Rib Pain

[marisalynn]

Over the past 3-4 days, I have started having pain in my mid back on the left side. It has gradually gotten worse, and now is on my left side, about mid rib cage and more in front. I went to my primary care physician yesterday, and they did a chest and a rib X-ray, which were fine. She said that it is probably cartilage or nerve irritation. It hurts the most when I cough, but some also when lifting my daughter. The dr gave me a medrol dose pack, and some antibiotics, because I also have a chest cold right now. I am also taking ibuprofen and using a heating pad. Anyone have this happen or have any suggestions?

Marisa 26 w/CF

 

[MichaelL]

I've had this happen several times. It's really miserable and makes lung clearance difficult given the pain when coughing. I do the same things you are -- heat pad and ibuprofen. My massage therapist told me to lay sideways on a pillow -- in your case lay on your right side -- when doing the heat pad. This opens up your ribs and allows the heat to get into the cartilage. I also massage the most painful areas by rubbing them with my fingers after the heat pad. Another thing that can help with healing is to brace your ribs when you cough. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[kosdancer]

This may or may not be your issue, but we can actually displace our ribs from coughing. I don't know that it would necessarily show up on an x-ray but there are some people who can fix it. This is a list of certified functional manual therapists which basically means that they literally move your ribs back in place if that is the issue: http://www.surfacehippyinfo.com/pre-post-op/list-of-pts/
It may sound a little crazy but I seriously can't recommend looking into this enough. This has been a problem for me for about 5 years and my PT has helped me so, so much. I rarely have rib pain anymore.

 

[LittleLab4CF]

Ooh, that sounds painful! Last year I had what may be the same thing. They diagnosed me with pleural effusion, a first time for me. Not pleurisy, which is terribly painful, this is unlike any chest pain ever. Each cough, eh-hem, or tickle precipitated a body wide spasm of pain. I also was experiencing hemoptysis or coughing up large blood clots at the same time. Does this fit your symptoms in any way?

Growing up, I was drafted to help on my uncle's ranch. With calves outweighing me when I first started, my ribs must have been a natural target for their hooves. Try taping your ribs. Utube probably has a dozen videos on proper technique. It really helps!

LL