Costochondritis: The pain returns!

Remember how I said this week was busy? Well, I didn't expect any health issues to come along.  Of course, I've been fighting allergies for the past several weeks…

Tuesday evening I was playing with the kids, and I guess them jumping on my chest wasn't a good idea! That night while sleeping, my breathing was a bit shallow and Lydia said I was wheezing a bit. I didn't really think about it much that following morning, and rushed around getting ready to leave. It wasn't until we were in the car on the way to the daycare that I noticed my chest was tight. I also had to take shorter breaths than normal. And to top it off… I had left my medicine at home.

So after dropping the kids off, we stopped back by the house and grabbed my medicine. I took it easy while at work, making sure I didn't cause any strain on my chest or ribcage. The medicine (ibuprofen) helped relieve any pain, but the breathing problem wasn't much fun. At least I wasn't heavily attacked like months before!!!

Today (May 4), I'm feeling a whole lot better. The rest I had during the night helped. Hopefully, I'll be more careful from here on out. A major attack could disrupt everything, and plus… I don't want to be in that much pain!



A quick refresher for those who might be wondering what I'm talking about:

I occasionally suffer from a condition called "Costochondritis". It is an inflammation of the junctions where the upper ribs join with the cartilage that holds them to the breastbone or sternum. The condition causes localized chest pain that you can reproduce by pushing on the cartilage in the front of your ribcage. Costochondritis is a relatively harmless condition and usually goes away without treatment (and no treatment has been found). The cause is usually unknown.

Unfortunately, the symptoms mimic a heart attack, and it is very intense. Since there is no known treatment, all I can do is take ibuprofen to relieve the pain and hope it goes away quickly. If I catch it fast enough, I can take it easy and hope it doesn't worsen. When and if it does get bad, I feel like I just wish I could die. It hurts just to breath and I can find no real good position to relax that will help. The last time it got extreme, I ended up thrashing around on the floor trying to breath, but with every breath the pain would intensify. If I exhaled, it would ease up a bit. It's nothing I look forward to.

~Matt


A link: http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/costochondritis