Any doctors in the house?

lendaddy · 12-12-2003, 06:52 AM

I know I need to get checked out, but initial paranoia is a *****. For a while now (months it seems) my solar plexus has been "bending" outward. I have this horrible vision in my head of a football sized tumor pusing on it from behind. Am I paranoid or are they really out to get me or both. Anyone ever hear of something like this? Cool huh?

adrian jaye · 12-12-2003, 07:16 AM

dont know anything about that, but this is what I do know.

it could be simple, inflammation, due to injury.
could be an infection.
it could be the larval product of a marsian traaag beast !

question

1> does it hurt
2> have pain killers/anti-inflamtory agents helped
3> have you seen a pharmacist
4> have you had it fora while
5> have you had a recent injury.

I'm not a doctor, your best seeing a doctor if your unsure. Anything you catch early enough is easy to deal with.

so come back and tell us tomorow your docs given you some tylanol and told you to stop wasting his time !

good luck and dont be afraid, sure it will be ok

A

lendaddy · 12-12-2003, 07:30 AM

I will try and go in today. I have recently lost maybe 20 lbs (on a diet) so maybe my fatness had pushed it out over time and it only shows now? It doesn't seem larger, just like it is being/was being pushed out. It hurts when I push on it

No recent injuries. Wait, cracked a rib maybe 2 years ago or less.

Moses · 12-12-2003, 07:44 AM

Mediastinal masses rarely deflect the sternum outward. Cardiac dilatation (enlarged heart) would almost always cause other severe symptoms (shortness of breath, swelling of legs and feet, etc.)

How big is the area of swelling?

At any rate, a simple chest X-ray will rule out most problems. No big workup, just a chest X-ray. It's almost certainly OK, but get to your doc's office. Good luck.

lendaddy · 12-12-2003, 07:50 AM

Thanks, I am overweight, and shortness of breath occurs sometimes

Anyway I have been playing basketball every Monday night for a couple of months now and my lungs are much better. Moses, the entire thing seems to be about the size of your thumb to the first joint (pretty normal I believe from my A&P classes. Like I said though it doesn't seem to be enlarged, just like the bottom is pushed outward. That baby is just cartilage right?

Moses · 12-12-2003, 07:55 AM

If you are talking about the bump at the very bottom of your sterum, dead center, this is your xiphoid process. If you lost a lot of weight recently, it may just now showing up! The xiphoid process is cartilagenous and extends an inch or two below the point where your lower ribs attach to the sternum in the midline.

Moses · 12-12-2003, 08:00 AM

Here's a pic. Is this what you're feeling?

lendaddy · 12-12-2003, 09:11 AM

Moses, Yep thats it. I got the names mixed up. But definitely the Xiphiod Process (long time since classes!). Does that change anything?

Moses · 12-12-2003, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lendaddy
Moses, Yep thats it. I got the names mixed up. But definitely the Xiphiod Process (long time since classes!). Does that change anything?

Lots of people have a Xiphoid that is displaced anteriorly. That is normal. But if the protrusion is new, better to have it checked.

lendaddy · 12-12-2003, 09:18 AM

Thanks, I wouldn't say it's new. Just seems much more pronounced.

I appreciate the info, at least I won't come across as a moron to my doctor by using incorrect terminology.

BlueSkyJaunte · 12-12-2003, 10:01 AM

Back when I weighed 165 (I'm 6'1") my x.p. was very prominent.

Now that I'm somewhere between 175 and 195 it's fairly hidden.

lendaddy · 12-12-2003, 10:10 AM

BSJ, very interesting. I was fairly skinny as a child and well into my teens. I raced motocross till maybe 3 years ago then I shattered my foot and hence the bike sits in the garage and I sit on the couch

( I am now 30) anyway, I never had a prominent xiphoid back then so I wonder if my sub muscular fatness has pushed out on this thing. I have a barrel type chest so who knows, or maybe thats where I am hiding my football sized buddy.

BlueSkyJaunte · 12-12-2003, 11:17 AM

You should have it checked by a doctor you trust anyway....better to be safe.

I had two doctors tell me I had IBS and to go away when in fact I had celiac disease (self-diagnosis later confirmed by a doctor who gave a *****). One's an inconvenience. The other will kill you if not managed properly.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

I vote that alien thing-a-ma-bob.

speeder · speeder's Garage

That is where they usually emerge, isn't it??