I had my fair share of health problems,from a major motor vehicle accident with a broken spine,burns,ruptured nerves, etc. to a stroke, a dislocated shoulder and knee, etc.
But the worst one? By far?
A fucking kidney stone. It literally redefined my 10/10 pain level.
I pulled my sciatic nerve. Was bed ridden for a month
Sciatic pain is the worst. Only had what I would consider really bad once (maybe another 2-3 with fainter intense pain lasting a few weeks), but it can bring me to tears. Lying in bed trying to find a position for a moment of respite but it never comes
Yeah. The worst was having to use the restroom. I cried every time for a week
A spinal tap. It felt like a toothache in my entire body while a demon choir sang in a high pitched whine.
When I was 11 there was a chance that I had contracted meningitis.
Wanted to post the exact same thing. Experienced that a few months ago. Absolutely horrible. And i think the doctor’s instructions made it worse. They told me to slump together and not round out my back. But after several failed attempts I rounded out my back and it finally went in. But that’s only the beginning. The sucking sensation was so awful. It felt like they were trying to drain my brain.
I can still feel it.
Yeah they had me round my back, were pretty clear about it, but this was 30+ years ago so maybe some medical knowledge has come around, but I’ve not heard of it.
Sorry you had to go through it, sure wish they had a better way to get spinal fluid for tests.
Chronic cluster headache sufferer here. To sum up, I’ve been: Shot, stabbed, shot a second time, broke 7 bones in various appendages, hit with a baseball bat, hit by a car, multiple teeth issues, and migraine headaches, sprinkled for fun.
Basically, I took steve-o’s motto and ran with it (your body is a ride, ride it until the wheels fall off).
None of this comes close to the lightest cluster headache I’ve had. The sheer panic, the knowledge of what’s about to happen, the inescapable amount of pain I know is coming… Fuck CH.
It’s the best remedy I’ve tried insofar as it’s the only thing that has worked as any type of preventative, and the only thing that has disrupted a cycle for me. It doesn’t work as an abortive, in my experience, but it beats every pharmaceutical I’ve tried in every other way.
Sourcing it has been an issue, and it sucks to open yourself up to criminal offense for not wanting to live in pain, but we do what we have to do.
If you can jump through hoops with doctors and insurance, look into Ajovy. It’s the only preventative that helps with my headaches, and it helps really well. But it’s an expensive auto-injector and I had to run through several meds that don’t work before insurance would approve, and I still need a discount card to help with the copay, but I’ve had about a 95% reduction in headaches, and the ones I’ve had were mostly mild and easy to control with Tylenol or at most a triptan.
I have, and I tried one time, about 8 years ago. Efficacy wasn’t what I expected, it took me out of my cycle for about a week. But then I was back on the pain train. Not sure how well it would work for me to be in jail (if I get caught with shrooms) + trying to find a way to pace around in a holding cell. Being such a niche disease I kinda have to hope for pharmaceutical companies to develop proper legal treatment “some day”
What do you do to get put through all that?
I just played a lot of sports, some of them extreme (downhill biking). Also, I was born and raised in a truly poor region. And I was just very dumb and tough. And tremendously irresponsible
Made light of someone else’s cluster headaches in a past life
I’m an episodic CH sufferer. No other pain comes close in comparison. You’re not alone, brother (if I can make that gender assumption given your user name).
Stay strong, brother.
Is there a connection between your lifestyle and the CH? Did one of these cause the other, in whichever sequence?
As far as lifestyle, no, there’s no connection. There are several common triggers of headaches, and trust me, I avoid any and all of them.
For me personally it was getting some of my arms skin getting shoved between two desks that I had my arm resting on after someone slammed them together tightly during high school
Left a red line that took a while to go away
Top 3:
- Shingles in my eye / face / scalp.
- Appendix ruptured while I was on the toilet.
- Kidney stones (multiple times)
Oh no, shingles in your eye?? How was that?
It was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.
Also, I had so many eye doctors appointments. They were worried I’d lose vision in that eye. Luckily I didn’t.
