Health Forum

I am 14 weeks pregnant. I have had bronchitis for 2 weeks. My cough is not going away and I am beginning to have a rattle in my chest. Just finished a zpac and taking robitussin at night to sleep. I have been coughing quite hard (enough to urinate on myself). I started to feel pain in my rib cage last night (right under my left breast). The pain continued all day. It is now to the point that it hurts to even take a deep breath. Reading all the things that could be wrong only scares me worse. Could this just be a torn muscle or a sign of pneumonia or whooping cough? The doc said I would have to get an xray to determine. That just scares me because of the pregnancy. Any ideas or suggestions?

I'd bet you have a bruised rib or lung in addition to whatever your cough issue is. This would pose no threat to the baby. However, a cough that persists after antibiotics was either viral and antibiotics were useless, or it's worsening because the antibiotics weren't efficient. You should see the doctor again. They can listen to your lungs and should be able to determine the problem just by the different sounds (wheezes, crackles, etc.). I think they could treat you for pneumonia or whatever else they suspect the problem may be without having to do an x-ray.

The coughing is what has done this to you. It seems that when we cough, especially if laying down, that it is easy to pinched muscles or nerves in the back. Once pinched and you try taking a breath it puts even more pressure on the nerve and gives you the bigger pains. You have to release the nerve to get rid of the pain. Here is how to release the muscles and nerves in your back:
Back:
(do from a sitting position)
Place your left hand on your left leg next to your body. Place your right hand over your left shoulder and find the muscles next to your spine and press on them and hold. After 30 seconds slowly lower your body forward, keeping your left arm fairly straight as you do. When you reach your lap remain there for another 10 seconds, release the pressure but remain there for another 30 seconds. Then reverse your hand positions and do your right side.
If you have trouble with the lowering yourself down into your lap, just try leaning sideways as far as you can instead, and somewhat forward. You have to get your back to open up some with the leaning to release the pinched parts.