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The worst pain you’ve experienced

Started by Max Rockatansky, October 02, 2022, 04:37:34 PM

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JMoses24

Quote from: JMoses24 on October 11, 2022, 03:48:11 PM
Sepsis episode two, 2007. Thought it had been something I ate. No, my bladder blew up. I was doubled over for hours.

Okay, yesterday topped it. Again, doubled over for hours. I'm 5 days post ostomy reversal, so... what the heck? Turned out the catheter that I now have was clogged and I had 800 ml backed up in my bladder. Yep, that will do it.


Rothman

Quote from: JMoses24 on October 16, 2022, 03:38:33 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on October 11, 2022, 03:48:11 PM
Sepsis episode two, 2007. Thought it had been something I ate. No, my bladder blew up. I was doubled over for hours.

Okay, yesterday topped it. Again, doubled over for hours. I'm 5 days post ostomy reversal, so... what the heck? Turned out the catheter that I now have was clogged and I had 800 ml backed up in my bladder. Yep, that will do it.
Egads.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

kenarmy

Quote from: hbelkins on October 10, 2022, 10:42:41 AM
Quote from: kenarmy on October 10, 2022, 10:16:00 AM
Getting two shots in each big toe.. and the needle was at least 8 inches long

Not sure how that worked. My big toe isn't 8 inches thick.
well ofc I was exaggerating a little.. but it was in the corner of my toe going towards the heel.
Just a reminder that US 6, 49, 50, and 98 are superior to your fave routes :)


EXTEND 206 SO IT CAN MEET ITS PARENT.

kphoger

My worst gastrointestinal pain happened when some co-workers and I went out for a quick lunch at a Pizza Hut buffet.  I scarfed down a bunch of pan pizza with no salad and nothing to drink.  An hour or two later, I had such pain that I had to leave work and spend the rest of the evening curled up in a ball.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

roadman65

Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

zachary_amaryllis

Trying to carry on a phone call over WiFi calling ... when the network is satellite internet. Really more of a two-way radio at this point.
(Landline's out)
clinched:
I-64, I-80, I-76 (west), *64s in hampton roads, 225,270,180 (co, wy)

LM117

“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

hbelkins

Quote from: LM117 on October 29, 2022, 12:49:47 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 17, 2022, 10:20:07 AM
Toothache.



Worked like a charm for me.

If Advil and Tylenol had a baby...

I can't take ibuprofen. An ibuprofen prescription is what put me in the hospital five years ago with kidney failure. My wife has an ibuprofen prescription and doesn't even want me to touch the bottle.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

LM117

Quote from: hbelkins on October 29, 2022, 03:20:21 PM
Quote from: LM117 on October 29, 2022, 12:49:47 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 17, 2022, 10:20:07 AM
Toothache.



Worked like a charm for me.

If Advil and Tylenol had a baby...

I can't take ibuprofen. An ibuprofen prescription is what put me in the hospital five years ago with kidney failure. My wife has an ibuprofen prescription and doesn't even want me to touch the bottle.

My parents can't take ibuprofen, either. My dad is diabetic and takes 1,000mg metformin twice a day, and was told not to take ibuprofen. He's also had some heart damage from a heart attack that he never knew he had until it was detected by an EKG during a visit to his cardiologist, and apparently ibuprofen isn't good for people with heart issues.

My mom can't take it because she has pretty bad hypertension and mild atrial fibrillation that is barely managed with lisinopril and carvedilol. Ibuprofen isn't good for people with hypertension, so it's a no-no. Both my parents also take an 81mg daily aspirin, and mixing more than one NSAID is also a no-no.
“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

JKRhodes

I've lived a pretty accident prone life. At age 4, I stepped on a broken bottle and severed a tendon in my ankle. I've broken bones, and been in a motorcycle accident at 55 mph with no helmet. That being said, I would have to categorize my most severe pain into three categories: Acute, short term and long term:

Acute: The most severe sensation of pain I've experienced in a span of less than 10 seconds took place in 2004  when I volunteered to get shot with a taser for a police demonstration

