I keep hearing a rumor that passing a kidney stone hurts worse than labor. Is it true?

I don’t know but today I did learn that apparently getting kicked in the nuts is worth the pain of 160 labors…I’m assuming hearing about some men’s reactions to this news will hurt more than that many labors.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That was a confusing post! Getting kicked in the nuts is 160 times worse than labor? Is that what you were saying? Well, that, obviously, doesn’t qualify as only men have nuts ergo they can’t compare the pain to labor.

I don’t know about a kidney stone, but I had a girlfriend who wound up in the emergency for pain she discribed as “worse than labor.” The doctor asked her if she had any children, and she said she had three. He said back, “then it is your gall bladder.” My husband described his gall stones as extremely painful.

I guess with kidney stones the stone is cutting into you and the urine would sting the area, while labor is a muscular pain I would imagine. I have never been in labor. Giving birth is a different story, that certainly can feel like you are being torn apart. I hear everything from the pain being not so bad to the worst thing imaginable.

@Dutchess_III They’ve tested this, specifically and they can too make this comparison, scientifically by measuring nerve endings and pain sensors, etc.

Hm. So they hook a guy up to sensors and then kick him in the nuts and measure it?

Yeah—who volunteered for that?

I had kidney stones at the same time I had an enlarged prostate. Yes, very painful.
I was with my wife when both kids were born, and that seemed like a day at the water slides compared to the kidney stones.

How can anyone know?

I’ve had both. The kidney stones were worse because they were unrelenting and lasted for over a week (and then recovery from lithotripsy and a swollen urethra). The labor was over within a day. It hurt like heck, but once those endorphins kicked in after delivery, I felt great. I didn’t even know I’d had an episiotomy nor could I feel being stitched back together.

Ah – I forgot that women can have them too. I always think of men as needing to pass them.

@janbb Supposedly worse for men because the stone has a longer distance to travel. Longer urethra.

This is my memory of kidney stones. My grandfather had acute pancreatic inflammation and was in excruciating pain and was on death’s door. At the hospital, he got a new room mate with a kidney stone. My grandfather said ..

” Kidney stone? I would NOT trade places with you for a minute!”

That told me everything I needed to know about that!

I haven’t had labor to tell you, but I thought kidney stones weren’t that bad. Not as bad as they’re talked up to be, I guess. I’ve even passed a teeny tiny one in my sleep. I’ve had much worse pain. Maybe I have just forgotten the pain because it was a few years ago. I was also lucky in that mine worked their way out within one day. I had one stone that was too big to pass so it had to be pulverized (lithotripsy) and I’ve had several others that I just had to pass on my own. I know I vomited one time while passing one so maybe it was worse than I’m remembering. The worst part is the end of the urater, because it’s the narrowest part, but fortunately at that point it’s almost over.

They are worse for men. Women usually only have pain while they’re going through the uraters. Our urethras are wide enough that we don’t normally feel much when they exit the bladder. Men, however, have long, narrow urethras, so they get the urater pain plus the urethra pain. Fun. Unfortunately, there’s no way to compare labor pain to their experience of kidney stones.

I know someone who was told this by their doctopr when they were rushed to hospital for kidney stones. I never did ask if the doctor was male or female though!

As being someone who has passed a couple of kidney stones but never having given birth I can’t make an honest comparison. I can however tell you that I would rather shoot myself in the foot with a 45, then dip my foot in a hot alcohol bath, yell racial slurs in Compton while dressed in bacon pants.
Also having been someone who has lived through 3rd degree burns, having both of my eyes cut on the sides and corners and corneas scarred, appendicitis, broken collar bone in three spots, broken arm poking through the skin, broken ankle, toe and dislocated shoulder….None of these things even came close to the pain I felt with the stones. It was crippling.

@judochop So much of that was hilarious.

I almost hate to say this but….
I have passed three, and had no pain whatsoever. The doctor told me why, but it is NSFW

I passed one, and it was horrible. Five hours on the bathroom floor with the cold sweats. So much pain that I couldn’t bring myself to a sitting position. The fear made it even worse. I had no idea what was happening to me. I seriously thought my organs were exploding. It’s the perfect example of “after one hour you’re afraid you might die; after two you’re afraid you won’t”.

I guess there is no real way to answer this. For some women, even using no drugs, labor isn’t “that bad.” Others will tell you they were in HORRIBLE pain…and that was before the epidural. Here, some are saying passing a stone is no big deal, others feel like they were dying.
For the record, when I was in a labor I remember thinking I’d rather have my limbs chopped off one at a time than to ever have to go through another contraction. I honestly don’t think I would have even noticed, if it happened during a contraction. I felt like I was dying. I was ready to die.