Saturday, January 23, 2010

Costochondritis- Success Story

I have total Success Story OCD. If I find anyone who has healed in any way from Costochondritis, or what they thought was Costo., I hit NEW POST faster than my dog can knock ice cream out of my hand. Found this on another site...just sharing...

"I was diagnosed with Costochondritis when I went to see the doctor complaining that I had sore ribs. I initially had this very sharp pain in my chest, near to my heart, and thought that I had perhaps torn something. a few weeks after my ribs began to feel sore at the front of my chest, particularly if I raised my arms, arched my back or pushed down on my sternum. The doctor gave me some anti-inflammatory drugs, which helped.

I then went back and checked on the internet and everything at that point seemed to make sense.

A few months passed and the symptoms never went away. The symptoms changed slightly, in that on days that my ribs were not sore, I got the felling of indigestion and acid reflux. I started to develop an itchy cough.

A few more months passed and I noticed that my stools were rather black and tarry. At this point I went back and met another doctor (one who specialized in Gastroenterology), who gave me an endoscopy and confirmed that I had a stomach ulcer, presumably as a result of taking too many anti-inflammatory drugs.

I was also told that I had an inflamed Esophagus junction (EG Junction/OG Junction) and this was later diagnosed as Barrett's esophagus, which is a little more worrying.

I had been introduced to the idea of acid reflux but I was convinced that I had costochondritis. If you think that you have costochondritis, but you sometimes get the feeling heartburn or acid reflux or general indigestion, or a feeling of having a lump in your throat, then it is probably your esophagus. You should not exclude this possibility, and get it checked out and dealt with."

The OCD itch has been officially satiated for today. Now where's the ice cream? J/K...I mean organic yogurt. Gag.

13 comments:

  1. Hi Lucy,
    Thank you for visiting my blog. My costo is fairly miild I think, apart from when I ended up in casualty prior to diagnosis. Certainly, the discomfort, though still there, is milder. Mainly right sided, and extending down to lower right ribs, where I feel it when taking deep breaths. Hope you're feeling good.
    Best wishes,
    Diana

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  2. Diana,
    Thanks so much for sharing how you are doing. I appreciate that you blogged about the condition- the more everyone talks about it- the less taboo it will become. Sorry you have this condition. =( Glad it's not a severe case. Hope you fully heal up quickly. And keep knitting! You are so good!
    Lucy

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  3. Thanks for Sharing these stories! It makes me feel better to know that people have over come this. Although i dont regularly comment i do read all your posts!!

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  4. Thank you so much for letting me know that you enjoy the success stories-and that you read the blog on a regular basis. That really keeps me motivated to keep it coming!

    Hugs,
    lucy

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  5. I am experiencing these exact symptoms right now...heartburn, lump in the chest/esophagus, bloating, and chest pain. I went to the chiropractor today and she suggested costochondritis, but yes, it very well could be gastro rather than muscular. Thanks for sharing your experience very much!

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  6. Thanks for sharing that with me! Keep me posted if you end up going to the GI and heading down that path.

    Hugs,
    Lucy

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  7. Hey lucy,

    The more I read the more I think I might have this!
    Bear with me while I tell you about me...

    A week ago this past Monday I was at the gym with my students and I was weighlighting quite heavily with my arms and chest (something I don't usually do).
    As it happens I went to the walk-in clinic that night for a possible throat infection and the doc gave me antibiotics. It was an anitbiotic I'd never had before. (This was about 3-4 hours after the workout and I had not noticed any pain yet)
    That night I had to take 2 of the pills simultaneously...afterwards I experienced a burning in my chest and back and thought it was a side-effect of the pills.
    However, a couple days later the burning turned to achy, dull pain in the middle of my chest and lower ribs.
    It's been like this for about 4 days so I went to the hospital last night to make sure it wasn't something serious.
    I'm only 26 and my heartrate was normal, my breathing was normal, I was getting 100% oxygen and my BP was normal so the doc didn't even want to do any tests. But he did a cardiogram and a chest x-ray to be sure and both were perfectly normal. He said he had no idea what it could be and said maybe my muscles were tight and I should just work-out.

    But after reading all this I thought - YES! I do notice it is worse when sitting - ESPECIALLY on my 1 hr 20 minute drive to and from work.
    And I had not try palpating the areas until I read your website and I have found that under my breasts are very very sore to the touch.

    So long story short:
    -I have mild pain down the middle of my chest and underneath my breasts.
    -It gets worse when I take a deep breath
    -It's worst on my long commute
    -It's probably not my lungs or heart (according to xrays)
    -It hurts to the touch in the areas described

    Do you think it sounds like I have this???

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  8. Hi there,

    Thanks for sharing all of that with me. Legally, I have to say I'm not a DR. and can't diagnose. =) For me, if I was walking in your shoes, yes -I'd be very confident in a costochondritis diagnoses as either the problem, or symptomatic of the real problem. All of your symptoms are extremely typical of costo.

    Something I would do, is go back to your anti-biotic that you were given and find out the ingredients...and also call the manufacturing company on the bottle to find out what exactly is in the anti-biotic. I think that's a HUGE awesome clue for you. You may be allergic to something that's causing your costo?

    Or if it has gluten, oil or dairy the pill, I'd run to the nearest doctor and get tested for Celiac...(and beat down those doors of your pharmacy and manufacturing company until you find out what was in your medication- every last ingredient.) The reason I think you should really go back to this is due to the burning you described. Huge indicator that your costo is reacting to something you are, or have, put in your body.

    If you check with your pharmacy and manufacturing company, let me know what you find out!!

    Good for you for being so proactive, you will totally get to the bottom of this!

    Hugs,
    Lucy

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  9. COSTO, LEFT ARM PAIN,POSTURE. TRY PHYSICAL THERAPY

    I'm a 26 y/o female with costochondritis & left rotator cuff tendonosis. I met a woman who has had costochondritis for 30 YEARS & she said nothing works for her either. She has the same symptoms as me -- hurts to breathe, hurts to touch the ribs, chest hurts all day/every even when you're doing nothing at all. First I had sinus headaches, sore throat/cough. Then I noticed chest pain first but I've always had really bad allergies. So I thought the infection was moving to my chest. After a few wks I went to the hospital cause the pain was so bad. Chest x-ray, EKG came back normal. They said it was pleuricy cause , at that time, it hurt worse to take deep breaths. I went to my primary dr. after this & he diagnosed me with costo & prescribed anti-inflammatories which were ineffective. I was back at my dr's 2 days later (as instructed) & they have my GERD medicine which was also ineffective. I was back the hospital again where the CAT scan, blood work, EKG & chest x-ray came back normal. I went to my dr. again where i saw the nurse practicioner. She actually went though each one of my ribs to see which ones hurt & found several pain points. She also mentioned something about my posture. She recommended sleeping while hugging a pillow to keep the ribs open. This way, when you wake up, it doesn't hurt so bad from keeping crunched up all night. I had to wait over a month to see an orthopedic who diagnosed me with L rotator cuff tendonosis. (By this time of course my entire left arm & shoulder blade hurt) He observed my posture during the appt & said the chest pain was due to my posture. I tend to lean/hunch slightly forward which he said can cause the upper peck muscles to spasm. He even pin pointed the pain after this explanation. He gave me a corisone shot in the left shoulder blade, wrote for physical therapy & wants to follow up in 6 wks. He may want me to see a pulmonologist if the therapy is ineffective. They referred my to a cardiologist. I had a stress test which came back normal. However, I alerted the dr. that I did have pain during this which moved to the right side during this. I got my heart rate up to 180 when the target was 165. so they recommended a nuclear stress test. The cardiologist said that being my pain did not intensify throughout the remainder of the test that he did not see anything wrong. They still want me to come in for an ultrasound. The physical therapy exercises work on the upper peck muscles the rotator cuff & my cervical spine. (previous bone spur) It still hurts to move my left arm, touch certain arm/rib areas or to do nothing at all. I think that costo is so difficult to treat & so physicians recommend all of these alternative avenues. It's a muscle, which is very difficult to treat & to heal

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  10. My wife, who is 30, had costo for about 3-4 months until March this year. I'm pleased to report that she now appears totally cured. She tried a lot of things, no idea which if any made a difference, but latterly the work of a chirpractor-cum-physio, who also seemed to be a bit of a psychiatrist and did wonders in helping her to relax, was crucial. This probably isn't an unusual story, but it seems to be unusual for anyone on these sites to report a 'normal' case of self-correcting (as the official sites say it should be) costo, so I thought readers would appreciate one.

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