Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Describe The Most Physically Painful Experience They've Ever Endured

People Describe The Most Physically Painful Experience They've Ever Endured
Image by Parentingupstream from Pixabay

Make us preferred on Google

Ever herniated a disc? A few years ago I got to experience what that is like and it was horrible. In fact, I herniated two. 0/10––would not recommend. Physical therapy wasn't fun either, just so you know. Let's just say I'm thrilled that that period is behind me.

After Redditor organized_mud asked the online community, "What's the most physically painful experience you've had and what did it feel like?" people shared their stories.

After reading some of these, it's safe to say I consider myself very lucky. Ouch.


"In the end..."

Suffered a testicular torsion when I was 16. Woke up one morning with a dull pain in my balls. In about an hour, the pain was radiating down my legs and I couldn't move. It was about 90min between realising something was genuinely wrong to be shot up with morphine prior to the operation to save them. The pain reached its very peak when the doctor gently felt my balls to check them. He barely touched them but I could not hold back my screams.

In the end, they saved both of them and they're still going strong. I spent the next week doped out of my mind on pain meds. I was so paranoid that I thought if I moved wrong, the stitches would come undone and my balls would fall out.

Moral of the story, don't dismiss ball pain.

ChiralChem

"I was stung on the chin..."

I was stung on the chin by a large iridescent blue wasp while on safari in Botswana. It felt like I had been shot in the face by a searing hot, venom-laced harpoon and then my face went numb all day.

EvilChickaTilo

Dear God.

This is proof that we are not meant to be out there in nature. Nature is terrifying.

"My immune system decided..."

My immune system decided my legs were a problem and started breaking down the fat layer. Giant, blackened sores that oozed orange fluid... I would've preferred jamming my legs into a wood chipper.

NurseNotJoy

"Breaking the screws..."

Breaking the screws that held my spine together. I sheared the heads off of two titanium bolts. I passed out. Imagine voluntarily putting body parts into a garbage disposal.

felinebarbecue

WHAT.

"Imagine voluntarily putting body parts into a garbage disposal" is a sentence I never want to read again.

"When I was very young..."

When I was very young, I fell into a bathtub full of just hot water. Had 2nd degree burns all over my arms and my back. Still don't like bathtubs.

Princess_Peachycoo

"I occasionally get cramps..."

I occasionally get cramps in my calves and it's the worst pain I've ever felt every single time. I can't even describe how it feels. I just know that nothing in my life brings me to the floor and makes me feel so utterly helpless like that. I think that's the worst part honestly. Just trying to stretch and rub it out while feeling completely desperate and helpless.

theautomemoriesdoll

"The first migraine..."

The first migraine I ever had stuck out as particularly bad. I'm sure I've had objectively worse ones, but I was a teenager and it was the middle of the night and nothing had ever hurt so bad before. I shoved my head in a pile of dirty laundry to block out the light and hoped I wouldn't die.

FckMeSaulGoodman

"I still have an indent..."

Walking into a huge trailer hitch on a truck. They don't move. I still have an indent on my shin 20 years later.

itsfroggyout

"I had a tailbone cyst..."

I had a tailbone cyst, but thought that I had just bruised my tailbone, so didn't get it checked out. The cyst got worse and worse to the point where I couldn't sit/stand/lay down comfortably, no matter what position I was in. I couldn't sleep at all and was on the verge of tears from the exhaustion and pain. Finally, I asked my dad to check it out, still thinking it was just a bruise, and he took me to the doctor to get it drained.

The pain I had been experiencing for the 2 days prior was NOTHING compared to the doctor cutting and draining the cyst. She got out 1/4 cup of fluid and I nearly passed out walking back to my dad in the waiting area.

littlebludino

"I just remember..."

Recovery from a c-section after giving birth to my daughter. They sent me home with pain meds (Percocet and ibuprofen that I took for a few days) but I started relying so heavily on the Percocet that I would wake up reaching for the bottle before I even thought about my daughter. That freaked me out so I tossed them. The ibuprofen didn't do sh!t no matter how much I took so I just healed from it with no medication at all.

I just remember having to lie in bed so often, that each time I absolutely had to get up (husband was home with me for a month postpartum, thank god, so he often brought our daughter to me to be nursed and held), I just groaned and cried, sometimes just screaming. It felt like someone took a knife to my abdomen each time.

tinymom7654

Okay...

...now that I've been suitably horrified, a couple of herniated discs don't sound so bad. I am cringing (and personally can't get over the whole "body parts in a garbage disposal" thing).

What's your most physically painful experience? Feel free to make us cringe by talking about it in the comments below!

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Zohran Mamdani
Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images

Mamdani Speaks Out After Releasing 9/11 Records That Reveal NYC Officials Knew Air Around Ground Zero Was 'Toxic'

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke out after releasing more than 170,000 pages of undisclosed city records to the public ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks that prove city officials knew that the air was "toxic" around Ground Zero during recovery efforts.

Documents reviewed by the New York Times before their release indicate that asbestos concentrations in dust collected throughout the area exceeded hazardous thresholds in the days after the World Trade Center collapsed. Testing also found asbestos and other contaminants in the air and dust at levels considered unsafe.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Was Just Spotted With A Bizarre New Brunette Hair Color—And Here Come The Jokes

President Donald Trump was widely mocked after he was recently spotted departing Air Force One sporting what appeared to be a much darker shade of hair color than the blonde that we're used to seeing.

Trump has for years sported his signature combover, and he has previously spoken about having a significant bald spot on his head. However, he denies wearing a wig.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump
Fox News

Trump Slammed After Jokingly Lamenting That 9/11 Hero Is 'More Famous' Than He Is In Tone-Deaf Speech

After speaking during the “Steel Across America” event put on by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, President Donald Trump was criticized for lamenting that one hero of the September 11 terror attacks is "more famous" than him.

Trump was referring to Welles Crowther, an equities trader at Sandler O’Neill & Partners who was working in the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001. Crowther, who became known for wearing a red bandana, helped evacuate people from the building and is credited with saving at least 18 lives before the tower collapsed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert Pattinson (left) responds to Chris Hansen’s (right) criticism of Primetime.
Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images; Mireya Acierto/FilmMagic

Robert Pattinson Reacts To 'To Catch A Predator' Star Chris Hansen's Criticism Of His Portrayal In New Film

It’s probably not every day Robert Pattinson gets publicly critiqued by Chris Hansen, but here we are. The actor addressed the former To Catch a Predator host’s concerns about Primetime at the Venice International Film Festival, offering a gracious response to the man whose television career helped inspire the film.

At the panel, Pattinson addressed Hansen’s concerns directly:

Keep ReadingShow less
Amanda Hirsch (left) apologized after facing backlash over a Polymarket post tied to the Lindsay Clancy (right) trial.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIME; Greg Derr / POOL / AFP via Getty Images

Podcaster Apologizes After 'Insensitive' Post About Betting On Lindsay Clancy Trial Sparks Backlash

Amanda Hirsch is walking back a promotional post that encouraged followers to wager on the verdict in the Lindsay Clancy trial. The Not Skinny But Not Fat creator and host found herself in hot water after her partnership with Polymarket drew backlash online.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse from Duxbury, Massachusetts, was charged with killing her three young children in January 2023. Her case has since fueled debate over maternal mental health, the healthcare system, and the legal definition of insanity.

Keep ReadingShow less