It’s the worst pain a human can feel, and there is no cure

Subjective and specific to each person, the pain can become so intense that it becomes unbearable. Women think about childbirth without an epidural, but there are worse things, according to a study published in the journal Pain by Canadian researchers from McGill University. The latter wanted to determine the worst suffering possibly endured by an individual and thus established (on the basis of questionnaires sent to hundreds of patients) a pain scale.

On it, each type of pain is associated with an index ranging from 0 to 50: 0 corresponding to “no pain”, 50 being pain that a human could not bear. For example, a sprained ankle corresponds to an index of 13, chronic back pain to an index of 25, fibromyalgia to an index of 30. Among the worst pains, we find pain felt during childbirth (index of 35), those of a finger amputation (40) or, with a score of 42 out of 50, those of an insect bite that can be found in Central and South America. South: the ant Paraponera clavata or “gun bullet”, so nicknamed because the pain is said to be comparable to that felt during a gunshot.

In first place in the ranking of the most excruciating pain is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a term which refers to a set of chronic neurological symptoms that can occur after trauma (most often to the foot or hand: fracture , operation, crush injury, amputation) and following damage to the nerves responsible for pain. We distinguish between CRPS type 1 when the pain is linked to soft tissue or bone damage and CRPS type 2 linked to nerve damage. It is the most acute form which can reach an index of 47 out of 50 on the pain scale. The worst pain a human can feel.

Even if it is difficult to describe the pain that this syndrome causes, researchers speak of a “burning”, “throbbing” pain which can spread throughout the body and resemble a sharp burn accompanied by “electric shocks”. “. In addition to pain, patients complain of edema, skin hypersensitivity and uncontrollable tremors. Psychological distress (anxiety, depression) is almost inevitable.

The evolution is difficult to predict: the syndrome can calm down spontaneously or remain stable for several months or even years. There is no cure to cure it. Only symptomatic treatments can alleviate the pain (analgesics, opiates, antidepressants, anesthetic infusions, etc.), which makes it a particularly formidable condition. In France, 50,000 people would be affected.