Stupid Little Things That Hurt Like Hell

by **mantis** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:02 pm

I did a number on myself this morning and it got me thinking about those stupid little wounds that aren't likely to kill you or do much damage over the long term but that hurt like hell when you first receive them.

This morning, I got up early to let the dogs out in the back yard. After they had done their business and I was heading back up the stairs to go back to sleep for another hour or so, I managed to stub the second toe (next to the big toe) on my right foot on the edge of the hardwood flooring on my stairs. Instant agony that only got worse when Is saw what I had done. I managed to rip the entire nail off all the way down to the quick! It was throbbing like mad and bleeding like a stuck pig! I hobbled to the bathroom, rinsed it under the sink, lathered on some Polysporin and applied a fabric fingertip bandage. It bled through within 20 minutes and a I added a bunch of gause which finally contained the bleeding but the throbbing lasted damned near all day despite the copious amounts of Tylenol 1s (with 5mg codeine in them) that I took to take the edge off. Obviosuly not a life-threating condition but somehting that could slow you down considerably in a SHTF situation and make bugging in or out that much less pleasant.

Papercuts are another example. They hurt worse than some deep cuts - I read that is because more nerve endings are usually involved.

What other similar wounds can you think of and, more importantly, what are your tips/tricks for treating them?

by **IANMCDEVITT** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:23 pm

Yep, know what you mean. You do bring up an important point though. If you plan on doing any heavy hiking, a toe-nail clipper is key in your gear. Gotta take care of those feet. I'll tell you a quick story........OK, I'm a paramedic, my wife's a retired FF and now charge nurse in an ER. One night about three years ago, she gets up around three in the morning, wanders into the kitchen and grabs some potato chips off the top of the fridge. OK, it's dark, she's half asleep, I'm half awake lying on the bed listening. I think she forgot that we also had some bottles on top of the frige. Among those bottles was a quart bottle of olive oil in one of those fancy, thick glass 5 pound bottles. So I hear a scrape, then a thudded "bang" as she knocks the olive oil off the TOP of the frige onto her pinkie toe.....................I mean RIGHT on the toe...........crushed it........she's now on the ground writhing in pain. I mean almost crying...........I'm lying in bed like any husband, trying to figure out how NOT to get tied to this. Start the fake snoring? Yell to her to mind her foot?.......so I figure, screw-it. I get up. walk out to the kitchen, step over her and the spilled chips(not saying a word while she's clutching her foot).......I open the firge, grab a frozen bag of peas and drop them to her while I step back over her to get to bed........We are a tough crowd here. Now that was a toe injury.

by **Caenus** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:39 pm

Worst "little thing" was a papercut on my strong side middle finger. Second joint down. Didnt think anything of it until I went to the gym and started sweating...then later when I put some chlorine in the pool...then did some yard work...then started trying to type. Damn. Finally put some neosporin on it.

by **bonanacrom** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:43 pm

Using your shin to kick a rocking chair across the room in the dark with leave you with a memory for a very long time. Moving the furniture around at night ( trick the mother used to hear when the boy ( me ) would sneak in the house at night ) messes with your memory of where things are. She did eventually stop doing this as I ended up destroying many an antique hunk of furniture with my shins, many scares to prove it.

by **majorhavoc** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:50 pm

A wood sliver, a little shaving of metal off a drywall screw or a strand of bicycle brake cable after you trim it. Sometimes a little thistle too small to even see causes me so much discomfort that it's actually a relief to carve out a little divot of flesh just to ensure I've gotten it out.

by **Caenus** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:42 pm

I've had a broken little toe...(stumbling around at night to refill a baby bottle)...wifes response? "Suck it up, that ain't broken." (and she's a nurse)

I did suck it up, and to this day that side of my foot goes numb when I run. :roll:

by **Confucius** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:46 pm

Pulling nosehairs, bruises to the shins (I've been climbing a few hundred feet of ladders a day lately and been experiencing a lot of this), breaking little nuisance bones...

by **docdredd** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:58 pm

ANYTHING that gets imbedded into your eye. Worst pain ever was a shred of glass smaller than the period at the end of this sentence that wound up in my eye.

by **Recon101** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:17 pm

It's a long story and I was little. The age of where you do stupid things not knowing enough. So little 8 year old Kimber and his dad go out fishing. Little Kimber gets excited when he catches a fish, reels it in fast. His dad comes over and gets the fish un-hooked and tosses him into the bucket. Little Kimber goes to recast his line and somehow it hooks his shirt sleeve and loops around the poor little guys arm. So little Kimber, grabs the line and pulls... I think I had 17 some lacerations (exaggeration here but I was little, only like 3 scars from it and it's not 360 degrees around scarring) my right arm. Kinda like one huge long but deeper paper cut.

