- Five of the worst pains humans can feel.
(screaming)
You're gonna wanna hear this.
What is the absolute worst type of pain?
I see it all the time in the emergency room and believe me
when I say treating them is no walk in the park either.
Kidney stones, medically known as nephrolithiasis.
Having kidney stones is unimaginably painful.
- Pain.
- And to paint a pretty picture for you.
It's often compared to the pain of getting stabbed
with a knife and get this it's estimated
that 12% of Americans for instance
will develop a kidney stone in their lifetime.
Not fun, would be the biggest understatement of the year.
You see these small crystalline pebbles form in the kidney
or urinary tract, AKA the body's drainage system
for removing urine out of the body.
Boy are they painful, usually made from either calcium
struvite, uric acid or cysteine,
they block the flow of urine
making the kidney swell and causing waves of sharp pain
at the mid back, admin or sides.
- Aw, my back.
And for dudes, pain at the end of their penis as well.
- It hurts.
- And that's not all my friends, kidney stones often result
in fever, blood and puss in the urine and vomiting.
Once a kidney stone is confirmed,
treatment with IV fluids and medication allows a stone
to hopefully pass sooner rather than later.
- Pass.
- Now, when I say pass.
- Pass.
- I mean, yes you basically have to give birth
to this hard pellet via your urethra.
Possible causes include not drinking enough water, obesity,
weight loss surgery, eating food with too much salt
or sugar or too much fructose, infections
and family history might all increase risk
of developing kidney stones.
- I got a kidney stone.
- If you're one of the poor souls
out there who's ever had a kidney stone,
let me know in the commons on a scale of one to 10,
how painful it was.
Up next trigeminal neuralgia.
Often described as lightning hitting your face.
Trigeminal neuralgia is sudden attacks
of severe shooting facial or head pain.
- Whoa, insta headache.
- That can be so debilitating,
a patient is unable to do anything at all
while this excruciating nerve pain is happening
but what causes this severe shock therapy to the head?
Well, when the trigeminal
or the fifth cranial nerve is disrupted,
severe types of symptoms can happen in people
with multiple sclerosis, nerve compressions
in people with tumors, AV malformations
which is a tangle of arteries and veins
or even perhaps because of a sinus surgery, oral surgery,
stroke, or facial trauma.
Did I mention that this extreme, sporadic, sudden burning
or shock light pain could even be set
off by something as light as a gush of air
or brushing one's teeth
and last anywhere from a few seconds,
all the way up to an hour or two.
And not to keep piling on the bad news pile,
but there is no cure for it either.
Although, it can be managed with therapy and meds.
Number three, giving birth.
They say giving birth to a child
is supposed to be one of the best days of your life.
It can also be one of the most extremely painful sensations
one can experience in their lifetime.
- Get out!
- Recently, reproductive studies came out
and compared menstrual cramps
to be as painful as a heart- - Heart attack.
- Now, what if I told you that labor and delivery
has been described as the most extreme menstrual cramps.
During this time one's uterine muscle starts contracting
hard with severe cramping in the abdomen, back legs
and groin area.
- Our uterus hurts.
- Tightening up, squeezing, pulling,
and feeling like someone or something
has just twisted your inside, it's not pretty.
On average, this whole pain filled process of active labor.
- You have no idea how much this hurts.
(laughing)
- Could last anywhere between four to eight hours
but some go even longer.
This is not to scare
off anyone from having kids one day.
- No kids.
- It's just to have an honest discussion
about how painful and complex this process can be
for an expecting mother out there.
Luckily, if a patient decides, there are ways to try
and relieve some of the pain.
Non-medication methods
include trying different delivery positions, walking,
warm compresses, applying counter pressure,
breathing techniques or for those who opt for it,
there are pain medications
and epidurals to help ease some of the pain.
Let me know if you or someone you know
has given birth and what their pain experience was like.
Number four, a broken femur.
Speaking of babies
our next painful experience may make you cry like one.
