So I've been put on bed rest by my doctor...

So I've been put on bed rest by my doctor...

And you may be wondering why.


Well, the short version of this story is that I currently have something called costochondritis which means that the cartilage connecting my ribs to my breastbone is inflamed and very painful.




The longer version of the story starts back on Thursday 5th October where at 11am while at university I started to get some very back chest pains. Now, these chest pains didn't get better (in fact they were getting worse) throughout the day so in the evening we (my parents and I) made the decision to go up to A&E because you know, better to be safe than sorry.

We got to the hospital and I only had to wait around 10 minutes before being seen and hooked up to an ECG to make sure it wasn't my heart. I'm very happy to say that it wasn't anything to do with my heart so was then sent to the urgent care centre, a part of the hospital where there are GP's available through the night. The only downside to this part of the hospital is the long wait times. I was sitting and waiting for 2 hours, all while still having the chest pains and I had also developed a cough and was bringing up yellow mucus (I know, a bit TMI).

When I was seen the GP listened to my chest and immediately just said: "I'm going to treat it as a chest infection due to the pain and the yellow mucus". 

So I was sent on my way with a 7-day course of antibiotics and was told the pain should be gone within 48 hours. (She also checked my ears and said "hmm, is your right ear sore at all?" then when I said no she just left it there and I still have no idea what she meant!?).

And I thought that was the end of that, from the morning of Friday 6th October I started the antibiotics and up until Saturday (7th October) evening the pain had reduced but not gone fully but my cough had completely gone.

Then came Saturday evening. 

The pain in my chest suddenly got much worse, worse than it was on Thursday, but I just carried on with my life until the afternoon of Sunday 8th October where the pain got so bad that we (again my parents and I) decided to make an appointment for our local doctors for the morning of Monday 9th October (the next available appointment).

So I go along to the appointment and I get asked the general questions, "how bad is the pain?" (answer: very bad to the extent of nearly screaming bloody murder), "have you taken anything to help with it?" (answer: no. Paracetamol has no effect on me and I cannot have ibuprofen due to being asthmatic)  and "have you fallen onto your chest recently which could cause the pain?" (answer: surprisingly no which is a miracle considering how clumsy I can be).

So he had a prod and a poke at my chest and once he poked in the centre of my chest (where the ribs meet the breastbone) I actually screamed and it was then he knew what was wrong with me.

Alongside having a chest infection (which had now cleared up but I'm still to finish my course of antibiotics) I also had costochondritis which like I said before is when the cartilage connecting my ribs to my breastbone is very inflamed and even though I've been told it could last for months (insert me quietly crying here) my doctor has told me to stay in bed for a few days (Monday 9th-Wednesday 11th October) to give myself a better chance of recovering faster. I've also been given co-codamol to help lessen the pain (and my God, it has been a Godsend).

So that's the story of me being put on bed rest and why I'm missing a few days of university to (fingers crossed) get better faster.If you want to hear me explain this story then I made a YouTube video explaining it which you can watch here but for now,

Be happy, be healthy, from Abbie xx 

Comments

  1. Oh my goodness! I've had that before and it is SO PAINFUL. It's worse than a broken rib and takes a long, long time to heal. I do hope you feel better very soon.

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  2. Aww boo! Feel better. I am so happy that they figured out what was wrong but it is still a bummer that you need to be on bed rest. Lot's of tea, movies and books for you I hope :)

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  3. Oh no!! I'm so sorry, Abigail!! I wish you a speedy recovery!

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  4. Can understand the pain you go through.. please take enough rest.. wish you a speedy recovery

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  5. ouch, i have ankylosing spondylitis so similar but in my spine. I agree - it sucks. sending you my love dearest!

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