new to forum, diagnosed with costchondritis

Bones, joints and muscles
1

first diagnosed 3 years ago. Suddenly had pain in left side of chest, sharp stabbing pains, hurt to breath and any kind of movement. Had breast cancer (had implants as a result) so instantly thought something had gone wrong with them).Was sent to breast clinic, but mammagams, scans etc, showed all was fine and was diagnosed with costochondritis. this has been ongoing for the past 3 years. now at the stage where it affects me day to day. Now have daily pain in chest, shoulder, back and neck, all on the left side..At it's worst,breathing alone is difficult and i can concur with the feeling of experiencing a heart attack. Walking becomes, slow and laboured, because of the pain. I feel for you all going through this, and hope we can share some hope, experiance and help amongst us

 

2

Oh Megan, that is not what I wanted to hear. smile 3 yrs.....I am going on 2 wks and can't deal. Doesn't hurt to breath though. Walking is what I can do....sitting or laying too long hurts too bad. I think everyone is going to have so many different areas of pain. My job is working at a computer all day long doing payroll with a deadline....that was the worst. I have to go back to work on Monday and not sure how I can do it. Pain managment tomorrow and going to try acupunture as well. 

Something has to give! I hope you feel relief soon! 

3

hang in there megan. have you been to specialiats? Cardio?endocrinology? rheumatology? Accurpuncture therapy? Have you had tests done? Bloodwork? MRI? CT scans/ X ray? etc. We are all in this together to support each other. Have you tried any pain meds? Therapies?

4

I have been on Prednisone (3 rounds) and it does help. Dr doesn't want me on it forever, but I must say it gives me relief! I hate what it does to me (I.e. I eat EVERYTHING in sight and I can't sleep worth a damn, but I will take those side effects rather than the pain and breathing issues I have been dealing with! I will be done with the Prednisone next week and I will let you know what happens when I'm off!

5

Laura, so sorry you read such negativity from me, but as you say everyone is different, i hope all is well with you

 

6

hi Grace, yes had so many test, scans, MRI etc, painn meds are on-going for me, hopefully find some solution soon. wish you all the best x

7

thank you for your input Queen Mo, please do keep me informed with your progress, wishing you best of luck x

8

Whats good about is that drs are ruling things out. Thats very important to us to have the bad stuff ruled out. I know that really helps my anxiety. I pray like crazy, and live for soft ice packs and tylenol. And Neurontin that helps me sleep at night. Rest is so important with this condition. Thank God Costro is not life threateneing. Just hurts alot at times. Im praying Drs find a cure for this for all of us!!!!  smile

9

I was diagnosed with costochrontitis about a month ago. I had severe chest pain and went to the ER. I had an EKG and chest x Ray. I was back in the ER a week later with pains in a different chest area and they did two more EKGs and a CT scan with contrast of my chest. Everything was fine. I went for a stress test and that was fine as well. I had lumps in my breasts and went for a mammogram and ultrasound and that was fine. I still worry constantly and when I'm anxious the pain seems worse. I'm hoping it goes away soon. Someone please reply and let me know if you still have this!

10

Do you still have the costochrontitis? How are you doing with recovery?

11

Hi Kim, Yes I have still have Costro as well as Fibramyalgia. The neurontin helps the pain as well as ice packs and XS tylenol. Also Arnica gel and muscle rub helps to numb it. Theres also lidocaine patcjhes that help some people alot. How r u feeling?

I have good days and not so great days. But overall I'm better. Good luck hang in there

12

I'm taking Tylenol and that's about it. Still not feeling well but hanging in there. I still worry constantly buy I'm trying to slow down and stop worrying all the time it's making me miserable. I sleep but am up very early in the morning.

13

TRy camomile tea, also if your able to take motrin it helps Costro alot more. Reducing sugar a lot helps a lot too because of the inflammation.  try that arnica gel   its all natural and helps costro pain and inflammation. Maybe seeing a therapist will help your worryingf. I see one. She helps me alot. Have a great dayyyy

14

I'm gonna have to look up the arnica gel and I am definitely going to start therapy. I constantly worry about my health now and mentally is has changed me.

