sternum fracture | Arthritis Information

4 days ago I caught a small cylinder of washing powder from laundry shelf...BANG   I felt as if a brick had been dropped from a great height on my chest.
X ray confirmed a non displaced sternum fracture... I rang my Rheumy and he has upped Tramadol etc .. the pain is horrible... I see him next week so might know more , like how long , does it heal etc.

Can anyone help with info.. I am assuming its osteoporosis. I am still on 5mg Pred..
I will copy this and post on the other boards.
Hi Lynn, Oh my goodness, I am so sorry to hear of this new fracture.

Bet there were a few tears of absolute frustration as well as pain. How are you doing really?

Do you feel the GP or Rheumy are co -ordinating your treatments? Are you telling each Dr all the drugs you are on? and the problems you are having?

I found that very often over the 4 yrs i would say I am OK, because I thought I was handling it all, but the day i dropped my bundle and actually cried with pain and frustration, and said I wanted to see someone else , he seemed to understand a bit more.

He then rechecked my history again, had at look at what had changed, gave me the name of someone else......but thankfully just by really telling him how I was going , he adjusted my treatment, and I continued on, and to improve. Your problems are multiple, so keep the drs informed .

Are you sleeping?   That is a really big issue if you are not. Whether it is from pain or anxiety or other causes. Write a list before you go to the dr, so you do not forget what you have to ask, and write down short answer if necessary. He will soon realise that you need help.

Very light hugs and good wishes     Zali (jen)
So sory to hear this lynn. I am betting it is the osteoperosis. What are your T scores? They must be pretty low to have cause this with fairly minor movement.

Gentle Hugs

Marianne

Good News ... my fracture is starting to heal and I am a whole lot more comfortable.

6 weeks ago I was in a lot of pain and very scared that I would never be okay again!!!

I have done as I was told.. rest and take pain relief. ( try to stay calm and not cry, cause that hurts too ) x

Thanks Mrs UK as always you are here for us x

Jen you can read me well. I did all or most of what you suggested. Except when they are nice to me, I disolve into tears ( most unlike me. I'm more of the stiff upper lip type)x

Thanks Marianne for that other site, is good too!!x

Still a few questions unanswered.... how/ why did this fracture , without direct force ect ?

I had a neuclear bone scan this week and that showed the healing is well on the way!

I will have a Dexa bone scan next week to see what the Osteoporosis levels are now!

Back to PMR .. He is still with me.

On 5mg Pred : Sed rate ok at 20, CRP up at 19. and some of the liver test up, probably the extra pain meds. I am still on Plaquenil daily and 15mg MTX weekly.

Thank you to all for the good wishes sent my way..... many, many, thanks..

Hugs, very gentle hugs to all, Lyn x

LynM2010-06-04 03:12:49Lyn

Good to see you are recovering.

Do not worry too much about ESR and CRP, they are really just markers. They shoot up when you have something else wrong. For instance, mine shot up over two weeks ago, the reason, I caught my foot and is was bruised and also tissue damage - result CRP and esr sky high - GP frantic - did I have headache blah blah blah - No nothing - look back to what happened last year when I got kidney infection - crp and esr sky high. And I don't have PMR - just GCA.

Conclusion, esr and crp can go up, when something else goes wrong. grrrrrrr

visit the site Lyn - see the photos of the launch and some of me - guess which is me.

Very pretty in Purple. Picked you first go!! I will go back and have a really good read soon.

sending up more air under Cloud 9....... and what did you say to the Mayor to put that smile on his face?

Lyn