i think i may have cracked a rib
 

thanks to my idiot brother trying to prove he could squeeze the life out of me.

problem is, i have no clue how to tell for sure or if it's just a deep bone bruise or something. i don't have insurance, so i'd rather not get an x-ray

this is what i know: it hurts like hell now, but didn't for a couple of days after it happened. there doesn't seem to be any discoloration on the surface.

so, experts of everything at OOT, what's wrong with my rib?

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

I don't know.

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

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I don't know.

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Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

visit the hospital. Have them bill you. Play lots of poker, pay the bill in 6 months. feel better.

TT

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

I have cracked a rib before. Basically, there is nothing you can do but live with pain. That is unless it is shattered, but if you can type and post in OOT, I doubt that is the case. Ice it (15 on 2 hours off) for 2 weeks and go from there. Oh, and I am not a doctor.

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

I had a cracked rib last year, very painfull. All the docs could do was give me pain meds. So if you can deal with the pain for a while your not missing anything from not going in.

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

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I had a cracked rib last year, very painfull. All the docs could do was give me pain meds. So if you can deal with the pain for a while your not missing anything from not going in.

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yeah, i can handle the pain, i just wasn't sure if the doctors did anything special for it that i'd be dumb to not get. but i didn't want to pay a doctor to tell me it'll heal on its own.

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

Years ago I tripped over a bookbag in the student pub and went flying into a bar stool (missed banging my head on the counter by a fraction of an inch). I hurt like hell and had huge black and blue marks. I called myself Xena Warrior Princess because it looked like I was wearig steel breastplate and armlets. I could feel I had a cracked rib, and when I determined that broken ribs receive no treatment whatsoever (except pain relief), I didn't bother to have it x-rayed. I figured that if a piece of broken rib was poking a lung, I would have specific lung-related symptoms. Years later I did have a chest x-ray, and it was discovered that the rib looked strange. I kept telling them that I broke that rib, but they thought it might be cancer and made a big fuss, and I had a bone scan. It wasn't cancer, but the medical types still kept fussing about it. They refused to believe that I broke my rib because it wasn't "documented." Point was I broke my rib, it healed crooked, it would have healed crooked even if I had had it x-rayed because there is no treatment for a broken rib, and much ado was made about nothing.

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

I don't remember it starting to hurt worse after "a couple of days" when I cracked a rib. See a doctor if it continues to get worse, could be something else. Tell your idiot brother to pay.

Re: i think i may have cracked a rib
 

[ QUOTE ]
thanks to my idiot brother trying to prove he could squeeze the life out of me.

problem is, i have no clue how to tell for sure or if it's just a deep bone bruise or something. i don't have insurance, so i'd rather not get an x-ray

this is what i know: it hurts like hell now, but didn't for a couple of days after it happened. there doesn't seem to be any discoloration on the surface.

so, experts of everything at OOT, what's wrong with my rib?

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Diagnosing a cracked rib in itself is not always achievable by conventional rib X-rays so in my opinion, they're kind of low-yield in general. Management usually is not affected by ruling in or out this diagnosis anyway, and as someone else mentioned, mostly involves analgesics.

Medical emergencies to worry about however include flail chest (google or wikipedia it) and any lung issues such as pneumothorax (i.e., "collapsed lung"). I doubt you have either of those two as they usually require some serious trauma. In addition, if this happened a few days ago, you'd probably be too sorry of a shape to be typing in this forum (depending on your level of dedication).

If you're worried about it enough, see a doctor. Finally, look to get some sort of health insurance sooner rather than later.

dizong