OT: Broken ribs. Does anyone have any experience, knowledge or advice?

I have one broken rib and one bruised rib.  I consider myself to have a pretty high threshold for pain, but this is the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life.  I am wondering if anyone has any advice about how to ease the pain and/or promote faster healing?  I have a prescription for Loratab every 6 hours.  It takes the edge of and makes the pain bearable, but it doesn't really make me comfortable.  I haven't slept in 3 nights even after taking Ambien.  I understand it can take up to several months to heal, but how long will the pain last?  I know it will be sore for a while and I can handle that, but when will the knife-twisting, take your breath away pain ease up?  Any thoughts, advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Can you bind them a bit? I seen where you have a script for Loratab. Is that for the ribs or for another problem? If you haven't been to see a doctor about the ribs, you might want to. I am not trying to scare you BUT there are cases where a broken bone could end up a life threatening problem, especially if marrow gets into the blood stream. And no I did not learn that from TV- my sister had a few broekn ribs and she almost died because she didnt go get checked out right off. It was from the some of the internal portion of one of her ribs breaking off into her system.

Broken ribs do hurt like hell. When I broke two of mine after falling off a horse back in 1999, I thought I was gunna die because it hurt to take a deep breath, hurt to laugh, cough, or sneeze- heck it even hurt to talk. The doc had me use an ace banadage to bind my ribcage for like 2 weeks so that the ribs could be immobilized and nit a little faster. But you are lucky you have a pain pill, I didnt get chit for mine.

Yes, I was at the emergency room and then followed up with my PCP as well.  The Loratab is for the broken ribs since I cannot take NSAIDS.  They said it was a hairline fracture and to come right back if I experience an increase in pain or any shortness of breath.