Pain is relative. The thing that can bring one person to the ground might barely register for another. Some people seem to shrug off injuries, recover quickly, and handle discomfort that would leave most of us miserable.
Curious about where even they draw the line, Reddit user CosmicBunnyBabe8912 asked people with high pain tolerance to share the most painful thing they’ve ever experienced. As it turns out, being able to handle pain doesn’t make anyone immune to it, and many of the answers were far more intense than readers expected.
#1
An exposed tooth nerve, without a doubt. Pure, concentrated, non stop pain.
Image source: AmityMayorVaughn, Engin Akyurt
#2
I’ve fully torn my knee, ripped my boot off of a broken ankle so the hospital wouldn’t cut it off, popped a dislocated shoulder back into place only to dislocate it again, gotten full colour 4 hour tattoos on my chest and ribs, but a toothache will fold me every single time.
Image source: Alternative_Cell5139, cottonbro studio
#3
Pushing out a 9 lb 11 oz baby with a failed epidural. I actually dissociated from my body at one point & was like, “oh wow, look at that, I’m screaming!”.
Image source: KBK226, Jonathan Borba
#4
Ruptured ovarian cyst. 😭.
Image source: peachesofmymind, Sora Shimazaki
#5
Dental infection. Followed by Endometrial biopsy.
Image source: Orbitrea, Arda Kaykısız
#6
Kidney stone.
Image source: -PMYourTastefulNudes, gpointstudio
#7
As I’ve aged my pain tolerance has gotten much lower, but it was high when this event happened. Getting my IUD in about took me out. 🥲.
Image source: ResourceSoft2785, Sarah Mirk
#8
Gall stones. Had me on my kneeeeeesss! I’ve had surgeries, contractions, menstrual cramps, nerve damage, and so many things that should’ve put me down. But gall stones?! Had me on the floor in fetal position and I had to have surgery the next day.
I’d say its top of the totem. Then there’s tooth aches.
Edit: Omg friends, I empathize with all of you. And I want to shared some supplements that have helped after my gallbladder removal over 2 decades ago.
I dont take them all daily but these are in my rotation monthly. And of course lots of water. Hope this helps
1. Oxbile
2. Digestive Enzymes
3. Calm magnesium powder
4. Colon cleanses (I go every few months).
Image source: 9curlyfries9, kaboompics
#9
Toothache, migraine, severe finger jam, they’re all up there. But the clear winner is the aftermath of falling down a flight of stairs in a parking garage, and landing directly on my O-ring. As bad as that was, the real pain was nine days later, when I was finally able to “expel bodily waste”, let’s say. Yes, I said nine days.
The injury locked me up like a bank safe, I couldn’t have wedged a knitting needle coated in WD-40 up there if I tried. When I was finally able to open the bay doors, it was like giving birth to a flaming telephone pole. Covered in sweat, tears streaming down my face, lightly dabbing at my shattered bum with ice cubes…it was ugly. Not recommended.
Image source: penilesensorydevice, Andrea Piacquadio
#10
Either needing to get a double root canal with no novacaine because a band of infection around the teeth were preventing it from working,
Or the emergency testicular tortion surgery I had. Well prior to the surgery was when the pain was so bad I was throwing up.
Image source: androidmanwren, Tima Miroshnichenko
#11
So I actually thought no this was the foundation of my high pain threshold. When I was 6 I was diagnosed with osteomyelitis after a night of excruciating pain. For weeks my mother had been bringing me to the paediatrician because she knew something was wrong. The doctor accused her of Munchausen by proxy. This woman is the youngest of 14 and I’m the youngest of 6 – all that to say she didn’t have the time of energy for the likes of Munchausen by Proxy.
It all culminated one night when I awoke one night unable to move. Not because I was paralysed or anything but because every slight movement sent white hot pain through my body. It was terrifying, and seeing my mother sit by my bed helpless was also terrifying. Childhood memories can be spotty, but this was seared into my brain so vividly.
She didn’t ring an ambulance and I think it’s because the doctor had her so messed up. In the morning the pain had dimmed enough that she could carry me to the car and to the hospital.
The next few weeks in hospital that same doctor boasted to his students about this rare find.
Image source: ohumanchild, Keira Burton
#12
I kid you not, spraining my ankle hurt more than breaking it.
Image source: Resident-Ad-9838, Kindel Media
#13
Heartbreak.
Image source: GuyNamedPeesees, RDNE Stock project
#14
Cluster headaches. Still get them. Tooth pain is literally a walk in the park in comparison.
Image source: EdwinGK, Nicola Barts
#15
Tooth pain gets the best of all of us.
Image source: junkmanjor, Pavel Danilyuk
#16
How do you even know if you have high pain tolerance? After a mild headache I’m already waving the white flag.
Image source: LoweeLL, Andrea Piacquadio
#17
Pancreatitis, don’t recommend.
Image source: Vegetable_Humor5470, Liza Summer
#18
This is a strange one. Hells itch.
It’s a pretty rare reaction to a sunburn. The parts I remember are the worst experiences of my life from both a physical and mental state. And I understand how ridiculous that sounds. lol. My wife refuses to acknowledge it as a real thing and calls it “Satan’s Scratch.” It’s a bit of an ongoing gag with us. The sunburn itself wasn’t even that bad; I’ve certainly had way worse but when I took a shower my entire body lit up.
It basically felt like what I imagine being covered in fire ants feels like. I spent the worst of it in my basement scream crying. I woke up in a puddle of sweat, naked on the cement of my basement floor. I was delusional and lost chunks of time where I’m assuming my brain just shut down from the constant agony. Meanwhile I’m questioning my sanity because all of that is coming from “just a sun burn.” Looking back on it, it almost feels like a fever dream. Which is a little ironic because I was definitely struggling to regulate my body temp.
Image source: kvothe000, Phil Kate
#19
I have tattoos all over my body, including my neck, and I think pain tolerance has alot to do with energy and health. Anyone can go through high levels of pain, but going through it for hours or not knowing when it’s going to end is what truly makes the body want to give up.
Image source: lilnovelwitch, Pavel Danilyuk
#20
My IUD insertion. Ouch.
Image source: Original-Property-58, Robin Marty
#21
I tore my MCL and when it tore, it pulled off a flake of bone. I played hockey so obviously I didn’t tell my parents what happened so that I could finish the season.
Well, the flake would flip horizontal occasionally and cut through the inside of my skin, the tendons, tissue, etc. Incredibly painful.
When I finally told them and got an MRI the doctor said he couldn’t tell what was what because of the damage so he’d just have to open it up and see what he needed to do lol.
I found a cute girl to help me with my food tray in the cafeteria (high school) while I was on crutches after surgery and we celebrate 10yrs of marriage this year.
Image source: babynubs, Tima Miroshnichenko
#22
Heartbreak from the loss of my soul dog. I felt my brain snap and even heard it, then a punch to the heart and slow pulsating pain that felt like constriction across my chest. I couldn’t breath and fell to the floor. I was supposed to protect him and I couldn’t. I was never the same after that.
Image source: thebronsonator, Gizem Gökce
#23
Colposcopy/biopsy with cervical scraping.
Image source: CactusTreeFifi, Pavel Danilyuk
#24
Gout. I had multiple major gout attacks and it is by far the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I was screaming in pain. Screaming. It’s actually medically considered to be one of the most painful things a human can experience.
Image source: abenz39, RDNE Stock project
#25
Back pain, particularly lumbar area.
Image source: Ok-Masterpiece-7096, Kindel Media
#26
Fracturing a vertebrae and blowing out a disk at the same time. Fragments from the vertebrae and disk pushed into my spinal nerves and my entire right leg had some of the worst radiating nerve pain I’ve ever felt. Took about 14 months to get ‘somewhat’ back to normal after that.
Image source: CilantroConspiracy, Ivan S
#27
I was going to say tooth infection, but loads have that one covered (and I’d agree). I’ll give a close second that I don’t know of anyone else having experienced personally – the devil’s itch. I had a sunburn that was so bad that it fried my nerves all over my shoulders, back, torso, neck. I don’t know how to describe it other than it was a hellish nightmare. It felt like I was being tasered non-stop for several days. I’m not a violent person and I put a hole in my wall because I didn’t know what else to do than to lash out – it might have been one of the few times that my wife was nervous to be around me. The only thing that helped was getting lathered in lavender essential oil. Existence was pain, Jerry.
