Just went & saw a surgeon about pain in my left back rib area (& other health issues). I had an MRI that found increased signal in my subcutaneous tissue, probably due to edema. The surgeon thought this inflammation was causing nerve pain & thought it was caused possibly by arthritis. Could that be true? Can you get arthritis in your rib? Not to be silly, but I don't know much about arthritis, but I am only 33, isn't that young for arthritis?

Hi,

I read your post and wanted to let you know that I have arthritis in my breast bones and my ribs, I only found out by being rushed to the hospital thinking I was having some kind of heart attack, the pains in my chest were bad all day and when my husband looked at me he felt I needed to go to A and E, when they did all the usual tests they put it down to the fact that I have psoriatic arthritis in most of my joints, and had gone to my chest and ribs. It doesnt hurt all the time, like my other joints, they all seem to have days when they want to hurt and days when they leave me alone! :D I started getting arthritis when I was 45, but a lot of people on this site are much younger. Hope you feel better soon.

Ronnie

Really! Very interesting. Thanks for the post. I ONLY have the pain in my lower left rib area & it is constant for the last 3 months. Hopefully it will get better... What do you do for the pain of arthritis?

Hello,

I have been on sulphasalazine, methotrexate and leflunomide (DMARDS) and steroids (injection and orally) at mo I am on steroids every day as leflunomide caused a lot of side effects the two main ones being constant diarhorea and high blood pressure. My hair also fell out at the front. It is still falling out 4 months after stopping it, they now feel it may be the steroids. Going back to rheumatologist in November to assess where to go from here. Pain killers are usually diclofenac and co codamol at moment. It is a bit of a nightmare trying to find the right drugs to take as you will have probably read from these threads.

Ronnie

Wow! I really don't want to take a bunch of drugs.... The Norco is for sure my limit... I don't even really like taking Allegra.

So does everyone get the nerve pain? He said my pain is nerve pain from inflammation, probably from arthritis. I just don't understand why it's inflammed & why it is hurting, that's all. I did read something about "reactive arthritis", has anyone had that? I had a severe kidney infection at the end of June & I have had a zillion health issues since. Now the pain may be caused by inflammation &/or arthritis. But until I get my other health issues under control, they just want to medicate me. So I have to wait to see how they are going to treat it. I will post more when I know more, but it will probably be a month or so...