painful vs what the doctor ordered

painful

adj
  • Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person). 

  • Very bad, poor. 

  • Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental. 

  • Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious. 

what the doctor ordered

noun
  • Exactly what is necessary or useful in a given situation; something very beneficial or desirable. 

How often have the words painful and what the doctor ordered occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )