Britt Jones
There are often many painful experiences that a person might go through during their lives, and often, measuring pain means that you have to encounter something even worse beforehand.
Getting kicked in the balls versus giving birth - it’s something that has been debated for years as nobody can experience both to measure which is worse.
However, there is a new experience that would apparently make either of those options very appealing in comparison.
From bee stings to broken bones, the way that we tolerate pain varies. But there is one thing that can guarantee a person to drop to the floor in utter agony.
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According to Troy Madsen, an Adjunct Professor in Emergency Medicine and Assistant Professor in Surgery at the University of Utah has witnessed his fair share of those going through this horrid experience.
On the Who Cares About Men’s Health? podcast, he explained what the worst pain a person could go through.
He said: “I don't know that I ever see anyone on a regular basis in the ER who has more pain than a person who's there with a kidney stone.
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“You can tell. You walk in the room, they're writhing… It's just incredible pain.”
If you’ve never had the displeasure of having a kidney stone and can’t imagine what it is, it’s exactly what it sounds like.
They are hard stones inside of the kidney due to a build-up of waste in the blood and they absolutely need to come out one way or another as if untreated, they can lead to severe kidney infections.
University of Utah urologist John Smith explained to IFLScience: “When stones are sitting in the kidney, they don't usually cause pain because they're not obstructing.
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“They're not bothering you.
“But when they start blocking the flow of urine and they get into the ureter, the small tube, your body tries to get rid of that by peristalsing, just the way it does when it moves food through your intestines.”
It’s this movement that starts the painful journey as if the stone is big, it can block your ureter, causing the kidney to have painful spasms.
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If the stone doesn’t pass, it can even lead to the kidney becoming nonfunctioning as the blockage and infection can make the stone act like an abscess, which can cause the person to even die if it gets so bad.
So, is this really more painful than pushing out an actual person?
Well, believe it or not there's actually been a peer-reviewed study looking into this.
In the 2017 paper, 63.3% of women who had both passed a kidney stone and given birth said the kidney stones were worse.
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And what about being kicked in the balls? Well, when men on Reddit were asked which was worse, one responded: "Imagine pissing out razor blades. Kidney stones for sure."
Another said: "Kidney stones. I've had dozens of them. If I had a choice, I'd queue up for a good nut kick with joy in my eyes."
I mean, I can’t get kicked in the balls and I’ve never had a kidney stone… but it sounds legit.