Bruised ribs after a fall

Thanks for more useful info I’m trying it all! My doctor said holding a pillow and pressing against the bruised side really helps when getting up so trying that. Ikiesgranma please take care of yourself.

everything crossed and prayers for you,enjoy your weekends away x

Thank you for your kind words. I had every chemo I could even though we knew they were unlikely to work. The consultant said there was nothing more but I told them I wanted to try radiotherapy. It brought its own problems but things seem to have slowed down. I was having a lot of input from MacMillan, our local hospice and the district nurses. My diary was full with appointments. I suddenly decided that I was doing okay and just wanted to live as normal a life for as long as possible and enjoy my 5 grandchildren ( the youngest was a few days old when I was admitted to Christie’s and given a DNR) although I’m not the grandma I was when my eldest two grandsons were little we do as much as we can. We’ve had several long weekends away as a family…there’s 12 of us 😂 it’s like the Clampets have arrived 😂 but we want to make as many memories as possible. I’m feeling optimistic that I’m going to be here for a few years yet.

Ikiesgranma, you,ve been through such a lot, I hope you're feeling better now ,

You are courageous, seeming to accept all you have had, and continue to cope with. Hopefully you will have all the care available to make your time as easy as possible.

In February this year I fell going into the post office and badly broke the top of my humerus and bruised my ribs. I started palliative radiotherapy a week later which was agony lying flat on the hard bed. I took morphine ten minutes before my appointment to help with the pain. I finished radiotherapy in April and ended up in my cancer hospital for 3 weeks. The break had started to heal when I fell again and rebroke my humerus and damaged my ribs again 😂 I would say the damaged ribs hurt as much as the break and took a long time to heal. I am terminally ill and when I came out of hospital I was lent a Mattress Genie which raised and lowered my mattress which really helped. I’ve fallen since and fortunately didn’t break anything but the ribs again took ages to heal.

I feel your pain. Did a full frontal plank when on holiday in July. One side of face bruised and swollen, hands/wrists bruised. Ribs, oh just awful. No Dr or hospital. Same as you, it's difficult to lie down and move. I had twin beds in room so they were pushed together, I had space for pillows to prop me up to sleep. Getting up from bed, a chair was awful as were laughing, coughing, sneezing. Sorry, I can only say pain relief, sitting up straight, wriggling to edge of chair to get up and standing/walking was only way I coped. Took 5 days to ease a bit but a full six weeks for all symptoms to disappear.

Please, get some Witch Hazel to bath it with, it's really cheap from savers and the bruise will be gone in no time.

Ormond, I have no advice except what others have said, but I feel your pain, and hope you recover soon, it's so easy to fall, especially as we get older, and when we fear falling,,,that's when it happens

I too had a similar fall backwards down a step that I hadn't seen. I fell onto the edge of a concrete step. The pain was unbelievable, we were on holiday, in Cornwall. I went to hospital but was told no radiographers were on duty that day. We came home early and my gp sent me for an xray, only to be told they don't xray ribs! I found out some time later i had broken 6 ribs. Paracetamol and a lot of tea and rest are the only cure. Horrible thing to happen.
on

My ribs were bruised after a fall. I worried that my heart stents might be affected but after putting my question on BHF website I was reassured .
A small hot brandy with a little brown sugar helped sometimes to take the edge off the pain when it was particularly bad.
5 or 6 weeks later it will be over.

Ouch- trips and falls- one of the greatest hazards as we get older. I had one earlier this summer and at first self medicated back pain and arranged some physio- but she was not happy so saw GP- who order x ray- which showed 5 spinal wedge fractures.

Like you Ormand56, I try to sleep upright to help breathing and pain. I developed other symptoms so then had ultra sound scan then a CT scan because that showed a lesion and a hernia had developed caused by compression fractures. So don't dismiss any signs of things not improving or any new symptoms and go back to GP

Just heard this morning from hospital lesion not malignant so huge sigh of relief. Now just wait for surgery for hernia repair and removal of growth and keep up with spinal recovery/physio.

