costochondritis....(inflammation of chest wall)

[sherry7899]

Has anyone had this? How long did it take to heal? My doctor said not to do anything involving the upper body, especially weight training and kickboxing (sigh..) I don't know how I hurt myself.

I also found out my thyroid medication dosage was too high, which was causing my heart rate to be too high.

Having symptoms of pain and fluttering in my chest was scary. Luckily my doctor's office has an EKG machine, and my reading was normal aside from my heart rate being higher than normal. My bloodwork indicated my thyroid medication needed adjusting, but everything else was fine. (whew!)

I'm so frustrated-it seems every time I start back exercising I hurt myself.
I guess I'll use my recumbent bike for cardio. My favorite cardio is kickboxing, but I'll have to give that up for now.

Sherry

[dmlarue1]

I had this a few years ago...I thought I was having a heart attack and they ran a EKG to check my heart. They figured out it was costochondritis. I was given antibiotics and I felt better in 2 weeks. it was very sore at first. Hope you feel better soon!

[sherry7899]

Thanks! I wasn't given antibiotics. I was told to take Motrin and use warm compresses/rest.

Take care,
Sherry

[Kellie]

I've had it. Hate that feeling of not being able to breathe deep and the wrong move HURTS BAD!! I was just told to take an anti-inflammatory and relax a bit. It worked. Hope you feel better soon!

[Sarah-lara]

I had it for about four months following a fall up concrete stairs. It was a crushing pain that felt very, very serious and left me winded after just walking across the room. I was surprised that, for a common injury, my doctors don't seem to know anything about it. It took me four specialists to tell me that I could hurt that joint by falling hard on it. The first three thought it was G.I. related.

We have some old threads on it. Don't know how much they will help you except you might find Advil & ice beneficial.

I'm well past those days, but I find I can aggravate the area a little with too much ROM, like pushups done with my hands on chairs. I also have a one-shoulder backpack that brought the pain back, perhaps by twisting that area a little too much over the course of a very long walk. It's a lot like any other injury -- you're a little more prone to it in the future, but usually nowhere near as severe. I hope you feel better soon.

[Lucky Star]

I'm sorry to hear this and hope you're better soon!
The first time I ever heard this word was on this forum. Melissa is a VFer who posted about having this condition. I recall she had problems healing and was later diagnosed with fibromyalgia. She hasn't posted in about a year (goes by the name 'lissalaurel76') and I think of her from time to time.

Here's one of her threads on this: http://forum.videofitness.com/showthread.php?t=138434

[kariev34]

My husband has had this. It was very painful for him and took months to heal. I'm sorry you have to deal with this. The only thing he did was rest (no workouts, no surfing, etc). I hope you feel better soon.

[sherry7899]

Sarah-ow! I can't imagine the pain from falling on concrete stairs!

Gina and Kariev-thanks for your posts! My case must be milder (thank goodness). It's been hard to sleep at night because it is hard to get comfortable. I really hope this does not take months to heal. If I can't really exercise for that long, it will drive me crazy!

I miss Melissa's posts. I hope she is okay. Red Flame also started a thread about it years ago. I haven't seen her around here either and miss her as well.

Sherry

[Lucky Star]

That's right, Sherry! I hope they're both well.
Again I'm sorry, but I hope you'll recover as quickly as possible.

[dmlarue1]

...Mine happened a while back, so antbiotics are probably not used today