Costochondritis worries

[sarahann]

Hi all,
I have recently been diagnosed with costochondritis after suffering for years with rib pain. For the last few weeks i have had a flare up after catching a cold and constantly coughing. I have however noticed that just under my left rib is a tender spot that hurts when i press it, i wondered if anyone on here sufferers from this disease and whether they too get this tenderness. I'm worrying myself stupid thinking ts my spleen, stomach, liver etc. Just to illiterate its not a pain, just a tender spot about 1 inch from the bottom rib. Any help will be gratefully received.

[Worriedwellornot]

Hi Sarah. I've got this in my right rib. I went through the same worries as you. It appears to be quite common with fibromyalgia or IBS

[Freaked]

Yeah all the time. The tender spots reassure me actually, cos otherwise I worry it's my heart. Have a look at triggerpoints.net, an amazingly accurate (so i've found) muscular trigger points guide.

[sarahann]

Thank you both for your replies. Also, do you ever suffer like a cold sensation in your ribs/sternum? The last few days i have had this feeling of something cold running down the side of my ribs, it feels like cold water and only lasts a few seconds, but i have now convinced myself that it has to be something more sinister. It seems to be when i sit up straight, almost like a pulling sensation that turns into a icy cold feeling ( hope this makes sense) x

[Worriedwellornot]

Hi I get the pulling sensation but not the cold feeling. More like an awareness of the rib.

[Shivmarie]

hi sarah
i have been recently diagnosed with this after weeks of sternum/cartilage pain. my doc sent me for an xray but told me prior that it was this. I had been getting pqain the same spot for weeks and then it suddenly felt like my chest was on fire.He said i had swelling on both sides more on my right. Did they give you anything?

also anyone know if a chest xray was suspect how long they would take? i went yesterday around 4pm and ive not heard anything, thats good right?

[sarahann]

Hi Shivmarie, I had a chest xray too, nothing showed up that was bad. If you havent heard anything then i would say its fine. If it was anything to worry about they would have let you know.
They gave my codeine for now, they advised me that if it didnt work they could give me morphine patches. Im taking iburprofen 800mg and paracetamol too. What about you? Did they give you anything? Have you tried heat pads? xx

[Jonesle]

A colleague of mine has this, she's been suffering years with it, tried all sorts even acupuncture (or whatever it's spelt like) flares up if she gets a cold or is stressed. Hope that helps! X

[roxy90]

Hi. I was diagnosed with Costo last summer. Just wanted to say that the tenderness/soreness is costochondritis. Without any tenderness it won't be costo so please don't worry about that x

[Round in circles]

Hmm, my doc told me I had inflammation of the chest wall. Is this the same thing?

[Shivmarie]

i think so circles.
I still haven't heard about my chest xray so im taking that as a positive.
I was told just to take pain relief and I was given some steroid cream to help but didn't feel it did? I work in a GP Practice and one of the GPs here said i should get my markers checked as my arms were swollen and stuff too :-(
when does yours seem to flare up? Its a real pain in the bum I will tell you that much!