Short Term: I had lap band surgery in 2011 and had to get it removed in 2013 after it eroded. Following the removal surgery, the repair failed which led to free intra-abdominal air and 70% blood loss. The hospital's rapid response team responded to stabilize me and keep me from passing away. I underwent a second operation to re-repair the hole , took a blood transfusion, and ended up septic and distended with an ileus that took longer than normal to resolve. A combination of pressure, sharp pain and fatigue ensued for approximately two weeks. Nurses gave me dilaudid intravenously every two hours. Each dose took the edge off of the pain for twenty minutes, then I would suffer for an hour and 40 minutes until my next dose was authorized.

Long Term, and most recently (may 2022), I was cutting steel with a grinder when a hot spark made it past all of my PPE and lodged in my cornea 2mm away from my pupil. My eye doctor removed the metal with a needle and ground out the rust with a diamond burr. He also debrided all of the epithelium off of my cornea with a cotton swab to ensure even healing and applied a pressure eyepatch. This was all done under local anesthetic eyedrops. After the numbing wore off, I endured three days of pure hell. To this day, I wake up early every morning with recurring corneal erosions which sting like hell and cause my left eye to water profusely Most days, it resolves an hour or two after I wake up and start my day. I'm on a regimen of systane drops, systane gel and muro 128 drops. I have an appointment next week to re-examine my eye and pursue further treatment options.

kphoger

Quote from: JKRhodes on October 29, 2022, 11:16:39 PM
I've ... been in a motorcycle accident at 55 mph with no helmet.

Were you wearing leather?  I once knew a motorcyclist who was "meh" about helmets but was an avid supporter of wearing leather while riding.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

JKRhodes

Quote from: kphoger on October 31, 2022, 10:59:40 AM
Quote from: JKRhodes on October 29, 2022, 11:16:39 PM
I've ... been in a motorcycle accident at 55 mph with no helmet.

Were you wearing leather?  I once knew a motorcyclist who was "meh" about helmets but was an avid supporter of wearing leather while riding.

I espouse that mentality 100% as well. My mentality (supported by a somewhat famous article penned by ABATE) was that helmets hinder situational awareness and lead to a false sense of security and risk taking in exchange for a minimal reduction in blunt impact force.

I was wearing a  leather riding jacket, jeans, and skater shoes. Minimal damage to my torso. Two lacerations in my forehead, a laceration in my right elbow where the jacket ground through , a deep abrasion on my right knee and a few scraped on my hands and feet. No brain injury, just a deep contusion on the side of my face and a total of 35 stitches.

Despite my anti helmet argument, it's not lost on me that I was extremely blessed to survive the crash.

Laura

It sounds strange to say, but I actually don't know how to answer this question. I gave birth to my daughter in 2019, but that was only 14 hours of active labor pain. Yeah it was painful as I did it unmedicated except for some nitrous oxide, but it was only 14 hours long. The reality is that I've lived with an always existent low level of chronic pain every single day since 2015.

Long story short is that I have a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) where my connective tissue (and therefore joints) are too hypermobile so my muscles tighten to hold my body together in one piece. It's genetic and runs in my family and I've had issues my whole life but it didn't become a major issue until my late 20s. I've sprained my ankles collectively eight times (5 on right, 3 on left), my left knee once and my right IT band once. I've gotten dequervain's tenosynovitis in my right wrist three times and tendinitis in my feet three times (2 in right, 1 in left). I've broken my left elbow once and my left wrist once. My hips have constant subluxations (right side more than left). When I was pregnant my sacrum kept subluxating and my physical therapist had to literally push it (and daughter) back into place. I can trigger charley horses in my legs and feet AT WILL because my tendons are too short. I have curly toes as a result. 

