Constant chest pain to touch

[Firefly1]

Long post incoming...

So I'd say it's been about 2 months now and it's not gotten better, if anything it might have been getting gradually worse...

Both sides of my chest hurt sharply when touched, on either side of my breastbone as well as near my armpits. I've also had the experience, though only twice and about a month apart, where one side of my chest started to become pretty painful when I breathed deeply and this lasted for somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes both times, forcing me to breathe shallowly.

There was also a couple weeks where I suffered from near constant breathlessness, where I basically felt like I wasn't getting enough air, though that seems to have passed for now.

I went to the doctor's who listened to my chest and said it sounded normal and suggested a muscle strain since it was tender to touch and was able to be pinpointed.

But it's not getting better and NSAIDs like ibuprofen don't seem to help. I've also noticed a slight cough I seem to have. It probably started around the same time but I barely took any notice of it at first. The cough hasn't gone away though, it's not major, just a few times every few hours where I give a chesty cough that feels like something needs to come up but isn't. One thing as well which could be completely unrelated - but I seem to keep getting mouth ulcers and I can't help but wonder if that's a sign of a weakened immune system due to something?

I don't know, i've been to the GP about my chest pain where they said the above, i've been about the breathlessness and I had a blood test for thyroid problems and it came back normal so I'm left to think it's all in my head. I've also been about leg pain not long before so I feel like I'm just wasting their time and I'm not sure what to do. It's not unbearable, I can live with it, but I can't help worrying it's due to something more serious than a pulled muscle.

Thanks for reading :noangel:

[poppyxx]

Do you know what this sounds exactly like?
Costochondritis

It's not a life threatening condition, it's just annoying! I have it and I honestly know the feeling.

You say you have sharp pain- 'When the costochondral joint becomes inflamed it can result in sharp chest pain and tenderness'

You say it hurts when you touch it - 'The condition causes localized chest pain that you can often reproduce by pushing on the cartilage in the front of your ribcage' Around my breastbone and by my arm pit hurts when I touch it as well, thats when you know it's inflammation.

You say it hurts when you breathe deeply - 'The pain may be made worse by: deep breathing, coughing and sneezing'

You say you suffered from near constant breathlessness - My doctor told me you can get shortness of breath with it and if you have a look online a lot of people get breathlessness with it. You were probably getting shortness of breath because you were breathing shallowly.

You say it's not getting better and ibuprofen and NSAIDS don't help- Same with me! Ibuprofen doesn't help me. It also takes a few weeks to go and if you are coughing that'll be straining your chest area and if you do exercise or moving of furniture that'll be straining your chest so make sure you rest! Try applying heat to the area. 'Contact your GP if your symptoms get worse despite resting and taking painkillers, as you may benefit from treatment with corticosteroids' You can get injections to help with the pain but if it's not bothering you then you might just have to get on with it.

You say you had a slight cough - 'It's not known exactly why the costochondral joint becomes inflamed, but in some cases it's been linked to:
severe coughing – which strains your chest area'

Now I'm not saying you have Costochondritis, but your symptoms sound a bit like mine and thats what I have! Also when I first read it, Costo came to my mind because believe me I've done a lot of research on it :D

Don't worry, I think your fine! You should query with your doctor about Costochondritis..as I said I could be wrong but it sounds a lot like it.

Good luck, tell me if anything changes or if you find anything to help it!