# The greatest pain you had ever felt



## EmpireConquered (Feb 14, 2012)

This pain may be physical, emotional or psychological. This pain may have made you stronger or this pain may have ruined you, your ideas, your trust, your being, or your body. This pain is something you can't ever forget, you continue to remember it as a remembrance and as a brand of torture, or a brand of strength. It may have hurt you or had damaged you beyond repair, or it may have been the thing that made the you right now possible. It may also be physical, an accident you have ever felt, or the lost of a loved one or a lost of an idea or thought that had been your pillar or it may also be a betrayal of a trust. Its special to you and only you might have understood this pain.


----------



## Staffan (Nov 15, 2011)

I don't know. I've torn ligaments twice. That hurts like crazy.


----------



## Zorgh (Dec 11, 2011)

I had my little finger crushed in a doorway, hand was on the same side as the hinges (door shutting => lever force => pain). Nail fell off.


----------



## Sina (Oct 27, 2010)

Emotionally and psychologically, there are way too many extremely painful experiences, in my life, to pick from. It's tough and not something I like to get into

I have had some severe (not life-threatening) injuries (mostly thanks to accident prone-ness), but it hurt most when an older cousin hit me across the face, full force, with a very heavy encyclopedia. It hurt a lot more than my broken bones, for some reason. It cut my mouth (got over 20 stitches). I could neither eat nor speak, without experiencing unbearable pain, for several weeks. I was about 12, at the time. 

I *can't* stand being hit near the face, so I was beyond infuriated. I grabbed him by his hair and bashed his face in the wall, more times than I can remember. It wasn't a pretty sight. Now that we're all grown up, we're the best of friends. We had, actually, made up by the next day lol. Physically, though, it stands as the most painful experience till date. 

My periods are also quite painful, but the severity of the pain leaves me feeling so exhausted, cold and numb that I end up falling into a deep sleep. Sleep..thank goodness for sleep.


----------



## Zster (Mar 7, 2011)

The single and second worst moments of my life were separated by mere hours. Worst was having to tell my young children their father had passed unexpectedly early during the night (had cancer, but was not terminal, yet). You spend SO much effort lifting your kids up, protecting them. For me, the one they trusted more than anyone, to be the one to destroy their world was too devastating for words.

The second worst moment was holding my beloved mate/best friend's hand as he surprisingly breathed his last. I will never be the same, no matter how much time passes or healing occurs. Both events forever changed me.

I've suffered physical pain - migraines that make me pass out from their severity, back labor (baby's skull crushing my spinal nerves), crushed finger, and auto accident. No physical pain has even remotely compared to the emotional crippling that loss, and it's subsequent sequelae have dished out. I sure hope that the worst is behind us.

I would have it that none of you have to experience such for yourselves - I would wish such pain on no one.


----------



## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

I was beaten up by a gigantic chunk of my old friends in hollywood, I got chased through the strip and into an alleyway, people thought it was a film, it wasn't. I literally clawed my way into another friend's car to a hospital.

Needless to say, it was the first time I genuinely felt something, it was a mixture of all emotions, and I just wanted to smash everyone's heads with a frigging wrecking ball while laughing and crying and sparta-kicking all at the same time.

Did I mention the group was led by my psycho-ex, while both my other exes were part of the group, but they "swore they weren't hitting me". Pfft.


----------



## Sina (Oct 27, 2010)

@Zster
That was very difficult to read. I admire your courage. My father died of cancer when I was 10. I was sitting right beside him when he breathed his last. That moment will remain forever etched on my mind. He looked so peaceful, and I remember touching his face and feeling such deep gratitude that he had been freed from the unbearable pain he was in. He fought bravely, but death was his release, and I knew it. I was glad he left when he did. His death changed me. My childhood lived and died with him. I will never love anyone the way I loved him. He was my heart, my soul. 

I have escaped a few bomb blasts and seen dead children (well their body parts), and it's the worst thing anyone can witness. It. I will stop now. 

But, thank you for sharing I wish you and your children the very best of what life has to offer.


----------



## Pitchblend (Mar 18, 2012)

Physically, it's between getting jumped in grammar school or taking a fall down the stairs. I suffered minor cuts and bruises from both of those experiences.
Emotionally, is when my grandmother died because I felt that I was never there for her.


----------



## Mountainshepherd (Feb 23, 2012)

Realizing as a child that my father cared more about his money than anything else in the world.
Perhaps not my greatest, but certainly one of the first great ones.


----------



## sprinkles (Feb 7, 2010)

My mother being a batshit psycho and nearly ruining me, and then dying suddenly in such a way that made me feel I was finally free of her yet guilty for feeling that, and at the same time causing me to feel loss for a person that had me so screwed up that I almost didn't make it in life.

Nearly lost my mind from the nightmares that she was still alive and that it wasn't over. I'd wake up feeling terrible that seeing her alive caused me to feel _dread_ rather than happiness.


----------



## Silent_Enigma (Mar 31, 2012)

As far as physical is concerned, I haven't really had anything too bad yet. Although, there were a series of events in 2010 that broke me down and made me stronger. I can't even begin to articulate the horror. I now have PTSD. I still hear the screams....


----------



## Moon_Child (Jan 2, 2012)

Physically... a girl broke my thumb when we were playing soccer. I was daydreaming in the field and for some odd reason my hand was... raised up in the air. She was butch and she had some mean kicks, so the ball literally made my thumb go *crack*. I was in 3rd grade.

Psychologically, the death of my grandma and being separated from my mother when I was a lil' girl. And now, my friend is dying from cystic fibrosis.


----------



## Eerie (Feb 9, 2011)

Giving birth.


----------



## liza_200 (Nov 13, 2010)

> The greatest pain you had ever felt


..When I finally realized from my experience that the world is not a paradise.


----------



## Uralian Hamster (May 13, 2011)

Physically, it was when a cinder block fell on my hand. I lost 3 nails, but only after the doctor used a hot needle to poke holes in them to let the blood out. Emotionally...I'd rather keep those memories repressed lol.


----------



## heaveninawildflower (Feb 5, 2012)

My greatest pain that I had ever felt was the day I lost my oldest child. She died in a house fire at my ex's house. Ten years have passed since that day and not a day goes by that I don’t miss her. 

There are no words to describe the pain of losing a child. It was the hardest thing I had to ever go through in my life. It changes your life forever. And you never get over the loss...you learn how to live with it. You find the strength to move forward and the peace to ease the pain. And you remember the good memories and you take them with you on this journey without them. And you learn that even though they are not present with us on this earth...they will always be with us in our memories and in our hearts. 

My heart goes out to all of you that have lost loved ones.


----------



## alexande (Jan 8, 2012)

I have nerve damage in my hand that's adequately painful. I get migraines that dwarf all other physical pain I feel or have felt.


----------



## Empress Appleia Cattius XII (Dec 22, 2010)

I once dislocated both my arms at the same time.


----------



## Holunder (May 11, 2010)

My mother sometimes hated me.

She would pent up frustration and fear and shame, and at some point, I would either give her a reason to vent it on me, or she would find one herself. When that happened, she would not speak to me for days, treating me like I was something disgusting that she desperately wanted to avoid, while she was friendly with everyone else. All my crying and pleading did not move her in the least.

Later, my issues from childhood translated into some problems during university. I was afraid of professors, and late in registering for exams. My parents pressured me, so I started lying to them to take some pressure off me. It all blew up one day, and I was summoned before my parents to explain. I told them I had some psychological problems, but had already applied for therapy and wanted to work on them.
My mother told me how horrible this was for her, that she couldn't sleep at night because she was so worried about me, how ashamed she would be if I didn't find a job, and that she didn't know what to tell our family or our coworkers.
My father told me that he had lived through the same thing and knew exactly what I had to do. He told me I was unable to see reality anymore, and that therefore he could get legal authority over me, as every psychiatrist would affirm that I was totally messed up. Then he could force me to come live with them again and start working. He told me that if I didn't fix this problem immediately, I would end up jobless.
That evening destroyed my last bit of confidence in my parents. They treated me like a puppet. They thought they only had to pull at the right strings and I would do what they wanted. They did not care about what I wanted in the least, and didn't listen to anything I said. The worst thing, however, was how guilty I felt for letting it come to this.

While the former instances were symptoms of my corruption through my parents, the latter event was actually the beginning of my healing. It was the beginning of breaking away from the power my parents held over me. Long as it took and painful as it was, I am now more free than I have ever been before.


----------



## owlet (May 7, 2010)

Physical - breaking my leg, probably.

Emotional - my dad dying and only seeing him one time in three years before he did (he was an alcoholic, so my mum gave my sister and I the choice of seeing him or not. I only worked up the courage at the last minute, but I regret I didn't see him before).


----------



## Tad Cooper (Apr 10, 2010)

Zorgh said:


> I had my little finger crushed in a doorway, hand was on the same side as the hinges (door shutting => lever force => pain). Nail fell off.


 I had that with an old heavy wooden door and I screamed XD Nail fell off too...

Physical: Weirdly probably a dream. I was thrown over a car and stabbed and felt the knife enter my heart. I woke up in tears and curled up in agony. 
Non-dream wise? probably either a kid jumped on my spine with his knees (I had scartissue on my spine from it) or being hit in the ear with a ball of ice at high speed (I went into shock).

Emotional: My dad dying.

Psychological: Abusive ex boyfriend.


----------



## Le Beau Coeur (Jan 30, 2011)

Sitting in that car, staring at the steering wheel as he said goodbye.


----------



## Coburn (Sep 3, 2010)

That moment where I realized I'd destroyed a relationship that needed saving.


----------



## Carmine Ermine (Mar 11, 2012)

Emotional pain and physical pain trigger almost the same response in the brain. The difference is that emotional pain is not localised in a specific part of the body and it creates "stress hormones" which severely weaken the immune system and cause extra chemical damage, thus emotional pain is potentially MUCH worse than physical pain.

The worst form of emotional pain, I think, is acute dysphoria. I think it's what women get when they are raped. Unfortunately, my upbringing created a habit of experiencing acute dysphoria whenever I get rejected. I am not actually bothered by rejection itself, it's just that when the habit kicks in it makes acute dysphoria and then I AM bothered about that because it has a very DESTRUCTIVE effect on my body.

Fortunately I have been doing my own experiments on how to make euphoria, which has a very CONSTRUCTIVE effect on my body. I've got the ability to make my own euphoria now, so I can repair the damage. >


----------



## Irregardless (Mar 2, 2011)

Here's one for physical pain.

I was bouncing around the backyard on my (cheap) pogo stick once when I was a kid. The handle and entire upper half popped out while I was in mid air, and when it landed my feet slipped off the footholds and the bottom half of the pogo stick, a metal shaft propelled by the spring, shot right up into my testicles. It hit hard enough to tear a hole in my jeans.


----------



## okaydrifter (Mar 15, 2012)

hahahah i actually closed my legs reading the above one, and i'm not even male.

sorry, i'm not laughing at your pain, i'm laughing at how ridiculous my reaction was. apparently my body thinks i relate to your pain. <3



this thread is making me sad but i'm glad it exists. sometimes when i'm feeling very upset it seems like no one else in the world has ever had to deal with anything hard or has never experienced the kind of pain that can jade a person. it's nice to know people relate, and it's nice to see that people can make it out the other side.

if i think of anything appropriate i'll post it.


----------



## Bunker Man (Jan 4, 2011)

My throat closed up fully once, and had to go to the hospital. Pain and suffering. Swallowing became so painful, that for the few days leading up to it I simply didn't eat at all, because the pain of not having eaten for a few days was less than the pain of trying to choke down ONE meal.


----------



## Zanimus (Aug 25, 2011)

Physical :
Getting a shot of local anaesthetic directly into my big toe. Four times.
Crashing to a full-stop on a bike and hitting my crotch on the handle bars.

Emotional :
Riding in the car with my dying dog Mocha to the veterinary office. They kept her there to do surgery the next day, but she didn't make it through the night.

Going to the hospital where my aunt lie in a coma from a brain aneurysm and seeing her before the decision was made to take her off life support.


----------



## Solrac026 (Mar 6, 2012)

Hands down: Falling madly in love with someone and then having your heart broken. It's a kind of pain that you feel everywhere; emotionally, psychologically, and physically.


----------



## Mark Novbett (Apr 3, 2012)

Betrayal is by far my most painful memories.


----------



## Tulipgarden (Apr 5, 2012)

By far the most physical pain I have been in was an ectopic pregnant that I had that caused internal bleeding and I had to have emergency surgery. Incredible amount of pain and maybe the one time they forgot to give my morphine after one my c-sections. That was pretty intense also. 

Emotionally, divorce. Twice. The one where i peft was actually the hardest because I felt guilt. The second husband left me and while it was still really hard, I at least knew I had control of my own pain rather than being the one to cause it. It was hard but I'm thankful for the experience because I really am stronger for it. Those experiences make my relationship now very strong.


