Broken Ribs--> Just Curious

Well I broke 3 ribs (one hairline fx and 2 clean breaks) while 7 months pregnant by coughing (RSV went through the house).

The pain was excruciating. I took a lot of Loritab, which helped a little.

So, I'm not saying she's fibbing, I'm only saying *I* certainly couldn't have done ANY of those thing "with ease".

That was 17 years ago, and I STILL have pain from time to time.

So who knows? We all feel pain differently, you know?

:(

2 broken, not cracked ribs? I'd love to know what her pain meds are!

On 2 occasions, I've had 2 cracked which was horrible... I couldn't breathe deeply, I believe a sneeze or cough would have killed me, It was painful to sit, stand, bend for over 2 weeks.

I'd say she either is fibbing or has a miracle pain killer.. Still.. even with a miracle pain killer... it hurts like he$$

I think if your ribs were broken that sneezing would be excruciatingly painful.
Even sprained ribs or torn cartilage would be painful too.
Is she using this as an excuse to get out of doing something or to get sympathy?
I'd have a very hard time believing her otherwise she's got one heck of a pain medication working for her.

1. Yes, she's probably fibbing. Broken ribs are ridiculously painful, even with analgesics.

2. She likes attention. Don't contribute by gossiping or speculating about her lie. Gossips are no better than drama queens. Mind your own business, dear.

I strained two rib muscles when pregnant with our second child and the ER doc said the pain was equivalent to having broken ribs. If that's true, then there's NO way she could do much of anything.

I was almost paralyzed with pain. I couldn't move left, couldn't move right. It was excruciating to move at all. Even with pain medication, it was still very painful.

Unless she's on a powerful pain medication that's made her high as a kite, there's no way she's doing all of that with broken ribs.

I had a coworker that was in a car accident. Luckily the only thing was 3 broken ribs. But one almost punctured a lung. She was all taped up and could barely move because of the tape, let alone the pain she had. She could not lift anything. They had to hire someone to come help with their 1 yr old.

As someone who,had three broken ribs I will tell you this. Sit and stand Ok. Walk very carefully. Sneeze and laugh will send you to another planet. I can handle a lot of pain having been thru 15 abdominal,surgeries and many other procedures. Broken ribs and shingles took me to my knees. Did she say how,she broke them?

M. -

Don't discount it as a lie, now mind you, in my case it wasn't a rib, but I've broken my thumb and been unaware that it was broken for a few days. My husband his collarbone for weeks. She might just have exceptional pain tolerance, or as others have suggested, really good meds.

Best,
F. B.

Sounds like maybe BRUISED ribs.
Also very painful.
Are they taped? Then maybe they are cracked.

it's possible she's extremely stoic, or has pain meds so awesome they give her the ability to behave normally without zonking her out.
if she were that stoic, though, she probably wouldn't have shared that she has an injury at all.
i can't imagine lying about something like this (lying is just so icky and unnecessary pretty much ever) but people are drama queens, and dishonesty is alarmingly prevalent (and tolerated) in our society.
i cracked a couple of ribs and was in a LOT of pain. doing any of the things you mention was hard, and would involve wincing at the very least if i had to do them. i call BS.
khairete
S.

Maybe, maybe not. I have a super high pain threshold (As does my dad. He just recently had a 6 hour hand surgery and was walking around 2 days later as if nothing happened without pain medication. The only way you could tell anything happened was from the cast)...maybe she does too. Also, some people need very little pain medication to see them through. If she is taking something it might just be working wonderfully for her.

All that being said, chances are she isn't being truthful. The vast majority of people with broken ribs would be taking it easy and at the very least grimacing whilst performing work duties.

She may be able to handle pain alright, or be on some DARN good meds.

I broke my arm, majorly. It required surgery, and wasn't put into a hard cast because my doctor needed to be able to take X-rays every week and access the stitches. I also happen to have an extremely high treshhold for pain. I actually had people in my family who thought I was eggagerating/lying about it, because I just had a brace and bandages for it. And I wasn't acting like I was in any real pain and didn't take any meds for it after the first pill, and I tended to try to use my arm more than I should have. It wasn't until they saw my medical bills (and a copy if the X-ray I got from the doc) come rolling in that they believed me! Lol.

That said, ribs are typically incredibly painful, (I just bruised mine, and it made me move like an old lady for weeks) and tend to limit movement if they are truly broken. To me, it sounds like she may have cracked/bruised them, IF she can handle pain and/or has good drugs... But I would hazard a guess that she probably bumped them good, decided it hurt really bad, and diagnosed herself with broken ones.

Oh geez...

I was really sick over the holidays and coughed SO much that I tore the cartilage between my ribs. I STILL am dealing with the pain. No exercising, no stretching (stretching feels like a screw driver is digging into my chest.) I had to HOLD my breast while I was walking for the first couple of weeks. Yeah, I didn't go many places having to hold what felt like a bowling ball on my chest...

I wrapped myself with a 6 foot long ace bandage and that wasn't enough. I tried a tight sports bra, and that helped. Leaning over, lifting anything, breathing in or out hard, HURT. A lot. Enough to cry out. Sneezing meant holding onto my chest for dear life - coughing too. Reaching? other hand only.

Unless this woman has taped herself tight (easier if she has small breasts, I would think), then I just don't see how she could be telling the truth.

My daughter just broke a couple of ribs, and she could still do all that stuff. She did feel a reasonable amount of pain the first week or two when she sneezed or laughed or coughed, but she has a high pain tolerance and apparently ribs heal fairly quickly.

However, if your coworker is expressing zero pain and she's known to be a liar, then she's probably fibbing.

My brother fell off a ladder and broke every single rib on his left side. He was hospitalized for 4 days and it took months before he wasn't in terrible pain (getting hurt when you are over 50 SUCKS).

As for your coworker I'd say she may be telling the truth depending on which ribs but it's more likely she's not being truthful. I've injured ribs and it hurts a lot.