Costochondritis survival tips?

[Anonymous]

Last week I went to the ER because I was having sharp pains in my chest. EKG was fine- they diagnosed it as costochondritis. They gave me painkillers and anti-inflammatories. In the past week, the pain has gotten worse and I cannot function. My GP says there is nothing they can do. Does anyone have any coping tips? I am at my wit's end here.

[Anonymous]

anyone?

[Anonymous]

No real tips, but I had this too and I empathize! For me, I genuinely thought the doctors were missing something b/c it hurt so much. I really did. But, as my Dr. said, there is nothing that can be done and it needs to heal over time. Not what you want to hear, I know.

I'd recommend keeping up with anti-inflamms as you need them (get ahead of the pain). I was too conservative w/meds and felt much better after taking meds. It did get better and, as shocked as I was, it just went away eventually (it took months).

[Anonymous]

So sorry. The pain is horrible, I know. Not much but painkillers will help in the short term, but the thing that made a difference for me, long term, was changing the way I slept. I suffered from several bouts of costochondritis and suspected after a while that the primary culprit (in addition to a too-soft bed) was sleeping on my stomach with my head resting on my bent arm. I forced myself to sleep on my side leaning against a large pillow and haven't had chondritis since I made that change 9 years ago.

It's been a while since I researched the causes of chondritis, but I recall a doctor telling me that the first time I had it it was probably actually an infection, and that subsequent flare-ups were probably the result of stress on areas weakened by the initial infection, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

It is the worst. The steroid pack helped a lot.

[Anonymous]

Took me four weeks to recover. You just need to rest. Problem is that most people have never heard of it so they think it's just a phony ailment. But it is very real.

[Anonymous]

i have it and it's been three months...just sore. keeps getting a bit better and then i do something and it flares up again. doc said it could take months...