----------



## Madam (Apr 1, 2012)

probably when I was running, tripped and fell with my open palm right on a long rusty nail. that itself was not very painful as happened quickly and was unexpected. but then I had to pull my hand off of that thing.


----------



## basementbugs (Apr 5, 2012)

Emotional/psychological pain has been far more prominent in my life than physical pain. I don't even know where to start with that. It's probably a result of being a INFP and Type 4, and having some mental health issues that make me an extremely emotionally-fragile and sensitive person (yay, BPD!).

To give a general summary, I'd say the greatest emotional pain I've felt has been in relation to two things:

1) A few interpersonal situations, namely my relationships with my dad and my husband (both in vastly different ways; my dad and I aren't very close at all, and my husband and I are extremely close). There was also a very messy situation with a girl I was in love with... or at least, thought I was in love with; it took a huge toll on everything in my life at that time. I'd say I've felt suicidal over all three of these.

2) Memories. I don't have PTSD or anything, but I do have very vivid and detailed memories, and I'm someone who basically lives in the past at least 90% of the time. It's made it very hard for me to move forward in life at all... and for the most part I haven't done so in any significant way in years now. Even pleasant memories are painful for me to recall. They're all so... sharp. It's like living them over and over and over, and I feel like I'm always grieving over the fact that they're over and done with. (Including negative memories as well; I experience a lot of rather strange nostalgia for very unpleasant times in my life...) I have tons of small yet intense triggers for these memories that frequently cause me to become emotionally overwhelmed; anything from a specific time of day, the way the light is falling through the window, a single word (written, spoken, whatever) or musical note, someone's voice, a book I read that brings back thoughts of where I was in life when I first read it, old crap that I keep hanging onto (notes, movie ticket stubs, newspaper clippings... even seemingly useless stuff as well). It's really hard for me to deal with this on a regular basis and it causes me a great amount of pain.

As for physical pain... hrmm. Two experiences come to mind, I guess. The first would be one specific incident about five years ago involving my blood levels of potassium going too high (I take a potassium supplement because I'm usually prone to low levels, which can be extremely dangerous). High serum potassium is dangerous as well, and for whatever reason, my body wasn't processing my supplement correctly and my levels skyrocketed. My heart was pounding erratically and heavily, I could barely breathe, my body went completely rigid, I couldn't move and could barely speak, and it felt like something that was searingly hot and weighed 1,000 lbs was crushing me. It was a fucking awful experience and I almost went into cardiac arrest in the back of the ambulance.

The second would be the pain I've felt when I've had episodes of a rather unexplainable fibromyalgia-like problem. It's a heavy pain that makes it feel like I'm made entirely of lead and like every fibre of my body is on fire. Sometimes it's so bad that I can't move, especially when I wake up in the morning.


----------



## Commissar (Jan 9, 2012)

Was getting a root canal (my first and only) and felt the drill hit the nerve.

My whole body spasmed and it felt like a jolt of electricity had shot up through my skull.

Quite unpleasant.


----------



## TaylorS (Jan 24, 2010)

My stepdad dying and my best friend telling me that she had been raped.


----------



## wisdom (Dec 31, 2008)

I've had many moments of extreme emotional pain. I wouldn't know how to rank them.

Physically probably the worst pain was having to walk a block on a foot that was a few weeks post-surgery. I was crying in pain. The doctor was an idiot for rushing the process.


----------



## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

My greatest pain lives inside me always. It's mingled with love and sadness. It's not caused by anything that I can remember... perhaps something triggered it initially and I've forgotten. The pain goes away if I am distracted or focused upon God, but without fail, it always returns.

I listen to music that matches my mood, and when I'm feeling that way, I listen to this, for the emotion is present in the melody:


----------



## cherry blossom (Mar 30, 2012)

This thread is humbling. I'll try to remember it next time I feel sorry for myself. Other people have it worse than me. Thank you to everyone who posted.


----------



## Mutatio NOmenis (Jun 22, 2009)

I had a hernia once. The pain was so bad I didn't notice morphine. And this went on for 6 hours at least per each attack.


----------



## Hekate (Nov 20, 2011)

physical: chronic daily back pain for two years; or migraines that don't get better with Vicodin
emotional: recurring episodes of clinical depression


----------

