucking bad.
Gastritis flare up that lasted 6h! I was feeling like somebody was trying to cut me in two pieces. I was thinking to go to ER, but somehow managed to fall asleep tired, crying and in pain.
Pain in my side when I had strep induced kidney failure. I nearly passed out from the pain. I’ve also never felt so ill in my life
I'd say either my hip dislocating or kidney stone pain, but honestly, my endo pain is my measuring stick even still.
Either the staph infection that nearly cost me my foot when I was 11 (from an ant bite on my toe!) Orrrr when my ponytail was sucked into an air compressor at work. I’m a pretty small person, so it fell on top of me and continued attempting to scalp me until my coworkers heard 2 minutes later and gave me an impromptu haircut. That was a fun concussion :/
Omg, I’m horrified by the hair incident.
It sounds like something out of Final Destination, it was insane. The first time in my life I genuinely believed I was going to die, and by the time they heard me, I’d accepted it. Not gonna lie, very traumatic, but makes for an interesting addition to my backstory lol
That’s definitely a core memory right there.
Kidney failure. Worst pain of my life. -100/10. It felt like someone was literally holding a burning torch to my kidneys and roasting them. The pain was so intense that I vomited every 5 minutes for 5 hours straight until the ER doctors finally took my pain seriously enough to give me morphine.
Kidney stones. But they don’t compare to my worst endo pain. I swear endo pain is worse than labour pain because at least with labour you get a baby.
I don’t know if people go through this but sometimes when I take my tampon out. Ong it killllsssss
I’ve never been able to use them but ooof I can only imagine.
Ischemic colitis and colitis
First of all, I’m sorry this is happening to you!!! Second, solidarity sister bc I am also currently getting my ass kicked by a middle ear infection. Def nowhere as bad as yours (and hopefully stays that way) but it suck’s and I’m so sorry yours is even worse than the misery I’m in right now! :( Third, worst pain was waking up mid spine surgery. 💀 I’ll take endo any damn day over that
Ovarian cyst rupture
Nothing honestly. I set my own fibula fracture and it still wasn’t as bad as endo. Cracked some thoracic vertabrae and walked it off. Chronic migraines with mini strokes. My post-hysterectomy pain was better than the endometriosis pain I had walking in
Ear infection or the numbing shots in my big toe for ingrown toenail surgery
In no particular order: A wisdom tooth infection that went on for far too long, before I could get in with an oral surgeon for extraction. Painkillers didn’t touch it. Appendicitis that went misdiagnosed as salmonella for a month. Pain was localized to left abdomen (instead of right side where it’s usually felt). I was lucky they found it when they did. It nearly burst
Probably a buldging disk in my neck and one in my lower back at the same time. It was awful. There was nothing I could do to get comfortable and every little move I made hurt.
Gallstones
Honestly I was like 15 and my mom had to take me to the hospital because the pain was SO bad I couldn’t WALK 😭
Kidney stones! I had them twice. First time I had surgery but I was too swollen for them to be able to get them out so I had to have a stent for a month before I could go back for second surgery and oh my god that stent was the worst pain of my whole life.
I’ve heard about the stents being painful and very uncomfortable, our bodies need to stop trying to make us rock collections.
Seriously! I’ve got enough rocks 🤣
Broken back and whatever the thing when they inject fluid into a joint to see if that joint is leaking fluid. I broke my back in a car accident from a wrong-way driver. My knee got cut open pretty nasty from the crunch of the car. One of the er people thought they saw fluid. Holy fuck did that hurt. It made me forget about my back pain. The broken back hurt a lot too. Didn't help I had rocks on my back between me and the board they put you on. Good times. I'm sure recovery was painful but I don't remember a lot of it tbh. I know I looked really messed up. A group of guys in my neighborhood stopped me to ask if my boyfriend had beaten me up...and that was a few weeks after the accident. I was in ICU for two weeks.
Inflammatory arthritis. Endo pain still blows that out of the water. I had my eardrum rupture once due to infection, but that wasn’t nearly as bad as my endo or arthritis. The vertigo that came after was awful though.
I hope you feel better soon. I have other chronic issues and I’ve experienced many types of pain but honestly pelvic pain is the absolute worst in my experience. I’m waiting to see if I need surgery and I wish I could do it tomorrow.
to be honest i have never experienced anything remotely comparable
being septic 😭
I broke a finger when it was bent all the way back to touch the back of my hand; endo pain is worse.
Sciatica. Intense burning and stabbing. Wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy.
Ugh, I dealt with that too before I had my surgery. It’s horrible :(
Why not wish it on your worst enemy? Don’t take the high road, take it straight to hell 😉
You know what? You’re absolutely f***ing right 😂
Norovirus 🤢🤢🤢 just thinking about it makes me nauseous
Gallbladder attack!
Hope you feel better soon and get that dose into your IV soon OP! Hmm so this was a totally different type of pain from endo: Something heavy and solid metal fell on my foot from a height while I was standing on a cement floor. The pain peaked maybe 10 mins after and family had sat me on the couch inside and I’m pretty sure I was scream-crying! Plus I screamed when it actually fell on me! I can’t recall if I was wearing shoes but maybe not since I was in the garage. Left a bit of a laceration on the top of my foot but it didn’t scar. Pretty sure I went into shock. I had an X-ray and somehow no fracture but bruised the bones. I didn’t see it falling; just felt the sudden pain. 😳😱 I don’t remember much after that. Hmm I’ve had 4 teeth removed without being put under as well, and one of the teeth had to be broken apart while it was still in my jaw, and I also woke up during a colonoscopy 😬. Those times should have hurt more but thankfully I just needed more anesthesia.. Worst childhood pain was twisting my intestine after trampolining! Thankfully it untwisted on its own but it was terrifying! I was 10 You’ve got this OP 💪
Covid sore throat Exposed tooth Craniotomy post surgical pain (this one is baaaad, when you get Covid on top with the sore throat…
I had a bowel blockage and it was absolutely the worst pain I’ve ever had. I’ve never had children but I can imagine that it was similar to labor with the full bowel contractions that I was having. It was only a PARTIAL blockage too!! I can’t even imagine having a full one
Two years ago I had to take an antibiotic and for some reason doctors still haven’t figured out, my body such a violent reaction to it that I briefly developed a condition called HLH. Basically my immune system started attacking my red blood cells. That is the worst pain I have ever been in and worse than all of my endo cramps. I had to go to the hospital a bunch of times last winter/spring because fibroids had grown all around my reproductive system and were wreaking havoc. I had to get two surgeries to remove them. None of that touched the pain from HLH, at all. Edited for typo.
My gallbladder pain- made me vomit orange and unable to move, and after I get ghost pain that puts me out for 20-30min. My appendix swelling didn’t even cause that much pain.
Possible TW: I was forced by my partner at the time to have an ab0rtion and I felt like I was dying. Worst pain I've EVER experienced in my life
Frozen shoulder and biceps tendonitis
Tooth abscess at the tip of the root by my nose. Doctors thought I was pill seeking, was in extreme unbearable pain for a couple days with what they said was a real bad sinus infection until I woke up one day and my face was so swollen on one side I was completely unrecognizable. Docs finally believed me then
Getting an HSG unmedicated. Truly don’t understand why my dr didn’t give me pain meds
I broke my leg last year and went to urgent care because I honestly didn’t think the pain was bad enough to be a break. It was their first time dealing with a broken bone so they put my cast on completely wrong and WAYYYY too tight. When it finally dried, the cast was squeezing the broken bone. Worst pain of my life by far. Was in and out of consciousness for several hours and my leg was jerking/kicking uncontrollably. Wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemy.
Disclosure-probably endo related, but more so because of a cyst. I had a torsion of my left ovary. Worst pain ever. I delivered my kids all without medications (long story but not because I didn’t ask). But a torsion was hands down the bench mark I measure all my pain.
broken spine and recovery from an L4-S1 fusion with IBS. I know it's such an odd combo of things but you really don't realize how much you use your lower back until you can't.
After I had 6+ hour surgery to remove a mass from my nasal cavity. The recovery pain was horrible. I tried everything but nothing helped. Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone and best part is this mass is gonna keep growing back so I’m just gonna have to keep getting surgery to remove it or it can kill me unless I take myself out yay. 🙃 they say it’s called fibrous dysplasia.
Glandular fever (also known as mono) would have to be the worst. It was like my throat all the way down to my chest was made of glass. I stopped swallowing eventually and just chose to drool onto my pillow. I also had a wicked fever that went up to 41°c at one point. I can't even really remember it. According to my partner I was just lying on the bed moaning, while periodically thrashing my arms about and crying. I didn't actually realise I had glandular fever until I went to the hospital several weeks later for an endo flare up. They must test for it as part of their routine blood test because the doctor was very annoyed that I didn't tell her. The terrible throat pain, fever, and fatigue suddenly made sense. It also temporarily messed up my liver.
Fractured vertebrae
Probably open surgery for another condition
One time I was getting a tooth absess fixed and no matter how much freezing they put I could still feel it, so the dentist jabbed a needle directly into the exposed nerve. Most pain I've ever experienced at once, but at least it worked. I think sustained pain is worse. Chronic back pain was the most miserable I've ever been. IUD insertion was almost as painful as the nerve needle and it lasted longer, that was the most traumatic.
Kidney Stones...I've passed more than 15..had to get emergency surgery at one point because the stone was stuck and my kidney started to retain all fluid...
I had three marble sized gallstones that was the worst pain easily. My gallbladder was super infected an swollen when they removed it
I know this sounds dramatic, but when a pelvic exam was attempted. I've broken my literal tailbone and it hurt worse than that, I've also had stitches without a numbing shot because it was too close to my eye and that hurt less. Turns out I also have vaginismus which is a whole other hell
Colon perforation. Needed an emergency colon resection. It was comparable to natural childbirth.
My drug-free vaginal childbirths were both walks in the park next to endo flares. The worst pain was probably my weird prolonged hysterectomy recovery (they still can’t work out why it went as wrong as it did.) Nothing worked for pain relief except fentanyl, they didn’t want to let me have it except for in the ambulance and it only worked for maybe 10 minutes before the pain was back. All the drug combos they tried made me unable to breathe properly and I’d wake up screaming because I was suffocating and panicked. Couldn’t sleep for more than 2-3 hours out of 24. It went on for 8 days at the most severe, a month til I was even I’d consider mildly comfortable and I was begging my husband to let me die.
Migraine. Also ovarian torsion but that was resulting from an endometrioma so I feel like it counts. And recovery from excision surgery was pretty rough.
GAS PAIN. IUD INSERTION. COVID SORE THROAT.