[Closed] What physical ailment has made you feel the most miserable?

Salmonella poisoning. Thought i was going to die!

I think the clear message from the thread is that we all love a moan about our ailments. 🙂

For me, its got to be the prolapsed disc. I haven't had pain reduce me to tears since I was a little kid but this one had me balling. Never experienced pain like it, the smashed my arm I got from arguing with an Alp a few years ago was merely a flesh wound in comparison. It's meant I've been off the mountainbike since May and I'm still only capable of short, easy sessions on the turbo. Fugging backs...

Abcess on my inner ear. Sobbed with pain whilst on a school trip* to Hampton Court Palace (*I was one of the teachers)

[quote=onewheeltoofew said]
For me, its got to be the prolapsed disc. I haven't had pain reduce me to tears since I was a little kid but this one had me balling. Never experienced pain like it, the smashed my arm I got from arguing with an Alp a few years ago was merely a flesh wound in comparison. It's meant I've been off the mountainbike since May and I'm still only capable of short, easy sessions on the turbo. Fugging backs...

Amen brother.

Guillain-Barre Syndrome
Me too.

Go from totally fit to absolutely ****ed almost overnight and experience toothache level pain moving along nerves of shoulders and arm. And then watch all those hard won muscles all atrophy to a Belsen like figure. I was lucky - that was only on one side.

(Kidney stones were a breeze in comparison)

Epicyclo, that's 3 of us on here that have had it (Paulsoxo too). Mine was exactly 13 years ago this week when it struck. Hit me like a train. Went from being a 15st rugby player to being in a wheelchair in the space of 8 weeks. I went down to 12 stone and when I eventually returned to work, many colleagues who had visited me at my lowest point had actually written me off as never returning. Mine was also just down one side and it's never truly recovered. I still have this feeling of discoordination down the lower left side of my body and legs where my nerve endings have never fully returned. Scariest time of my life.

I have also had a frozen shoulder that made me pretty miserable.

Went to a physio who indicated it may take 18 months to get better - which made me feel worse. It's known as an old ladies injury - which made be feel doubly worse.

I decided that there was no way I could last that long so did a lot of research, a lot of exercises (as prescribed by the physio) and 2 sessions a week of massage and manipulation.
Took 3 months to get almost full movement and 6 months further on I'm almost back to normal.

Physio reckoned that being a cyclist and being able to stand pain helped a lot as she was able to push me further than most people which undoubtedly helped the speed of recovery.

Chemical meningitis & low pressure headaches from lumbar punctures
Absolutely excruciating, was put on a morphine (Oxycodone) pump for a week with each, with a few other drugs gabapentine (pregabaline) and quite a few steroids amongst others. I don't remember a lot of the meningitis week but I remember being a right miserable short tempered sod with my wife, which she really didn't deserve. Can't remember how many times over the second week in my hospital room I cried to myself for it to stop.

Really hoping to never have to repeat either if those. Unfortunately I have several more LPs planned post stem cell transplant

... having read a few more ailments I feel like a bit of a wuss with the old frozen shoulder

I think I've actually posted about my cock-saddle-wall interface buckaroo day more than any other topic.

Pissing razorblades is a real thing.

lumbar puncture when I was 10
initial back disc prolapse before back locks up to protect the area
passing kidney stones
pulmonary embolism

An abscess in truly the last place you'd want one. Agonising doesn't cover it and the treatment is god awful to boot.

Nothing too bad really, I didn't like having a trainee nurse poke a hypodermic needle deep into my elbow joint as she was attempting to extract a blood sample. I felt the needle scraping around inside the joint, and I might have made a high pitched noise.
But on a more mundane level I had a detached retina which was operated on by cryo-retinopexy at Moorfields, under local anaesthetic. I really don't like people touching or coming close to my eyes (ever) so to have a man pushing what appeared to be a bic biro round the back of my eyeball for 90 minutes was quite disconcerting, although I did have 2 nurses to hold me down. Going home on the bus and train with bloody tears running down my face was amusing though. and now I do find that when I'm tired I can feel the hundreds of tiny small scars on the back of my left eye dragging across the lining of my eye socket. but at least I can still see out of it 🙂

In terms of misery and suffering, it has to be norovirus. Like having the flu, but having to do it sat on the bog instead of staying in bed.