I've had YEARS of physical therapy. I had to have physical therapy on my pelvic floor in order to be able to have sexual intercourse (which makes for a very unconventional infertility story!) and was unable to have pain-free intercourse until this calendar year! This was as a result of vaginismus and vulvodynia. I've had to have physical therapy for TMJ and my neck and shoulders (right side more than left). My neck and jaw used to lock into place which was scary and super painful.

EDS is also connected to my irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). I can't eat gluten or dairy unless I want to be in a world of pain later. I eat very little sugar and stick to a low carb way of eating because doing so greatly reduces inflammation and pain in my body. However, this only puts it into remission - when I get sick with things like the flu and covid the pain comes roaring back. Even still, my stomach is sensitive and for no reason I will randomly get pain from "safe" foods. I also randomly get migraines, although they're probably tied to the jaw issues.

So, um, yeah, it's pretty amazing that I'm able to function as much as I am. I've had to design my own workout programs over the years because I often have to work up to the beginner level of things over and over again. Just this 2022 I had to start over with running after dealing with the worst of long covid for 4 months. But staying active and slowly building my muscles helps build them up correctly for holding my body together.

So worst pain...I'd say basically the period of time between Summer 2015 - Fall 2017. That's when everything was "new" and lots of foods made me constantly sick and I hadn't been through much physical therapy yet and hadn't stopped eating sugar yet.

kphoger

Quote from: Laura on October 31, 2022, 04:17:49 PM
I've had YEARS of physical therapy. I had to have physical therapy on my pelvic floor in order to be able to have sexual intercourse (which makes for a very unconventional infertility story!) and was unable to have pain-free intercourse until this calendar year! This was as a result of vaginismus and vulvodynia.

I know a lot of people probably consider that TMI, but please allow me to offer my congratulations on getting past it this year.  I hope the pain doesn't return for you.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Laura

Quote from: kphoger on October 31, 2022, 04:25:24 PM
Quote from: Laura on October 31, 2022, 04:17:49 PM
I've had YEARS of physical therapy. I had to have physical therapy on my pelvic floor in order to be able to have sexual intercourse (which makes for a very unconventional infertility story!) and was unable to have pain-free intercourse until this calendar year! This was as a result of vaginismus and vulvodynia.

I know a lot of people probably consider that TMI, but please allow me to offer my congratulations on getting past it this year.  I hope the pain doesn't return for you.

Thank you so much!!! I'm very open about my health journey, especially that part, because so many women suffer in silence thinking it's normal. I did for years because even my (then) gynecologist told me that I just needed to relax, have some wine, and accept that pain is normal for some women. I had to find out about pelvic floor physical therapy from the internet, and when I reported back to her that "OMG GUESS WHAT I found out that pelvic floor physical therapy exists and could help me!!!" she said nonchalantly "Oh I know." I was floored. SHE KNEW about it but didn't recommend it to me "because most women don't want to do that." Needless to say, that was my last visit with her as a patient.

kphoger

I'm also happy for your Mr.  That's got to be a joy for him as well.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Scott5114

Quote from: Laura on October 31, 2022, 04:33:15 PM
Quote from: kphoger on October 31, 2022, 04:25:24 PM
Quote from: Laura on October 31, 2022, 04:17:49 PM
I've had YEARS of physical therapy. I had to have physical therapy on my pelvic floor in order to be able to have sexual intercourse (which makes for a very unconventional infertility story!) and was unable to have pain-free intercourse until this calendar year! This was as a result of vaginismus and vulvodynia.

I know a lot of people probably consider that TMI, but please allow me to offer my congratulations on getting past it this year.  I hope the pain doesn't return for you.

Thank you so much!!! I'm very open about my health journey, especially that part, because so many women suffer in silence thinking it's normal. I did for years because even my (then) gynecologist told me that I just needed to relax, have some wine, and accept that pain is normal for some women. I had to find out about pelvic floor physical therapy from the internet, and when I reported back to her that "OMG GUESS WHAT I found out that pelvic floor physical therapy exists and could help me!!!" she said nonchalantly "Oh I know." I was floored. SHE KNEW about it but didn't recommend it to me "because most women don't want to do that." Needless to say, that was my last visit with her as a patient.

