Looking to see if anyone has ever had a similar experience to the following...

About two weeks ago a cold type illness caught up with a few of us in my household, including me. Symptoms were mild... slight fever, congestion, sore throat, lots of coughing. Not a huge deal.

However, in the midst of one of the coughing fits I was having I suddenly felt some sharp lower back pain. It didn't strike me as a big deal either and I chalked it up to a minor muscle strain from the coughing and the fact that I'm not getting any younger (almost 40).

The next day I woke up and the back pain was gone but, in its place, had developed a very mild but constant ache on my left side, kind of in the oblique area. If I prod in the area, I can feel a rib and the epicenter of the pain is right in that area. Probing it reveals significant tenderness. This pain jumped from a mild annoyance to one of the most painful moments of my life when I cough or sneeze, and then settles back down.

Again, I figured this was just a muscle strain due to the level of coughing I had been doing and assumed it would clear up in a couple days.

However, as I said it has now been almost two weeks since the onset and the pain level has not improved. It is still behaving the same as it was 2 weeks ago... mild annoyance normally, very very painful when coughing or sneezing.

Additionally, it is is significantly painful to roll over/flip onto my left side while I lay in bed and slightly painful during the final stage of standing...

Given that it has been two weeks, is it time to get into my PCP and let him poke me a bit? I surely don't want to rush off to the doctor for every ache and pain, but I recognize at some point there might be something else going on. This condition sound familiar to any of you?

Pleurisy? Maybe? I had it years ago and it felt like sore ribs.

It's surprisingly easy to crack a rib sometimes and they are a dull ache that lasts a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
It's surprisingly easy to crack a rib sometimes and they are a dull ache that lasts a long time.

Gosh I hope not...

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
Pleurisy? Maybe? I had it years ago and it felt like sore ribs.

Hmmm... no real pain while breathing... Not sure that fits. I'll do a little more reading.

Is it possible to have a hernia in that oblique area??

At this point I'll plan on going to the doctor Monday absent significant improvement over the weekend.

You may have fractured a rib due to the coughing. I've had this happen a couple of times over the years. It takes a long time to heal. An X-ray would rule it in or out.

I damaged some cartilage in a different area but the symptoms sound similar. Mine is called costochondritis. A course of oral steroids helped tamp it down, but it flares up a bit once in a while. Muscles heal pretty fast, but cartilage takes forever.

Anyhow, perhaps you have a similar injury. A quick search says costochondritis is not the correct term for your location.

The doc did an x-ray to rule out a bone fracture (and an ekg to rule out heart attack because of the location of the pain).

Get a chest x-ray! I had the identical situation back in December. Being stubborn and a veterinarian I tried treating myself and figured time would make it better. The end of February I spent 21 days in the hospital with tubes hanging out my chest, pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

Get checked out

Tommy

Intercostal muscle strain? Check these symptoms

https://www.healthline.com/hea...costal-muscle-strain

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
I damaged some cartilage in a different area but the symptoms sound similar. Mine is called costochondritis. A course of oral steroids helped tamp it down, but it flares up a bit once in a while. Muscles heal pretty fast, but cartilage takes forever.

Anyhow, perhaps you have a similar injury. A quick search says costochondritis is not the correct term for your location.

The doc did an x-ray to rule out a bone fracture (and an ekg to rule out heart attack because of the location of the pain).

I was actually reading about costochondritis yesterday after using various search terms that lead me there... it sounds similar but as pointed out, location isn't quite the same.

I happened to have an ECG this morning as part of a workplace wellness cardiac screening... That was normal so there is that.

quote:

Originally posted by horsedoc:
Get a chest x-ray! I had the identical situation back in December. Being stubborn and a veterinarian I tried treating myself and figured time would make it better. The end of February I spent 21 days in the hospital with tubes hanging out my chest, pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

Get checked out

Tommy

I hear you. I'll get in with my doc Monday if a continuance of "doing nothing" for it hasn't produced some improvement over this weekend. Was pneumonia the initial problem that you had? I had a touch of pneumonia earlier this year after a awful bout with influenza A and this doesn't feel at all like the pneumonia.

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:
Intercostal muscle strain? Check these symptoms

https://www.healthline.com/hea...costal-muscle-strain

Besides the pain while breathing, which seems like it might be location dependent, this fits pretty well.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
lots of coughing.

Years ago, my wife had a coughing fit and then had pain on her right side. X-rays revealed a cracked rib.

Intercostal pain. It. Sucks.

I was injured in a martial arts class years ago and still have intercostal pain. Catching bronchitis is now one of my worst fears. It's hell.

Feels like being stabbed with a knife every time you cough..

Get it checked out by your doc, but in my opinion, you have costochondritis. A few years ago working out, I got sharp pains in the middle of my sternum and thought it was a heart attack. Went to the ER and they did tests, X-rays, etc. and told me it was costochondritis and to quit working out my chest for a few weeks to a month. I still get it once in a while and just need to lay off the weights.

A few years ago I had a bad case of bronchitis and was coughing so much that I would get into coughing fits and need to pull over from driving and get out of the car just to cough. My ribs would hurt so bad from all the coughing and my doc told me I had costochondritis and it would slowly go away. Even when my bronchitis healed my ribs took about 2 months to heal. I hope this helps. God Bless

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:
Get it checked out by your doc, but in my opinion, you have costochondritis. A few years ago working out, I got sharp pains in the middle of my sternum and thought it was a heart attack. Went to the ER and they did tests, X-rays, etc. and told me it was costochondritis and to quit working out my chest for a few weeks to a month. I still get it once in a while and just need to lay off the weights.

A few years ago I had a bad case of bronchitis and was coughing so much that I would get into coughing fits and need to pull over from driving and get out of the car just to cough. My ribs would hurt so bad from all the coughing and my doc told me I had costochondritis and it would slowly go away. Even when my bronchitis healed my ribs took about 2 months to heal. I hope this helps. God Bless

Guessing my goal of hitting a new deadlift PR before the end of the year is shot to hell.

It hurt like hell to pick up my 6 year old last night let alone a new deadlift PR (would aim for 540).

I ain't no spring chicken, I suppose.

quote:

Originally posted by horsedoc:
Get a chest x-ray! I had the identical situation back in December. Being stubborn and a veterinarian I tried treating myself and figured time would make it better. The end of February I spent 21 days in the hospital with tubes hanging out my chest, pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

Get checked out

Tommy

Good lord Doc !

I had a super bad cold a few years back and coughed so hard that I am sure I cracked a rib. That pain was with me a good month if not longer.

All started with a coughing fit about 2 in the morning.

Hope you get better