Image source: tianfd, Dija Martins
#28
Miscarriage – more painful than breaking my femur.
Also – I know it’s TMI but trying to use the bathroom after having a c section was SO painful.
Image source: meganros, cottonbro studio
#29
I was peeling a lemon and the peeler was a bit like a mandolin and it peeled my index finger through the nail bed.
Image source: thatonegaucho87, ROMAN ODINTSOV
#30
1. Throwing out my back (I got herniated disks): 12/10
2. Ruptured ovarian cyst: 10/10
3. Dehydration: 10/10
4. IUD: 9/10
4. Migraine: 8/10
5. Rib Tattoo: 6/10.
Image source: FangsandTentacles, Polina Tankilevitch
#31
Ovarian cysts burst. Worse than child birth.
Image source: Sad-Cricket6319, Andrea Piacquadio
#32
49 hours of labour, no epidural.
Image source: Excelsior-13, Craig Adderley
#33
A chest tube inserted with just some local lidocaine.
Image source: jennifer98312
#34
I had rlly bad strep throat that was obstructing my airway so they had to lance the pus filled parts of my throat. they used as much numbing stuff as they could but the nurse said that it doesn’t disperse well through infected tissue and pus or something. and the taste was horrendous
my cycling vomiting syndrom is a close second tho lmao.
Image source: humannipplebelt
#35
I fell two stories… and it’s definitely anything with dental. God awful.
Image source: ThisIsSoDamaris
#36
Appendicitis.
Image source: Disgruntled_Beavers
#37
I have walked on a broken foot for 3 days, broken thumb, had migraines, surgery. Very high pain tolerance.
The worst pain I ever had was playing Nerf basketball when I was about 15. Went for a dunk, my toe went under the door, my toenail did not.
Image source: sxdx90
#38
The ear infections I get are worse than any of the broken bones, herniated discs, tattoos, piercings etc that I’ve ever experienced. By far.
Image source: JavaJapes
#39
Hit in the nads by a PS3 controller. It was PROPELLED.
Image source: Traditional-Fail2931
#40
raw dogging an endometrial biopsy because the doctor and insurance company said I didn’t need anesthesia.
Image source: soulshine2669
#41
Physically: hip surgery
Mentally: 2015- present
Image source: cathy_mcfe
#42
Tie between a complete ACL tear while skiing/falling down a hill, and a hysterosalpingogram, where they clamp open your cervix, stick a balloon in your uterus, and shoot dye through your tubes while getting an x ray. Of course, no anesthesia
Image source: maryroseruelle
#43
Spinal surgery, fusion of t2 to L2 + week after recovery. Had to walk after 6 hr surgery and threw up as I stood up from the pain tied with natural child birth but bc I dilated from 0 to 10 in less than 2 hrs. That bone shifting pain that fast was horrible.
Image source: juliannegraham_
#44
Spasms from my lung shriveling as a result of untreated phenomia and a pulmonary embolism
Image source: nummnummi
#45
My first colitis flare up. My insides all felt like they were twisting. I threw up for almost 13 hours for the pain before I was finally taken into a room in the ER and given something for it. Towards the end of that 13 hours, I could barely stay conscious. I kept nodding off and passing out for a minute or so. Later flare ups were equally as painful but I knew what was going on and was able to find less busy ERs so the pain didn’t go on as long. It’s no fun
Image source: hido.u
#46
Getting an IUD inserted. Never again! I felt violated and cried afterwards
Image source: lealoodallas
#47
Infected Bartholin’s gland abscess :).
Image source: realhumanperson247
#48
In a single moment, kicking an inflamed ingrown toenail on metal with no shoes accidentally with momentum.
Image source: ArkPlayer583
#49
Gallbladder stones with pancreatitis by far.
Image source: Practical_Fee_1102
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