Costochondritis - anyone else have this shit?

[JelloStorm]

Costochondritis is a fuckin pain in the ass. I was 22/23 and had these really sharp pains in my chest and rushed my ass to the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack.

They told me I had arthritis in my chest... at 23 years old.

Now I'm 30 and I've learned to deal with the ache but in the winter and on damp/rainy days it really sucks.

Also felt like I wasn't breathing out of my left lung due to the ache.

I recently quit smoking and things have gotten a lot better except for those rainy/damp/cold days.

Ibuprofen in mass quantities helps but I really wish there was a way to beat this shit and live a normal life.

JS

 

[Wanderlust]

Re: Costochondritis - anyone else have this shit?

I've had it once, never again. It's not normally a chronic condition and it's not arthritis. It usually resolves in about a week or two.

Go get it checked out, 7 years doesn't sound like Costochondritis. If it's a relapse or something you might be able to get steroid injections (sorry not anabolic).

 

[normbal]

Re: Costochondritis - anyone else have this shit?

Working in urgent care this is one of the hardest cases to present to parents. The average kid I see with costochondritis is a black female around age 16. The parents, because of cultural history, are CONVINCED the kid is having a heart attack. 16 year olds don't get MIs. If anything they do a line of coke and suffer sudden cardiac death from a dysrhythmia. They might have a spontaneous pneumothorax. They don't think I'm taking them seriously. Honestly? A 16 year old female's report of medical history is about as reliable as our current US Attorney General's testimony to congress, but more on the hysterical side.

Sure it hurts, but it's not life-threatening.

For years I've had the advice from physical therapists and orthopedists that the only way to combat this is more exercise, NSAIDS (ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.) and ICE. Weirdly enough, ice packs, ice blocks (frozen in foam coffee cup so you have a handle when you peel off an inch of foam from the rim). Try telling a 16 year old girl to rub her tits with ice and she'll think you have rocks in your head or the parents will think you're evil.

I used to see this a LOT in kids who started USAF basic training (which is a lot like a kindergarten school yard exercise) and did more exercise the first week than they had in the preceding 12 years of public education victimization. Costochondritis, leg stress fractures, retropatellar pain syndrome (aka chondromalacia), all signs and symptoms of too little exercise and mobility.

The cure? Exercise, and more exercise and recycle.

And arthritis in 20-somethings? Possible. Depends on background/work history. I understand that the only mammals on the planet that DON'T get arthritis are cetaceans (whales/dolphins) and bats. Could also be GERD, chronic pleuritis, connective tissue disease, disk herniation, residual neuropathy from overt or subclinical shingles just off the top of my head.

Find a doctor you're comfortable with, and whatever you do, don't smoke again. Ever. You'll be a lot better off.

 

[vferguson3006]

Re: Costochondritis - anyone else have this shit?

JS,
I was diagnosed with costochndritis when I was 41 and am now 66. All the traditional treatments with low grade NSAIDS did nothing to stop the pain and associated discomfort.
Eventually, specialists diagnosed it as an elevated level of costro called "Teitze's Syndrome" for which there is no cure.
It is not arthritis, the soft tissue between the ribs swell up causing the pain and pressure sensation, sometimes dibilitatiing.
I learned all I could about solutions, in my case it was NSAIDS twice a day, cortisone injections, and valium at bedtime.
I have since learned to live with it since I now know I am not having as you described a heart attack each time it flares up.
I have also give up the cortisone injections.
It sucks but like the OPers said, it is not life threatning just a miserable deal.
JOE

 

[Captain Moroni]

Re: Costochondritis - anyone else have this shit?

I used to get it a couple times a year, its a pain in the ass or the chest i guess. I just live with it, after having 86 kidney stones and living with ankilonsing spondilitis there are plenty of things in life that hurt much worse.

 

[UKDslayer]

Re: Costochondritis - anyone else have this shit?

There has been some association with this and connective tissue diseases, such as lupus and RA, as well as Lyme. You are in a Lyme area too.