by **xd dude** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:25 pm

Walking though the woods behind your buddy in the middle of winter and getting whipped in the face with a small branch. On a more personal note, the cramps I get in my big toes after they have been "curled" 8-)

by **PotatoMuncher** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:05 pm

Anything involving your shin. During MP AIT at Leonard Wood, we had to learn something called the "MP Stomp." You take your boot, turn it sideways, and scrape on down the individual's shin in a quick manner. Just to give us a hint of how painful it is, my drill sergeant gave me a little kick to my shin. He didnt full out drop kick it, but just a little one, like you're slightly kicking a soccer ball to a small child. I swear, my shin was throbbing all damn day.

by **tinythief** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:48 pm

Legos

by **xd dude** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:50 pm

PotatoMuncher wrote:Anything involving your shin. During MP AIT at Leonard Wood, we had to learn something called the "MP Stomp." You take your boot, turn it sideways, and scrape on down the individual's shin in a quick manner. Just to give us a hint of how painful it is, my drill sergeant gave me a little kick to my shin. He didnt full out drop kick it, but just a little one, like you're slightly kicking a soccer ball to a small child. I swear, my shin was throbbing all damn day.

I slipped off the cat walk of a crane at work, but I had a firm grip on the hand rail. I swung around and caught my shin on the edge of the steel tracks. Hurt like a mo-fo! It hurt so bad, I got light headed!

by **Mall Ninja** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:28 pm

Picking up a hot soldering iron by the wrong end. Not recommended.

by **majorhavoc** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:46 pm

tinythief wrote:Legos

In bare feet! I'm wincing just thinking about it!

by **ausher** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:38 pm

I've broke my back. Stubbing my toe hurts a lot worse... once there was a ball in the kitchen. I went to kick it out and didn't realize it was sitting on top of a fork and stuck it in my big toe... kids boobie trapped it...

by **xd dude** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:00 pm

When I was on the swim team in high school, I was entering the locker room through the huge heavy metal door. Someone on the other side kicked it open and the bottom of the door ripped off my big toe nail. If you didn't know what happened, it would have looked like there was an animal slaughtered there.

by **Zimmy** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:22 pm

Anytime I bump my head hard right on top. Rafters, piping, and roll up doors are common causes. :vmad:

Dang that hurts! It feels as if The Fates are being just-plain-rude to me when that happens.

by **lowjohn19** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:32 pm

Getting hit or scraped on the ear. Usually treated with copious amounts of swearing and stomping around.

by **BullOnParade** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:39 pm

Working in a machine shop you learn a few.

Tiny metal slivers - steel is way more irritating than wood. You'll go crazy if you don't get it out, even if (as mentioned above) it means cutting away a much larger area to be sure you get it.

Touching a grinding wheel - I've done it once, it wasn't deep, and it felt like constant rug burn for a week. I've heard horror stories of guys going deeper, I imagine an impromptu grinding of your finger bones wouldn't heal well in the best of conditions.

by **Confucius** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:42 pm

BullOnParade wrote:Touching a grinding wheel - I've done it once, it wasn't deep, and it felt like constant rug burn for a week. I've heard horror stories of guys going deeper, I imagine an impromptu grinding of your finger bones wouldn't heal well in the best of conditions.

Oof yeah, I ground a little vee out of my thumb on accident once.

Little one, but jeez it hurt...

by **KentsOkay** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:05 am

I once broke my pinky toe on one of my weights. If I wasn't such a miserly bastard, I would have called out of work that day. Shins (default target along with nose, knees, and nuts when fighting people bigger than me... which is about everyone) are pretty painful, but the most constant agony pain I have ever been in was an ingrown toenail on my big toe. Most embarrassing pain would have to be the time I shut my pre pubescent boy belly into a drawer. I have been dedicated to the pursuit of perfect abs ever since.

by **Dawgboy** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 1:16 am

I ground the top of my left pinky off with a 4"x 24" Makita belt sander. Just from the tip to the 1st knuckle. That was some of the worst pain I have ever experienced. The nail bed was completely gon except a tiny little bit along the inner edge and the doc was talking about grafting a toenail on to replace it, but the nail grew back on its own, and for about 5 years I could stick a paper match under it.

Another thing that hurts a lot is banging your head on the knife edge of a ship hatch. I second the shins though, I have permanent scars from the knife edge and took to wearing shin guards when on duty in bad weather.

by **Sckitzo** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 1:41 am

majorhavoc wrote:
tinythief wrote:Legos

In bare feet! I'm wincing just thinking about it!

Those bastards should be weaponized :gonk:

Kidney Stones get my vote, fuck those thing, especially when you get then every 9 months or so.

Just realized that really doesn't count, so going with OP, I only ripped off half my nail and that was horrific. Then the nail fell off in my bed one night and I woke up to stabbing me in the foot.