quote:

1) possible? yes. Likely? Sounds like it.
2) I think (and that means I don't know 100% for sure) that the problem with broken ribs is that they can puncture a lung. Which is bad, very bad. Messy too. So yes, getting checked sounds like a good idea.

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The reason I asked here is because I don't want to get there, pay the $350 and have them say "nope, just a bruise" or pay an additional $550 fo x-rays and be told "well, they're cracked, take it easy for a few weeks"

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Do you have a student health center that covers things like that?

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Number one sign you are online too much: You ask on a cyber bdsm list about obvious health issues.

What do you care what WE think? We can't see them. Ask the person you're in a relationship with, heck ask the friend across the hall. Or just use your good sense, it hurts, a few ibuprofen won't make it better. If it IS broken ribs, they might not be able to do much but keep you stable, but even just a broken rib could have complications.

Sheesh, make me feel like smacking you.

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Now to get to my concern, my ribs have been hurting quite badly and it hurts to breathe (!), the right side of my ribs is swollen and very tender to the touch. My question is a multi-part one.

1) Is it possible that I have cracked my ribs?
2) Is that something I should go to the doctor for? I mean, I know if you crack a finger or something they just buddy-tape them and tell you to take it easy, is it pretty much the same thing?

It hurts, but I have a pretty high pain tolerance (I refuse to use pain killers anyway) so I wouldn't go because of the pain. I just don't want to be in Niagara and end up with something scary.

Hi siamsa24,

Speaking as someone that cracked 3 ribs a few years ago, it definitely sounds like that is what you have gone and done to yourself. The issue here is neither the broken rib(s) - which usually snap(s) back into position and heals by itself / themselves - nor the pain, which can become excruciating, but the fact that it hurts you to breathe, which strongly suggests that you have a punctured lung - the medical term is pneumothorax.

That is the condition that could become scary for you and needs monitoring and perhaps immediate treatment if your lung is collapsing. When you crack a rib it is bent back into your lung and frequently punctures it from the outside. The actual rib bone will snap back into place in most cases and set itself (unless you have complications in that area) over the next few months, but the puncture to your lung wall will normally cause some collapse of your lung. In may be a minor collapse (e.g., 20% pneumothorax) or something much more extensive (e.g., 80% pneumothorax), but it is the collapse of the lung that causes the difficulty in (and pain associated with) breathing, and it usually gets progressively worse over the next few days after you puncture your lung until the pneumothorax reaches its zenith and then starts to retract ... if you're lucky. Here is the medical dictionary definition:

A pneumothorax is a collapsed lung created when there is an air leak (from the lung or from a penetrating wound of the chest wall) into the space between the lung and the inside of the chest wall (pleural space). In the normal situation, the pleural space is undetectable and filled with negative pressure, which allows the lung to expand and contract with chest-wall movement (breathing). When air leaks into the pleural space, either from a lung injury or from a hole in the chest wall, the lung collapses. The lung may then be increasingly compressed if air accumulates in the pleural space under pressure. A collapsed lung is recognized by diminished or absent breathing sounds (heard through a stethoscope or an ear held against the chest wall) on the affected side, accompanied by chest pain, shortness of breath, and difficult breathing. If air accumulates under pressure in the affected pleural space, this becomes a “tension” pneumothorax. It is characterized by rapidly progressive difficulty in breathing associated with a pneumothorax, cyanosis (blue skin discoloration), distended neck (jugular) veins, and a shift of the windpipe away from the affected side.

The problem is if the pneumothorax doesn't start to retract and your lung fails to heal itself. You need this condition monitored ASAP. You are right in your assumptions that with cracked or broken ribs there is not much that doctors can do ... the damaged ribs usually snap back into position and don't need to be set, and you can't put a chest in a splint like you can a leg or an arm. But you need to have your chest x-rayed so that you know that this natural process is indeed proceeding correctly and that you don't have complications in that area. Similarly, even when the lung is punctured and collapses to a small extent (a 20% or 30% pneumothorax) it will frequently heal itself. But once again, you need to have your chest x-rayed so that you know the extent of the collapse and that it is retracting and NOT getting worse. The worst case scenario is that your lung completely and permanently collapses. Is that scary enough for you ?

You mention Niagara and you are normally in the Cleveland area. How and when do you intend to get there ? If you had intended to fly there any time soon you can kiss that plan goodbye ... unless you find out for sure from a qualified doctor that you do NOT have any kind of pneumothorax you are grounded for the next 2 or 3 months. YOU CANNOT ... REPEAT ... CANNOT FLY WITH A COLLAPSED LUNG. Collapsed lungs and the increased pressure of altitude DO NOT mix.

