Does it get better after spacers?

I got my spacers in on Thursday. The istant said I had really tight contacts and to take a pain reliever for discomfort. The rest of the day it felt like I had steak or something stuck in my teeth. Very annoying, but overall not a big deal. Discomfort has to be the understatement of the year! When I woke up Friday, my entire mouth hurt worse than anything I've felt. It's so awful because the pain is all you can think about. Nothing I've taken seems to help with the pain. I'm getting my anchors Tuesday and my brackets on Friday, so I'm just curious: Is this is bad as it gets? Or is the worst yet to come? I've heard that the spacers are the worst part, because they're actually starting the moving process, but others have said the braces are much worse. If it's this bad, I don't see how I'll endure the next 6-12 months.