15

same happened to me. i totally understand. also ask dr about neurontin for pain. its not a controlled substance, i also fibromyalgia.... so i understand pain. it gets better i promise

16

I hope so grace. Thank you.

17

I really appreciate reading all posts and strongly believe that health professionals should be using this information to research, understand and diagnose and treat our conditions comprehensively,

Since October I have been battling with Costo which started as;

Left chest pain

Breathlessness

pounding heart palpitations

tired and fatigued

Headaches and head pressure

Arm and hand tingling sensations and sometimes in my left foot.

Generally feeling unwell

Like many of you I have attended A&E on several occassions with ECG, bloods and chest Xrays all being normal. Mammogram also clear.

But my still my sypmtoms persist........

Anixety has been slowly becoming an everyday part of my live and is very scary as I commute to work and find being on the train and particularly the tube distressing.

My left eye has worsened and although I wear glasses to for PC work and find I now need to wear them to help my refocus???

Recently I have felt severe pain long the left side of my neck like a pulling and tighting. My lymph node has been up and have been also getting random soar throats ?? Yesterday evening I became so stressed and anxious I called a friend to come to my home as I also have a 9 year old daughter whom I love dearly and finding my health is causing such distress to her.

I called 111 this morning at 5am who arranged a out of hours gp appointment for me at my local hospital. When I explained the neck symptoms to the GP she was not worried and said it was the anixety that was magnifying my health complaints.

I have been taking

ginger and tumeric

Green Tea

Plenty of water

Using Paracetamol, Nerouphen (mildly help)

I have been doing some upper chest excercises and using rubs such as

Arnica

Tiger Balm

I am awaiting another set of blood works results taken Thursday and have booked yet another appointment with my GP on Tuesday. This is wearing!!

My personality has chanaged I not the me anymore and Im struggling to do a full day as me. I just feel something more sinister is at play with my health but because the NHS is so slow in moving things along I feel my health has been put on the backburner.

I plan to contact a physiotherapist and see if that can help.

Best wishes to you all.

And thank yo for the Lyme disease info.

 

18

I have some sort of chest pain every day now as well and neck pain. Head pressure in the same side as the neck pain. Even my clavicles hurt. I have anxiety every day about it but they say I'm ok. I'm going to a physical therapist for the neck issues. She thinks everything is musculoskeletal and doesn't think I have costochrondritis. It's all very confusing. I don't have issues breathing and I feel pulling with my cartilage. My doctor thinks it could be because I have large breasts. I also worry that the CT scan with contrast I had is going to give me cancer. sad I freak out over everything and am now on anxiety meds.

19

Hi Kim

I fully appreciate how you are feeling.

Anixety seems to be prevelent to our condition. May I ask besides anxiety meds what else have you tried?

i should add I have been also taking epsom salt baths and I going purchase some glucosomine that is suppose to aid healing of cartilage.

I am taking vitamin D and fish oils.

What anxiety tablets are you taking and are they helping?

Best wishes

20

Thank you Elaine best wishes to you too. I am taking Lexapro and I don't know if they are helping although I have (for the most part) stopped googling all of my symptoms. I am still very worried with health anxiety. I have acid reflux and am on a PPI, and my doc believes I have an ulcer so that has been limiting what I can take. I did better before when I was taking ibuprofen but that started another mess with burning in my chest and stomach which is why they think I have the ulcer. I have been trying to deal with it and I take Tylenol sometimes but not very often. I have been doing exercises to stregnthen my back which sometimes helps a little stretching things out but other times just hurts. I keep wondering if I have some type of connective tissue disorder. I am trying to trust my doctor's but I have all of these little lumps around the breastbone and they hurt to touch. The doctor says that's my cartilage and it's just irritated.