Am I just being over-cautious? Or should I just take some aspirin and HTFU?
+1 to seeing your Doc rather than heading for A&E. Another option is an NHS Walk-In clinic. I got checked over by a nurse (ruling out the serious possibilities) and given all the advice I needed within 15 minutes of walking in to the Walk-In clinic. Top work.
More than likely A&E will just turn you away and tell you to take painkillers. I've had this twice (and they were right).
A&E won't X-ray you unless they think there's a serious risk of a punctured lung or other serious complication. They don't do chest X-rays just to confirm rib problems (there's little benefit and it's a dose of radiation you'd probably rather not have).
The Doc, or Nurse, will be able to rule out more serious stuff and you'll be left with instructions for maximising pain relief. I'll dig out some posts detailing how to it. I've bruised/cracked/broken ribs about 5 times (from playing 5-a-side). The main points are:
* It starts off ok but the pain keeps growing
* The pain peaks at about 2 weeks after the first incident and holy fuck can it get painful
* Over the counter painkillers work well enough, I've never had to consider prescription painkillers
* Codeine rocks, until it gives you nightmares which lead to further pain as you jolt upright at night
* Eventually the pain will go, it's not that unbearable
Let me dig up the other threads...
Pedestrian muppetry= bust rib.and
What does a cracked rib feel like ?