Physicians that let their preconceived biases affect the courses of treatment they offer patients are unfortunately all too common (especially when the patient is female, for some reason). My wife has run into similar problems getting her migraines treated. She's had doctors refuse her treatment because they think she's a drug seeker and had a doctor who seemed to think the only thing that would help her is losing weight. She was finally able to get in with a doctor who is actually interested in helping.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

abefroman329

Quote from: kphoger on October 31, 2022, 04:25:24 PMa lot of people probably consider that TMI
A lot of people need to grow the fuck up.

kphoger

Quote from: Scott5114 on October 31, 2022, 05:59:53 PM
Physicians that let their preconceived biases affect the courses of treatment they offer patients are unfortunately all too common ...

Whenever I hear the phrase "so ask your doctor about" on TV ads, I think to myself:  That's backward:  my job is to tell the doctor what ails me, and it's my doctor's job to tell me about treatment options.  And then I hear a story like Laura's...

Quote from: Scott5114 on October 31, 2022, 05:59:53 PM
My wife has run into similar problems getting her migraines treated. She's had doctors refuse her treatment because they think she's a drug seeker ...

It's all too easy to get jaded because of all the people who really are drug seekers.  My mom worked in hospitals and clinics all her pre-retirement life, and my impression from her is that it's especially hard at locations that tend to draw a lot of drug seekers to begin with.

I don't doubt that women face obstacles of prejudice, but it would surprise me if migraine treatment were specifically one of them.  My first inclination is to think that, because migraines are so much more common among women, doctors would be more suspicious of men seeking migraine medication.  (Ironically, the only person I know who suffers from chronic migraines is male, and he can get headaches that last weeks at a time.  In contrast, I can count the number of migraines my wife has had on one hand, and they've never lasted more than a few hours.)
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Scott5114

I would submit that the amount of harm that comes about by giving a drug seeker drugs is probably less than the harm that would come from withholding them from someone who actually needs them. Or, at the very least, that the patient who is need of medication has a more compelling interest than the interest in keeping drugs from drug seekers.

Doctors who aren't migraine specialists seem to think that migraines are made up. Actually, that's a problem migraine sufferers have in general–people who think "migraine" is a synonym for "really bad headache", when a migraine has a whole host of secondary symptoms besides just the headache. (This is so deeply entrenched that Excedrin makes a strong version of their product called "Excedrin Migraine", which is pharmacologically unsuitable for treating migraines; like all Excedrin products it is an NSAID, which tends to make actual migraines worse.) You basically have to find a neurologist who narrowly focuses on migraines specifically to get any actual help. The doctor whose solution to everything in life was "just lose weight" was a board-certified neurologist, but was still incompetent to treat a migraine patient.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

formulanone

Quote from: Scott5114 on November 01, 2022, 12:14:11 PM
I would submit that the amount of harm that comes about by giving a drug seeker drugs is probably less than the harm that would come from withholding them from someone who actually needs them. Or, at the very least, that the patient who is need of medication has a more compelling interest than the interest in keeping drugs from drug seekers.

Freedoms are cut at the root of today's most pressing outlier, whether real or imaginary.

J N Winkler

Quote from: kphoger on November 01, 2022, 09:47:12 AMWhenever I hear the phrase "so ask your doctor about" on TV ads, I think to myself:  That's backward:  my job is to tell the doctor what ails me, and it's my doctor's job to tell me about treatment options.  And then I hear a story like Laura's...

Allowing prescription drugs to be advertised on TV is in itself grotesquely backward.

Quote from: kphoger on November 01, 2022, 09:47:12 AMI don't doubt that women face obstacles of prejudice, but it would surprise me if migraine treatment were specifically one of them.

