Hi all ,costochondritis - Costochondritis Message Board

Shardanomspa · 08-19-2005, 12:28 PM

I was just wondering if anyone who has/had costochondritis feels tenderness in there stomach sometimes.
When it first started my Dr said it was acid relux. I had pains right under my sternum to the left. All of a sudden that turned into hurting to breath in my lower left rib along with that one pain on my right rib. Then all of a sudden I felt sharp spikey feelings in my sternum whenever I touched it along with some parts of my stomach.
Mind you I have had ultrasound for the liver/gallbladder etc and nothing came up plus i dont have the typical symptoms
I changed doctors and he looked at my stomach pictures and concluded my stomach was fine and that I am suffering from a condition called costochondritis. He later sent me in for an ultrasound to confrim inflammation in my cartilage and sure enough there was a little.
My question to anyone is this started off really small with a little pain on the right side under my sterum then developed into a sharp pain and is now in a dull moment that seems to come and go during the day all over my ribs and not stay with me 24/7. The pains that I had when touching my stomach have gone and now but it makes me think that maybe i have some occult hernia, my ribs just feel achy and if i press to feel around a little it will hurt but in diffrent places and diffrent times.
Could costo give displaced pain when touching the stomach area?
I also beleive that my problem might also be a little pyschosymatic seeing as how my brother went thru something similair with his prostate and it turned out to be fine with a therapist and paxil. Me and him both have anxiety issues.
I experience this rib pain probably 3 hours after i wake up but during the night i hardly feel anything and when i do feel stuff it is always in a diffrent place. For example it will leave my lower ribs and then hurt my chest. Then it just goes away for a few hours. It doesnt make any sense really. Does anyone think this could be a pyschosymatic problem?
When I was on zoloft the pains seem to be going away faster but I had a bad reaction where I wanted to kill everyone when I was on it, it made me very aggressive.
It has been 10 months now and I am alot better I can now dance again with no pain and big sound systems in concerts dont bother my ribs anymore with the loud bass etc.
If anyone can give me any insight or ideas/suggestions it would greatly be apperciated

pa235 · 08-19-2005, 03:30 PM

I have costro and get the stomach pain also, it waxes and wans. Most of my pain is in the bra strap area, collar bone and upper back. I never know how long I will have it or when it will come or leave. I did not know they could see the inflamation on a ultra sound, my DR. told me there is no test for costro other than pushing in on the sore spots.. Even my sed rate is fine when in a costro flare.

I recently went to the ER because I was getting harp shooing pains in my upper chest, from one side to the other, the pain was like a hard electrical shock. After 18 hours of this I could not take it any longer. I was checked out well and dxed wih costro again.

Hugs, Linda

Shardanomspa · 08-19-2005, 05:33 PM

Hey Linda,
Thanks for replying, this has certainly been a weird condition for me. Sometimes I think i had an out of place rib or some type of hernia then I move to a gallbladder problem. Its bad how I think sometimes even though I have had some closure in the gallbladder case.
Nothing is ever consistant with this other then pain.
Do you get pains in areas regardless of touching them or not? All of my tenderness is going away and iam just left with this achy feeling.
I had chest pains almnost 2 years back once again my Dr thought it was acid reflux but then 2 weeks later I woke up with no pain. Its like it was in the chest then went into remission for a year and a half and now came back in the ribs.
But yes i did some research awhile ago and only one website mentioned ultrasound. But my new doctor insisted that I get one. While at the ultrasound place the tech/dr pointed out to me where the inflammation was and what was going on.
It seemed to come on after huge panic attacks but this time it stayed with me. I just gotta relax a little I guess. But let me know about the tenderness question i asked you.
Thanks a bunch for replying

pa235 · 08-19-2005, 05:44 PM

Yes my ribs are all tender, sometimes I can barely stand clothing touching me.I cannot touch myself and sometimes the entire rib area front and back are so sore I cannot lay or sit against anything. It certainly is not a fun dd. Do you get the sharp shooting pains that come and go really quick, they sure make you take notice to them.
I woud say I am sore and tender 85% of the time, but when the pain kicks in, ouchie.

Hugs, Linda

goldenwings · 08-21-2005, 10:12 AM

Hiya,

If you go back on the topics pages to page 5 there are a lot of questions and answers on costo, which may be of help to you. I recently posted quite a few times in response to a member.

I have had this condition for years, and I am at the moment having a full rib cage inflammation problem. I have never had stomach pains with it though.

I do hope you can get the information you need from scrolling back on the topics.

Take care.

goldenwings