Chest Pain

[cmasse]

I am diagnosed with Costochondritis and I get very bad chest pains, with pains in my upper ribs and up to my jaw. Everything came out normal EKG, bloodwork, chest x-ray, etc. I am on pain medications that are not working. I will be getting a cortisone injection in my chest eventually. I have Costochondritis for almost 2 months now.

I also had 5 episodes of trouble breathing and pressure in my chest. In fact, I woke up at 2 in the morning on Thursday and I had trouble breathing. My question is even though that it is Costochondritis, how do I know the episodes I am having are not from a heart attack?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Cassie

[Shellshocker]

With the Costochondritis pain should increase with respirations and movement.  It should be sharper in nature and painful when palpating the chest area where your ribs join your sternum.
  Considering your probably not taking really deep breaths from the pain you could have pneumonia also causing your S.O.B.
The only way to tell for sure is to have the same workup you had before from a MD.  If your experiencing pain different then before or the S.O.B. is new you should be seen.

[cmasse]

It does hurt when I press on my chest bones across the sternum and ribs.  It is very painful.  Is it possible that Costochondritis can mimic signs of a heart attack?

Cassie

[Shellshocker]

I'm not a doctor.  But I was a paramedic and I did come across a lot of costochondritis patients.  Can I ask your age?  Usually I found it to be in younger females (teens to forties).  
With women true cardiac pain can be hard to diagnosis, because we don't have the same signs and symptoms that men do.  But as a general rule pain that is sharp and increases with palpatation and respiration is usually not cardiac.
The only way to know for sure if it is cardiac versus non-cardiac  at the minimum is an EKG.  
Also as I stated above if your having Shortness of Breath and it is new you should be seen.  It is really easy to get pneumonia from not taking deep breaths.

[cmasse]

I have new symptoms with my chest pain.  I have pain in my left arm and shoulder with numbness, and pain in my right arm.  The chest pain is still the same.  I have pain in my jaw, back, neck, and upper ribs.  I also get tingling in my fingers on my right hand.  I don't know if these are signs of a heart attack or the symptoms of what my doctor still thinks it is Costochondritis?

Cassie