Why Am I Having Pain From A Vein Like Thing In The Side Of My Rib Cage?

Posted on Thu, 2 Jan 2014

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

Thu, 2 Jan 2014 Answered on

Wed, 29 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I have a long vein looking thing on side of my rib cage from close to bottom of my arm pit down running down the side of rib cage then disappears into ribs...not really painfull to touch....Was painfull few weeks ago, seems like the pain is going away. Hurts a little bit if I stretch. Not sure if I should be worried about it.

Answered by Dr. Chobufo Ditah (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: There is no need to get worried now! Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so much for trusting us with your health query. I am so sorry to hear about this pain and the vein looking structure you described. From all the information you have provided, this is most probably a pain originating fro the soft tissue. this is the reason why it can be provoked by stretching. If it were fro a more deep seated organ like the heart, lungs, etc, it wouldn't have been possible for you to provoke it by stretching. It seems to be very minimal otherwise I would have recommended some pain medications for relief. Given the present level of pain, I will suggest you simply monitor the progress and expect complete resolution in the about 1-2weeks. For now, there is no point to get worried about this. I hope this helps. I wish you well. Thanks for using our services and please feel free to ask for clarifications if need be. Dr. Ditah, MD.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar