Costochondritis without tenderness?

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Since JUN 2020 I've been dealing with chronic rib/chest pain. Initially it felt like little pin pricks in my ribs but over time it's increased to sharper pains/chest pressure. 3 chest x-rays, 3 EKGs, an abdominal ultrasound and bloodwork later it remains a mystery. My doctor mentioned costochondritis only once, in passing, but hasn't brought it up since. I'm wondering can you have costochondritis without tenderness? That seems to be a hallmark where if you press on your ribs you can trigger pain, but I don't have that. For the most part I can only trigger it in one spot if I twist, which is somewhat new. Otherwise it's random all around my chest. I do have a chest CT end of the month, but presumably that will be normal given how my x-rays have been normal every time. Thoughts? Dr. Google always says cancer.

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3 Replies

  • Posted

    hi! did you get a resolution to this? sounds very simular to what i am experiencing!

    • Posted

      No. Never. Oddest thing one day it just stopped. All on it's own without explanation. I hadn't changed my life or lifestyle very much apart from fitness. Whether that is connected or not I'm not sure. My initial symptoms started about a year ago and it took about that long to just stop one day altogether.

      My chest CT results were normal in the sense that they were normally imperfect as they should be just from living life for 36 years. Nothing alarming. Certainly nothing to explain what I was experiencing and nothing to warrant further tests. That ended my road with the tests before it just stopped.

    • Posted

      Hi Michael, so thrilled to hear that your symptoms just disappeared one day. I am going through a similar situation that started about 2-3 months ago. Started as pressure/pin pricks on left front rib cage (usually lower ribs at upper abdomen area) but jumped around all over honestly. Then it started on right side too. I now have pressure in chest and sternum tenderness. I have muscle twitching too in between ribs and it's all up and down my spine as well. I have had abdominal/pelvic CT, abdominal ultrasound, countless chest x-rays, and lots of blood work. Did you have any back pain and/or muscle spasms where the pains were? I am wondering if my issue could be costco, an issue with my spine or some other chronic pain disorder.

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