Costochrondritis help
Hi all,
I have found so much help from this group in the past for dealing with health issues and recommendations. I am struggling with what was diagnosed as costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilage in the ribs near the sternum). So far I've tried rest, activity modification (stopped lifting weights with upper body), ibuprofen, and heat. Any suggestions on what worked for all of you or any practitioners you saw? Many thanks!
Apr 10, 2022
Parent Replies
I have this too. Ice seems to help more than heat for me. That’s just a short term solution. Love to hear if you find a long term one as well.
I started developing this as well. I can say as soon as I got my breast reduction surgery, this issue went away. Don't know if that is an issue for you but wanted to put it out there.
I had this about 12 years ago, and it was awful. I'm so sorry. To make matters worse, it took months to diagnose. It finally healed on its own after 5 months or so. I highly recommend Dr. Susanne Bodor. She's the one who finally diagnosed it (after several other doctors had no idea). She put me on a course of Aleve, which helped more than ibuprofen (or the vicodin and morphine that a couple of other doctors had me taking). In hindsight, it seems like steroids are the way to go, as nothing else really helped with the inflammation until it was almost healed. Good luck!
My daughter has this condition (going on a year now). To the person who suggestion steroids, she wants to know topical or oral?
I’m sorry you are going through this. I suffered from costochrondritis recently, and I was in horrible pain for 6 months. The only things that helped were pain relievers (started with ibuprofen and moved to oxycodone) and plenty of rest. I stopped exercising almost completely. I didn’t find much relief with ice or heat. I suffer from an inflammatory arthritis condition, so unfortunately, the only thing that worked from me was to change my medication. I now take infusions to treat my arthritis and I’m thankfully pain free. Good luck!