Anyone ever have a fractured rib?

[Maxi'sMinis]

The Sunday before last one of my minis busted past me and I feel, hard on my left shoulder. All my weight landed on my upper left side of my back and shoulder. It hurt a bit at 1st and has been painful to breath in deep. But today it even feels worse. I tried to go to the ER and urgent care last Friday but the wait for each was 4-5 hours so I didn't stay. I looked it up on the internet and it says there isn't anything to do for it but to be sure to breath deep through the pain so you don't also have lung problems. How long does it take to stop this pain? Anyone ever had a fractured rib? Tylenol doesn't seem to touch this pain.

 

[BigDogs & LittleHorses]

Yeah, I just went through that. I had a bruised rib, not fractured. Happened from waterskiing and crashing down on my chest.

Couldn't sleep well the first few nights. 800 MG ibuprofen did help. Not a good feeling, not being able to breathe fully!

I also found that taking a expectorant like Guaifenesin helped me breathe better. (RobeTussin)

It took about 5 weeks to heal. The funny thing is, the pain didn't diminish in a linear fashion. It seemed to take forever, then in about 4 days it went from hurting to nothing.

Good luck,

Daryl

 

[Aunt_SunQuest]

Mu mom cracked a rib long time ago. The doctor;s said they don't wrap ribs any mre because if you hit them again they can't give and would break in and might puncher a lung or some other organ. She was in pain for quite a while before they got better.

 

[Miniv]

There's nothing..........Larry cracked a rib, actually two.......this past year. They won't wrap them because if they totally fracture they can puncture a lung!

All they do is give you pain meds and instructions on how to move (or not!)

 

[Minimor]

Yeah, I had two broken....at at least two very cracked...ribs back when I had lung surgery--that's how they get to the lung, by spreading two ribs until they crack/break and make a wide enough opening to work on the lung...I've always said that those broken ribs were the absolute worst part of the surgery.

Then I've cracked those ribs a couple times since--the worst was when a hay bale came down off the top of the stack, bounced on the ground & came up and hit my chest--and cracked those same ribs. It took several weeks to heal again...had a small set back when I was lying on the couch one night and a cat jumped down off the back of the couch right onto my poor starting-to-heal ribs. There's pain I can tell you!

The important thing is to keep breathing deep--several times a day stop and take a few deep breaths, as deep as you can do--this will prevent you from developing pneumonia.

 

[wcr]

Nothing you can do but would recommend the deep breathing to keep the lungs inflated. You are at risk of pneumonia if you don't deep breathe. Also use pillows to splint your chest when deep breathing and coughing to help with the pain. You can use pillows to put under your body to splint to help you sleep.