In terms of the amount of excruciating, unending and exhausting pain, there's nothing beats a herniated disc 🙁

I think this thread deserves an update. What have I learnt so far? Having a cupboard full of drugs the wife was given when she had a back operation is awesome (even though they might be technically out of date). Co-codamol is much better than paracetamol on its own, nurofen is rubbish when compared to naproxen! Take both with food and I actually managed some sleep. Lying flat in bed makes the tooth throb so I can feel it down my jaw into my neck...its much better to get some sleep propped up with pillows. Hoping that that the antibiotics kick in quick
The thread makes me thankful I had forgotten about all my other past injuries; snapped tendon in my arm, broken arm and ankylosing spondylitis I have had for 20 years. Malvern Rider I sympathise having been in a similar state of despair before being on biologics which put a smile back on my face. STWs we put up with a lot!

The first time I had glandular fever. Lost a lot of weight in a not very large period of time. Just awful. The second time wasn't much better to be honest. And it lasted longer. Not even remotely funny.
Bilateral hernia repair wasn't particularly ace either. That HURT.

Jumped on a bit of wood with two large rusty nails when I was younger. Exploring an old run down building, hopped down a ledge landed on the wood which I didn't see, straight through my trainers. The nails went either side of a bone in my foot, my mate couldn't pull it out, so it was an uncomfortable hop for a few miles. Never felt a pain like it.

I'm going to indulge in another ailment- a migraine that started on 15th September and lasted til 10th October. That really got me down.

Snapped my banjo strings when I was younger whilst on the job . Didn't hurt too much but thought I was going to bleed to death when I saw how much blood was coming out . I thought the doctor was going to stitch it up but instead he prescribed a large dose of MTFU 😳

Bregante - Member
Guillain-Barre Syndrome
... I still have this feeling of discoordination down the lower left side of my body and legs where my nerve endings have never fully returned. Scariest time of my life.

I'm on the right. When I get tired the right side of my face droops and I sometimes drool. 🙂

Funniest bit is I have regained my reaction time (or at least it's improved) but when I go to catch something on the right I'm always about 2cm short of it. If I have time to think, I can compensate for it.

My legs are good but any extended upper body work leaves me washed out for days and that's 25 years now. Oh and occasionally if it's stressed too long my right arm just flops, although that hasn't happened for a year or so, but more likely because I recognise the signs and rest it.

The frustrating thing is I was really fit and strong, so it came as a major blow, and I have never come near that again.

Oh, I forgot malaria about 20 years ago. That and the mefloquine treatment wiped me out for several months afterwards. In hindsight giving 5 weeks' worth of the normal dose in a day(!) of a potentially quite psychologically damaging drug to a 19 year old possibly wasn't the safest idea.

I also had a dental abcess, which over three months and two failed antibiotics , turned into a golf ball on my cheek.Eventually it popped , but needed "drained".
Went to hospital and a junior doctor scrapped out the pus with what felt like a filling knife.
I could feel it on my cheekbone.No anaesthetic.Thing is , it was also the week of my Nana's funeral , so i HAD to have a shave the day after - Ouchy.
Eventually had reconstrucive surgery on my jaw to remove the mess the junior doc made. Interesting scar tho'.

Gallstones never felt pain like it 25mm gallstone trying to get up a 7mm tube 6 hour operation to remove gallbladder (and stone) and repair tube then having to have tube & a bag hanging out of me for 6 weeks...

Nothing much after reading this thread, just a fractured wrist as a kid or tooth ache.

I feel like one of the luckiest people now.

Permanently injured elbows during my teens meaning I can't 'climb properly' and become a mountain guide was pretty hard, and changed the course of my life, but I'm healthy still and am finding a new life/career calling.

Over training is a sneaky thing.

...and I might have been killed in an avalanche by now.

Six weeks of radio and and chemotherapy got pretty unpleasant from week four onwards. 😕

Had my (at the time) German Shepard take a disliking to me removing his food bowl from his kennel once.
Que him swinging on my wrist and me dragging him toward the kennel door then smashing the kennel door against him until he FINALLY let go! This was not done in a calm or collective manor as I was also screaming at my mate to come and ****ing shoot it! But he was on the phone to his Mrs and never heard me!

Que a trip to A&E with my wrist and hand looking like they had been through a blender. I don't know what pounds per square inch a German Shepard dog bite is but it punchered the face of my watch at the time.

