So, about a week ago, I went in for my 28 (!) week appointment. After the usual song and dance, my doctor took some time to examine my ribs. And by examine, I mean push and prod at them. Ow! But...the good news is...
My rib pain is NOT normal!
Dr. diagnosed me with costochondritis, which is inflammation of the cartilidge around the ribs. It is caused by all the pressure in there and possibly the positioning of the uterus and the baby. Now why is this good news? Because now I know, in my head, that this pain is not how pregnancy is supposed to feel. I am not being a wuss or a sissy, I am suffering a complication.
Now for the bad news... So how do you heal costochondritis? Well, when you're pregnant, you don't. Regular Tylenol doesn't do anything for the pain, so there's nothing I can take for the inflammation. The only thing that he was able to do was prescribe me Vicodin for the pain. And before you question my doctor's judgement, let me ask where you got your medical degree from. I am sick of people saying, "Is he crazy?", "You need a new doctor!", "No way! You can't take that!", blah blah blah...
He is a doctor. He knows what he's doing. Now, I wasn't really all that sure about it and I told him that I didn't think I would take Vicodin while pregnant. I personally don't feel comfortable with it, but that's my decision. When I researched it online, everything was very on the fence about the benefits and dangers of Vicodin while pregnant. So I stand by my original statement that I don't think I'll take it. But I have it just in case, I guess.
So... where does that leave me? In pain, but feeling relieved about it. I know what it is, I know it's not normal, I know that it will go away (doc said probably a couple weeks to a couple months after the baby is born), I know that it's not anything that could harm the baby, etc etc etc...
Other than that, nothing big to report.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment