When I am pregnant my rib cage has to spread in order to accommodate the girth of my pregnant belly. It is as painful as it sounds. To add to the pain, because the rib cage is so wide and my guts are pushed up so high to allow for the baby, at times, when I bend, my internal organs get trapped between the outside of my ribs and my skin......or so it feels to me.
I have had that same pain for the last few weeks. Including the gut trapping bending.
No, I am not pregnant. I've peed on the stick two times now just to be sure because we all know the Big Man upstairs has a sense of humor and I'm known for being fun to tease. That and the fact that I have been unabashedly announcing that we are 100% done adding to our family. It is like I'm setting myself up for something like that.
That being said, what the heck!
I am in so much pain by the end of the night. Tonight I reach over my head and burst into tears from the pain of what I can only describe as someone throwing my stomach against my ribs, only my stomach was made of cement with pieces of sharp glass on the surface.
It doesn't hurt to laugh, meaning they are not broken. What they are exactly I do not have the answer.
Maybe it is just my ribs coming back together?
I hope it is over soon. I'd like to be able to twist and bend again without fear of causing internal bleeding.
5 comments:
I think it is your body healing and trying to get back to where it used to be. I sort of have that problem with my ribs. They stick out now, on the sides, and every so often will pop or pinch an organ.
I'm sorry! I hope you feel better soon.
I think your body is just trying to figure out where everything goes after having four kids in a relativley short time... I'm sure it'll go away soon.
Take a bath and some Advil... your welcome to come use my tub to max out on privacy and relaxation. ;)
Jeaoux,
It's not uncommon to have a "partial dislocation" of the costochondral joints in the anterior ribs. This is where the actually bony rib separates paritally (or completely - but probably not in your case) from the cartilage rib that joins them all onto your sternum. It leads to Costalchondritis which is an irritation of that joint.
These joints can be exquisitely painful and buggars to heal. The feeling you're having with bending and twisting puts added stress on this joint which causes more irritation and can reinjure it.
You need anti-inflammatories. I recommend natural anti's (like Bromelain - 1500 mg/day) over ibuprofen. Ice will also help calm the irritation (~10 min. on, then wait an hour before you do it again). And Vitamin C (up to 1500 mg/day taken in 200 mg doses throughout the day) for aid in inflammation and tissue repair. Take it easy, try not to twist and stretch too much. Give it a week at least to lay down some good solid connective tissue.
If it's not this then it could be a host of other things. You can look up Intercostal Neualgia (or Neuritis)and Peritonitis for other ideas.
Good luck, and let us know!
-boy
Boy,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and shedding a light on this mystery!!!!
It really does feel like a tissue thing, but I forgot that the bones of the ribs are hooked together like that. It makes perfect sense now.
So you are saying no housework for a week? Done and done.
Those big words would have been fantastic to use during our write-a-sentence-each-story phase at work.
Except then I would have had to make up words, you know, to keep up.
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