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Costochondritis pain and discomfort

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sinead_34836
sinead_34836

I am a 39 yr old mother of a 5yr old daughter. I live in Newry, northern Ireland.

I was diagnosed with costochondritis 2 years ago this month. Like everyone elses case I have read on here I was totally convinced there was something more serious wrong with me and argued with my Doctor for a long time about it.

It started when I got a flu while on holidays and the only thing that I can think may

have brought it on was the coughing. It comes and goes every couple of months but there isn't a day that I don't get some kind of pain in my back or chest area. Just

before Christmas last year while driving to work I took really sharp chest pain and

felt like my heart was jumping around in my chest. This panicked me as I thought I

was having a heart attack. I pulled into the hard shoulder as I had my little girl in the car with me and I was finding it difficult to breath. The panic stopped after a while and I went straight to A&E. They did numerous tests, ECG, chest Xrays, blood tests, you name it and in the end they said they agreed with my GP that it was

costochondritis. They put me in Diclofenic tabs, which are anti inflammatory. They did help and the condition eased up after a few days but it wasn't long til it reared its ugly head again. so for me its 2 weeks of severe pain and maybe 4-5 weeks of bearable pain then back to severe pain again.

I am down at minute but this time its really bad, it seems each time I get it It is more severe. I am now on naproxin which to be honest I find useless. Pain killers are not working and even the hot water bottle which I found great is no use this time.

The majority of my pain in in my back between my shoulder blades and travels up into my neck and shoulders, sometimes down my arms. Although I have chest pain the worst is in my back, though if I were to press on my ribs at the front I could scream with pain.

I find this time with it being worse it is affecting my moods. I am snapping at my little girl all the time which I feel terrible about, and I just dont want to do anything. Work is just a nightmare recently. I am normally an upbeat person and very little gets me down, but it is really taking its toll. I have had this condition now for 2 years and it really in not understood. Most people I talk to have never heard of it, so when I found this forum and so many people suffering like myself it was a God send. So hopefully I can gain some knowledge from other people and anyone panicking about the pain they are feeling and thinking its something bad, can take some reassurance from my story.

Does anyone feel the pain is in their back more then their chest area. And if anyone has any advice or anything, please do share with me.

Sinead

11 likes, 604 replies

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  • amps
    amps sinead_34836

    Posted

    Hey I just got the same thing as y'all I done had it for bout 5 days and it sucks really bad I take Naproxn also don't work so now I'm on tremodol I just started using ice packs to help me sleep at night this scares me before I understand can any body tell me what's the best way to lay at night cause I barley sleep cause of the tightness of back n chest

    • amps
      amps

      Posted

      And I'm not a women I'm 26 years man I read up on it they say men rarely get this but I guess I unlucky one but if any one can help me with more advice I would greatly appreciate it thanks

    • Hali4u
      Hali4u amps

      Posted

      Hi

      Try and take a couple of ibuprofen before you go to sleep bcs what I have read and experienced is that  sleep is crucial to the pain disappearing as suddenly as it arrived. A great sleep is hard to manage with pain.  I know the other drugs you are using can help with managing ur pain so whatever helps....

    • mitouback
      mitouback Hali4u

      Posted

      You need to investigate your posture and rib cage position..Dont just accept that the pain is there...Its there because something is causing the pain.........

      The ribs, ( maybe 2 or 3 ) might be pushing in to the sternum because of misalignment of your rib cage. That was my situation..Please read my post if you like

      Mitouback

    • Hali4u
      Hali4u mitouback

      Posted

      You are absolutely right Mitouback.  My back goes "out" from time to time bcs of a pinched nerve I've had in my lower verterbrae since a fall when I was 12.  Although the 2 pains don't coincide, it may well be a correlation to that misallignment and a manifestation through another type of pain.  Fortunately, like my back pain, the costochondritis doesn't hang around for months, days up to a week is usually all... 
    • kelly84195
      kelly84195 mitouback

      Posted

      I have had daily costro for years but now accompanied by heartburn ☹️
    • kelly84195
      kelly84195 Bunny76

      Posted

      I get little lunch nerve feelings randomly all over
  • daviesp2000
    daviesp2000 sinead_34836

    Posted

    Hi everyone,

    It was great to find this forum as I was diagnosed with Costochondritis a few months ago and have not yet found a solution.