Yes, water by side of bed- I have a metal bestead so that helps lifting and turning in bed. When sitting .e.g to watch TV I have a stool/couch same height as sofa seat and put soles of feet on that and knees drawn upwards in V shape, if that makes sense, as that relieves pressure on ribs/spine. Also try putting your hands on a wall, shoulder height, legs slightly apart and bend slowly forwards then back- that may help? Heat pads as others have said helps. Also on kitchen island I will bend my elbows onto island, legs part, then sway slowly side to side- that reduces pain- remember doing this in labour.... No citrus drinks in evening to minimise risk of having to get up several times in the night to to the loo- but remember to have bulk of daily fluid amount up until 6pm...

Distraction is good when you're not able to do all the things you usually do and if youre at home more than usual. I joined Gransnet and have enjoyed reading posts, answer some and it takes your mind off any pain/discomfort.

Take care and I wish you a speedy recovery 💐

Just a heads up, I saw my Gp last week with general aches and pains, he told me that he does not advise older peoole to use Ibuprofen regularly as it can damage your kidneys. Occasionally as a one off is fine, but not regularly

keepingquiet

Finding the right painkiller is essential and I'm surprised they didn't give you any at the hospital.

Head pads around your chest may also help.

There are also analgesic creams you can apply too.

It will get better.

Good advice here, also keep a flat-sided jug near the bed, in case you are caught short - why prolong the pain. I did this when recovering from hip replacements and DH was not offended that I 'went' in his proximity.

Hope so too! Haven’t done a thing about Christmas and my lovely DH had already invited our little family for Xmas day too😉

Ormond56

So much helpful information x
Please be careful all of you out there😉

I found that one day, I suddenly realised my ribs weren't so painful any more. It did take at least six weeks but I'm sure mine were broken.
Take care, no rushing around before Christmas and I hope you'll feel better by then.

Ormond56

So much helpful information x
Please be careful all of you out there😉

I do try to be more careful.
It's not easy if you're thinking of several things at once but yes - concentrate!

So much helpful information x
Please be careful all of you out there😉

Those of you who have husbands on call to help, you may like to know that with broken or bruised ribs the most painless way for him to assist is for him to put his hand under your head and raise you by exerting pressure under the head . This avoids any pressure on your chest and back, and you need no muscle work of your own. My sleeping partner used to do this for me when I broke my ribs and collar bone.

I sympathise too.

Managed to crack or break mine as I could feel them clicking around, just by turning round, catching my foot and slamming into the worktop.
Rang the surgery - nothing can be done, apparently! No point in going to the hospital as they don't Xray ribs, said the receptionist. Take paracetamol was the advice.

It does take time and I found it was best to sleep on my back, propped up.

I mean, crawl both up and down the stairs.

BlueBelle

They take a long while to ease, I too have fallen backwards (what’s this backwards business about) on the second to last step of my staircase my back ribcage crashed into the stair edge above
It’s just painkillers and time I m afraid Paracetamol and Ibrufen alternately and wait… it is about 6 weeks to heal

Falling backwards is a problem. When I could still get up and down stairs my son insisted I crawl down stairs backwards on hands and feet and supervised me while I practised doing it.

I broke 3 ribs in August. The pain involved in going from lying down to sitting up was horrendous for a couple of weeks.

I second the regular use of painkillers and definitely sleeping sitting up.

I do sympathise and hope you recover soon, OP.

Mollygo

Sleeping with cracked or bruised ribs is really difficult. It hurts to breathe and toroll over.
Getting in and out of bed brings tears to your eyes.
Apart from painkillers, the most useful sleep help I found was a soft pillow to rest my chest on so that I could side sleep, and the handle on my bedside cupboard, which helped me set up, because I could no longer just sit up and swing my legs out of bed for a night time loo visit.
It took about 6 weeks of no gym, which was where I fell. The pain eased gradually.
Hope you’re feeling better soon.

The handle on your beside cupboard was a good idea, However what would have been even better ,perhaps, is a L-shaped grab rail that is fitted securely one side under the mattress. the other side sticking up at a height for you to grab and pull yourself up. Those can be bought online or loaned by local authority or Red Cross.

I don't broken bones at this time but I have one of those grab rails to help me to get from lying on my side to sitting upright on the edge of the bed.

Our practise nurse told me to take one paracetamol and one ibuprofen at the same time for optimum pain relief - and it does seem to work better than taking just a single pills.