briefly

[mamajoan]

Tonight I developed a new and exciting condition called costochondritis. (diagnosis courtesy of a midwife whom I spoke to several times). Basically it's an inflammation of the cartilege between your ribs, which causes horrendous pain whenever the ribs expand or contract. Guess what common activity causes the ribs to expand and contract? That's right -- breathing. Horrendous sharp stabbing pain every time I breathe. Fun times! Especially fun during the evening commute in torrential rain!

The usual treatment is ibuprofen, but you oughtn't take that during pregnancy, so I'm on tylenol instead. It helps some. I can see I'll be mainlining it; the midwife said this could go on for a few days. (The cold I recently got over is to blame, apparently.) To make it even more fun, the pain makes me nauseous. I'll be sleeping with a bucket beside the bed just in case.

Huge enormous gigundo thanks to anotherjen for coming over to entertain and feed Isaac and get him ready for bed. Wouldn't have survived the night without her.

This *would* happen on the Friday of a weekend when my mom is out of town. Argh! (I didn't mention, but my mom went to Cleveland for the weekend.) I can see I'll be calling everyone I know tomorrow and begging them to come rescue me.

And now I must get to bed while the pain is temporarily in abeyance. Wish me luck getting a good night's sleep. ugh.

Comments

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I feel so bad for having left. :-(

Ilana and I can hop the bus tomorrow and come hang out if you like.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

No, it was right for you to leave then. I just lay down with Isaac for a while, he fell asleep, the pain subsided and I went to bed.

I'd love for you guys to come over if you don't mind. I feel too crappy to even be embarrassed about the state of my apartment.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Ouch!

All I can do is send long-distance sympathy vibes... I hope this clears up quickly.

[mishaslair.livejournal.com]

Ow! That sounds very unpleasant. I hope you feel better soon.

[bodacia.livejournal.com]

I hope you feel better soon!

[tiggrrl.livejournal.com]

I knew someone diagnosed with that who turned out to actually have a cracked rib, so if you've smacked into anything recently, you might want to check that out just in case.

Of course, I'm sure you would have told us if you'd fallen down stairs, or been thrown against a wall by someone, so it's probably just the nasty inflammation thing.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

I hope you feel better soon. :(

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

Oh, ugh, I'm sorry. I had costochondritis when I was in high school and getting bronchitis like clockwork. Trying to get my books from class to class was torture--I can't imagine keeping up with a small child. Good luck!

[victoriacatlady.livejournal.com]

It sounds dreadful. I hope you at least manage to get enough sleep.

Why is it you're not supposed to take ibuprofen when you're pregnant? I know about aspirin causing Reyes syndrome in small children; is it related to that?