left side rib pain

[killer cupcake<3]

About 4 months ago I got this pain on my right side in between my ribs and ever since it has hurt on and off, more on than off. I saw the doctor and they took x-rays of my ribs and found nothing. My chiroprator thinks its the cartilage in between my ribs. If anyone has this please respond.:

 

[s0n1ab1ad3]

Same thing happened to me five months ago. I had (and still have) a pain from the middle of my back on the left side, around the front, and down to my groin area on that side. I thought I had a kidney/urinary tract infection, but it came out negative. I was x-rayed and CT-scanned, but there was no kidney stones. I finally went to my GP (I had only been to my gyno and a kidney specialist before that about it), and he asked me where and when it hurt, and when I said it always hurts, depending how I sit, and especially when I'm driving and put the hand on that side on the steering wheel, he walked over and poked me in a certain place in my back, and I almost went through the roof it hurt so much. He said my floating rib on that side was probably inflamed, so he had me take Celebrex (anti-inflammatory) for 3 weeks. He said if the Celebrex didn't help, he would send me for a bone scan to see if there were any cracks. But it did help a lot. It still hurts a bit, but it's not constant and not as bad. And it only hurts when I do certain things. I think it was caused by a fall in January- I slipped on ice on my front stoop, and went flying down the stairs. I slammed my spine on the edge of one of the stairs (and sprained a finger). It hurt so bad, but I didn't think there was any permanent damage. But then two months later, the pain in my rib started.
It's either from the fall, or Lyme Disease, which I've had twice and was treated with antibiotics, but I don't think I was treated long enough, and I'm going to see a Lyme Specialist in September.

 

[Shark Riot]

Has anybody ever told you that you have Chostrocondritis (I think that is spelled right), it is inflamation of the cartlidge in between the ribs.(or any cartlidge Several years ago I felt like I had a cracked rib and it felt like it was rubbing on another rib...I got that Dx. Then last week I was told I had it in my whole sternum....NO fun...I was told to put heat on it. Last night I actually felt like I was having a heart attack!!! Anyway, the last 2 nights I have been sitting with the heating pad and I think it did help!!

 

[confused_blonde]

I thought Chostochrondritis was what they called it when the inflammation occurred where the ribs meet the breastbone? My mom has it and she thought she was having chest pains before she knew what it was. I will look it up though to see if that's what it's called even in the cartiledge between the ribs.

Hey, I wonder if that's why when I lay down a certain way, I feel a clicking in my lower breastbone...

 

[Kaylonie]

I had constant severe pain beneath by lower left rib for nearly eight months. It also occasionally spread to areas on my right ribs and sternum – but only with intermittent pain in those areas. It is 98% gone now and only acts up occasionally after doing certain abdominal exercises. The pain felt visceral and hurt constantly, so I was convinced it was something severe (pancreatic cancer or something).

The stress of thinking I had cancer kept me from sleeping, and the non-steroidal anti-inflammatories gave me a bit of an ulcer, and I started taking medication for that, which changed by bowel conditions, leading to IBS-like symptoms, causing more stress, and really sent me into a downward spiral with more medications, side effects from drugs, tests etc.

Ultimately, after a clean whole-body CT scan, and colonoscopy, I went to a pain specialist and had him inject cortisone into my intercostals tissue around my ribs. This made the pain worse for a week or so, but then it started getting much better. After the injections, the pain started to feel more “muscular” and less “visceral” – and eventually the pain went away altogether. From these results, and the doctor’s negative findings, I’ve concluded that I must have torn some deep abdominal wall tissue (probably while doing pull-ups or bar dips) and that this tissue was deep enough for the injury to manifest itself as visceral, rather than superficial, pain.

In terms of the pain in other areas, this was likely a result of an inflammatory response (i.e. costochondritis) that stemmed from the initial injury. If you have this problem, I suggest that you: 1) don’t freak out 2) do stop taking recently-added NON-ESSENTIAL medications and supplements for a couple of weeks to see if some of your “symptoms” are really side effects 3) go to a pain specialist and have them inject cortisone in the area where it hurts – if that helps, then it’s almost certainly an injury to your abdominal wall 4) I found that sleeping on my side allowed the injury to heal, while laying on my back stretched the injure tissue over my ribcage, making it worse 5) Keep (or start) exercising. Do abdominal exercises but with low intensity, but definitely stop if the pain increases. I found that swimming and aqua exercises in the pool were slightly painful, but very helpful for my recovery. 6) Improve your posture. Definitely don’t sit four hours with your torso twisted to one side. I think this exacerbated my condition. Also, if you have a clicking sound or slipping movement associated with your ribs, look into "slipping rib syndrome" or "lower rib syndrome", a condition that is also sometimes benefited by cortisone injections.