Oh my god, I have an extra rib (cervical rib!)

Hey I have a friend in the youth group at my church that has cervical ribs. He's looking for someone to be able to talk to and relate to with his condition! If your interested in a pen pal pleeeaseeeee please let me know it would mean a lot to my friend

@Christian

Absolutely. My e-mail is ***. I have had 2 surgical consults this week and one wanted x-rays (which were done yesterday) and the other wants a CT Scan which is scheduled for 8/2. One Doc wants to go in through the armpit the other above the collar bone. So come early August I will decide...

Hi Skmatz,

I've removed your email address as we do not publish these on site. You should use the Messaging service if you want to contact someone directly and you can also use this to pass your email address on. Just click the Message button under the Username of who you want to contact on the left .

Regards,

Alan.

Y'All should type in "STARSEEDS" and read about them. I also have 2 extra ribs and just realized recently that starseeds have extra vertebrae and ribs. It is interesting stuff!

Guest in 2010 said he was glad his extra left rib wasn't too sinister. Well, I'm afraid it's as sinister as it gets. 'Sinister' is the Latin for 'left'! (Dexter is 'right', in case you were wondering. So dextrous is the opposite of sinister. Or something like that. 8) )

I have extra ribs, age 66, no serious symptoms, except life-long (currently acting up) Restless Leg Syndrome -- RLS; (sometimes also affects the arm(s), too). Don't know if that's related.

well I am having issue with my back, shoulder , May be it is one of the same issue of having extra rib. but i just don't want to give importance to this matter.

Hi, am wondering if this is what I have - on the r/h side of my chest it feels like theres an extra bony bit below my collarbone is about 2 inches or so below is definitely only on one side. I have problems with my right arm as have had tennis elbow for years, but am now wondering if the dull ache I get in my arm sometimes is this rather than the elbow - can anyone else see/feel the extra rib?

i've been having alot of numbness, tingling, weakness in both my arms, particularly when raising my arms. I have trouble holding a knife or pen for any period and brushing my teeth or blowing my hair. previously, i've had tennis elbow and a shoulder pain the doctor said might be a torn rotator cuff but he can't find indication of that on the MRI. Yesterday I went to my GP. he lifted both my arms while taking my pulse and said my pulse stopped in my right arm when he raised it and slowed down significantly in my left. he thinks i may have extra ribs and that they are causing pressure on my nerves/veins. I had alot of xrays today to determine if this is the case. i want to know the reason for my pain but these messages have certainly been scary.

Hi I have known that I have 2 additional cervical ribs for 30 years, whilst they have caused me the same pain as everybody else this was mostly on my right side (I also have sponylosis in my neck C5 and C6) but a year ago I started to have the same pain etc on the right. I am 54 and 2 weeks ago I had the left rib removed, I felt well enough to leave on the same day as surgery. I'm still recovering but it was the best thing I have done, I am starting to get the feeling back in my nerves and am not in pain when I lay down anymore. I have my appointment to see my surgeon again in 4 weeks (The Walton Centre Liverpool) and I will be asking him to do the other rib as soon as possible.

I may be one of the slowest to discover at age 57 that (apparently) I have at least one cervical rib - I think I have one each side but one is more developed than the other but I'm waiting to go back to my GP to discuss the findings of a X-ray so not sure in detail. I had never heard of this condition before and my GP did not suspect it when sending me for an ultrasound scan (which would not show it up).

I don't know whether to be reassured that it is quite common really, or to be worried about the symptoms and the treatment people reported here. I found out because I had bruising from a minor sports accident and one "bump" would not go away - as I now know because it had been there a long time without me or anyone else noticing!

I have had some symptoms of tingling fingers when I wake up and I have thought for a while that I may drop things a bit more or in an unusual way compared to some others so that may now be related I suppose. I solved the tingling by using only one low pillow, which does suggest it was to do with nerves around my neck. Other than that I think I have been lucky (so far) it seems.

I am 54 years old and found out earlier this year that I have an extra rib. I have had symptoms all my life (weakness in my hands, stiff shoulder, bad circulation in my right arm so that my right hand is always slightly red and swollen, headaches, etc). I would like to know from everyone whether we share the same kind of physical features. I suffered with asthma which I outgrew during my teens but it recurred in my forties; My bloodgroup is O Rhesus Negative, I have low blood sugar, I have a low iron count, I have brown hair, brown eyes, everything on my right side where the rib is seems slightly bigger to me, I am artistic and creative. Oh, and I cannot lift heavy objects, it starts the symptoms straight away.

I would like to know whether we share some of the above things. Maybe we all have the same kind of gene?

Regarding treatment, when my shoulder went into severe spasm earlier this year, the only thing that really helped was acupunture. I then also changed my life which reduced the stress I was living with and when I started feeling more relaxed I felt better. I also started gym again, no lifting of weights, just stepping machine, treadmill and and 100 sit-ups and stretching and feel fine now.

HELLO EVERYONE! I am 34 yrs. old and I've known about my 2 extra ribs since I was about 16. Since I was a tomboy and always hurting myself my mom had finally caved in a too me to a chiropractor when I was 17 because of a sledding accident. ( I wrapped myself around a tree!) In the doctors office he described to me some of the side effects of having them. Most were common things. Much like most of you. I would loose feeling in my arms, feet felt tingly most of the time, and when I tried to run I couldn't go more than 1/4 Mile with out feeling like my chest and sides were being crushed. And my Chiropractor gave me some awesome advice. EXERCISE!!! But not just working out to stay fit. To stay limber and work with your own nerves and body system. Have extra ribs is like getting an extra incentive to improve your over all being. Most of us with extra ribs, and I know it, will have one or both signs that we have them. For one when I was fifteen and I started to grow breast I noticed that my left breast was bigger than the other. Yea talk about the baggie stage of puberty. Not that I didn't feel like an odd ball enough as it was. But I was wearing shirts that never showed any thing on top at all. And my hands ever always falling asleep when I was in school. I found that after I started yoga, stretching, and body strengthening I was pain free, and I no longer have the same problems. Another problem that most of us with extra ribs face is low to no muscle tone. Especially in our arms. But remember circulation is the key. If you find that your arms are hurting and over exerted plus your body parts are falling asleep with hardly any effort, it is because of your ribs. Another problem you may end up facing down the road is Tendentious. It sucks to have, but it will happen if you don't get your self in the proper proportion. It will happen. AND TRUST ME YOU DON"T WANT IT! Take care of your selves, and go to a Chiropractor. To get your bones re-aligned. Be your awesome selves. And tackle your world one bone and nerve at a time!!!

In response to the suggestion that many of us with cervical ribs may be similar in other ways such as hair colour or personality, I would have to say that it seems unlikely. There may well be something genetic in the condition ( I don't know) but I can't quite see how it could link to all those other things. For the record I have blue eyes and am not artistic or creative, but a sample of two does not prove anything really! Good to know that exercise is helpful, as several people have said now.

And did Moondustdragon mean "tendonitis" perhaps - I'm not that sure what it is or how it reates to cervical ribs but I thought that might be what you meant.

Thanks for the comments. I would like to know, does anyone else also have rh- bloodgroup, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, low iron count and asthma?