Appears when: Kidney stones

What the pattern means: The largest group in the corpus and the most internally consistent. The pain arrives without warning, frequently out of sleep; no position relieves it; and vomiting recurs as the thing that convinced people this was not a stomach ache. A detail these records keep correcting is which part hurts — several writers expected the stone leaving the body to be the worst of it and report it was painless after days or weeks of colic beforehand. The group is also the thread's reference point: commenters filed under other conditions reach for it to explain their own, in both directions.

What commenters described: Here I was thinking when hearing about kidney stones all my life that the painfull part of kidney stones is when you pee them out - like when the stone is bigger than your urethra. Little did know that the most painfull part is when the little fella starts moving out of the kidney. I woke up at 1am with an upset intestine, thought I ate something wrong and went to the toilet. Shortly after the pain started at the left side of my back and continued for the whole night - didn't know how to move or lie down to make it stop simply nothing seemed to help. Drove to the ER in the morning and they quickly said that's a kidney stone but because they did not have an urologist at hand they send me home with antibiotics and pain meds. During the next night the pain was so bad that I had to call an ambulance and the pain meds they gave me in the ER did not work initially - they kept proceeding to stronger and stronger ones and it wasn't until they pushed piritramide for the third time that my pain finally stopped - which I learned came from a renal colic... got to stay at the hospital for a few days which basically consisted of sleeping during the day and calling for pain meds the whole night. then they did eswl shock wave therapy and send me home again. Had to come back twice I think into the ER so they could give me stronger pain meds than they send me home with. All in all a pretty exhausting and painfull experience. Pissing the stone out itself in the end after 1+ week of pain did not hurt at all but fuck kidney stones

Limit: Stone size, whether anything was blocked and whether an infection followed vary enormously inside this group, and so do the outcomes — some passed a stone unaided, some needed surgery, several report becoming septic. These are individual accounts of what people say happened to them, not a way to recognise a kidney stone or to decide what to do about one.

Appears when: Gallbladder attacks and gallstones

What the pattern means: The thread's second-largest group, and the one with the most distinctive shared vocabulary: writers repeatedly describe a sense of impending doom, believe they are having a heart attack, and end up on a bathroom floor. Two structural things recur. The first is delay — a large share of this group describes months or years of attacks written off as heartburn, reflux, stress or anxiety before a scan was ordered. The second is the comparison with the operation: writer after writer says the surgery was easier than the attacks that led to it, several of them adding that they felt better the following day.

What commenters described: When I had my gallbladder attack, all I can describe it as is pain that feels like impending doom. Like I really thought I was going to die that night. It was also during Covid quarantine and ain’t no way I was going to the ER so I just curled up in the fetal position on the cold tile of my bathroom floor and made peace with my so thought fate. On top of that were other symptoms like my whole digestive system felt like it was cramping in synchrony, indigestion pressure that felt like an elephant was sitting on top of me, throwing up straight bile, and sweating uncontrollably.

Limit: How long each writer waited for a diagnosis shapes these accounts as much as the condition does, and the group contains its own dissent — at least one commenter declines to rank the pain highly at all. Drugs, diets and operations named here are what individual people say was done in their case; none of it identifies a gallbladder attack or tells anyone else what to do about one.

Appears when: Pancreatitis

What the pattern means: Two distinct routes into the same group. In one, pancreatitis follows a gallstone and is described as the sequel that turned out worse than the original. In the other it arrives alone and overnight. The accounts converge on duration rather than peak: writers describe days in hospital, nil by mouth, and pain that opioids reduced without removing. Several note in passing that they were asked repeatedly about alcohol.

What commenters described: Pancreatitis. I tried to describe the pain to my husband—I had been throwing up all night and told him it was like there was a heavy, hot, very sharp rock embedded in the left side of my body. He asked if I needed to go to the hospital. I almost said, “no” Was in hospital for five days—painkillers and fluids. They wouldn’t release me because I kept getting a fever. I had a cyst on my pancreas and ended up having surgery to remove the cyst a few months later.

