September 30, 2003
Aches and Pains
Question from Camelon, Falkirk, Scotland:
My school-age son was diagnosed with diabetes several months ago. He has had a pain just under his rib cage for five days now, but I can’t get him to specify exactly if it it’s an inside pain or just muscular. it’s worse when he is running, and he loves to play football but hasn’t played for the five day’s he’s been complaining. What do you think I should do?
Answer:
You don’t give me many elements for giving you an exact diagnosis. A pain under rib cage could be due to many causes. The most common one could be an intercostal pain, quite frequent during childhood and adolescence. Otherwise, it could be due to a blow your child could have received without noticing. In this case, in particular if the pain persist, you could do a chest x-ray to exclude an infraction of one rib.
If the pain is muscular, it might be useful to treat it with oral antiinflammatory drugs for a short period. In this case, ask your son’s doctor what to use.
AS
