The good news is that (other than the pain) it is completely harmless.
The way it always felt to me is like someone wrapped a small wire around something tender in my chest, and if I tried to breathe or straighten my posture, they would yank on it. I’d get it anywhere from a couple times a week to once a month. Then one day in my mid-30s it just stopped.
From what I understand this is relatively common. I was so grateful for the person on reddit who dropped this nugget of wisdom several years ago. It was nice to know I wasn’t dying or whatever.
See, I am unfortunate in that I know exactly where my chest pain comes from and it is from 6 of my ribs being broken and fused together from falling off a cruise ship and breaking them on a railing on the way down.
The interesting part is I didnt know I broke them until years later when I was hit by a car and the hospital doctor was just like “oh yeah you just hurt your broken ribs again, put some frozen peas on it and wait for the pain to go down”
Anyways, dont break your ribs unless you want to know when the weather is changing by pain.
how the fuck do you fall off a cruise ship, break six ribs, have them fuse together, and never even realize it?
Do you just actively avoid going to speak to ANY medical professional unless forced by ambulance?
Yes
must be American.
And also yes
Okay, you can’t start a story like that and then not tell us the cruiseship story in full glory.
Ok, the quick version:
I am small waisted and was especially so when I was an underfed child of early teen years. My mother was going through her
4th?3rd Husband and decided to get married on a cruise ship this time.Well on the pool deck there was a water slide and a leak underneath said slide, I slipped on it and slid across the deck under the railing and over the side.
I didnt hit the water by the way. I hit the balcony railing of the first deck of cabins a couple floors below and bounced into the ship. I then not wanting to get in trouble bolted through the cabin saying something about a hat to the confused people, and told no one.
I ended up swimming to far on those broken ribs out at the beach in mexico and had to get saved by the coast guard who did not bring me onboard but drug me behind their boat via life preserver I was barely holding onto face down, so assumed the agonizing pain was that and I just sucked at swimming.
Also brought back Swine Flu on that trip and got my school shut down for handing out some shirts as souvenirs.