Hi everyone,
A few months ago i was told by a doctor that i had Costochondritis.
After a year of being in pain and being told time after time that i had a chest infection they came up with saying i have costochondritis.

I done some research on the internet about Costochondritis and it says that people suffer from it for about 7-8 weeks but i've had it for over a year now so i sometimes doubt i have it :confused:
I've had loads of tests done, ECG's chest x-rays, blood tests and the first 3 times they said it was a chest infection but the 4th time i went to the hospital they came up with saying i have Costochondritis and Asthma. I sometimes think that they say i have that because really they haven't got a clue and can't be bothered to look into it :dizzy:

I've had to leave my job because of the pain being so bad, my social life... well haven't really got one anymore as i can't do much with out being in pain and as i'm only 20 it's kindof hard for me not being able to do anything, seeing all my friends out and thinking why can't i be doing that.

The pain is constant, some days its really bad and some day its there but isn't as bad.
It feels like someone is sat on my ribs crushing me :eek:

My doctor said if it gets any worse i will have to see a chest physican has anyone been to one?

The doctors have given me so many different kinds of medication iburprofen, codeine 15mg, co-codamol 30mg, tramadol 50mg, and the latest tablets i'm taking are Diclofenac an anti-inflammatory drug which doesn't seem to be working. The painkillers i had to keep changing getting a higher mg as they wasn't working. The Tramadol ones were very strong and i wasn't in pain but i got loads of side affects from them. I had to choose weather to be sick every minute, going, dizzy, being weak, not being able to eat or if i did i would just throw it back up again or bein pain so i chose being in pain as i couldn't even talk my throat was that sore through being sick all the time :dizzy:


Well its good (well not good but you kindof know what i mean:) ) to find people i can talk to who have the same illness, i felt so alone being the only one i new.

Has anyone found anything that helps?


Hope to speak to some of you soon and i hope someone finds a good cure so we all dont have to suffer anymore :dizzy:

Love Cheryl xxxx

I apparently have costochronditis. Mine is not agony but it is very annoying because I feel like I constantly have chest pains. In general my chest feels horrible and sometimes I want to take a deep breath and I feel like I'm not taking in enough oxygen. I think my costochronditis has gotten worse because I stress about it so much. I think I'm dying! I worry that it's a heart problem or something serious because they didn't seem to take me seriously. i think my costochronditis was completely stress related. One day I was sitting on a stool in uni and I got intense shooting pains in my vagina and bottom so I went to the doctor and I had some kind of infection (they never found out what it was but it went away with antibiotics) and I think I stressed out so much that I made myself get this horrible condition. I ended up in emergency one night after experiencing intense chest pains (which were relieved by a hot shower and some codeine) and they did an ECG and it checked out fine and that's when I was told I have costochronditis. I've had it for around 3 months now. It has just dawned on me to cut my caffeine consumption because today I realised it may be contributing to the problem. We'll see. I have a lot of upper back pain, acid reflux and abdominal pain which is all very tame but still very irritating. I have nearly forgotten what it's like to feel normal.:confused: Anyways it seems like a vicious circle to me. I worry, so it gets worse and because it's getting worse I get even more stressed out. I even had an anxiety attack which I've never had and I really thought I was going to die it was so scary. I've started doing pilates and going for walks and so far that seems to help a little as does a hot compress.

My family are getting annoyed with me because I am constantly complaining about my chest hurting. They don't realise it's more annoying for me than for them! I wish there was something more I could do to help the problem.

So that's my experience with costchronditis!