Got sat down in A&E while they decided what skin went where on my hand and wrist when I quote
Me "I'm going to pass out"
Doctor "don't be silly"

I woke up a short time later looking at a white ceiling, in a very white cubical thinking I was actual dead 😳

I got dysentery in Africa working with the Rwandan refuges in 94 10 days of constant diarrhea shiting bright green vomiting and general yuck honestly felt I might die and was scared as hell lost over 2 stone and I was not over weight then the helpless fear of it was the worst thing.

Well a lot of facial fractured didn't help, but were controlled by pharmaceutics. But I'd say

Flu. I spent 3 weeks in bed only thing I recall was the Mrs waking up to drink, take meds and feed what little I could eat. Then spent 3 or 4 months trying to get my strength back.

I had proper flu about three times in five years, including Bird Flu contracted in the US on a business trip. Took longer to recover than my recent accident. Fortunately I avoided Guillain Barre syndrome, but I am always worried about another infection.

 

Pneumonia sucked ass.
Regular toothache is a pain too. Once was taking 4 paracetamol every 2 hours for a day. That made me feel pretty grotty.

Once was taking 4 paracetamol every 2 hours for a day. That made me feel pretty grotty.

from the toothache or the paracetamol overdose?

My most recent flaring up of an old back injury saw me pass out. Unfortunately I was camping at the time so not the best environment to be crippled. Fortunately I was able to pretty quickly access some hardcore painkillers, the next week or so is all a bit of a blur.

For unforgiving misery though, seasickness. the first 36 hours of a 5 day/4 night live aboard dive trip on a flat hulled dive boat on the (choppy) great barrier reef. I honestly wanted to die.

I have been amazed by the way we wreck our bodies or they are wrecked by illness and infection but yet still manage some good humour. STWers I salute you, your inflections and ailments and wish you all speedy recovery. After 72hrs the double dose of antibiotics have kicked in and I am feeling a bit chirpier. I am grateful that I live in the first world, have access to and can afford a decent dentist, have antibiotics and pain control within reach.....it could have been so much worse in another country, time or situation! your posts have put it all in perspective!
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osteoarthritis of the knee - meant to have a knee replacement soon but not convinced it's a good idea...

Kidney stones had it twice,first time was drinking a glass of water and feeling a bit grim and what I thought was back pain for the past week. Then I had what felt like a a being stabbed with a knife in the back feeling I remember vomiting and then waking up staring at the ceiling in A&E
Kidney stone had blocked my urethra over the week and caused a raging infection. The stone was removed the next day.
And put on Iv antibiotics for a week.

Secon bout wasn't as bad but I did vomit with the pain of it, pissed blood for 4 days as it ripped the urethra on the way out. And did require having a instrument inserted up my sausage to remove the remains.

Not worst in terms of pain, but the thing that made me most miserable was getting glandular fever really badly in my late 30's. No energy, associated low mood and the impression I Would never be able to do all the things I enjoyed again- sailing, hill walking, cycling etc.

I was unfortunate to be one of the few with this illness that developed similar affter effects to that of chronic fatigue syndrome

Ended up taking a whole year off work to recover. Completely cleaned me out financially, but I am so glad I did.

Another Guillain Barre Syndrome, like Bregante and Epicyclo. This time five years ago I was about one week into
A five week stint on a ventilator, followed by having to learn how to do everything again, walk, talk, move any part of my body.

It was a right laugh!

Prostate Cancer. Not much physically, but mentally horrid. 4 weeks to go to first anniversary of bye bye prostate !

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (whatever that actually is). Initial thing was a nasty flu type virus that never really went away - took about 5 years to recover (and still not completely gone). First year or two was really grim.

BTW I've had kidney stones. They were awful, a level worse than toothache, and they had me crawling along the floor, but nowhere near the level of pain I had as Guillain-Barre destroyed parts of my nervous system.

i know they are a cause for hilarity,but piles in my case.

not painful (most of the time) but has ruined my life for years now (have seen my doc about them btw).

if i could cure either my depression or piles in an instance,i would choose the jeremies without a second thought.

Injury wise it's between the shattered shoulder blade I had 20 years ago or the fractured neck I did 2 years ago, first 100% my fault 2nd RTA and 100% not my fault!