Damn. Glad there wasn’t any vision loss. Yeah I had shingles before too and got treated pretty quick, but it was definitely freaky reading how it could spread to your eyes and cause permanent damage.
I am picturing this all happening simultaneously
I haven’t had shingles, and my appendix lasted until I could get it out, but I am with you on the kidney stones.
I’ve had 5 or 6 kidney stones and “the big one” has been harmlessly hiding in my kidneys for a few years. Every time, I think I’m going to power through the pain because the ER only gives you like one or two does of Toradol and sends you on your way with FlowMax and useless NSAIDs which I can just get off the shelf. I’ve never powered through the pain. Every time I wind up paying like $250 for 4-6 hours of relief.
To this, I’ll add I’ve had migraines that made me want to drill holes in my skull. They’ve been bad enough that if I’d had a gun, I’d have used it. I’m not saying they hurt more or less than kidney stones, but I can’t tolerate headache pain like that. It’s the difference between “my back is in agony” and “existing is agony.”
Man those migraines sure feel like a little extra space up there would sure fucking help though.
Doesn’t have to be deep just given enough room for the pressure to even out right?
I got 2 hits of morphine and when that didn’t do fuck all for my kidney stone, they gave me ketamine. Can’t believe you couldn’t get anything stronger, that sucks.
I guess I shouldn’t have said every time. The last two or three times (still used to try to power through just to not go to the ER). They used to give me Vicodin or Dilaudid, but they’ve gotten super stingy with opioids. Which I understand but for freaking kidney stones???
I get opioids are a big problem for some people but back in the days of over-prescription I’d have spares for years that could help when my back went out or something. I was a very responsible user, frequently not taking them as soon as I could bear the pain without them. They need to get back to a middle ground or find less addicting medicine that works as well.
Spinal Stenosis. Woke up one day feeling like my back was not only broken, but that I could feel the broken ends grinding against each other.
Getting my nail pulled off.
Also, not exactly painful, but tonic clonic seizure.
The circumcision I had in my mid teens. Well, not the circumcision itself, but the erections I would get in the morning which would rip the stitches out of my cock, bleeding until I masturbated with anesthetic gel to orgasm just to stop the pain.
In which context does someone get a circumcision mid teens?
I have a family member who got one in his 30s.
Erections began to hurt so much due to phimosis, he and his wife weren’t having sex.
Circumcision is not exclusively for the religious, there are medical reasons it may be chosen.
Indeed. I hadn’t realised that the skin should be able to retract over the glans until a friend had mentioned an encounter with a lass. I thought… eh, over the head? He confirmed yes, over. So, I went home and tried it. Fuck me that hurt, I still have the scar despite the circumcision. Told my mum, went to the doctor, confirmed yes, need to chop chop.
Phimosis
Ok so here’s the kinda crazy part. I’m a sideshow and fire performer. I’ve suffered large burns, I drill into my sinus cavity, I had my tongue surgically split, I staple myself with an upholstery stapler all the time.
Nothing has beat dental pain.
My wife said her dry socket was up there with birth of our large son.
Wow. I’m super interested.
Sorry, what? You drill into your sinus cavity? What does that mean?
It’s called blockhead
I can push icepicks, nails, and even power drills about 5" into my sinus cavity. I can also double mental floss, which is when you put a tube in your nose and pull it out your mouth, though I’m still trying to get better at it. Power drills are very uncomfortable and have caused the most nosebleeds.
That’s super cool! I knew a guy that would eat small ropes and pull it out his nose but… Wow that is next level. Thanks for sharing.
Damn, that’s actually harder! Reverse mental floss
Fucking kidney stone.
You’re not supposed to do that with them.
Pancreatitis. Intravenous dilaudid for that.
Same for my 4 kidney stones. That’s good shit.
Cluster Headaches.
Losing people I loved.
Inflamed sacroilliac joints causing stabbing pains in my legs while on a city break where we were walking everywhere. Thought it was sciatica at the time but multiple MRIs later was confirmed to be something similar but different…
Never broken a bone so don’t have much to share in terms of the painful experiences.