You need your chest x-rayed ASAP. As part of their policy of containing costs many health insurance companies are now insisting that situations such as yours are handled by emergency / trauma centers rather than hospital ER treatment. ER treatment can sometimes run to out of pocket co-pay expenses in hundreds of dollars for the patient even when the majority of the cost is covered by the health insurance, so sissy understands your hesitancy about just walking into an ER facility. An emergency / trauma center will probably save you money over an ER visit whether the visit is covered by insurance (the co-pay is less) or you have to pay completely out of pocket (the overall cost structure is significantly less).

Given your situation, siamsa, You cannot avoid having x-rays despite their possible expense to you. If you are lucky, you will need only one set to determine that there is nothing wrong with you. If you have broken or cracked a rib (or two) and have a pneumothorax you will need subsequent x-rays to determine that your lung is recovering rather than collapsing further. And then one or two further sets of x-rays will be required after that before you can be granted a clean bill of health.

sissy Hopes the foregoing was useful and that, in your own case, the prognosis turns out to be no where near as bad ... hopefully, you just badly bruised yourself.

Regards and good luck,

sissy maid lola




_____________________________

If i don't seem submissive to You, it may be because i'm NOT submissive to You.

(in reply to siamsa24)

quote:

ORIGINAL: siamsa24
That is why I asked it here. I'm sorry if that upsets people, I will keep that in mind in the future.

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I decided to go ask my Soke (my karate teacher) what he thought (he was trained in medicine when he trained in China and Japan). He said that they may be cracked, but if they are then they aren't cracked badly. The pain when I breathe is not coming from the lung, but from the rib area itself. He says I can't train for a few weeks, but gave me an herb to take so that I can still make my fight on the 21st.

siamsa,

If all you did was crack or bruise your rib then it would ONLY hurt when you touched the area, NOT when you breathed! Even just a cracked rib like that may take longer than a couple of weeks to heal (more like a couple of months) and you should not be fighting (either in training or in competition) while in that kind of condition - you might be hit (or thrown so that you land) right in that same damaged area. Take your exercise for the duration via alternative means such as jogging. If it hurts to breathe while jogging then you definitely have some sort of damage to the lung!

The pain associated with a pneumothorax feels like it is coming from the rib cage so your logic is a little spurious on this one. Pain while breathing is NOT a good sign here ... you have damaged your lung in some way. It may only be bruised rather than punctured, but you need to know that so that you can conduct your life accordingly.

Although even the most severe pneumothorax injuries do ultimately heal themselves, as do most broken ribs, there can be complications, and there are certain things that you must NOT do while your body is in recuperation. Flying is one of them, and sissy is glad to hear that you do not intend to do that. Competative judo fighting would be another no-no ... as would training for such a fight. You may also need to do breathing exercises to ensure that your damaged lung recovers its full capacity and doesn't remain permanently partially collapsed.

sissy Understands your concern over finances but you need to consult someone with a little more medical experience than your Soke ... who may not be exactly impartial if he wants you to fight on the 21st (of May?). Why haven't you gone down to your college health center ... surely there are trained RNs there ? You seem to be in denial WRT the potential seriousness of your condition (presumably because you dread the medical expenses that may be involved) and consequently are avoiding taking your problem to anyone who might know what they are talking about. Even trained GP doctors tend to refer their patients to a doctor that specializes in the lungs and chest in your situation. And, yes, all the expert MDs do is take lots of x-rays and prescribe pain killers and monitor you while your body heals itself, so sissy understands your hesitancy and even cynicism over doing that. But they are also on hand in case something goes wrong!

If you are going to do this on the cheap at least have the sense to avoid judo (both training and particularly competition) while your body heals itself, and take the trouble to find out the breathing exercises that you need to do in the case of a pneumothorax. Tell your parents what has happened ... you are still young enough that you might be covered on their health insurance, or they will pay out of pocket for the x-rays and doctor visit because they care about you. As EmeraldSlave2 so rightly says, you are NOT taking care of something that needs to be taken care of.

sissy Will repeat this again ... pain when breathing is NOT a good sign. At least get yourself in front of a RN. And do it now!

Good luck.

sissy maid lola




_____________________________

If i don't seem submissive to You, it may be because i'm NOT submissive to You.

(in reply to siamsa24)