It doesn't surprise me, simply because devaluation of women's pain is so widespread in medicine in general.  The aspect of Laura's story that caught my eye was not that she was shined on when she sought treatment for pelvic pain, but rather that the gynecologist involved was a woman, given the starting assumption that a female physician is less likely to buy into internalized misogyny.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

US 89

Quote from: Scott5114 on November 01, 2022, 12:14:11 PM
Doctors who aren't migraine specialists seem to think that migraines are made up. Actually, that's a problem migraine sufferers have in general–people who think "migraine" is a synonym for "really bad headache", when a migraine has a whole host of secondary symptoms besides just the headache. (This is so deeply entrenched that Excedrin makes a strong version of their product called "Excedrin Migraine", which is pharmacologically unsuitable for treating migraines; like all Excedrin products it is an NSAID, which tends to make actual migraines worse.) You basically have to find a neurologist who narrowly focuses on migraines specifically to get any actual help. The doctor whose solution to everything in life was "just lose weight" was a board-certified neurologist, but was still incompetent to treat a migraine patient.

Huh? My brother gets migraines on occasion, and he's been told the big key to stopping them is to take an Advil (NSAID) quickly before it goes too far. And in his experience, that has worked. If he doesn't do that and is dehydrated enough, he might completely faint. That's happened in a couple of very interesting places, including a ski lodge and the front office of his middle school.

webny99

I must confess to not knowing that migraines were different than really bad headaches. I used to get migraines, or at least what I called migraines, quite often in elementary and middle school. I still get them occasionally, but much less often. They usually develop in the afternoon or evening, so I don't usually treat it other than to sleep it off if it's really bad. Fortunately I've never fainted though, and never had one last for more than a day.

Scott5114

Quote from: US 89 on November 02, 2022, 01:10:42 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on November 01, 2022, 12:14:11 PM
Doctors who aren't migraine specialists seem to think that migraines are made up. Actually, that's a problem migraine sufferers have in general–people who think "migraine" is a synonym for "really bad headache", when a migraine has a whole host of secondary symptoms besides just the headache. (This is so deeply entrenched that Excedrin makes a strong version of their product called "Excedrin Migraine", which is pharmacologically unsuitable for treating migraines; like all Excedrin products it is an NSAID, which tends to make actual migraines worse.) You basically have to find a neurologist who narrowly focuses on migraines specifically to get any actual help. The doctor whose solution to everything in life was "just lose weight" was a board-certified neurologist, but was still incompetent to treat a migraine patient.

Huh? My brother gets migraines on occasion, and he's been told the big key to stopping them is to take an Advil (NSAID) quickly before it goes too far. And in his experience, that has worked. If he doesn't do that and is dehydrated enough, he might completely faint. That's happened in a couple of very interesting places, including a ski lodge and the front office of his middle school.

"Don't ever take an NSAID for a migraine because it will make it worse" is what the most prominent migraine doctor in Oklahoma has told my wife. It's possible that she has a different type of migraine than your brother, or perhaps your brother's condition isn't actually migraines but something else that has a bad headache as a symptom (I don't seem to remember fainting being on the list of possible migraine symptoms; it's not one my wife has). Or it's possible that the best migraine doctor in Oklahoma is total shit compared to the doctors in your state. Or maybe he was specifically talking about one type of NSAID (acetaminophen, maybe?) and I'm misremembering it as all NSAIDs. I don't know enough about medicine to say for sure one way or the other.

Quote from: webny99 on November 02, 2022, 10:05:06 AM
I must confess to not knowing that migraines were different than really bad headaches. I used to get migraines, or at least what I called migraines, quite often in elementary and middle school. I still get them occasionally, but much less often. They usually develop in the afternoon or evening, so I don't usually treat it other than to sleep it off if it's really bad. Fortunately I've never fainted though, and never had one last for more than a day.

Generally, besides the headache, other common migraine symptoms are nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and "auras" (which Mayo Clinic describes as "flashes of light, blind spots, and other vision changes or tingling in your hand or face").

My wife's migraines often last for a week or more at a time. Although it's really hard to tell when one stops and the next one starts. It's easier to count the days when she doesn't have a migraine rather than when she does.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef



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