‘The most agonising pain a person could endure’: Experts rank the most unbearable pain
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Pain is a deeply personal experience, yet some types of pain push the limits of human endurance in ways that defy expectations.
While many assume childbirth or serious injuries top the list of the most excruciating sensations, new research suggests there’s another condition that leaves them all in its shadow.
What follows is a fascinating look at how different types of pain compare—and which one reigns supreme as the most unbearable of all.
A little-known condition affecting roughly one in 100 Britons was identified as the most agonising pain a person could endure, according to a recent study.
Cluster headaches were a rare neurological disorder that left sufferers debilitated by searing head pain.
The attacks struck multiple times a day, could last for hours, and did not respond to standard painkillers.
A US study found these headaches were more excruciating than childbirth, gunshot wounds, and bone fractures.
Researchers asked 1,604 people with cluster headaches to compare their pain to over a dozen other conditions and injuries, including stab wounds and heart attacks.
Coming in third after childbirth was pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas, often triggered by gallstones or excessive alcohol consumption.
Kidney stones and gallstones—where small, crystalline formations caused intense pain when they grew large enough—also ranked highly.
Participants rated their pain on a scale from 0 to 10, with childbirth scoring 7.2.
Gunshot victims rated their experience at 6.
Surgeons had previously noted that the pain varied significantly depending on where a person was shot.
Areas like the stomach, back, groin, and neck were particularly excruciating due to the concentration of nerves.
A slipped disc, or disc herniation, where soft tissue bulged between spinal bones and pressed on nerves, came close behind gunshot wounds at 5.9.
Migraines scored 5.4, slightly above fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder linked to nervous system dysfunction.
Heart attacks, often associated with crushing chest pain, only ranked at 5—the same as sciatica, a condition where a nerve running from the lower back to the feet became compressed.
Both conditions rated slightly higher than stab wounds, which averaged 4.9, though much like gunshot wounds, the severity depended on the location of the injury.
Cluster headaches remained poorly understood but affected an estimated 65,000 people in Britain.
The attacks caused sharp, burning, or piercing pain, typically concentrated on one side of the head near the eye.
They struck suddenly and could last up to three hours, occurring multiple times a day for weeks or months at a time.
The pain was so severe that common painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen were ineffective.
Experts had yet to determine what triggered cluster headaches.
They were more commonly diagnosed in people in their 30s and were about six times more prevalent in men than in women.
At the lower end of the pain scale was arthritis, a common condition causing joint inflammation, which rated a 4—still classified as more intense than mild pain.
Doctors used pain scales to gauge a patient’s experience, though researchers acknowledged their limitations due to the subjective nature of pain.
The study, published in Headache, noted that patients’ ratings could have been influenced by memory gaps, as they were asked to recall painful events that may have occurred years earlier.
Here’s how the worst pains compare—see the full ranking below!
With pain being such a personal experience, do you agree with these rankings, or have you endured something even worse?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
While many assume childbirth or serious injuries top the list of the most excruciating sensations, new research suggests there’s another condition that leaves them all in its shadow.
What follows is a fascinating look at how different types of pain compare—and which one reigns supreme as the most unbearable of all.
A little-known condition affecting roughly one in 100 Britons was identified as the most agonising pain a person could endure, according to a recent study.
Cluster headaches were a rare neurological disorder that left sufferers debilitated by searing head pain.
The attacks struck multiple times a day, could last for hours, and did not respond to standard painkillers.
A US study found these headaches were more excruciating than childbirth, gunshot wounds, and bone fractures.
Researchers asked 1,604 people with cluster headaches to compare their pain to over a dozen other conditions and injuries, including stab wounds and heart attacks.
Coming in third after childbirth was pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas, often triggered by gallstones or excessive alcohol consumption.
Kidney stones and gallstones—where small, crystalline formations caused intense pain when they grew large enough—also ranked highly.
Participants rated their pain on a scale from 0 to 10, with childbirth scoring 7.2.
Gunshot victims rated their experience at 6.
Surgeons had previously noted that the pain varied significantly depending on where a person was shot.
Areas like the stomach, back, groin, and neck were particularly excruciating due to the concentration of nerves.
A slipped disc, or disc herniation, where soft tissue bulged between spinal bones and pressed on nerves, came close behind gunshot wounds at 5.9.
Migraines scored 5.4, slightly above fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder linked to nervous system dysfunction.
Heart attacks, often associated with crushing chest pain, only ranked at 5—the same as sciatica, a condition where a nerve running from the lower back to the feet became compressed.
Both conditions rated slightly higher than stab wounds, which averaged 4.9, though much like gunshot wounds, the severity depended on the location of the injury.
Cluster headaches remained poorly understood but affected an estimated 65,000 people in Britain.
The attacks caused sharp, burning, or piercing pain, typically concentrated on one side of the head near the eye.
They struck suddenly and could last up to three hours, occurring multiple times a day for weeks or months at a time.
The pain was so severe that common painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen were ineffective.
Experts had yet to determine what triggered cluster headaches.
They were more commonly diagnosed in people in their 30s and were about six times more prevalent in men than in women.
At the lower end of the pain scale was arthritis, a common condition causing joint inflammation, which rated a 4—still classified as more intense than mild pain.
Doctors used pain scales to gauge a patient’s experience, though researchers acknowledged their limitations due to the subjective nature of pain.
The study, published in Headache, noted that patients’ ratings could have been influenced by memory gaps, as they were asked to recall painful events that may have occurred years earlier.
Here’s how the worst pains compare—see the full ranking below!
Experts rank cluster headache attacks as the worst pain ever. Image source: National Library of Medicine
With pain being such a personal experience, do you agree with these rankings, or have you endured something even worse?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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