So 2 weeks ago, my 2 year old was being extremely funny and I was laughing very hard. Afterwards my ribs, well actually one of my ribs, was very sore. It hurt to breathe, to stand, to cough/sneeze, etc. After a few days the pain died down a bit but it never really went away. I have not gone to the doctor because I seriously doubt that I could have done anything by laughing. I was thinking that I could have possibly sprained a muscle or something. Nothing to go to the doctor over in my book.
Well now, 2 weeks later, I had a dry throat and was coughing pretty hard for about a minute. The rib pain is back with a vengeance! I REALLY do not want to go to the doctor over this, so I'm looking for some home remedies or at least some home pain relievers. Ice helps, and lying down helps. I don't really want to take any pain medication unless the pain becomes unbearable, so any other suggestions you can give me would be appreciated.
Please no 'You need to go to the doctor' responses. If this continues for another couple weeks, I will suck it up an go in. Until then, I'd like to try to just ride this out.
Mama Duck - I actually just meant any kind of pain medication including over the counter. I really don't like using that stuff unless it's absolutely necessary.
Thanks guys! I have some ace elastic wraps from when I hurt my wrist so maybe I'll try to wrap it and see what happens.
P.S The cough that I had was just from a dry throat, not a sickness. A glass of water cleared it right up! :)
I did that a few weeks ago too! Isn't it funny? Ha Ha. I laid on my tummy on the floor and my husband just rubbed my back and he slid a rib in. Apparently I had slipped it out when I was laughing so hard. Maybe try that? Ibuprfen helped a lot. If nothing else, I would try a chiropractor before a doctor personally. Good luck feeling better and don't laugh so much! :)
It *IS* possible to pop a rib out of place. And sometimes it will spontaneously pop back in, but sometimes you'll need a doctor to pop it back for you.
Pain is your body's way of telling you that something is WRONG and needs attention. Please don't just "ride it out."
Ouch. That hurts. The most a doctor can do for you is wrap your ribs, tell you not to pick up anything over 20 lbs and take ibuprofen for the pain and inflammation.
If it continues/persists and you find you have shortness of breath? Then yeah - warrants a doctor's visit. IF you broke a rib - the last thing you want to happen is for it to puncture a lung.
I've had that before (from laughing). I went to the chiro and I had a rib that was out of place. He popped it back in (and adjusted the rest of me) and I felt sooooo much better!
If it keeps bothering you, try going to a chiropractor. In the meantime, wrap your ribs (tightly) and take something for the cough. See if that helps.
*hugs*
Really there's not much a doctor can do for you.
It could easily be a torn ligament or cartilage.
The only thing that should cause you to see a Dr is if you felt a really sharp pain, had really bad bruising or started coughing up blood.
If you broke a rib and splinters were piercing you inside - you would need some medical attention to avoid further injury.
If the rib is just cracked or just torn soft connective tissue - sure - it'll hurt like heck, but there's not much to do but wrap it firmly, avoid lifting heavy loads and possibly put your arm on that side in a sling (to keep you from reaching over your head or reaching anywhere - that would stretch that rib area and you don't want to do that).
As far as pain relievers go, rotate Tylenol and Advil.
For a bone or soft tissue injury - it could be 6-8 weeks before it heals up.
Do what you can to control that cough and hope you don't have to sneeze for awhile.
I have slipping rib syndrome. A chiropractor can help with that!! They don't even have to "pop" you to fix it. Not a good one, anyway. Oh, and ice is for the immediate. When it first happens, use ice. after the first day, use heat. Take a hot bath with Epsom salt. Get a heating pad. Do NOT use dry heat. (The kind that plug in.) Buy one that you put in the microwave, those are considered moist heat. This is what every doctor I've seen about my ribs has told me. (The ice vs. heat thing.) Good luck!
I have done this also and its no fun. Massage can help even a little tigerbalm or similar. Then when you cough, make sure you hug a pillow so that you support your ribs while you cough. It helps alot. As far as that, pain meds could help like you suggested or possibly a little stretching like pilates might help as well. Good luck!
You probably broke a rib. I did it from coughing and was 6 mos pregnant! They don't recommend you wrap it anymore. There really isn't much you can do other than rest it and take some pain meds.
What you describe happened to me when I was playing with my son one day. He weighed 18 pounds and I was lifting him up with my arms while I was laying on the floor. His foot came down and all of a sudden his toe went in between my ribs along with some of his 18 pounds.
It hurt but not too bad. After a few weeks, like you, I developed a cough. And one day after a particularly bad coughing fit, I heard and felt something pop. It hurt so much that I ended up driving to the critical care clinic from work and asking for an xray because I thought I must have broken a rib. It turned out that there is cartilege between the ribs, and the cartilege was pulled away from the rib and that's what hurt.
They wrapped my ribs and boy did that feel better! Cough meds helped too, of course! But the biggest thing is that I was not allowed to left anything, including my son, for a month. That was hard, but totally necessary.
So, wrap your ribs. Don't lift anything and take care of your cough. Hopefully this will take care of it.
Dawn
Co-worker broke a rib coughing (and also found out that her stuff had turned to pneumonia) - and dad broke one or two of the bones in his back from coughing ... they don't wrap the ribs anymore, but did give him a brace for the back.
I once got costochondritis, which is an inflammation of the cartilage between the rib cage. I basically just had to take ibuprofen to take care of the inflammation and it eventually resolved itself. I'm not sure what you mean by no pain meds, I assume you meant prescription.
