Pain Under Breast On Upper Rib Cage. Difficulty In Breathing And Shortness Of Breath. Using Proventil MCG Inhaler. Suggest A Solution?

Posted on Sun, 29 Sep 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 Answered on

Tue, 22 Oct 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : In the past two days I've had a pain under my right breast on the upper rib cage. I'm having difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and a difficult time sleeping. I've never had this pain before. I'm 78 years old and in fairly good health; 5'5 and weigh 120 lbs. I do yoga twice a wk. I have not seen a Dr. for this condition since it just occurred this week end. I've been using my Proventil HFA 90 MCG inhaler (2 puffs by mouth 4 time daily (just started yesterday). The inhaler hasn't seemed to help. The pain is not severe, but hurts more when I cough and take deep breaths. On a scale of 1-10 it's about a 6 at this time (10 being very good). Where do I go from here? Is your service free? Do you take Medicare? I will not be able to afford monthly payments, sorry to bother you. I'll make an appointment with my Dr. tomorrow.

Answered by Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Requires evaluation

Detailed Answer:
Hi

The pain of 6/10 for 78 yr old requires evaluation by any primary physician. It includes basic heart and lung examination with ECG. Short of breath and chest pain in the right side that increases with cough and deep breaths goes in favor of pleurisy. The other good possibilities are costochondral (ribs and attached muscles). If the pain improves you can go to the doctor appnt tomorrow, if it worsens from here you should call 911.

I am still here to answer your follow up.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli