My rib? or soemthing worse?

[PepeL]

Hey everyone.  So I have been taking the anti-inflamatories the doc gave me for my slipped rib.  It really does feel like a rib issue, its a pop, but very close to the surface and even "over" the rib, if that makes sense....like, I can make it pop on the outside of the rib cage where there are no organs.  I have also been popping it less, and generally I have been feeling better.  Yesterday I played a marathon of Assassin's Creed II on my Xbox and it didn't bother me that much.....but.....

when I eat, it feels like I get full too fast.  I have some crazy gurgling going on on my right side.  I also have pain ranging from my kidneys/back, to right side/appendix, to stomach/left side.  It is mainly though right where it pops along the right rib, #8 I believe.  Anyway, I wouldn't be typing this now....but I discovered something else this morning as I drifted in and out of sleep.   If I woke up, and I was on my left side my stomach hurt.  If I woke up, and was on my right side my appendix area hurt.  If I woke up and I was on my back my back/kidney area hurt.  It moved around depending on which part of me was gravitationally low.  Also, I woke up once in the early morning and had to swallow down vomit that was burning my throat.  This happened twice over the summer when I was really freaking out.  My good ol' anxiety questions make me question if I have some organ that is way too big inside there and depending on how I lay its pressing down on its neighbors causing the pain to them.  And then is my rib popped out because of pressure from the inside!!?

Just wondering, and with the holidays here I'll be traveling and stuff, and I do not want to have more scans (that whole cancer = scanning thread scares me enough)...but could a simple slipped rib be causing all this other pain?  Should I be much more concerned or can all this pain be caused by simple rib issues?  This summer I had the scans and MRIs of my guts and they didnt show anything....and that was after several months of the rib popping being there.....oh, the worry train.

I guess the big question is rib or gallbladder?  Anyone have gallbladder issues, or sensitivity that causes these kind of discomforts? Nothing yet is "pain".  I read about people with faulty gallbladders who cannot stand or sleep because of the pain and I am nowhere near that.....so well, should I stop worrying?

[Widowmaker]

It could be all because of the rib..and since you are worrying about it all of the time...you are making your stomach upset. Also as you are tensing up in general about your rib, your other muscles are all tensed up to, which causes pain to seem to "move around" on you. I was/am going through this with my sternum and ribs on the left side, I think it is/was costochondritus, and I still deal with this on a, on again, off again issue. It then amplifies my anxiety and gives me muscle pain far removed from the area....my sleeping habits left/right/back etc make a difference, and also posture along with cracking your own ribs/sternum, back and shoulders (I do this and it helps sometimes, sometimes not depending what is popped in or out at the time). Chiropractic helps quite a bit, it straightens out your back and nerves and joints, I also have had a ton of tests for other issues on this thinking it was my heart-lungs and all those tests are negative, so when the anxiety acts up, I know its that and take a xanax, and low and behold I stop thinking about the rib/chest area calm down and relax, and all my muscles relax, and the pain is gone. So I think its a combination of things. If I think too much about it then I start having dizziness, fogginess and trouble breathing, upset stomach, sleepy all of the time...which is all anxiety related, but if I am dealing with those issues, then surprise, my chest and ribs don't hurt, so its all mental...depending what you are focusing on, the anxiety monster creates more things for you to worry about.

[PepeL]

yea I find its worse when I think about it, not when I am occupied.  For instance, just had lunch outside, it was a bit chilly so I was thinking about the temperature and the sun, then focused on the delicious ribs.. (I know I ate ribs while Im worried about my ribs), and it didnt bother me once.  Playing video games, no bother.  Its sitting at work, or lying in bed when it really gets to me.

[hypo]

I've been dealing with a very similar problem.  I have the popping but on the left and I'm not so sure that it is definitely at the surface but I'm also not sure that it is something new rather than something that has always been there which I never worried about until HA took over.  Now I'm constantly worried that it is my spleen (it doesn't help that I've been sick 3 x in the last 3 months with colds/flu-fueling my fears of CA) I also have had pain on left side of stomach under last few ribs-on left side-around to the back and occasional twinges on the right-all on and off for about 6 months- and never terrible pain--I have no idea what is going on-my best reasonable guess (rather than my HA fears) is maybe IBS since the large intestine is in all these areas.  Anyways just wanted you to know you're not alone!

[PepeL]

Yea hypo, when I search for popping rib or whatever its really split.  Half the people have it on the left, half have it on the right.   Anyone with popping on the left asks about spleen/stomach, anyone with it on the right asks gallbladder/liver.  Most people  have no idea what it could possibly be no matter how many scans they get.

Logically, if it happens on both sides, its gotta be something thats on both sides...and the only thing that is there on both sides is the ribs themselves!

I wonder too is there some condition where a person's cartilage grows too much or something? I mean, I've got the popping rib and the cracking swallow.  Both of these things can be blamed on cartilage, both I never had before a few years ago....just random wonders, I won't google it :)

[AnxiousMatt]

Have you ever considered maybe your posture is to blame? You said you sit alot playing video games and working...do you work in front of a computer? Sitting hunched over the computer or playing video games compresses all those wonderful organs we have and also compresses the ribs...I know personally the more time I spend on the computer or sitting in awkward (bad) positions, my sternum and ribs will crack like crazy, and my diaphragm will feel like it has a metal band around it...making it harder for me to breathe...just a thought

[hypo]

I also have the clicking when swallowing, this was definitely not there until about a year ago.  Sometimes it gets pretty bad then sometimes it will be gone for weeks at a time--so I have to assume that it isn't anything too terrible.  It also first began in my 8th month of pregnancy when I was having terrible acid reflux which I've read can cause the lump in throat effect but it didn't go away with the pregnancy--also it is temporarily better if I move the cartilage around.