Hard to breath and ribs hurt?

Pleurisy?: There is one kind of cold that best fits with that description. It is called pleurisy, where the cold virus gets down into the lining of your lung, makes it raw, so that every time you take a deep breath, you get a sharp pain, and so you tend to take shallow breaths, and may feel short of breath. This has been called the "devil's grip." it is benign and will go away in a few days.