Crashed out in a tri 6/28, 7 fractured ribs and a broken collarbone, so it’s been 8 or 9 days. In the hospital, which I left after 4 nights, the dilauded worked ok to control the pain. Here at home the norco dose every 4 hours barely seems like it’s doing anything. Hence the 3 am posting as its keeping me from sleep.
Already had the gnarly constipation run in or I’d be maxing that shit out. How long does this pain last cuz I’m not sure how long I can take it…
how did u come off mate? im having deja vu, have you posted this before? 7 ribs fkn ouch, all down one side?
how did u come off mate? im having deja vu, have you posted this before? 7 ribs fkn ouch, all down one side?
Yeah, poates about how long to get back to training but now I’m just trying to figure out when it won’t hurt to just breathe. Clavicle plus ribs 1 through 7 on left.
yeh shit, sorry to hear man, must be a bitch to try and sleep too. Road race or tri? I came off recently at the beginning of a bunch sprint at 53 km/hr and skidded/rolled on the road. Smashed my helmet and split it, bent shifters and derailleurs etc. Bike costs $30 to straighten back out with not one frame scratch and I walked away with bad road rash and multiple dates with betadine but nothing broken. I assume u have the road rash AND breaks, so I definitely sympathise with ya. Ribs obviously making things hard there with the breathing.
Well I don’t know any tips to improve the breathing sorry Chris, I would be chewing on codeine.
Took me a few weeks to sleep comfortably (I also had a few nights of being awake at 3AM either reading or posting here due to discomfort). I had an allergic reaction to Percocet in the hospital so they switched me to Oxycodone, which helped manage pain but I got sick as a dog coming off of it even after properly following the weaning steps. Worst hangover of my life. I had to sleep propped up with pillows for about two weeks or so; it was a good nine months before I could comfortably sleep on my left side where my injuries were.
Hope this helps, hang in there!
From my experience. 6-8 weeks until you are truly “comfortable”.
3 weeks until you feel “normal” again. The clavicle will take loads of time. Was it broken clean or are you going to need surgery ?
In 8 weeks, get to a PT and get that shoulder working again.
I crashed exactly a year ago - July 5. Clavicle, 12 ribs, punctured lung…the whole 9. Had a surgery to install a plate, had another to take the plate out. I was good to go November.
I crashed last spring at IM Texas. Broken collarbone, 6 ribs left side #2-8 and partially collapsed a lung. It hurt like hell for the first three weeks then the pain seemed to gradually go away. It was difficult to manage the pain even with all the meds I had available. By the time I found that pain tolerable from the meds, all I was doing was sleeping all day. Once I got through the first three weeks things improved quickly and I was back in the pool water running and on the trainer doing easy spinning. I had conflicting recommendations from my doctors one want me todo nothing except easy walking until the collarbone had healed and the other indicated that as long at the pain wasn’t too bad I could train easily. I did manage a late August comeback with an Olympic Tri and I managed to suffer through 70.3 Muskoka, Hope your recovery goes well things will get better soon.
Damn there are some serious injuries on this board!! I broke a rib back in college doing stupid drunk things and couldn’t breathe or sleep comfortably for a month. Can’t imagine collarbone and 7 ribs!!! Hang in there man. You will eventually heal!
I’m just over 5 years out from a similar crash and my shoulder still hurts when I pull a tight shirt over my head.
About 6 weeks for me when I broke a few ribs snowboarding. Good luck.
damn the 8 for 1 special, wow that’s impressive and 3 more total bones then I did. I tip my hat to you and bow to your excellent ability to fracture bones at once.
The original pain meds I was given never really took the pain away prior to surgery. Post op after the nerve block wore off they did nothing. I got a narco med switch after calling my surgeon (who is also a friend) and letting him know I was reducing the dosing interval by 50% to temper the pain and it was still the worst pain of my life (my crash resulted in broken bones 18-22). He was more concerned with the APAP dose then me doubling the narco dose. Pain went away after 1 dose.
docusate to help eliminate the constipation, works quite well.
call up ask for a pain med switch.
It will hurt for a while. It gets better, but some parts might hurt a little forever. 12 months after breaking my collar bone, its still hurt. Then I crashed on it again . . .
I will say, I have broken my collar bone and severely bruised some ribs (separate crashes). The ribs hurt more. I could keep from moving my shoulder most of the time and it did not hurt if I didn’t move it. It’s pretty hard to go very long without moving your ribs. Things like the need to breath tend to come up on regular basis 
in my experience(s), ribs are the painful part, but short lived. ribs were the hard part. can’t sit up in bed. can’t get out of bed without excruciating pain. once up, fine. in bed, fine. it’s getting from the bed to standing position. percocet is your friend.
once you can stand it, you can ride. both times, for me, by about 7 to 9 days i was back on the bike (or at least the trainer). swim takes the longest.
As you know I am about a week ahead of you and got off a lot easier. Separated shoulder, dislocated collar bone and only one cracked rib. I am on day 17 and still have yet to get a good nights sleep. I sleep on my stomach with left arm up or on left side when healthy. Of course all the damage is on left side so that still isn’t working. Good news I am biking just fine and got just under 80 in yesterday. That should be the first thing that comes back to you. It’s more of a mind game with the bike than pain. I keep thinking “what if”. This morning was the first run I had relatively pain free and had a good pace for 6 miles. Swimming? That still kind of sucks and collarbone is not happy about that.
Whoa, nasty crash! I was given Norco following hernia surgery, not sure it did much at all for the pain, and I took it religiously until I decided to go back to work and didn’t want drive “under the influence” If you’re not already popping stool softeners along with the narcs, do so!
I had to sleep sitting up or in a recliner for at least 10 days last year after breaking my clavicle (3 days before my IM race, no $%^#). It DOES get better, just takes time… Good luck!
Came off when I was 12 and broke the collarbone. Thank fuck I healed faster back then. I ran a few XC meets that fall in a brace. It took a couple of nights before I could sleep OK. I still remember waking up in pain for the first 10 days.
Looks like everyone is different. I crashed out a month before you so I just went through this. Clavicle and 4 ribs. Really gnarly distal displaced fracture, with the end of the clavicle pushing up the skin on my shoulder about an inch. Pain was at 11 for the 20 hours or so they kept me in the hospital. IV pain meds were like magic. Then I went home and took narcotic pain meds for about 4-5 days. Pain was pretty bad without them but already much better. Then I switched to Tylenol for next 2-3 days or so then stopped taking pain meds all together. Oh sure it still hurt especially if I moved wrong but nothing too severe.
Then pain came back after surgery but different kind of pain of course. Again few days of narcotics then Tylenol then nothing. Three weeks in there was almost no pain.
Then I started torture sessions, I mean PT, and got all kinds of soreness and stiffness. Not pain but really uncomfortable. Now 6 weeks in those are at pretty low level. Hope to run in 2 weeks or so.
I had to sleep sitting up or in a recliner for at least 10 days last year after breaking my clavicle (3 days before my IM race, no $%^#). It DOES get better, just takes time… Good luck!
Yep I slept in a recliner for a month. My ribs fractured in the back so lying down was not happening. And lying down pulls the shoulders back unless you have very firm pillows and arrange them just right, so collar bone gets it too.
Don’t underestimate Tylenol. After a couple weeks the intense pain/discomfort did subside and off the shelf Tylenol it did much a better job managing the lower level pain than the narcotics.