Nobody likes getting sick. Whether it’s the seasonal flu or something way more serious and dangerous, there’s a reason people say that good health is everything. But some health crises are so bad that people almost wish they were knocking on heaven’s door.
Some people say that passing kidney stones is more painful than childbirth and thus the worst sickness a person can get. Others claim that there’s nothing worse and more debilitating than chemo destroying your body together with the cancer cells.
There’s no point in playing health crisis Olympics, but some people sure have gone through terrifying experiences regarding their health more than others. In a recent online thread, folks started sharing their worst medical emergencies after one netizen asked, “What's the sickest you've ever been in your life?” From mysterious illnesses and C. diff to serious infections and spinal fluid leaks, these people are sure lucky to have made it out alive.
#1
Stage 3 Colon Cancer. Six months of chemo… six hours every Monday and then 40 hours of a slow drip cocktail that I learned to remove myself.
Chemo was so debilitating. I was sleeping 20+ hours a day. The chemo brain was terrifying … I could see a cup in my head and the letters c-u-p would be over it but I couldn’t say the word out loud. Reading was futile. I’d turn the page and couldn’t remember was I just read. I remember being so scared that this was it. My oncologist was so optimistic but d**n I was scared. I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired.
About a third of the way through, I’d come home feeling miserable and would usually end up crying and swearing I was done with chemo and wasn’t going back. But then Monday would roll around again and I would be back in chair for six hours with my heated blanket and the most caring and empathetic oncology team that ever was.
I’ve been in complete remission since April of 2011. And I don’t take a single solitary day for granted. 💚
F**K CANCER!!!!
Chemo was so debilitating. I was sleeping 20+ hours a day. The chemo brain was terrifying … I could see a cup in my head and the letters c-u-p would be over it but I couldn’t say the word out loud. Reading was futile. I’d turn the page and couldn’t remember was I just read. I remember being so scared that this was it. My oncologist was so optimistic but d**n I was scared. I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired.
About a third of the way through, I’d come home feeling miserable and would usually end up crying and swearing I was done with chemo and wasn’t going back. But then Monday would roll around again and I would be back in chair for six hours with my heated blanket and the most caring and empathetic oncology team that ever was.
I’ve been in complete remission since April of 2011. And I don’t take a single solitary day for granted. 💚
F**K CANCER!!!!
52points
#2
Burns to 76% of my body. Coma for a month and a half. Hospital/rehab learn to walk again for a year. Back to school to retrain 3 years later. Back to work new job 9 years later.
35points
#3
COVID caused me to develop something called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. I’ve basically become allergic to the world. I never thought I’d be writing my will this week because no medication is able to help me come out of my recent flare up - I can’t keep any food down, I go into anaphylaxis from Benadryl (of all things!) and just about any other oral pill, my liver’s throwing a fit, and I’ve got crushing depression about the state of my life. I wouldn’t wish this illness on my worst enemy.
32points
#4
I’ve had kidney stones five or six times in my life. About ten years ago after I had first gotten married, I got my third bout of them. Cue the instantaneous, gut-wrenching, all consuming pain and the vomiting, the whole 9 yards. I go to the ER. They do a scan, say yep kidney stones, hook me up on d******d, write me a prescription for oxy, and send me home.
On the way home I fill my prescription just as the pain comes crashing back in. Clearly my d******d is wearing off. I figure I’ll have to suffer a day or so of this before the stone either passes or quits moving, which is what had happened before. (I assume they have always just ended up in my bladder and not been passed because I have never seen/felt/heard one leave.
48 hours later and the pain has never let up, not for a moment. I’m running out of oxy. I go back to the ER, thinking maybe it’s too large. Something. They give me more d******d, more oxy, another scan, say to keep waiting, and send me home again.
After 3 more days of this I’m delirious. I’m living in the bathtub as it’s the only way I can receive a moment of relief, taking the pain from a 12 to a 10. Seriously, I put a pillow in there and everything. When the hot water ran out I would cry until the tank refilled and I could fill the tub again. I remember staring into the big silver plate thing that is supposed to keep the tub from overflowing and hallucinating from pain. I felt like I was part of the steam vapor and I could escape into the drain hole. At this point I’m popping oxy every hour and it’s barely putting a dent in it.
Finally, my parents and husband realize that I’m going to d*e unless someone helps me so they take me back to the ER and begin yelling until finally they refer me to the urologist who I can only describe as an aged Dr. House in a tie-dye t-shirt. He was furious after seeing my scans, realizing the tubes that connect my kidneys to my bladder were misshapen, and that I would never pass a stone on my own without surgery. He scheduled my surgery for 3 hours later, I sat in his waiting room sobbing with gratitude until an old woman next to me clearly thought I had received some life-shattering news and gave me some of her tissues.
