how do you know if your rib is broken?

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I have heard of people breaking ribs when they had a bad cold or flu from coughing so hard.  A few days ago, I was certainly coughing hard enough to do some sort of damage, but in my case I thought sure I was going to cough out a baby.  Anyway, for the last two days, it's felt like the baby's foot was hung up in my rib cage on the left side.  It's been painful to bend, lift, etc., but bearable.  Yesterday evening, the baby moved his/her foot from the front of my rib cage to the back side and implanted it as hard as possible.  Well, kids and I went to the grocery store a little while ago, and as I rounded a corner in the dairy department, something slipped and popped in my ribs, and it hurt like nobody's business...  I yelped out loud and then felt idiotic and hoped no one had noticed.  It is still hurting like crazy.  I can't even stand to breathe deep.  Every little bump on the road home hurt, as did stopping at stop signs, etc.  You think it's just the baby kicking me in the ribs or is it something else?  I've never heard of something like this.  Helping the kids out of the truck was excruciating, as was carrying in groceries (one small bag at a time because I couldn't handle more.)

[Willy]

In my earlyer years I would cough to the point of allmost puking and have done the same thing several times. I allways figured I pulled/strained/torn a mussle not broke a rib. It would take a while to heal up and time is what takes care of it. Some pain medication can help knocking the edge off but realy not much else can be done for a broken rib either. Mark

[rwanders]

Another possibility is that you dislocated a rib----they are connected by cartilage and can definitely slip out of location. My wife has one that does so occasionally----she has found a chiropractor can usually put it back into place. Sometimes I can, with her directing, do so for her also. It is definitely a painful condition----broken or dislocated or bruised all feel about the same. I slipped on ice last year and spent about three very uncomfortable weeks. Xrays ruled out breaks, but doc said I had badly bruised and dislocated the ribs.  You have my heartfelt sympathy!!

[peternap]

As already said, they all feel about the same except a true break where there is separation of the bone. I actually broke one in 1972 and it is still one of the low points of my life. I doubt you did that though.

Use an elastic band. It will help.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Maybe maternity hose with the high "control top"...    That's IFF I can bend over to put them on!!!

[Sassy]

We have patients come in fairly frequently who have coughed so hard they've pulled their intercostal muscles (between the ribs holding them in place); we've had them occasionally crack a rib -usually an elderly patient whose bones are more frail.  There's not a whole lot that the docs do except give pain medication - they used to put a binder around your chest but rarely do that anymore.

The problem with having so much pain you can't breathe deeply is you set yourself up for pneumonia because all the secretions just sit at the base of the lungs...  when you are coughing or deep breathing, splint the painful area with a pillow.

There is also pleurisy when you get fluid between the outside lining & inside lining of the lung - that can be extremely painful - I had that one time when I was around 20 y/o & thought I was having a heart attack - could only lie on the bed & breathe really shallow...  not fun    Anyway, HG, hope you are feeling better - you're having a rough time of it...   

[benevolance]

not much you can do... rest and let it heal.... and avoid any medication or food that will harden your stool...Going to the bathroom will hurt bad enough... if you take a bunch of pain medication and you get bound up... going to the bathroom for number two is going to be the most painful thing you have ever experienced...Avoid coughing or laughing also....

drink liquids and take something like metamucil if necessary... that is what I did after I had problems and almost died trying to force things out......I broke my arm once and it was a cakewalk compared to the pain of a broken rib

fiber is your friend for the next month or so

[muldoon]

I did the same thing back around the first of the year with a very bad flu.  My doctor told me it was torn rib cartilidge in my case and it was extremely uncomfortable and painful.  It was 6-8 weeks to heal but even now three months later I still get twinges of pain every now and then from it.  I used some leftover vicodin/hydrocodone from when I hurt my back a few years ago annd took that for about two weeks. 

For me it was the hardest to get in and out of bed or chairs.  Laughing or coughing hurts, but it does get better over time.  The goods new, I also gained a new weather detector; now when a coldfront and storm are coming my knees and my chest hurts. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I lounged around in bed this morning until the kids got up.  It is still sore as all get out, but it is not quite as painful as it was yesterday on the way home from the store.  Standing up from a sitting position is painful, as is coughing.  Rolling over during the night was also pretty tough.  The house we're renting has a big jacuzzi tub in the master bath... something I always thought was for rich folk or sissies, but I used it last night and it seemed to help.  One thing I will say... don't ever put bubble bath in a jacuzzi.    I thought it might be nice, so I put just a little in, about the amount I'd have put in a bath for the kids.  Soon, the bubbles were passing up my chin and I had to turn the pump off so that I could hoist myself out and scoop out bubbles!  I filled the shower and the sink with excess bubbles three different times and still they'd go crazy every time I turned on the pump!  It reminded me of the time some pranksters poured a whole box of Mr. Bubble in the fountain on the center of my college campus and bubbles filled up the library lawn.  Of course, my husband thought it was hilarious, so he took pictures of me buried in a sea of bubbles, and I wasn't exactly mobile enough to chase him off...