Illness wise testicular cancer which in itself wasn't that bad treatment wise but the infection I got that left me with a wrecked liver, kidneys and lungs was hard to cope with. Over time my liver and kidneys got much better and are not an issue now but permanently having an ~ 40% loss in lung efficiency has been hard to live with especially when trying to drag my heavy arse up hills!

if i could cure either my depression or piles in an instance,i would choose the jeremies without a second thought.

You can get that done without issue, as far as I know. Just press your doc for an op to remove them. If they're so bad they affect your riding you won't have many probs getting surgery. Don't suffer for your arse... 😉

Toothache is miserable, and I can't stand it, I had a crazy dentist try and move an obstinate molar that I had managed to shatter, he had me lifted off the chair whilst pulling only to concede defeat and suggest a GA. my missus had never heard me scream so loud and she was concerned I would attack him.
I also remember breaking 3 bones in my right foot as a soldier running across a pitch black field carrying a GPMG and a Bergen and falling down a rabbit hole. I carried on walking for a further 3 days and just not taking my boot off, My OC telling me to man up, until finally crawling to the MO.
Ruptured appendix was no fun either.
Nor was getting into a bad fight in Colchester and having numerous ribs broken and a very flat nose.

Well the gift of the tooth abscess keeps giving. Since my OP I had the offending tooth removed last week. A very unpleasant 20 minutes while it felt the dentist was trying to pull my lower jaw out. Eventually he drilled the tooth in half and pulled the two bits out separately. OK, a bit grim but it needed to come out as it had a fracture all the way through it and could never be mended.
Three days of nice healing and then pain and discomfort like before! Anyway have you ever heard of dry socket? Pain like you have an abcess because the bone and tooth are exposed. Cue more antibiotics and raid the painkillers!

Another one for dental abscess, which I had a couple of times due to wisdom teeth not coming through properly. I had them out surgically, under local anaesthetic last year. They had to drill the teeth into tiny pieces, and lever them out bit by bit. It was fairly painful due to the swelling, and it took ages to heal up, but a total walk in the park compared to the misery that went before.

Epididimitis

Currently two weeks into my second bout of this, my GP put me straight on to the 'serious' antibiotics after my experience last time, when it took until the third course of antibiotics to make any impact.

When it's bad it's like bad toothache, but in your bollock. 😥

My diabetes. Some days I feel utter shyte. Nauseous tired irritable lethargic.

I am currently laid up after breaking my Patella into several pieces. The most painful part of that was it being plastered in A&E, I had gas and air but it was still very painful.

several years ago I was in an accident and had a long wound on my right fore arm after it was dragged along the road for about 10 metres. In A&E the doctor attending to me walked away and a huge doctor came over and started squeezing and pulling the wound and big bits of grit and glass were coming out. It was agony and I thought I was gonna pass out. He could see I was in pain and said "Have you not had a local mate" "No" I said, "Oh" he said as he turned and walked away.

Most miserable - wasted 3 years of my life trying to recover and still working through it.I will never dance again
[img] https://goo.gl/IEIhEc [/img]

Most recent - can't do planned swimming as part of January fitness drive (ankle still prevents cycling and most other options)
[img] https://goo.gl/rYZZtj [/img]

+1 for Worldclassaccident having the best name of this forum.

Broken bones, spinal injuries, knocked out teeth, sprains . . . all have nothing on Kidney stones. Worst pain I could ever imagine . . . like trying to piss out a hedghog . . .

I've had, I think, 6 pilonidal abscesses. They cut and drain them (general anesthetic) and then let it heal from the inside out. That means stuffing it with gauze twice a day, pulling the old stuff out and putting a little less in. Pain like you wouldn't believe!

I had one the size of a golf ball cut out a few days before I was off to Glastonbury. I felt nothing thanks to the morphine cocktail for the first day post op still in the hospital. I asked the Dr. very honestly about the effect of those painkillers and other 'stuff' one might take at a festival. He said I could go home 48 hours after my last does of morphine. I stopped immediately but passed out 3 out of 4 times with those un/re-packings. The nurse was brilliant and when I was unconscious, finished the job before I came around. Glastonbury was amazing and I can tel you, the best pain suppressants are [redacted] washed down with snakebite and black in front of the Pyramid Stage.

The ailment that made me most miserable was a cracked patella. It was extremely sore for a few days and kept me off the bike for a little under 4 months. The bit that's really got to me though is that 14 months later, it's still uncomfortable at times on a ride, or crouching down, or at the end of a long walk or run.

