Having my leg almost torn off and my liver lacerated by a Jeep Cherokee, I got to experience pain for a bit. In the hospital I learned the wonderful use of self-administered opiate analogs, and when a glitch took that away right after my third operation, Boy was I freaking out! There were times associated with that accident I was in tears or screaming from pain. 50/50 I would die, then took some time to know if I would keep my leg. My lawyer LOVED me because I could describe in a very clinical AND emotional way the three layers of pain I was feeling: basic muscle pain, shooting and intense nerve pain and deep, deep, deep gut-wrenching bone pain. The lawyers for the insurance company heard me out, looked at me, looked at my lawyer and said, "You must love him." I was just being precise about what I was feeling, not focused on a settlement.

In the end all worked out, though that leg still gets a horrible feeling when touched.

Despite the pain, the whole time after the accident, I was focused on recovering. Suicide never entered my mind. Did experience depression, but not suicidal thoughts. To me those only have come up during self-indulgent periods, not genuine crises. But that is just me. And my pain was something that I expected to heal and that makes a BIG difference.