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

And Muldoon, I'm really hoping this is over with in less than 6-8 weeks! Whew!  I don't need any more weather detectors at this point.  My right hand and wrist work just fine.    Lifting the kids out of the tub was killer,or picking them up and putting them in my lap.  Last night, I stewed a whole chicken for dinner and just getting the pot out of the cabinet was painful... so it sounds like you all know what you're talking about.  I figure that even if I did call the doctor over it, it wouldn't do much good because when you're pregnant, they'll just tell you to take tylenol, and tylenol messes with my stomach unless I have a full stomach, which I haven't had in days because everything seems to send my blood sugar skyrocketing.     so, I'll hobble around like I'm 90 for a while I guess, and sit in that sissified jacuzzi when I get a chance.  My 5-year-old told me a little while ago that the master bathroom in this house looks like "a princess bathroom".  Then she asked me if this was a castle.  I love kids.  Next mission is to see if I can figure out where the movers packed the bengay... probably, seeing the way they packed the rest of the house, it is in one of the 101 boxes marked "Kitchen" that has nothing to do with a kitchen.  Am beginning to wonder if kitchen was the only English name they knew for a room in a house? 

[benevolance]

not a big fan of people popping vicodin either........then again I am not a fan of any kind of pills

[tanya]

First the good news, it sounds like you have probably hurt your muscles.  When I had a broken rib the thing I noticed most was how much more painful it was the next morning after laying still all night.  Now some more good news, it will probably get better faster than if you weren't pregnant because pregnant women tend to heal faster.  I don't know what to do about those baby's who stick their feet up in the ribs.  My daughter did it and so did her baby.  Don't wear a band or any other restrictive thing on your chest, it really increases the chances of pnemonia.  Use the pillow, just hold it tight against your chest whenever you have to cough, or get up etc.  You will get through this and it wont be long now. 

[glenn kangiser]

how do you know if your rib is broken?

Possibly if you can toast marshmallows on the end of it while warming yourself by the wood stove?

Sorry Homegrown.   It just hit me. 

[peternap]

how do you know if your rib is broken?

Possibly if you can toast marshmallows on the end of it while warming yourself by the wood stove?

Sorry Homegrown.   It just hit me. 

They do have a spare...don't they !

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

  Might be less painful if I COULD do that... just take the darn thing out.  Still hurting... was really hoping it was just a muscle thing that would heal up in a couple of days of lazing around.  Hasn't happened.  And I really am going crazy to get the house unpacked.  Grrr.

[Redoverfarm]

HT us men have already given you one rib and you aint getting anymore. The real problem with ribs us that there is no good way to imobilize them so that they will heal.  Every movement just pulls them again.  And I'm sure the little one is adding to the problem as well.

[glenn kangiser]

how do you know if your rib is broken?

Possibly if you can toast marshmallows on the end of it while warming yourself by the wood stove?

Sorry Homegrown.   It just hit me. 

They do have a spare...don't they !

I believe that is true, Peter. 

Here's the story as I heard it --- not sure where -- maybe e-mail --John?  It's not my fault, Homegrown.

Adam was walking around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely. So God asked him, "What is the matter?"

Adam said he didn't have any one to talk to.

God said that he was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman. He told him, "This person will gather food for you, cook for you, and when you discover clothing, she'll wash it for you. She will always agree with every decision you make. She will bear your children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will not nag you, and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will never have a headache, and will freely give you love and passion whenever you want it."

Adam asked God, "What will a woman like this cost?"

God replied, "A woman that special will cost an arm and a leg."

Then Adam asked, "What can I get for a rib"?

[peternap]

 

Your gonna get stir fry for a week!

[glenn kangiser]

I should be so lucky.

[Deana]

You could try comfrey leaf poultice.  I buy comfrey by the big bagful at the health food store. I either broke a bone or tore/sprained something in my ankle last summer, it swelled up to larger than my thigh and I was too cheap to go to urgent care if it was just a sprain so I tried the comfrey and swear it is a miracle worker. To make it you dump a bunch of leaves onto a thin piece of fabric like muslin, wrap it up like a giant tea bag, soak with hot/warm water then squeeze out the excess and wrap it around the area.  When it dries, just re-wet it. I put new leaves in each day. By the end of the day you will notice a huge difference, and each day it will feel much better.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well, good news everyone... when I got out of the truck today at my grandma's house, it popped again and is apparently back where it should  have been... the muscles are still sore, but not nearly like the stabbing awful pain before 

[gandalfthegrey]

Make sure you do not take internally since you are pregnant.  Comfrey can cause kidney failure.  I do however agree with Deanna on the politest.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

It is definitely better today... still sore muscle wise, but whatever was out of place went back into place (or at least a lot closer to it...)  Feel like getting some stuff done around here finally!!!

[glenn kangiser]

Good to hear you're doing better.