Posted , 52 users are following.
I have experienced symptoms of this syndrome for sometime, but have only recently received a diagnosis.
As well as symptoms of pain in the chest, neck and arms I have also been experiencing an irregular heartbeat and abdominal discomfort.
Has anyone else experienced these symptoms?
3 likes, 84 replies
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stephen94585 Guest
Posted
Hello,
yes - I have just the same symptoms as you have. Severe pain in my upper left chest region which has given me some concern that it is chest pain, although being a Registered Nurse I know that it is not this as it only appears when i lie on my left side. It burns sometimes and I have pain and pins and needles down my chest and upper arm.
laura48710 stephen94585
Posted
Mine is different since I do not have it just on one side both the left and right, nothing in the arm. It changes in severity, but sometimes seems unbearable. Sometimes it feels like my flesh is on fire but can be touched without further aggrivation so it has to be internal. I am surprised at how constant the pain is. I am praying it is overused muscles, but 10 days seems a long time for the intensity.
cindy19462 laura48710
Posted
yes mine is on both sides of my chest, actually the middle. I get numb on my right side but I think that has to do with my stenosis in my back. Have you tried turmeric? At least try it - it does help. One in the morning and one at night. But get the best brand you can afford with pepper in it. the pills are sort of black but you can't taste the pepper.
cindy19462 Guest
Posted
My doctor at the time, said I had tietze syndrome. I was having chest pains and it did feel like I was having a heart attack. but my heart is good and so are my lungs. It is the cartilage that hurts and it is like having arthritis in your chest cavity. what he suggested that I found does work - is taking turmeric every day, twice a day. it is better to get it at a high quality store like Whole Foods or Earth Fare. I have read that the pills with pepper in them helps to make it work better in your body. turmeric needs something to help kick start it. Walmart sells one with cummerin.
laura48710 Guest
Posted
I used to take Tummeric, but ran out and have not replaced it. I just now went ahead an ordered some. Thanks for the info.
yas11642 Guest
Posted
Hello all, I have an update.
I was diagnosed with Tietze in August 2017. I have since discovered that I actually have an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). Costochondritis / Tietze is a symptom of AS which explains the unpredictable nature of it, since it is a product of inflammation and comes and goes. Since then I've been on meloxicam plus an anti inflammatory diet and the disease is now in remission for the most part. It may be worth mentioning this to your doctor if your Tietze is recurring, to be honest I don't know why nobody mentioned it to me as it seems like a pretty good explanation for why you are getting this pain, as in my opinion this Tietze is just a proxy 'diagnosis' for we don't know! Would welcome your thoughts.
Yas
cindy19462 yas11642
Posted
you are so right. my doc also called it Costochondritis. it is an autoimmune disease, of which I have several including fibromylagia which is an autoimmune disease too. They say it is Teitze if they have ruled out everything concerning your heart and lungs. I have had a heart attack and a mild TIA. Sometimes you can't know if it is your heart or the Tietze
laura48710 cindy19462
Posted
Thank you. I will look that up. I developed EPI (Exoprine Pancreatitis Insufficency) an automimmune disease that goes in tandem with Celiac, which I later discovered I had. Since addressing the Celiac with diet, the EPI has dissipated some. I have had a few other issues that go hand in hand with Celiac, the hidden culprit that ties the other autoimmune diseases together. It is strange that I have this since I have been good about treating the Celiac, which I was in denial about until my "23 & Me" test showed my family carried a variant for it. My blood test and 1st biopsy were negative. The 2nd one showed it and when I challenged it, he explained that the intestines is long and the first one may have come from an area that was not infected yet. I feel if I had caught the Celiac in time, the other issues would not have arisen. But that is why Celiac disease is so diabolical and the symptoms so different. It is the underlying cause to other autoimmune diseases and we all get different ones that tie back into the Celiac. If you are having other issues, you may want to check into that.
nj62401 Guest
Posted
Hello everyone. I suddenly started being short of breath on March 9 2020. I couldn't breathe at all. It felt like my right lung wasn't filling itself. I started hyperventilating. And air wasn't coming into my lungs. So I thought. I thought I was having a heart attack, as anyone else on here has experienced. The ambulance came. Everything was fine. EKG, oxygen. All normal. They thought it was inflammation of the rib. They didn't mention tietze. Well. It got worse and I ended up 3 more times in the ER. They checked for lung embolism and made a xray of my chest. All fine. They thought I had the coronaa-19 virus. Since I suffer asthma I was very worried. No test was done. So no one knew. My main symptoms were shortness of breath and intense diaphragm pain. Like my diaphragm wasn't moving. I told my gp I needed to see a lung specialist. Since there was no proper diagnosis other than... "it is stress" (which made me furious btw) so.. In June a covidd test was done but OFFCOURSE this was negative. It's 3.5 months later for God's sake. By the end of June I saw a lung specialist. This wasnt a pleasant one. Things had gotten worse and I was hyperventilating the entire day. My stomach was so painful. This lung doctor checked my asthma and took a anti body test all was okay. No virus. She then came to the conclusion that I was never going to be believe her and she became agitated. She was very unprofessional. Cause at that point I wanted to know what the heck was wrong with me.
I then saw a internal specialist. She said it can't be tietze cause it would only be on my left side and there was no swelling so tietze was ruled out. Although i wasn't sure. I still didn't know what was wrong with me. I saw a rheumatologist who made another xray and checked for rheuma. He said it wasn't tietze nor rheuma. He had no idea. So my journey has been so frustrating. Blood came back okay.
I've had a really bad bout from march till July where I'm still not convinced I had the corona virus with tietze as a result. I had 6 weeks of fever. Without feeling very ill. Just the pain in the chest and shortness of breath but no overall malaise. I've been living in what feels like a psychosis almost. I was losing so many co2 from hyperventilation that I went straight into panic attacks that just kept going. I'm a mouth breather as well so I never knew how to breathe trough the nose.
I finally met a speech therapist who helps ppl with hyperventilation syndrome. She learned me buteyko method and learned me how to breathe trough the nose. For many months I thought I was dying. I thought I had pneumonia. I thought I had a heart disease I thought I had panic disorder with psychosis. Until I met a physical therapist who mentioned tietze. And said this can really go together with tietze. All of a sudden my symptoms faded in July. And we're completely gone for 4 weeks!
But they occurred again. With a vengeance. And this time I'm more sure it's tietze. Since I have loads of swelling. Both chests are swollen. My shoulders, back and neck are as well. My armpits hurt, my arms hurt. The nerves in my arms are pinched I think. Physical therapist said it can be arthritis as well. Together with tietze. I'm only 35. So that's worrying to me. My chest feels warm when I breathe. Very inflamed. Breasts hurt as well. Side of breasts hurt, sternum hurts and even my collar bone hurts very bad. Upper back is very inflamed. And feels like I've been using my arms in a work out. While I haven't used them. Does anyone else suffer bad shortness of breath the entire day?
This tietze is a pain in the chest. It's making my life so miserable. My armpits are swolen as well. Is this all normal? I bought the back pod. It helps a tiny bit. I use ibuprofen cream. Does yours get worse with period and menstruation? I think hormones make it worse. 😢