3 hours later my tubes were reconstructed, the stone was gone, a stent was in its place and I was on the road to recovery, albeit with a mild o****d a*******n I had to withdraw from. I don’t wish this on my worst enemy.
On the way home I fill my prescription just as the pain comes crashing back in. Clearly my d******d is wearing off. I figure I’ll have to suffer a day or so of this before the stone either passes or quits moving, which is what had happened before. (I assume they have always just ended up in my bladder and not been passed because I have never seen/felt/heard one leave.
48 hours later and the pain has never let up, not for a moment. I’m running out of oxy. I go back to the ER, thinking maybe it’s too large. Something. They give me more d******d, more oxy, another scan, say to keep waiting, and send me home again.
After 3 more days of this I’m delirious. I’m living in the bathtub as it’s the only way I can receive a moment of relief, taking the pain from a 12 to a 10. Seriously, I put a pillow in there and everything. When the hot water ran out I would cry until the tank refilled and I could fill the tub again. I remember staring into the big silver plate thing that is supposed to keep the tub from overflowing and hallucinating from pain. I felt like I was part of the steam vapor and I could escape into the drain hole. At this point I’m popping oxy every hour and it’s barely putting a dent in it.
Finally, my parents and husband realize that I’m going to d*e unless someone helps me so they take me back to the ER and begin yelling until finally they refer me to the urologist who I can only describe as an aged Dr. House in a tie-dye t-shirt. He was furious after seeing my scans, realizing the tubes that connect my kidneys to my bladder were misshapen, and that I would never pass a stone on my own without surgery. He scheduled my surgery for 3 hours later, I sat in his waiting room sobbing with gratitude until an old woman next to me clearly thought I had received some life-shattering news and gave me some of her tissues.
3 hours later my tubes were reconstructed, the stone was gone, a stent was in its place and I was on the road to recovery, albeit with a mild o****d a*******n I had to withdraw from. I don’t wish this on my worst enemy.
32points
#5
Mono, 30 days in bed. Didn't matter how much water I drank I was always thirsty. My bedroom stunk like sick.
Edit anecdotally: Our dog would only sleep with my brother, but the entire time I had mono he slept on my pillow by my head.
Edit anecdotally: Our dog would only sleep with my brother, but the entire time I had mono he slept on my pillow by my head.
30points
#6
Hyperemesis gravidarum with my second child. Puking 15-20 times a day. Couldn't keep ANYTHING down, if a sip of water touched my lips it came right back up. Lost 10 lbs in the first week it hit. Got so weak and dehydrated that my heart would start racing every time I stood up. I had an 18 month old to take care of too and I remember pulling a kitchen chair around behind me as I made her lunch because I couldnt stand without getting tunnel vision and feeling like my heart would give out. After multiple ER stays and different d**g combos, I finally found a combination that brought the puking down to 2-4 times a day and I could keep down Pedialyte popsicles and fruit blended with ice. Eventually was able to somewhat eat for the rest of the pregnancy. My husband thought I was going to d*e. No more pregnancies for me!
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24points
#7
I went into a Bipolar episode at the age of 15 and was put on an SSRI because the doctor I saw didn’t know, and I was catapulted into a much worse mixed episode where I went psychotic, called the cops, ended up in inpatient for weeks I don’t even know how much time passed. I guess I’m pretty healthy all things considered for that to be my worst sickness. I have been on meds a long time and am doing great!
23points
#8
When I had raw Covid in January of 2020, before anyone even knew it existed (found out later). I lost my sense of taste, and I was so sick every heart beat felt like it would be the last one. I was on the phone crying to my doctor because it was a full TEN DAYS after the fever had broken and I still could only drag myself to the bathroom and back to bed and that took every bit of strength in my body. The sense of malaise was totally overpowering. It took months to recover.
I’ve never been the same. My immune system has never been the same. I had Covid twice more after vaccination and it was nothing like that!
I’ve never been the same. My immune system has never been the same. I had Covid twice more after vaccination and it was nothing like that!
22points
#9
Two things - Long Covid in 2023. I still have a cough.
(Not shaming, just stating and I'm still fat): Obesity. I'm a small lady and I weighed 126kg / 277 pounds. I couldn't walk, would get out of breath walking to the letterbox or any slight incline. My blood pressure was through the roof and my mental health in the sewer. My feet would swell all the time. I have lost 25% since and I no longer weigh myself, but being able to walk without losing breath and run up stairs is AMAZING.
