I just got back from the doctor---Have you ever heard of this?

[caty]

Memorial day week-end, I had surgery for a burst appendix. I have had a pain in my upper right hand side ever since, and thought I was still healing from the surgery. So, after 8 1/2 months, I finally went to get it checked out.
Sometime during my surgery, my bottom rib on my right over lapped with the one above it. This has caused swelling which has kept the rib in that position. I have to take naproxen for 1 week to reduce the swelling and hopefully let that rib move back to it's correct position. If it hasn't done this in a week, I will have to have shots to reduce the swelling. If it doesn't correct it's position it can cause damage to my diaphragm. I've never heard of this before. I wouldn't have thought it was even possible.
Leave it to me to come up with something like this!!!!:shrug: :banghead:

[lumberingbear]

1. Ouch! That sure sounds painful.

I never heard of that happening. Hope you feel better quick!

[caty]

3. Thanks

[skygazer]

2. I just recently had a friend who had a problem with a floating rib

Apparently, your last two sets of ribs are not truly tied in with your ribcage but are attached by cartilage which makes it so that they can shift more easily than other ribs. Or something.

Google "floating rib" and you'll get a bunch of info - I bet it has something to do with that. It even said it's not uncommon to have problems with them.

[caty]

4. Yes--the

doctor said it was a floating rib. I always thought that our ribs were firmly attached. Wrong!!

[One Voice]

5. Awww....

I hope you feel better soon!
(I fink you could use a valentine)
:D

[caty]

7. Thank you and.....

welcome to DU!!!:pals:

[applegrove]

6. I used to get rib pain. Never knew what it was. Perhaps that is it.

Did it hurt every time you breathed for a bit? Like terribly?

[caty]

8. It hurts all the

time---but some days more than others. It hurts the most when I yawn, because my diaphragm expands and puts pressure on it. It also hurts more if I eat a normal size meal. I've been eating tiny meals for months now. I've lost 10 pounds.

[applegrove]

9. Mine was only temporary but very painful - I had to breath short.

Never knew what it was. Rarely have it now. Would last a few minutes.

Wow - if you had that all the time.... that would really ware one out - all that pain.

What a trooper you are.

Thanks for solving a mystery for me. I think that is what it must have been.

[caty]

10. The pain felt mostly like a pulled muscle,

unless I yawned or ate too much--then it felt like a cracked rib. If this is what happened to you it might have corrected itself pretty quickly.

[applegrove]

11. I always thought my lung had gotten trapped in my ribs. I think you

figured it out for me.

[caty]

12. If it keeps happening--

check with your doctor to make sure. I'm wishing now that I had gone to the doctor a lot sooner. But, I thought it was just normal pain from the surgery. I had been told by friends that it can take up to a year to completely recover from surgery, but this doctor said that isn't always true. Persistent pain=trip to the doctor.

[applegrove]

13. No. It has only happened a few times in the last few years. Was

more common when I was a teen.

[caty]

14. Good....

maybe it won't happen again.:pals:

[applegrove]

16. For you too!

:pals:

[scarlet_owl]

15. My floating ribs do that all the time.

It hurts like hell. Fortunatley, they always slide back into place.

[caty]

17. Wow---

I can't believe how common this seems to be. And yet, I've never heard of it before.

[southlandsusie]

18. I have a floating rib

Never knew I had it until I was pregnant. My son would stick his little foot up in my ribcage and it was AWFUL -- not just normal pregnancy discomfort. Dr. diagnosed it (he could actually feel the rib and pop it in and out of place!) and said it was most likely from an old rib injury that didn't heal properly. I had a rib injury from falling on a balance beam when I was 8 and another from a mountain bike crash when I was 21 so who knows?

It continued to hurt a few years after my son was born but never like it did when I was pregnant. Now it's fine (kid is almost 11) and I rarely feel a twinge any more.

[Left Is Write]

19. I've never heard of it, but it sounds terribly painful!

I wish you well.