Suggest Remedy For Sharp Pain In Rib Cage

Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2015

Question: I have a sharp pain on my left side at the bottom of my rib cage. It is stabbing when I laugh, cough, turn in my sleep. I haven't been in any accidents or situations to crack/break a rib but it sure feels like that.

I neglected to say this has been going on for the last 4 days and seems to be getting worse as I can feel it now continuously whereas before only when I engaged in the aforementioned activities of laughing and coughing.

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (18 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
This could be urgent

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

stabbing pain with pleuritic characteristics can be caused by:
(1) pneumothorax
(2) peripheral pulmonary embolism
(3) pericarditis
(4) injury

I've omitted some diagnoses because you haven't mentioned relevant symptoms or signs like fever, shortness of breath etc or because they are not serious enough (like a pulled muscle).
It's not very clear if you've had pain when breathing deeply.

Most of the aforementioned diagnoses are serious and potentially life-threatening.
I suggest you seek immediate medical attention to exclude the most serious ones!
A careful clinical examination, a chest X-ray, an electrocardiogram and oxygen saturation can give very useful data towards the diagnosis.

I hope you find my answer helpful!
If you'd like further information, please contact me again.

Kind Regards!

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D