Limit: Causes differ across these records — gallstones, medication, alcohol, a procedure, and several writers who say no cause was ever found — so the accounts are not describing one uniform illness. Nothing here identifies pancreatitis or indicates what should be done about it.

Appears when: Appendicitis

What the pattern means: The clearest before-and-after in the corpus: a short, escalating window that ends in an operating theatre. What separates these accounts from each other is timing. Writers who reached surgery describe hours of constant, stabbing pain that they could not stand upright through; writers who did not describe rupture, peritonitis, drains and weeks in hospital. A recurring sub-theme is being sent home first — for period cramps, for constipation, for a urinary infection.

What commenters described: Appendicitis. I have a high pain threshold, childbirth without meds for example, but this doubled me over (don't get me wrong, childbirth is no walk in the park). The instant, stabbing pain, the inability to stand straight, takes your breath away.

Limit: These records are written after the fact by people who know how their story ended, which is not the position anybody is in at the time. Nothing here is a way to tell appendicitis from anything else, and the delays described are reported experiences, not a claim about how often that happens.

Appears when: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

What the pattern means: Unlike most of this page, these records do not describe an event. They describe a condition measured in years, and the writers reach for what it removed rather than for a pain scale: food, work, a first year with a baby, a colon. Several rank it against acute conditions they have also had — one commenter with colon cancer says the Crohn's was worse — and several describe the humiliation of the symptoms as harder than the pain.

What commenters described: Ulcerative colitis. By the time I was diagnosed I was .05 above the line for a required blood transfusion. Another week and I would have died. Every time I ate it felt like someone twisting and knifing the back of my belly button. I no longer feel organic hunger from the pain associated with my early illness. Spent most of my sons first year in a bathroom because every time he cried I would have a spasm and have to rush to the bathroom. That would drive me down to 100lbs and finally I would be approved for a last resort treatment. I’m 12 years in remission now. I’ll never forget the pain.

Limit: Severity in this group ranges from managed remission to emergency surgery and cancer, so no single account represents the condition. Treatments, diets and surgical outcomes named here are individual reports and are not guidance for anyone else.

Appears when: Diverticulitis

What the pattern means: The recurring shape here is surprise: writers say they had not heard of the condition, several were told they were too young for it, and most describe waiting a day before going in because they assumed it was a normal flare-up. What follows is a localised stabbing pain, usually low on the left, that several say outranked a perforated appendix or a hernia they had also had. A number describe perforation, abscess, sepsis and, eventually, the loss of part of the colon.

What commenters described: Most painful to date was diverticulitis. It felt like someone was stabbing me with a thin knife in the lower left part of my abdomen. It would stop and then come back full-force. I was panicked because I thought it was actually appendicitis at first, but thank god it was something I didn't have to have surgery for.

Limit: This group skews towards the writers whose diverticulitis became severe enough to be worth posting about, which is not the whole range of the condition. Nothing here identifies diverticulitis or indicates when to seek care.

Appears when: Bowel obstruction, twisting and perforation

What the pattern means: The most mechanical answers in the corpus. Writers describe the gut stopping, telescoping into itself or twisting until the blood supply is cut off, and they reach for tearing and evisceration to describe it rather than for cramping. Morphine is mentioned repeatedly as having taken the edge off and no more. Almost every account ends in emergency surgery, several with a length of intestine removed; a number of writers report the obstructions recurring afterwards because of adhesions.

What commenters described: Small bowel obstructions. It feels like I'm being evicerated. Searing pain that doesn't pause or stop. Just keeps up with a ripping and tearing sensation. I just had my 7th obstruction on July 1st. I can expect my next in 19 months. That seems like the frequency. Going to talk with my PCP, oncologist and ER surgeon if I can have a standing order for IV pain meds in my chart for the "next one". Good fun./s

Limit: Several writers here describe being disbelieved or delayed and attribute gangrene to the wait; that is their account of their own case. Nothing in this group distinguishes an obstruction from anything else or says what should be done about one.

