Costochondritis is driving me to suicide

[Artificial Emotion]

I've had this problem with my chest for the last few months. It started off as a pain which I thought might have been something to do with the my heart, but when it escalated to the point where I had to call an ambulance a few times, the tests showed that my heart was fine. They just said it was a pulled muscle and I forgot about it. However it didn't go away, and eventually it changed into just a tight feeling. Two weeks ago I had to call the ambulance again but they didn't know what the cause was at the hospital. Finally however I decided to go the GP a few days ago and she finally gave me a firm diagnosis of 'costochondritis' which is an inflammation of the cartilage in the chest. The problem is I'm having to call an ambulance on a daily basis now because this tight feeling is getting so bad I have a lot of trouble breathing and I feel as if I'm going to pass out. If it was just a one off thing it wouldn't be so bad but I'm having this every day.

I'm getting to the point where I just can't hack it anymore. The panic it causes is ruining my life at the moment and the doctors are unwilling to prescribe me anything to calm me down. So I'd lie if I said I haven't contemplated ending it all. I don't know why I'm posting this, I guess I just need to vent and ask for any advice you guys can give me, especially if you've been through something similar. I'm not one to wallow in self pity but it's really making life so hard I don't know what to do. I worry that even though in theory this condition doesn't go on forever for most people I will have it for years or the rest of my life because I've aggravated it so much by arching my shoulders back to 'pop' it out of it's position to make the pain go away. If that's the case then I really would probably try and end it but even in the short term I'm feeling so desperate I don't know what to do with myself! I guess it helps me to be more sympathetic to people with serious pain and other medical conditions. I don't know how these people stay sane.

I can understand why the doctors won't give me even a short term prescription for benzos but honestly it makes me angry that there are people out there that persuade their doctors to prescribe them these drugs for 'anxiety' when they don't really need it when I need it genuinely but can't get it. It doesn't feel fair but that's life I guess. If there's one piece of advice I can give other people it would be to never to admit to any sort of drug use to your doctor unless you're in diar need because you never know, one day you might actually need narcotics or sedatives and get refused because years ago when you were young you didn't know any better. Substance misuse doctors themselves have even confided to me that they've seen ER doctors give opiate-dependent accident victims lower doses of morphine in an almost cruel, self righteous way. As if the addict is not being punished enough already! Anyway I'm digress but this is not a good situation to be in, it really isn't!

 

[RobotRipping]

i constantly seem to have this burning, tight sensation in the upper left part of my chest. Feels like i have the symptoms of a heart attack or am in a perpetual physical anxiety attack. It sounds similar to your issue, though not serious enough for me to call an ambulance, i just try to pretend its not there. I've been to ER twice because of it and had tests/bloodwork done and nothing is wrong. They still wouldn't give me benzos though, even when my pulse was over 160 (wasn't even high or anything, just sitting there). My blood pressure is always high as well and no one does anything about it. Even if i take my normal dose of etizolam, i can still feel it but it doesn't bother me as much.

I share your frustration, after years, the best i can do is get 8 5mg valium from my dr/month, which is just about useless. My gf has far less of an issue with anxiety and has been getting monthly prescriptions of lorazepam and zopiclone together, without any trouble. I don't get it, why do they refuse to treat me?

Now here's a strange tip i learned from someone in the industry. When you go to ER, look like you have money, dress nice, where your nicest stuff and act very polite, level headed and never undermine your symptoms. I have a tendency to act as if it's not a big deal but it actually is and if it is for you (which it must be if you are taking ambulances all the time) then make sure that they know it's a huge deal. If things don't go your way, speak to a patient advocate at the hospital the next day, then go back in and see how they treat you. The medical industry is fucked and so frustrating for me. I just self medicate because my quality of life would be nothing if it were up to them. I'm not trying to give you a tip to get drugs you don't need so you can abuse but rather get the quality of care that you should get. No one goes to the ER over and over again for fun or to get a benzo script, that'd be ridiculous.

oh yeah on my hospital records it likely shows that i went there for 2 benzo withdrawals and an opiate withdrawal induced panic attack. So basically i am fucked for getting any treatment and always get treated like a junkie. People always say be honest with your Dr so they can help you and i was and it completely fucked me over. I would almost rather have just had a seizure than have this follow me around now.

 

[Artificial Emotion]

You know it's funny you should mention the etizolam. I was looking at this website that sells etizolam and I was considering actually buying some for myself but I'm going abroad for two weeks so I wouldn't be able to buy any until I get back. Unless I had some delivered to me over there but I would hate to get busted for something silly like that over there, especially over Christmas! I'll have to see how it goes but hopefully it should clear itself up soon.

My thinking is that people that use benzos for things like anxiety or panic are suspeptible to falling into the trap of using the drug as a crutch, so whever they get the anxiety instead of using normal coping mechanisms they just go for the easy way out and take the drug. But with me the only reason I panic is because my breathing is constricted. If I didn't have the breathing problem I wouldn't need the drug so when the physical problem goes away I will have no need to continue taking it. And as much as benzo addiction and withdrawal can be horrific, it's important to remember that if it's used medically in an appropriate way, millions of people use it with virtually no ill effects every day, so I wouldn't be particularly worried about becoming an addict. It would be better to do it under medical supervision but they've not really left me with many options.

I like your advice about dressing well and acting polite. You really shouldn't have to but we all know doctors are human beings and their perception of you can have a big effect on the care you receive. They're busy enough as it is so I wouldn't be surprised about them making that sort of a judgement call as they rush things.

I don't know, maybe I'll manage to NOT have to rely on drugs. That would be the most preferable option but when you're truly suffering you'll do anything to just make it go away. I would even smear shit all over myself just for some relief if I knew it would help. edit: maybe that's going too far lol.

