Cracked/Bruised Rib... So Much Pain! What to do? « Back to Group Discussions

[MyKidKissTrees]

So, I got a cold last week.  Had some deep but infrequent coughing.  Woke up Saturday with pain in my rib cage.  by Sunday I was crying and couldn't take a breath.  Finally went to Patient First after exhausting my hippy medicinals (homeopathic remedies and herbal).  Doc said they wouldn't xray me because I was pregnant.  Wrote me a script for percoset.  It helped a little, but the pain was still bad.  

Fast forward a week.  Here I am, STILL SICK with cough and cold (or maybe a new one?)  And the pain is only better if I LITERALLY do nothing.  I was talking to my friend who had whooping cough and did something similar and she said she STILL has pain 6 months later :(  My coughing was SO mild and this STILL happened.  

This isn't the first time either.  I did something similar when I was pregnant with #1.  Only it was from throwing up.  But that pregnancy was the trust everything doctors say pregnancy.  So I was just on pain meds like my entire pregnancy!!!

Now I don't know WHAT I am supposed to do?  I cannot even make lunch for the kids without crying in pain!  Its insane.  My MIL is coming to help for two months on next Tuesday.  So I will have help.  But what can I do about the pain.  I am still nursing my 2 year old and just having him nurse is HORRIBLE.  He hits my chest with his head or pulls on my breast and it feels like needles!

But I cant just make him and my baby dependent on narcotics!!

Im currently rubbing traumeel on every so often.  Which definitely helps take the edge of.  But only if I sit very still.  Typing is like the maximum movement I am capable of.  And there is literally NO way for me to sleep with the pain.  I cannot lay down and not hurt.  So I was saving the medicine to just use to help me sleep at night.  But DS still night nurses at least twice :(

I feel so trapped in my own body right now. 

Any advice? 

[mamaki]

Ugh, that doesn't sound like fun :(  Is it any less painful if you lay down to nurse?  Have you tried tylenol?  It's very safe with pregnancy/breastfeeding.  Or maybe try Arnica (topically or orally)?

[MyKidKissTrees]

yep.  all three.  laying down hurts the worst :(  so i sit up to nurse in the night.  which is sooo hard because he wants to perma-suckle.  so after an hour i finally hand him cryiing to DH so i can try and rest.  But he just screams for me for an hour.  So it doesnt really let me rest.  Then I give in and feed him again and the cycle continues.  He was awake from 2-4am last night.

arnica didnt help at all.  325 mg of tylenol is in the percoset i was prescribed.  i did take it by itself prior to getting the percoset script, but I didn't notice a change in pain.

so far the traumeel + percoset seems to at least permit me to sleep.  

 

[quantumleap]

What about a poultice/plaster type thing? I'm thinking comfrey and arnica? Aviva Romm maintains that comfrey is safe in pregnancy (only externally). I would be totally comfortable with it. Does wrapping your chest in an ace bandage type thing help, or is the very thought excruciating?

You can do tea with oatstraw, red raspberry leaf and nettles, for a little additional nutritional boost too. You can add mint to it if you can't stomach the taste (nettles are pretty brutal), but I usually find the oatstraw is pleasant enough to cover the less enjoyable tastes. 

This sounds like a brutal experience! So glad you're going to have help for a while. 

[MyKidKissTrees]

so in the beginning holding the area helped, but as the pain intensified, it now only makes it worse to touch that area (or the whole top half of me) in any way.  i will get some oatstraw and nettles.  actually think i have nettles.  and ill add it to the RRL im drinking!  thanks!!!

[quantumleap]

Hmmm - more pain with palpation now makes me think there is increasing inflammation... It sucks that ibuprophen is not safe in pregnancy! I really would give the comfrey/arnica poultice a try. Comfrey is pretty cheap, so even comfrey alone, followed by some traumeel or some plain arnica cream. You could also try alternating heat and cold (20 minutes each). Homeopathics are also safe in pregnancy. My knowledge of them for this sort of thing is not awesome, but arnica and calendula would be appropriate (don't know if you're familiar with them, but you need to take them at a time when you have not had food or drink (water is fine) for ~20 minutes, and pop them into your mouth directly from the cap - don't put them in your hand and then in to your mouth). I've had mixed results with homeopathy, but it doesn't hurt, and it might help, and at ~7$, it's worth a try! What a nightmare. I've been thinking about you off and on ever since I read this! Hope you're feeling some relief soon! 

[Banana731]

I was also going to say some cold packs might help. Maybe if you can get the swelling down that way, you might try wrapping up with an ace bandage to help keep it from getting worse again.

[Stormikris]

Bath with Epsom salts can help too. Hope you get to feeling better quickly.

[MyKidKissTrees]

Thank Ladies.  Gave the arnica a try before with no luck.  Haven't gotten out to the store again yet to get the comphrey.  Morning sickness just hit so now Im really struggling.  I like holding my ribs while throwing up so they dont get further damaged.  AWFUL.  This is a sign that I am over-doing it.  I need to take a big step back and re-prioritize.  And on top of that.  IM STILL SICK!  I cannot get rid of the cold!!! Its the never ending cold :(  so miserable.  ...uh back to the bathroom...