    I am a 28 year old man and am a keen runner. I first felt pain in my back area 6 months ago which then gradually moved through to my rib cage and even down in to my stomach area. I am never in agony but feel pain everyday, especially when trying to sleep as some people mention. The only form of exercise I can do is biking in the gym which is really frustrating as I love to run and had to pull out of the marathon.

    I also found that ibuprofen did nothing to help and am now trying the Olbas Oil as a massage rub and the omega 3 fish oil capsules as recommended.

    Thanks for your help and I'll pass on any tips if I can!

    Paul

    • linda00569
      linda00569 daviesp2000

      Posted

      Hi Paul read your note I've been going to a chiropractor now for 4/5 weeks having aqua puncture along with the OLBAS Oil and find myself 85 percent better I've had this now for nearly a year and this is the only relief I've found hope it works for you if you use a Chiro make sure you use a good one look it up on net to see training they have best to you linda
    • daviesp2000
      daviesp2000 linda00569

      Posted

      Hi Linda,

      Thanks so much for the advice, really appreciate it. 

      I was seeing a sports physio who did acupuncture on my back for 4/5 weeks and also a sports massage. I found it helped with the back pain but not so much with the ribs, though maybe I didn't give this a go for long enough.

      Was the treatment on your back or front/side?

      Thanks! 

      Paul

    • linda00569
      linda00569 daviesp2000

      Posted

      Paul the treatment was on my front  next time she is going to work on my costrol region with hans only you need the front area to have the aqua as it brings the blood flow into the region she also worked on my upper back area but no needles just unknotting it it's painful for a few days even more than before but then settles down I go once a week and am very pleased with the results as I said !!!
    • linda00569
      linda00569 daviesp2000

      Posted

      Oh by the way you need to rest as well that's very crucial to the healing 
  • lori99596
    lori99596 sinead_34836

    Posted

    Hi, I'm Lori from Australia, 70 years old.  I first had upper rib cage pain about 4 years ago caused by severe coughing, and had an Xray because I thought I might have broken a rib, but Xray was OK.  When the coughing stopped, the pain gradually went away, but now it's back again with a vengeance.  The trigger this time was bending over to open a low, stiff drawer and the pain was so bad it made me shout out.  When I straigtened up again, the pain diminished but was still right across my upper rib cage.  I now have to be very careful about how I move my body and must not ever lean over forwards or twist my body sideways.  I have very stiff knees from arthritis and that's why I developed a habit of not crouching down as it's very difficult to get back up again, but I have to do that now.  My pain is worst when sitting down or getting up from sitting or getting into bed.  If I remember to control my movements, the pain goes away after a couple of days, but if I ever forget, it comes back again and last another few days.  When I lift anything heavy, I get pain at the sides of my ribcage, and when I was carrying shopping, some pain radiated around the back slightly.  I haven't seen a doctor yet as I know it's chostochondritis and there's nothing they can do.  Maybe it's worse this time because I'm older.  I will try Olbas oil, easily available in Australia, and that will help my sinuses too hopefully.  I can't take fish oil as it gives me bowel problems.  The website saying costochondritis is a mild condition and rarely recurs is a load of rubbish.  On another website, I've found that upper ribcage pain is also often associated with osteoporosis.  I have osteopaenia of my hips, a precusor to oseoprosis, but the ribs are never checked in bone density scans that I know of.  Good luck to everyone with their treatments.  I can't afford alternative therapies but will try Olbas and a cold gel if I can find one.

     

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