16 most painful medical conditions
What is the worst pain in the world? While pain is a deeply personal experience and ranking the most painful medical conditions is highly subjective, experts and patients alike can agree: Certain medical conditions are universally recognized for causing extreme and often debilitating pain.
When healthcare providers ask patients to rate their pain, these conditions – whether acute or chronic – often push past the traditional 1-10 pain scale – with a resounding “11” from pain sufferers. While some causes of severe pain can be treated or cured, other painful conditions require long-term management and specialized care.
Read on to learn which medical conditions often cause the most pain, how doctors treat these conditions and how you can manage the pain to find relief and regain quality of life.
Find out which medical conditions experts rank as the most painful. Learn how these conditions are treated and what you can do to manage your pain.
Kidney stones
Picture trying to shove a pebble through a straw: Kidney stones are hard stones or crystals that form in the kidneys and typically cause severe pain or spasms while trying to move down the urinary tract from the kidney to the bladder through the thin attached tube, called the ureter. Kidney stone pain from trying to pass one stuck in the urinary tract can bring people to their knees and straight to the emergency room.
Kidney stone symptoms
Usually made of calcium, these hard pellets block the flow of urine, making the kidney swell and causing waves of excruciating pain at the mid-back, abdomen or sides and, for men, pain at the end of their penis. Common symptoms of kidney stones include:
- Sharp pain in the back, side or lower abdomen
- Pain or burning while urinating
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Fever or chills
- Blood in the urine
How is kidney stone pain treated?
Diagnosing a kidney stone typically requires imaging tests and/or a urinalysis. Once the condition is confirmed, kidney stone treatments may include IV fluid and medication that relaxes the muscles in your ureter to help the stone – and the severe pain – pass. Patients often receive pain-relieving medicines through an IV as part of their treatment.
Stubborn small kidney stones may require shock wave therapy, called lithotripsy, to break them up. Larger or recurring stones may call for more complex treatment methods, like surgery, to remove the stone.
Childbirth
Back labor is a specific type of labor pain centered in the lower back, sometimes caused by the baby’s position in the womb. For some women, intense pain in the lower back is an unforgettable aspect of childbirth. This severe pain peaks during contractions and lingers in between, making it more difficult for
women to push.
Natural pain relief methods for the mother include:
- Moving away from a back-lying position
- Walking
- Applying counterpressure with a tennis ball
- Applying warm compresses to the back
- Breathing techniques
- Relaxation exercises
If these aren’t enough, medical pain relief options include pain medication or an epidural nerve block using local anesthesia to numb the area.
3. Trauma
Pain from acute physical trauma – such as a gunshot wound, car accident injury or invasive medical procedure – can trigger immediate, severe pain that many would rank as the worst pain they’ve experienced. The intensity of pain may be influenced by factors including someone’s pain thresholds, their resilience and the nature of the traumatic event.
Trauma pain symptoms
Trauma can cause sudden and severe pain, provoking a variety of bodily signs
Common physical symptoms of acute trauma include:
- Elevated blood pressure
- Increased heart rate
- Sharp, stabbing pain
- Throbbing
- Tingling
- Weakness
- Numbness
- Muscle tension or changes in posture
While these signs all tell the story of intense pain, clinicians must rely on patients to gauge precisely how much pain they’re in to determine the best pain management strategies.
How is trauma pain treated and managed?
Treating trauma requires an individualized approach. Physical trauma typically requires immediate medical attention to stabilize the individual, assess the harm and intervene accordingly. Dealing with trauma can have lasting psychological effects, so getting support from mental health professionals or support groups can be an important component of emotional healing.
Shingles
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a painful viral infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. If you’ve had chickenpox, the virus can remain dormant in nerve cells for years and reactivate later in life, causing shingles. The painful medical condition occurs in parts of the body along a nerve pattern, called the dermatome, where the virus resides – often across the trunk.
Shingles symptoms
Shingles can cause severe nerve pain, burning sensations and lasting
discomfort – especially when the virus attacks the face or eye. Symptoms of shingles include:
- Nerve pain
- Burning sensation
- Tingling
- Rash
- Fluid-filled blisters
- Scabbing
- Sensitivity to touch
In rare cases, shingles sufferers can develop a chronic condition called post-herpetic neuralgia, with symptoms including deep or burning pain, extreme sensitivity to touch and numbness in the
affected area, which can last for years if not addressed promptly. Older adults are especially vulnerable to complications from shingles.
How is shingles treated, and can it be prevented?
Early treatment for shingles can help prevent the transition from acute to chronic pain, says Dr. Asokumar Buvanendran, an anesthesiologist specializing in pain medicine and chair of the Rush University department of anesthesiology with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Antiviral medications that shorten the length and severity of illness are available to treat shingles. The earlier you start treatment, the better, as they’re more effective at treating the symptoms when you start taking them immediately after a rash appears.
Who should get the shingles vaccine?
Older adults are particularly vulnerable to getting shingles, likely due to a weakening immune system as they age. Luckily, you can take steps to protect yourself and prevent shingles. Healthy adults ages 50 and older should get two doses of Shingrix – the only shingles vaccine available in the U.S. – spaced two to six months apart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 16 Metaphors for Fibromyalgia PainThe Deep & Aching PainThe Flu & The Day After:
Imagine waking up feeling like you have
1.THE FLUE & THE DAY AFTER
the flu, combined with the extreme muscle stiffness and aches of the day after a brutal workout.
2.Hit by a Truck:
The sensation that you have been run over by a large vehicle, leaving your muscles deeply sore and tender.
3.Deep Bruises:
Feeling as though your entire body is covered in deep, painful bruises, even though you have no visible marks.
4.Heavy Weights:
Moving around as if you are carrying heavy weights and constantly being crushed under that pressure.The Burning & Sensitized Skin
5. Severe Sunburn:
The feeling of having a severe, peeling sunburn on your skin, which stings with the slightest touch of a shirt.
6. Boiling Veins:
A sensation where the blood in your veins feels like it is boiling.
7. Barbed Wire:
The feeling of having tight barbed wire wrapped around your limbs, where every step digs the wire into your skin.
8. The Princess and the Pea:
A state of extreme sensory hypersensitivity where even a loose-fitting seam or the light weight of a blanket feels heavy and painful.Stabbing & Neurological Sensations
9. Twisting Pins:
The feeling of a voodoo doll being stuck with pins, which are then twisted around your body.
10. Electrical Zaps: Experiencing sudden, random electrical zaps or shocks throughout your hands and feet.
11. Knitting Needles:
Sharp, sudden, localized stabs, comparable to someone poking you with a knitting needle.
12. Charlie Horses:
Severe muscle cramps (Charlie horses) occurring simultaneously in muscles you did not even know you had.The Accompanying Fatigue & Fog
13. Waist-High Concrete:
Feeling as though every small, normal daily task requires you to walk through waist-high, wet concrete.
14. Unrefreshed Sleep:
Waking up every morning feeling as exhausted as if you had stayed awake for 48 hours straight.
15. Brain/Fibro Fog:
Operating with a constant mental cloudiness, making it incredibly difficult to concentrate, remember details, or think clearly.
16. Sensory Overload:
Having your sensory dials turned up too high, where regular noises echo, bright lights hurt, and even normal smells make you feel nauseous.
