If you can breathe without pain right now, be happy

[thistlechaser]

Unsurprisingly, after two weeks of nonstop coughing day and night, I've pulled(?) something in my chest. (Unless I snapped a rib, which is possible to do from coughing, but I don't think I did.) This morning it only hurt when I coughed ("only", though I'm still coughing a lot). Tonight it's every time I inhale.

I sneezed three times this afternoon and thought I was going to die from the pain.

Even blowing my nose makes my chest hurt. I'm trying so hard not to cough, but the tickle builds and builds until I can't resist it anymore. Ow ow ow. I took my bottle of painkillers (over the counter stuff) to Alaska with me, and the bottle opened in my backpack so I had to throw it away, and I hadn't replaced it yet. Sure do wish I had saved some of the ones that were rolling around in the open, I'd happily take some now.

And in sick cat news: Ellie took her first dose of liquid medicine surprisingly well, though half of tonight's went on her cheek instead. Ugh. The blood tests for this cost about $150, so I don't want her to miss any doses and for us to have to go through this again...

Comments

[tersa.livejournal.com]

You may have cracked a rib (it is possible), but more likely is that you pulled a muscle or popped a rib slightly out of joint; they're not connected by more than cartilage and ligaments in the back to allow for expansion when you breathe. It's the same thing that's happened to me a couple times in the last year or so (especially if the pain is in the back, near your spine/kidneys).

A good chiropractor can pop the rib back into place, or it will eventually work its way back in. In the meantime, it's pretty agonizing, I know. :/

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Worried that I cracked a rib, I did a lot of googling on it this morning. I don't thing I likely did. I hadn't considered it becoming unaligned though.

Mine's in the front, maybe a hand's width (the shorter direction) from my breastbone. If it were on the left side instead of the right, I would be a lot more worried about a heart attack-type thing (though that the pain came only when I coughed made it pretty clear it was related to that). It feels like muscle pain, not deep in like my lungs hurt or something.