(Not shaming, just stating and I'm still fat): Obesity. I'm a small lady and I weighed 126kg / 277 pounds. I couldn't walk, would get out of breath walking to the letterbox or any slight incline. My blood pressure was through the roof and my mental health in the sewer. My feet would swell all the time. I have lost 25% since and I no longer weigh myself, but being able to walk without losing breath and run up stairs is AMAZING.
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21points
#10
I’ve been fortunate to not have any acute illnesses that required hospitalization. But for chronic illness…my brain is herniating out of my skull. It’s called Chiari malformation and having your brainstem compressed and flow of your cerebral spinal fluid blocked feels like s**t. The headaches are unreal. It took years of worsening symptoms to get diagnosed, and boy was that a surprise. I didn’t even know it was a thing. Apparently neither did most of the radiologists in town, but I digress. I collected a couple of new diagnoses like trigeminal neuralgia while getting worked up for the Chiari and they are also trash.
Anyway, I work a fairly high stress job and I’d drag myself into work every day, claw my way through the day, hobble out of my car in the afternoon when I got home, and then sit and count the hours until bedtime. I had terrible insomnia from the pain and the aforementioned brainstem compression, so I’d get really garbage sleep and then get up in the morning to do it all over again. I had surgery to give my brain a little more room and it has helped a lot with the headaches, although a lot of other symptoms still come and go and occasionally flare.
Those few years of worsening symptoms leading up to surgery, though…that was a really dark time. I let go of a lot of things I enjoyed because I didn’t have the physical resources anymore. When you say no to plans enough times, people just stop inviting you and friends slowly disappear. My life got really, really small. I’ve been living with another chronic condition my whole life and I can remember several really bad flares, but none of them topped that period in my life. Chronic illness is awful.
Anyway, I work a fairly high stress job and I’d drag myself into work every day, claw my way through the day, hobble out of my car in the afternoon when I got home, and then sit and count the hours until bedtime. I had terrible insomnia from the pain and the aforementioned brainstem compression, so I’d get really garbage sleep and then get up in the morning to do it all over again. I had surgery to give my brain a little more room and it has helped a lot with the headaches, although a lot of other symptoms still come and go and occasionally flare.
Those few years of worsening symptoms leading up to surgery, though…that was a really dark time. I let go of a lot of things I enjoyed because I didn’t have the physical resources anymore. When you say no to plans enough times, people just stop inviting you and friends slowly disappear. My life got really, really small. I’ve been living with another chronic condition my whole life and I can remember several really bad flares, but none of them topped that period in my life. Chronic illness is awful.
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21points
#11
Swine flu
Called off work. Boss said just come back when you're better.
I stocked up food my 7 year old could make for himself. I set 3 daily alarms. Drop off kid at school, pick up kid from school, put kid to bed. Don't remember doing any of those things, but apparently I did.
I sat in front of an open window in Minnesota winter pouring sweat. I remember my son bringing me food and apple juice a few times ❤️
When I started to feel better, I called my boss to say I would probably be in the next day. She sounded really concerned about me. I was confused. She said "it's been a week and a half!" I thought it had been 3, maybe 4 days.
Called off work. Boss said just come back when you're better.
I stocked up food my 7 year old could make for himself. I set 3 daily alarms. Drop off kid at school, pick up kid from school, put kid to bed. Don't remember doing any of those things, but apparently I did.
I sat in front of an open window in Minnesota winter pouring sweat. I remember my son bringing me food and apple juice a few times ❤️
When I started to feel better, I called my boss to say I would probably be in the next day. She sounded really concerned about me. I was confused. She said "it's been a week and a half!" I thought it had been 3, maybe 4 days.
20points
#12
Had meningitis as a kid and thought I was going to d*e. There was an 11 year old in the room next to me who had it and he did d*e. I was laying awake at night when he coded and I heard it all happen.
20points
#13
I had C-Diff when I was 23. Don’t Google it. It’s basically when too much antibiotics take out all of the good bacteria out of your intestines.
I had esophageal surgery when I was a teen, and it took away my ability to puke. Therefore, there was only one way things could come out — and everything went right through me. And it has a different smell too; like you’re shutting d**d animals. Plus I was dry-heaving to the point that I couldn’t keep medication down.
That last part got me admitted to the hospital for four days. It’s also extremely contagious. It was during a bad flu season, and I was the only person in the hospital with a single room. When the hospital got so overcrowded they had to give me a roommate, she had to have her own commode.
