I really need some answers.

January of this year, I woke up with a horrible pain in my right ribcage (guessing it's my lung) and when I inhaled, I felt the pain get worse. Not only that, but I would cough so hard it would make me vomit. I would cough up mucus almost all day and night. It was never-ending. The pain in my right lung only got worse. If I turned over the wrong way in bed, or extended my arm too far, or made any false move I felt like crying. I went to the doctor and he tells me that it's "walking pnemonia" .... so they drug me out on medicine and it took about a month or so for me to completly heal. I thought it was over, and now, here I am AGAIN. I cannot stand this anymore. I went to another doctor and he said it was just an infection and that I probably pulled something in that area. I think doctors are just in it for the money and they think "oh shes young and healthy, drug her up and she'll be fine" ... im getting really pissy that I'm spending money on someone to help me and it's not working... has anyone had these symptoms or know anyone that has? i know i'm making a big deal out of this, but i just want to know whats going on in my body so i can try to fix it.

Go to a pulmonologist if you havent already and get a good exam and a ct scan if possible. I hope you feel better soon.

Hi,
I agree that a ct scan would be a good idea. I've had rib pain last year and this year, caused by bad cold with coughs. Finally this year I was given a ct scan. THey did find a 5 mm nodule in my lung, but it's too small to cause symptoms, so the pain was caused by some abnormality in my ridgcage. (He asked if I'd been hit hard in the chest or been in a car accident...I told him no, I just had a cold.)
For me physical therapy helped to "realign" the ribs, but diagnosing rib pain can be difficult, as xrays showed nothing. An MRI found nothing.
Get a second opinion and push for a ct scan to see if they can figure out the source of the pain. My doctor kept telling me it was all muscular, which in part it may be, but good for you to find out for sure.
Hellas

Hi
I had had the same back pain for 2 years. I went to physical therapy, pain clinics, had MRIs all showed nothing but normal arthritis. Then as a last resort I saw a neurologist. He out of the clear blue said I had locked rib syndrome!
I thought he was joking. He said sometimes the rib muscles will cramp resulting in a rib that is stuck in inhalation, there will be no pain with a deep breath but with exhalation, letting the air out, there will be pain. It is just the opposite when a rib is stuck in exhalation. The treatment I had from the neurologist was manipulative therapy. Within three weeks I was pain free!:)

Question - are you still coughing relentlessly? Did you stop coughing while on antibiotic therapy? Do you have any proof of a pneumonia - lung x-ray, etc?

If it isn't pneumonia, I think it may be LPR, laryngopharyngeal reflux. This is a form of acid reflux that leads to extremely excruciating, nightmarish symptoms, including chornic relentless cough. Since it's a result of acid escaping a faulty spincter muscle, no antibiotic can treat it. But anti-reflux medications can.

The standard regimen for treating LPR is 2 doses a day of a maxium-strength Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI). For instance, I take 2 doses of Nexium, 40 mg a day, for a total of 80 mg.

You can also take Prevacid, Aciphex or Prilosec. Only use the prescription brands. Stay away from Prilosec OTC - which is not effective at all. It's too weak and not even manufactured by the makers of real prescription Prilosec.

Also visit the acid reflux board, post your symptoms, and see what others have to say. Finally, go research "laryngopharyngeal reflux" and "laryngeal pharyngeal reflux" and gather a little info that way.

My main symptom was a chronic, relentless cough for 6 months that was literally "driving me crazy". Not fun.