I think that's got to me as I realised I'm getting on a bit and injuries stay with you 🙁

Being (rapid swing, cyclothymic) bi-polar. That's not an ailment really. Usually unmedicated. Fairly mild hypomania and relatively short-lived depression. It's more just a part of me. I don't know any different and the hyper bits are quite fun. Exasperates the wife a bit as it's like being a really over-excited teenager, except with the freedom of an adult. The worst (or most unusual) thing I've ever done there was cycle to my parents' house at 1am. They live near Exeter... I was living in Southampton 🙂

Another one for diabetes here, not so much the actual condition it's self, but all the other really shit stuff it leads to.

Single point of pain? Having a particularly fierce, not to mention unsympathetic, burly ward sister removing, nay yanking, a catheter from me.

In my case Tinnitus, must be nearly 10 years of what sounds like someone blowing a dog (sometimes 2) whistle in my head.
Not life threatening but bloody miserable when you can never experience peace and quiet.
No cure, no treatment, suck it up and live with it.

Nobody said heart yet? A broken heart will make you very miserable.

Nobody said heart yet? A broken heart will make you very miserable.

GTFO!

😐

A very large abscess where the sun shines not. Coupled with a doctor with fingers like a welder and the treatment of packing and unpacking it with a dressing I can safely say lead to the worst 4 days of my life so far. Proper eye watering. Also was a test case at the teaching hospital so I had an audience for my pain.

No serious injuries but I had genuine flu once and felt awful, I couldn't believe how much I slept.

Also got bad food poisoning on my first trip to ****stan from melted and re-frozen ice cream. I was amazed at how much hot water could come out of both ends of the body, simultaneously. I guess I should have been in hospital on a drip, looking back on it now, but all I did was drink some black tea and go out to work the next day, feeling absolutely wretched.

The worst pain i can think of recently was a few days after having my ACL reconstructed last month. At the point the anaesthetic had worn off and the codeine seemed to making little or no difference, this coupled with the fact I'd had very little sleep in 3 days meant that I just broke down to tears whilst trying to put clignfilm on the dressings for a shower. All the blood rushing to my leg made it feel like it was going to explode. That was a worse pain than the initial ACL rupture or the dislocated patella, they had just felt like a bad growing pain.

The few weeks after were fairly miserable, led around unable to do much apart from pretty painful physio exercises. Feeling a lot better a month in though now I can walk and move about again.

GTFO!

Oooh tough guy 😆

BTW I've had kidney stones. They were awful, a level worse than toothache, and they had me crawling along the floor, but nowhere near the level of pain I had as Guillain-Barre destroyed parts of my nervous system.

Just need a bigger stone. Or actually not. Really not.

(Can't be in Guillan-Barre territory as I usually self medicate mild cases with codeine and whimpering, but like asteroid strikes one day I'm due a biggy and I'm not looking forward to it. As my GP cheerfully informed me, once a stone thrower, always a stone thrower!)

That was a worse pain than the initial ACL rupture or the dislocated patella, they had just felt like a bad growing pain.

How did you dislocate it out of interest?

That was a worse pain than the initial ACL rupture or the dislocated patella, they had just felt like a bad growing pain.
How did you dislocate it out of interest?

I was playing rugby and kind of step/twisted off my right foot. The foot stayed planted and the rest of me twisted. Tbh it didn't even cross my mind that that's what I'd done, I heard and felt a crack obviously and immediately assumed I'd torn my ligaments given the movements involved. The physio came on, put my leg flat and flicked it back in place before she'd even told me what I'd done. It was probably only out of place for about 2 mins tops. Hence why the pain wasn't maybe as bad as those described earlier in the thread, like most dislocations I imagine the quicker you get it in the better. There was no impact involved either which I imagine reduced the pain.

Genuinely, hangover. Short duration and no lasting effects but while it lasts it was [i]way [/i]worse than breaking my hip or exploding my ACL or dislocating my ankle then stepping on the dislocated foot. They're all physical, just electrical pulses, but a proper hangover is the breaking of the soul

Aomebic dysentry for 3 with only a cold squat toilet to use, very very dehydrated, that then led to typhoid and a lot of pain around appendix and other internal areas. 7 days on a drip, and a good few months to get back to full strength.