Chosto Chondritis

[PKL]

I don't have a question,  Just a comment.  I wa diagnosed with Chosto Chondritis a few years ago.Last Christmas I was rushed to ER because if felt as if I was having a heart attack.  That episode was BAD..Very BAD.  They wanted me to take Steroids and Cortesone, but I refused.  The Cardiac Specialist who they called in was very sympathetic and apologetic because he told me there was no cure. It is considered a chronic disease and the only possible cure solution which he did not recommend was to have open heart surgery.  Well, of course, I refused that too.  The nurse kept rubbing my leg and telling me how sorry she felt for me.  It hurts and it's very painful.  I also experience the nausea and the numbness trinkling down my arm..The numbness not as frequent as the constant dull painful ache which I am experiencing as I sit and type this note.  Mine is usually triggered by Stress and Aniexty which as you well know is unavoidable since life itself is stressful.  To everyone out there..It does hurt and according to my ER cardiologist, it can be accompanied with various symptoms.  Take Care Everyone.  P.S.  Tylenol and Aspirin are my bedtime pals.  Watch the aspirin..It can cause bruising which led me to the hospital also.  If you wish to know how I got this lovely illness.  I was working security at the airport and I lifted a very heavy piece of luggage and I remember the exact moment the muscle tore..Needless to say, I was rushed to the hospital that day in excruciating pain but because I also was sick with a cold at the time and I am an asthma sufferer it could not be proven it was job related.  Oh well.  I am no longer with the airport.  Take Care everyone.

[Cleveland Clinic]

I am not sure you are correct. Costochondritis is an inflammatory disorder of the sternal joints where the ribs connect. It is not secondary to an injury to the muscle, and usually does not cause pain to radiate down the arm. So be weary of calling pain such as the one you are experiencing costochondritis, as your presentation is very atypical for this disorder.

[hertz10]

A related discussion, Chosto Chondritis was started.

[tickertock]

Any doctor that tells me to have "open heart surgery" to fix costochondritis I would run from so fast he wouldn't even knew I left his office. I'm a sufferer of costochondritis since 1994, but it is secondary to my primary problem ankylosing spondylitis.

[PKL]

That's strange because when I was rushed to the hospital that day at work, I was diagnosed with a torn muscle around the heart right where the rib joint meets.  My family doctor later told me the same diagnosis as did the Cardiologist specialist.  I was given a medical report stating that I have Chosto Condritis, so believe me when I say I wouldn't call it that if I hadn't been told by two doctors that is what I have.  They said it was a torn muscle near the heart.  As far as the muscle tearing, the doctor in ER at the hospital told me that was one of the ways it could be related since it is a strain surrounding the muscle located near the rib joint.  He even pushed in on my chest right between the breast area to demonstrate and that day it was very very tender there.  The doctor even asked me if I had been hit there and I told him no.  I remember the nurse repeated the question and asked me again if I had been hit there.  Same answer, No.  He did go on to say it was an inflammatory disorder, but he also stated that the muscle tear iright above the rib joint area along with my childhood asthma, the pnemonia and bronchitis that I had suffered earlier that week could have all been related.  (The ER doctor even told me to try and avoid getting a bad cold because coughing can trigger the attacks. ) Anyway, that was his explanation as to why he couldn't say that it was exactly the lifting of the heavy luggage that caused the inflammation.  He summarized everything by saying due to my illnesses and the heavy lifting it caused a strain (a tearing) and that reared the inflammation.  

Now, if that doesn't sound correct to you then don't blame me blame the doctors here in Indiana for their miss diagnosis.  Because, I kept the Medical papers they gave me to read about this Chosto Condritis.  As I stated earlier, this doctor even told me that an option was to have "Open Heart" surgery to fix the problem.  

It concerns me that you say I was told incorrectly because you hear about people being miss diagnosed all the time.

Even now, as I push the exact spot there is tenderness there.  

I welcome your comment as to my visit at the ER.