Costochondritis- Tests Before Diagnoses

Alright, ladies and gents. I had a great question asked in the comment section of another post, "what tests and diseases did you get done and ruled out before you were confident in the Costo diagnoses?"

These are the tests performed previous to my diagnoses. And although I've had tons of other tests and a rough ride like many of you, these were the ones I found most informative:

1. Cardiologists- ruled out all heart problems
2. Chest X-RAYs
3. Head MRI (I get tension headaches- ruled out tumors since I had one when I was 16)
4. Allergy Testing
   
5. BACK MRIs (I was having LOTS of referred pain to my back from my chest...it was important to rule out that the bulging disks in my back were not causing my chest pain.)
   
6. Bone Scan- to rule out any strange bone diseases
7. Ultrasound of chest area, stomach, liver, gall bladder
8. OBGYN - you may want a mammogram. I did not have one since I knew my pain was related to working out. But my mom did have pain in her arm before her breast cancer diagnoses. Don't let this scare you, just let it be a piece of your puzzle.
   
9. Rheumatologist- Full Blood work up (took 5 biles of blood) -she tested:
   

• Thyroid level
• Ana Nuc. Antibodies
• Protein electorphonoresis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• HLA-B-27 (this gene and Costo are associated with ankylosing Spondyltis and several other diseases)
• Glucose
• Complete Blood count (important test)
• Cholesterol
• Sedimentation rate

With you receive tests results, get copies from your doctor asap (and keep it filed away)- to take with you from doctor to doctor. Don't be shy in getting copies, these are your results!

If I had it to do all over again and was trying to get diagnosed, I would hit up:

1. Cardiologist- rule out heart problems
2. Rheumotologist -rule out major diseases
3. General Practitioner- to order ultrasound of area
4. MRI of spine - make sure no back problems are causing the chest pain
   
5. Then call around to every pain management specialist, cardiologist, and general practitioner in my area and I would ask if the physician was confident in diagnosing Costochondritis. And if I found one that was, I would march into his/her office asap. When I was diagnosed, my physician was extremely confident- which helped immensely. Remember, if you can recreate your pain by pushing on the area near the sternum or lifting objects and the pain returns- it's a good sign it's costo. Just a thought...
   

If there are any tests you found helpful, let me know and I'll add them.

2010....here we come.