Rib pain

[Kate261]

Hi all, hope you are feeling healthy this horrible Friday morning!

I just wondered if any of you had had similar to me, I have had a few bouts of rib pain on one side where it feels like bruising and is sensitive to touch, I think it aligns itself with when I’m feeling a bit low or with a flare up of asthma. I spoke a while back with the Dr and he said it’s because I have dysfunctional breathing and that accounts for it but I just wondered whether anyone had it and whether I should be getting it checked if I still have it on and off despite being all the meds under the sun!?

Many thanks in advance!

Kate

[HungryHufflepuff]

I’ve had it and didn’t know it’s A Thing until recently, but apparently it is a thing you get with respiratory problems. In the past it’s been so bad I’ve had to roll out of bed because I couldn’t sit up, or I’ve had to crawl instead of walk. It’s really horrible! Best wishes to you 👍

[Kate261 in reply to HungryHufflepuff]

Thank you! So weird isn’t it, just feels so painful in one spot! Glad I’m not alone though! Thank you, I hope you have a good winter and keep well

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

Rib pains are quite common with asthma cause we breathe ‘funny’. For that I’d suggest seeing an osteopath (tooting my own profession here!). We can’t do a lot for asthma but are brilliant for the musculoskeletal ‘side effects’. If nothing else they’ll be able to tell you if you need to see someone about it or not, as well as treat it ☺️

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon x

[Kate261 in reply to EmmaF91]

Thank you for the advice, I’ll look into it it goes in waves so sometimes I don’t have it and other times it catches me unawares! Thank you x

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador]

Hi Kate, yep I get this quite a bit - sometimes in one spot and sometimes everywhere. Before and after a relatively bad hospital admission in Oct my chest was aching every morning when I woke up - the morning after I got home I felt like I'd done some massive workout! I have had that before after admissions but not every time - didn't really have it after a less bad one in November but it took a while to subside after Oct.

I have seen a lot of physios and got any dysfunctional breathing pattern under control now so for me I think it is related to the asthma, and I do notice the random stabbing pains also correlating with asthma flares. Might be because chest works quite hard during an attack! I'm not always convinced by how dysfunctional breathing is used to explain various things, but it may be that a respiratory physio could help, or as Emma says maybe an osteopath - not seen one myself so can't comment if it is useful for this.

[Kate261 in reply to Lysistrata]

Thanks so much, it just seems so weird and random so I was just a bit concerned! It’s the bruising feeling that’s so odd, not like a pulled muscle feeling but physical bruise but no sign of it! I have a slight sinus infection atm, which is a regular occurrence so maybe it’s all to do with that!

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, hope you keep well over winter

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador in reply to Kate261]

I have realised that my ribs are pretty much permanently sensitive to touch and then also get spontaneous extra pains! The pain I describe from before/after the admission is like an intense ache if that makes sense - not like a pulled muscle so much as someone ran over my chest...

I should add that my asthma is pretty much permanently misbehaving, which may explain why mine is so persistent - saying this in case you were concerned yours is likely to be this persistent. I don't know what your asthma is like and if you see a consultant or anything, but I hope they listen to you on this! I find it can be hard at times to get them to listen to more unusual symptoms, and I tend to get a brush-off with 'that's xyz' (when they don't really know and I wish they'd be honest about it) or 'don't worry' (I wasn't asking for reassurance, though I suppose it's a natural reaction to someone asking about chest pain - but in my case I want them to know about it as it might be a sign of asthma flaring, not because I am worried so much!)

[Spikedog66]

Maybe your pain chostocondritis ( inflammation of ribs and or sternum) try some pain relief and heat to see if this helps. A member told me about serrapeptase from Holland and Barrett which helps but I needed to be take it for a while to help symptoms. Hope this helps😊

[RD23]

I always ache after a bad attack and my ribs can feel touch sensitive for at least a week, if not longer. I also get the ‘feeling like you’ve been run over’ after an attack, whereas when I’m having the attack it’s more like an elephant is sitting on my chest!

I see an osteopath as I hunch my shoulders when I have an attack and it just makes my shoulders go like concrete. He also does gentle stretches with me to help my ribs which works and as I also have vocal cord dysfunction, I’ve been told to try and keep the area round my shoulders lose as it’s better for my vcd.