Appears when: Stomach ulcers, gastritis and reflux

What the pattern means: Burning is the common thread, but the group splits by how it ended. The gastritis accounts describe weeks of vomiting everything, with writers noticing knock-on effects — potassium, weight, teeth — as much as the pain itself. The ulcer accounts describe something abrupt: a perforation, acid in the abdomen, and an emergency. Several writers mention H. pylori and the months it took to get to that answer.

What commenters described: Gastritis is one of the worst things you can experience for weeks. Its inflammation of the lining of your stomach and intestine. It can last upto a couple weeks of just throwing up everything. The one time I had it, my potassium got so low it felt like if I threw up one more time my heart was going to stop.

Limit: These accounts run from an unpleasant fortnight to a life-threatening perforation under the same headings, so the group is not describing one severity. Nothing here identifies an ulcer or gastritis, and the medications named are what individual writers were given.

Appears when: Norovirus, food poisoning and stomach bugs

What the pattern means: The group with the most self-deprecation attached to it: writers apologise for nominating something so ordinary, then describe cramping severe enough to make them consider an emergency department, hours on a bathroom floor, and abdominal muscles that stayed sore for weeks afterwards. Two things recur — the total loss of dignity, described almost cheerfully, and the fear that they were actually dying, which several attribute to how fast dehydration arrived.

What commenters described: Agree. The pain was up there with childbirth. I had such bad cramps with food poisoning that I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. When it was over, my abdominal muscles were sore for weeks from all the cramping.

Limit: These are short illnesses recalled at a distance and, in several cases, never diagnosed — writers use norovirus, food poisoning and stomach flu interchangeably. Nothing here identifies which infection anybody had or when a stomach bug needs medical attention.

Appears when: Gastroparesis, cyclic vomiting and guts nobody could name

What the pattern means: What holds this group together is the absence of a clean diagnosis. Writers describe cycles rather than episodes — days of retching with nothing to bring up, dehydration, and the anticipation of the next bout — and several describe years of tests that found nothing. A recurring complication is that the coping strategy makes it worse: drinking to have something to vomit, or a medication that turned out to be the cause.

What commenters described: I have cyclic vomiting syndrome. I vomit for 4-5 days at a time even if nothing is coming out, the heaving still happens. I get so dehydrated because of it and for some reason, it’s a common action of people with CVS to try and chug water or something to at least give something to vomit up but it only hinders you further. The exasperated pains I normally have, throbbing migraine from dehydration & severe muscle pain from all of the retching IS the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with.

Limit: Several conditions with different causes are grouped here because their writers describe them the same way; that is an editorial grouping, not a medical one. Nothing here identifies any of them or indicates a treatment.

Appears when: C. difficile, and what the antibiotics left behind

What the pattern means: A group defined by its cause rather than its site: writers took antibiotics for something minor — a sinus infection, an ear infection, a wound — and describe what followed as worse than what they were treating. The C. difficile accounts describe stabbing gut pain, months of recurrence, isolation rooms and, in several cases, near-death. Alongside them sit writers who attribute lasting damage to a specific drug class.

What commenters described: C diff. Felt like someone was stabbing me over and over in the gut and twisting the knife. Dilaudid didn’t fully get rid of the pain but it did knock my ass out and give me nasty withdrawals for a month after I left the hospital. Before that though, c diff almost killed me.

Limit: These are individual accounts of adverse outcomes, and they say nothing about how common such outcomes are or whether the drugs were the cause. This is not a reason to stop or avoid a prescribed medicine, and nothing here identifies C. difficile.

Appears when: Hernias

What the pattern means: Six records, and the subject of most of them is the wait rather than the hernia. Writers describe living with it for months while queued for repair, and one ranks a hernia beginning to incarcerate above a gallbladder attack and pancreatitis he had also had.

