I need some kind of urgent medical advice:

[SmileyBoy]

I've have a pain on the lower-left side of my left rib (almost on the side of my stomach, but not quite), and that area hurts when I breathe deeply.

I've been having that pain near my lower-left rib since right after I ate dinner tonoght at around 6:30pm.

Do you think it's possible that a food particle traveled down the wrong pipe to my lung???

Just to let you know, my cholesterol is normal, and I don't have diabetes or current risk of heart attacks.

Any help is appreciated. I don't know If I'll be able to go to sleep tonight, because it's so uncomfortable.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

1. You think that maybe..

..there's a better place to consult about this than DU?

[SmileyBoy]

2. My parents are fast asleep, and I don't want to call them and wake them up

The clinics are closed right now, and it would sound silly if I asked one of the guys in my dorm. I'm pretty much on my own.

[Renew Deal]

3. There are a lot of smart people here.

Besides, where else are you going to get a doctor at 3:00 am.

[MercutioATC]

4. Two comments:

(with the disclaimer that I'm NOT a doctor and I've never even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express)

1) I'd think it highly unlikely that food in your lung was causing your discomfort, and

2) If it persists, SeveneightyWhoa is right...see a doctor.

[theoceansnerves]

5. if food went down the wrong pipe

you'd be coughing like mad the second it got in there.

[gator_in_Ontario]

6. 911!

[SmileyBoy]

8. I don't think I need 911, it's just an irritating pain.

I don't think it's anything related to a heart attack, mind you.

[Thtwudbeme]

7. Call the nurse in the ER

Lower left side of your ribs could be a number of things...some serious, some not.

It is impossible to tell without a physical exam, or talking to you on the phone.

Stephanie

See your inbox

[Qanisqineq]

9. Call a nurse

There should be a 24hour service either at your college or at one of the hospitals. A nurse or physician's assistant will give you advice.

May I ask what college?

[SmileyBoy]

10. North Dakota State.

I'll try and find the number.

[Qanisqineq]

11. HEY!!!!

That's where I got my B.S.!! Meritcare Hospital should have dial-a-nurse!

[SmileyBoy]

12. OK, I'll check the phone book.

...

[SmileyBoy]

13. You know what, it doesn't seem so bad.

That dial-a-nurse had too long of a wait. It's actually gotten a little better the past few minutes. I'm gonna call the campus clinic tomorrow.

[plaguepuppy]

14. Probably just gas in the stomach

It sits right under the diaphragm in the left lower chest. At your age and without a very unusual family history it's very unlikely to be anything cardiac. Got any tums? Even walking around might help.

It can be a pretty alarming pain - it's one of those areas where the body takes alarm signals seriously.

[SmileyBoy]

15. I'm thinking that it's probably just some painful gas.

After all, it didn't start happening until after dinner.

[FloridaPat]

16. Half of the people that have heart attacks have normal cholesterol.

You might want to see a doctor in the morning.

[plaguepuppy]

19. But most of them aren't college students

"You might want to see a doctor in the morning"

You'd be surprised, they don't look any better than anyone else. <rimshot> </annoying jokes>

Distrust of the intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Hermann Goering's fondness for a phrase from a Hanns Johst play ("When I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun") to the frequent use of such expressions as "degenerate intellectuals," "eggheads," "effete snobs," and "universities are nests of reds." The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.

Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plainclothes. It would be so much easier for us if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, "I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Blackshirts to parade again in the Italian squares." Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises. Our duty is to uncover it and to point our finger at any of its new instances -- every day, in every part of the world. Franklin Roosevelt's words of November 4, 1938, are worth recalling: "If American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land." Freedom and liberation are an unending task.
from Umberto Eco: '14 ways of looking at a blackshirt'

[izzie]

17. Go to a doctor. Better to go and have nothing wrong then....

not go and have something wrong. My sister did not go when she felt ill and it was a big error.

[blondeatlast]

18. If it's on the left side, wale the folks up and get thee to a doctor.

No sympathy otherwise--and anyone is at risk of a heart attack.

When in doubt in terms of medical problems, think the worst.

[MichaelHarris]

20. Sorry I just read. If its still a problem.....

email me, my wifes a doctor and she'll be up in a bit. If its real bad I'll wake her up for you. She'll talk to you if you like.