(crying)
I think we can all agree
that breaking any bone royally sucks
but breaking the longest
and the strongest bone in your body,
not something you would wish on your worst enemy.
You see your femur is located in your thigh
and it runs from your hip bone
all the way down to your knee.
Plus all the large arteries that run down your leg.
Let's just call it a perfect storm for a bloody mess
if you break your femur.
- It was a bloody mess.
- Usually caused by some sort of severe accident
like a sports injury or a car crash,
when one fractures this area
you cannot put any weight on the injured leg
let alone walk on it.
Any sort of movement to this area
will actually result in immediate screaming.
(screaming)
Also think of all the muscles
that are attached in this area.
Sometimes when a patient comes into the ER,
we actually have to pull traction
and yank the leg apart because of the amount of pain
that the individual is in.
Thankfully it relieves a lot of the pain.
- Pain is pain.
- So what is the recovery process like?
To be honest, it's long.
Four to six months, I'd say at least.
And it's broken up
in different phases with lots of pain management.
You have to first set the bone back into its proper place
with surgery, to have some hardware put in it as well.
And while the body is regenerating new bone growth
and battling the inflammation process
we also highly recommend physical therapy
to strengthen the muscles around the bone.
If you want me to do a full video
on the most painful broken bones, you can experience,
let me know in the tops below.
Last painful injury you don't wanna have,
corneal flash burn.
You know, when you've had a long day at the beach
and your body turns red like a lobster
or gets so sunburned that blisters start forming.
(screaming)
Imagine all that, but put in your eye
I'd say it's excruciating enough to make a grown person cry
but honestly crying only makes it worse.
- Let it out.
- The cornea of the eye is the clear outer part
of the eye that helps your eye to focus light
so that you can see clearly.
Imagine a flash burn to the eye so bad,
it basically just sings it all away.
Say goodbye to seeing for a bit and hello to eye patches.
- On a count of my eye patch.
- Because bloody, putsy and painful are only the beginning.
Usually when I treat or see corneal flash burns in the ER
they are caused by things like welding torches,
being exposed to too much bright UV light,
lasers tanning bed lights, sun reflection,
even when skiing or snowboard even looking directly
at or near the sun, especially at higher elevation
can cause your cornea to burn as well.
- It burns.
- Your parents weren't lying
when they said don't look directly at the sun
for long periods of time.
Now here's the tough part
about treating corneal flash burns,
just as your eyes sort of start to heal themselves,
anytime a patient blinks their eye
or opens and closes their eye,
it basically sluts off the healing layer
that occurred, restarting the whole painful process.
When we treat this, obviously we use artificial tears,
medication drops, and pain medications.
- Pain meds.
- To help prevent infection
and to try to prevent your eyelid from sticking to your eye.
In very severe cases, surgery may also be needed
to repair the area.
So remember, especially if you're welding
or doing anything with a large amount of UV light
definitely wear eye protection.
You do not wanna have to come visit me
in the ER with a cooked cornea,
I can assure you now it's time to talk
about how to actually manage the pain.
- Wow, a Mr manager,
obviously pain is subjective
and really depends from person to person.
And of course, the severity of the condition.
But if you are experiencing a medical emergency
or sudden onset, severe acute pain
go to the hospital immediately.
If it's a chronic type pain condition
that comes and goes over time,
maybe seeing a pain specialist
or a doctor that really knows
the ins and outs of the exact ailment
or condition should be considered.
That way you can get to the root of the problem
rather than just masking the pain with same medication.
- We all wear masks.
- Don't give up on finding relief
and please be proactive for your own health.
All right, that's been a quick breakdown
with me, Dr. Wagner.
What's the most painful thing you've experienced?
Also, what other excruciating conditions do you want me
to break down and explain?
Let me know in the comments below,
please make sure also you subscribe
turn your bell notifications on and hit that like button.
Thank you so much for watching and stay healthy, my friends.
(upbeat music)