What commenters described: Inguinal hernia, hurt like hell and had to wait a year for surgery

Limit: Six records is a thin base, and most state the condition without describing the sensation, so little can be read into the group. Nothing here identifies a hernia or indicates urgency.

Appears when: Cluster headaches

What the pattern means: The most physically specific answers in the corpus. Writers do not reach for a scale; they describe what they did to their own heads — pressing into the eye socket hard enough to bruise, trying to open the skull, a mother restraining a twelve-year-old. The nickname commenters attach to the condition appears repeatedly and unprompted. The other recurring subject is the cycle: writers describe attacks arriving nightly, seasonally, or every few years, and orient their lives around the calendar rather than the attack.

What commenters described: Cluster headaches. It feels like someone is driving a railway spike through your head with a sledgehammer and no anaesthetic.

Limit: Records here name oxygen, injections, supplements and psychedelics as things writers tried; those are personal reports, not evidence that anything worked, and this page is not a route to any of them. Nothing here distinguishes a cluster headache from another headache.

Appears when: Migraines and headaches that would not end

What the pattern means: The distinguishing claim in this group is duration, not intensity. Writers describe migraines measured in days, weeks, six months and, in one account, twenty years of near-daily attacks, and several say explicitly that they would take worse acute pain over pain that does not stop. The vestibular and ocular variants recur, described by what they take away — vision, balance, speech — rather than by how much they hurt. A persistent complaint is being told it is 'just a headache'.

What commenters described: Chronic intractable migraines. It's not the worst accute pain, it's that it goes on and on and on. And migraine isn't a headache, it's a neurological disorder, so there is other pain (e.g. nerve pain) plus multiple other symptoms. Currently considering getting 32-34 Botox injections in my head, despite the 50-70% likelihood of a reduction in symptoms. At this point, I'd have a microchip implanted in my brain if it was an available treatment option. I'd rather more severe acute pain than bad chronic pain because at least the acute pain ends.

Limit: Writers here use migraine for several different diagnoses and, in a few cases, for headaches that were never diagnosed at all. Medications named are what individual people were prescribed; nothing here is a treatment recommendation or a way to tell one headache from another.

Appears when: Trigeminal neuralgia

What the pattern means: A small group with unusually uniform language: electric shocks, a face hit with a bat, a breeze that feels like razor blades. Two things recur that do not recur elsewhere. The first is unpredictability — writers describe never knowing when a flare starts, and organising their lives around that rather than around the pain. The second is the nickname, which appears in a majority of these records and which several writers say they found validating rather than frightening.

What commenters described: I had that before and it was awful. The intensity and the fact that it just would not stop was insane. It felt like someone hit me in the face with a baseball bat and then set it on fire. The slightest breeze felt like razorblades.

Limit: Several of these records describe suicidal thinking; they are one person's account of their own condition and are not a statement about what the condition does to anyone else. Surgeries and drugs named here are individual reports, not options being recommended. If you are struggling, contact a local crisis line or emergency service.

Appears when: Ears and sinuses

What the pattern means: The only group in the corpus with a shared happy ending, and it is a disturbing one: writers describe pressure building to the point of screaming, the eardrum bursting, and immediate relief. Several describe the warmth of the discharge as soothing. Where the drum does not burst, the accounts are of sleeplessness and painkillers that did nothing; several writers who have had children rank an adult ear infection above the birth.

What commenters described: I had an ear infection on a flight from Austin to Denver. Shortly before landing in Denver my ear was pounding with pain so bad, it made me nauseous. Right when we landed my ear drum burst and I went from the worst pain I’ve ever experienced to soothing bliss. The pain was gone and the blood from the burst ear drum felt warm and soothing. I can’t describe the relief I experienced but it was so unexpected. 10/10 for worst pain ever. I would not wish this kind of pain on my worst enemies.

Limit: The relief these writers describe follows a perforation, and one commenter in the group points out what that means for the ear. Nothing here should be read as a reason to wait for one, and nothing here identifies an ear or sinus infection.

Appears when: Teeth, jaws and mouths

What the pattern means: The answer people apologise for before giving it, and then describe in terms nothing else on this page uses: pain that reaches the brain, that makes vision unreliable, that cannot be escaped by any position or distraction. Two structural features recur. Painkillers are described as useless — writers list ibuprofen, paracetamol, codeine and tramadol failing in sequence. And delay is nearly always self-imposed: fear of the dentist, no money, no appointment, in accounts running from days to ten months.

What commenters described: A tooth infection that rocked my skull for 3 days. Never did I think pain could feel that bad. I've injured myself in so many dumb ways, but that kind of pain tore into my brain. Ibuprofen nor acetaminophen didn't touch the pain on their own or combined Eating hurt, breathing hurt, sleeping was impossible, getting work done was impossible since it affected my vision. Day 3 I finally got in to my dentist who confirmed what I already knew and gave me an antibiotic. In a last ditch effort I took 4 extra strength Tylenol and at that dose, it dulled the pain enough to let me fall asleep while the antibiotic kick in. About 6 hours after I took the antibiotic, the pain had subsided to a very manageable point. After three-ish days, chewing food didn't hurt with every bite. But yeah, that was probably the worst physical pain I've ever felt Though not an illness and not my pain, one of my best friends used to get period cramps so bad they put her out of work for the first two days. She would just lay on the floor or her bed and cry. I forget what the condition she had was called. She was 28 at the time and said that the pain like this started around the age of 19. She was not internet savvy, nor did she have money to see a doctor, so I spent hours digging online to try and find anything to help her and there was one specific brand of birth control that seemed like it could and after another year of the pain, she finally decided to give it a shot and according to her "it was like magic." The first month was more tolerable and it just dropped off after that. I think about that whenever I get a pain. Yeah, I might be in pain now, but at least it's not a recurring, near lifetime issue. That takes some real strength to deal with

Limit: Several records here describe taking more than the labelled dose of over-the-counter painkillers, and the thread's own replies dispute that; reported here, recommended nowhere. Nothing in this group identifies a dental infection or indicates how to treat one.

Appears when: Eyes

What the pattern means: A small group whose writers share one reaction: surprise that an eye could produce pain on this scale. The specifics differ — a scratched cornea, an ulcer, an amoeba, iritis, a retina — but the descriptions converge on the impossibility of blinking, light as an active source of pain, and, in the chronic accounts, the relentlessness of something that recurs every morning on waking.

What commenters described: Dry eye disease. Imagine having a searing hot needle piercing your cornea, every day, for ten years. Or the feeling of a fresh papercut opening up on the surface of your eye, every ten seconds. That's dry eye disease.

Limit: Most of these conditions appear once or twice, so the group is a collection of individual cases rather than a pattern. Nothing here identifies an eye condition, and eye symptoms are not something this page can help anyone assess.

Appears when: Shingles, and the nerve pain it leaves behind

What the pattern means: The third-largest group, and the one where the writers' age is part of almost every account: commenters in their twenties and thirties report being told they were too young, and several say that cost them the window for antiviral treatment. The pain is described as nerve pain rather than skin pain — burning, electrocution, a hand under the ribcage — and touch is the recurring trigger, with clothing, a bra strap, a seatbelt and moving air all named. The group's distinctive feature is what happens afterwards: writers describe postherpetic pain lasting months or years, and a specific dread of any twinge in the same place.

What commenters described: Came here to say this! Neuralgic pain from shingles feels like someone running you through with a red hot sword, then electrocuting you and kicking you in the back, all at the same time.

Limit: This group is a self-selected set of severe cases, and it contains its own counter-examples — several writers report mild episodes. Vaccination is raised constantly by commenters, both for and against, and none of that is verified or endorsed here; eligibility and advice are matters for a clinician, not a comment thread.