Costochondritis

[charm1]

Hi,

My daughter suffers with costo aswel, she is in awfull pain with it, it usually seems to last for 4-5 days and then dies down. only for another part of her body to flare up. she also has fluttering sensation in her heart and i agree that an understanding of what is really going on inside would be a kind of medicine in its own way
she can not take diclofenac as it her aggrivates her indigestion terribly.
I have found a balm that seems to be one of the only things to relieve her of any pain for many of her symptoms. it is called tiger balm red ointment, it is in a small jar available from most chemists at about £4.50 ish
when her ribs or shoulders, knees e.t.c are bad i gently massage the balm in and it slightly eases it.
hope someone has benefit from this

[Crystal]

My fience had a fairly severe case of Costochondritis. He was bad with it for about 8-10 months and it took nearly that long for him to be diagnosed. By the time he got to see a rheumatologist the Costochondritis had cleared. He is now suffering with chronic pain syndrome, taking 4 different painkillers soon to go to 5, and needing intense physio as his muscles have wasted due to disuse.

This is an extreme case I know, but to be honest a quicker diagnosis would have stopped him getting to this stage. It is 14 months since he went on sick leave due to the pain of his Costochondritis and we have been told that we still have a long way to go.

Anyone know much about the Pain Management Clinic in Wythenshawe Hospital? The doctor we saw was fantastic and very open and honest. This is now a step in the right direction.

[LauraChrissy]

Is this Costochondritis? I get a sharp/burning pain on left front rib just under breast. If I push it in the pain goes away completely. The pain comes back when I let go. Also, it hurts worse lying down than when standing......and it only happens every now and then.

[charm1]

Hi,
My daughter often says that if she pushes on the sore area of her ribs that the pain goes away but the same as you says it comes back when she lets go. She also has trouble breathing whilst her ribs are sore it painfull when she inhales and she complains that she feels as though she can not get enough breath.
I dont know if that has helped or not, we have been told that she has Costochondritis and suffers with it quite regularly, when it comes it lasts a few days to a week then will die down for a while, giving another part of her body to play up!!!! then will come back maybe 3-4 weeks latter on average.


there are some tips on the home page of this site I think its under pain management...

[shirleytx7]

I have a history of pain in the ribs and am experiencing a particularly painful episode at the moment. I usually get pain in the lower ribs and it hurts to breath,etc. (Not in conjunction with a cold, cough, etc) For several days now the pain has been in the upper chest on the right side and again it hurts when I breath. I am fairly certain it is not muscular as moving my chest muscles does not replicate the pain the pain gets worse when I move. I am thinking it is the cartilage and I may have Costochondritis. From reading there isn't much you can do to treat other than rest, etc. HAs anyone found anything particular that helps, ice, heat, anything?

[Mrs PotatoHead]

I believe I've had about 4 acute episodes of this during the past 4 years or so.

The pain and difficulty breathing has come on suddenly in the middle of the night. It's focused around my breast bone.

The first time it happened it was pretty scary and it took about 2 days to heal. This is the usual pattern. I had to walk very slowly because I was unable to breathe in deeply due to the pain. I consulted my GP and he diagnosed me with asthma. I have two close family members with asthma.

The next time it happened, I used the inhaler I'd been prescribed and it made no difference, which rang alarm bells. I just happened to have an appointment with an occupational nurse the following day (while still having difficulty breathing), and she took my lung capacity which was 101% expected, asked me whether the difficulty was with breathing in or out - I said in. She concluded that it was not asthma causing the problem. I'd been misdiagnosed.

The attacks tend to happen when I am under stress. I believe that it's due to agitated movement while I'm sleeping caused by stress, which tears a ligament.

The last attack, however, appeared to be caused by laughing too vigorously, which is progress I guess.

It's a relief to have an explanation.

[JessicaNJpa]

I've had costochondritis a couple times, both on the left side near the middle ribs. I wonder if having had surgery for pectus excavatum (the kind where they cut and reattached the costal cartilage) makes it more likely to happen - both times it was set off by too much coughing during a bad cold.
I found the pain was aggravated by coughing and any kind of lifting, especially in a reaching position (I remember the absolute worst was picking up a gallon of milk). The first time ibuprofen helped a lot but the second time I was pregnant and so had to deal with it a lot longer. ice was helpful since its inflammatory - that said, if you have muscle problems in the area (especially if the problem has been going on awhile) then heat might help the muscles relax. This is a nasty pain that you just can't get away from - hope you all feel better!

[Mrs PotatoHead]

Oh that is interesting, JessicaNJpa, because that makes me remember that bending forwards to pick something up caused me agonising pain. So much so that I had to develop a bend over sideways manouvre. I guess it was compression in that area that was the problem.

Sounds very plausible that your surgery was a contributing factor. Perhaps pregnancy was a factor too, as that puts lots of extra strain on your ligaments.

Yes, it's a very acute pain and very scary - especially when you don't know the cause! It's a relief just knowing the cause.

[missmonkey]

O wow! I get this from time to time and since finding out I had hms I wondered if this was related or not, good to know! I luckily only get it for an hour to two at a time where I can only use about 20% of my intake breathe because of extreme pain... It's also maybe me think maybe the costo was mis diagnosed and is just a subluxation? If I have the guts I can take a deep breath in and it pushes out the extreme pain and it goes away..?