She d**d a few weeks later, and I always wondered if it was because of me. I lived (obviously) but it was awful. I lost about 30 pounds in a few weeks. This happened in early December, and the jeans I had picked out for Christmas just fell off of me.
The kicker was that the sinus infection that I was prescribed the antibiotics for wasn’t even real. The headaches were from a benign brain tumor that was finally found on a CT of my sinuses.
I had esophageal surgery when I was a teen, and it took away my ability to puke. Therefore, there was only one way things could come out — and everything went right through me. And it has a different smell too; like you’re shutting d**d animals. Plus I was dry-heaving to the point that I couldn’t keep medication down.
That last part got me admitted to the hospital for four days. It’s also extremely contagious. It was during a bad flu season, and I was the only person in the hospital with a single room. When the hospital got so overcrowded they had to give me a roommate, she had to have her own commode.
She d**d a few weeks later, and I always wondered if it was because of me. I lived (obviously) but it was awful. I lost about 30 pounds in a few weeks. This happened in early December, and the jeans I had picked out for Christmas just fell off of me.
The kicker was that the sinus infection that I was prescribed the antibiotics for wasn’t even real. The headaches were from a benign brain tumor that was finally found on a CT of my sinuses.
19points
#14
Migraine status than transformed into chronic headache. 8-9/10 pain constantly for 3 months with occasional above 10 peaks. No lights, no sounds, constant nausea, fatigue. Could not move faster than a very old tortoise or the headache would get worse. Couldn’t concentrate, had memory issues, rampant anxiety, etc. Oh, and I also had to detox Tylenol and Advil because I had been taking too much in the months prior. Only thing that helped a tiny bit was frequent sensory depravation.
All over horrible time. So painful, so boring. Do not recommend.
And yes people, I did go to the hospital and I am followed by a neurologist. I am a doctor too so please do not give me any headache advice. Thank you kindly.
All over horrible time. So painful, so boring. Do not recommend.
And yes people, I did go to the hospital and I am followed by a neurologist. I am a doctor too so please do not give me any headache advice. Thank you kindly.
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19points
#15
Went on vacation to celebrate finishing chemo. Got COVID my first morning there.
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19points
#16
2023. Got covid. Lungs went to s**t (already s**t to begin with), in the hospital, thought I was going to d*e, couldn't eat, lost 45lbs in 2 months, couldn't walk without feeling like I was going to pass out.
Then depression because I can't walk, can't smell, can't taste, need 2 inhalers a day just to breathe but still wheezing and coughing 3 years later.
Then depression because I can't walk, can't smell, can't taste, need 2 inhalers a day just to breathe but still wheezing and coughing 3 years later.
18points
#17
I don’t know what the f**k this was (my local urgent care told me it was post nasal drip), but I couldn’t breathe, my eye swelled up and started dripping pus, and I had to sleep sitting up and only got an hour of sleep a week. I remember crying sitting up on the couch at 3 AM because I was so tired but couldn’t sleep because I was in so much pain and discomfort
EDIT: An hour of sleep A NIGHT. If it were an hour a week, I probably wouldn’t be alive rn for obvious reasons.
EDIT: An hour of sleep A NIGHT. If it were an hour a week, I probably wouldn’t be alive rn for obvious reasons.
18points
#18
I got a duodenal ulcer and needed emergency surgery. Threw up black coffee ground looking vomit. I knew that was bad.
Docs got me patched up via endoscope.
I had to get two transfusions.
My hemoglobin level was below 6 and it should be around 13. Six is considered “bleed out” range.
Terrifying part is no one knows what caused it.
Funny part is my docs were two women one Ukrainian and one Russian. We talked a bit about it. They are great friends to the point where the Ukrainian is the godmother of the Russian ones kid.
America really is a nation of immigrants.
Docs got me patched up via endoscope.
I had to get two transfusions.
My hemoglobin level was below 6 and it should be around 13. Six is considered “bleed out” range.
Terrifying part is no one knows what caused it.
Funny part is my docs were two women one Ukrainian and one Russian. We talked a bit about it. They are great friends to the point where the Ukrainian is the godmother of the Russian ones kid.
America really is a nation of immigrants.
18points
#19
My toothache that last for a whole week. I can't do anything but cry in pain.
18points
#20
In July, I admitted myself into the ER because I felt so terrible. Turns out I had a bacterial infection in my gall bladder. My liver and kidneys temporarily shut down, and I was in ICU for four days. I had sepsis in my bloodstream. I almost d**d. After a course of the most powerful antibiotics available, I was fortunate to make a full recovery.
17points