 

[RobotRipping]

it would be ideal to not rely on drugs but if you are in that panicked of a state (and i've been there) then sometimes benzos are warranted in terms of improving your quality of life, even enough that you can just make changes so your life without benzos is much more manageable.

I'm fully reliant on etizolam now but shit my quality of life is much higher. I don't abuse it (as it just puts me to sleep). I don't really see it as a crutch, i think of it as taking a medication, i wish my dr. would do this but unfortunately it just didn't work out that way. I just take it 3x/day, if i miss a day, it's like missing a day of an SSRI, not very pleasant.

ideally just having something like lorazepam or diazepam around and used as needed is the best situation for people with severe anxiety. That way you aren't dependent or addicted and tolerance isn't an issue. I was like this for a while but slipped up and ended up dependent again. It's a bad cycle, i have to admit but if i were treated properly by my Dr it wouldn't have come to this, though i do accept responsibility in deciding to say fuck it and get back on benzos/etizolam again. My gf has been getting 30 lorazepam .5mg for a couple years, never upped the dose, never abused them and no dependence or addiction. So it can be used by many people properly, for whatever reason i seem to be much more prone to using anything every day.

 

[Artificial Emotion]

Shit, sorry to hear that! That sucks.

Forgive me for asking, but if you're addicted to it, can't you just turn up to a substance misuse clinic and get a diazepam script? That way there would be more control over it and you would be forced into doing a taper under their own terms, or depending on the policy of the clinic you could go onto a 'maintenance' script. I know some of the older addicts in particular that have been on valium for decades get a pretty much indefinite supply of benzos because the risks of coming off, even with a slow taper, outweigh the benefits of being drug free. That might not be your goal but surely whatever you do it would be better to get help than to rely on a clandestine supply from the internet? What if you were arrested for example? I'm sure it would be fine but you might have to go without for a while until they could assess you whereas if you were under the care of a doctor you would be in a better position.

 

[RobotRipping]

not easily (had to fight with them to get a small amount of diazepam) and any walk in clinic here will refuse to prescribe benzos, it's their policy. I've been turned away from them when i sought help two years ago. I did eventually see a dr. about it when it hit a point where i was risking a seizure and i went from 10mg of phenaz/clonazepam down to a measily 15mg of diazepam. They were like, 'that should keep you comfortable'. I admitted to my dr that i would probably need about 60mg of diazepam but that wasn't happening.

Ended up starting a taper schedule from 30mg and down, which was overly painful. Any admission of benzo use also = absolutely no benzos prescribed in the future as well, so i certainly wouldn't bring any of this up with my new Dr. It's a fucked up system that doesn't work that's for sure. If my doc would just give me 10 mg diazepam/day indefinitely i wouldn't have a problem but he refuses.

I most clearly come off as being a high risk patient to treat because benzos are prescribed quite liberally here. I can buy them on the street for cheaper than i can at the pharmacy. They are everywhere as well. I even did the whole SSRI thing, welbutrin and basically did what drs were telling me to do and now my Dr is like well i think you should try TCAs or seroquel. I'd really just rather treat it on my own. If i get arrested ill tell them i have a benzo dependency and hopefully they won't leave me to die, if they do, they will likely face a huge lawsuit afterwards. My biggest fear is what if my sources run out and i can no longer get benzos/etizolam, which is why i'm slowly lowering my dose and will eventually just switch back to kratom. It's sort of funny going to the hospital and telling them you are there for 'benzodiazepine dependency' and all of the sudden you are like in the express line there jumping in front of everyone. They do know how serious it is, but don't really care if you are comfortable, just so long as you don't have a seizure.

these are the inherent problems with self-medication, even if you are responsible, it is not very stable and one thing going wrong can mean a seriously bad withdrawal. But if it comes down to me either going to a psych ward or killing myself, then i'm going to self medicate. That's just my experience though and i sometimes border on responsible user/complete addict every now and then.

 

[1394]

Try SL if you think you really need the benzos, you're in the UK so you'd find many "domestic dealers". Maybe stay off the pot for a while?

I was paranoid about my heart and/or emphysema, I've been smoking +40 cigarettes for a good long while. Went to the doctor, was told my heart was fine, had an x-ray done to my chest and there was some check-up thingy where they listened to my chest and I was told my lungs were in very good shape, the doctor was surprised when I told her I smoked at least 2 packs a day.

The reason I had pain was because I got inflammation on my sternum from time to time, it's sterile and not an infection but can cause pain, even mimic angina (lol even gas can do this, apparently). It stressed me out a lot, so I can kind of understand your situation.

Hope it works out for you man.

 

[Artificial Emotion]

not easily (had to fight with them to get a small amount of diazepam) and any walk in clinic here will refuse to prescribe benzos, it's their policy. I've been turned away from them when i sought help two years ago. I did eventually see a dr. about it when it hit a point where i was risking a seizure and i went from 10mg of phenaz/clonazepam down to a measily 15mg of diazepam. They were like, 'that should keep you comfortable'. I admitted to my dr that i would probably need about 60mg of diazepam but that wasn't happening.

Ended up starting a taper schedule from 30mg and down, which was overly painful. Any admission of benzo use also = absolutely no benzos prescribed in the future as well, so i certainly wouldn't bring any of this up with my new Dr. It's a fucked up system that doesn't work that's for sure. If my doc would just give me 10 mg diazepam/day indefinitely i wouldn't have a problem but he refuses.

I most clearly come off as being a high risk patient to treat because benzos are prescribed quite liberally here. I can buy them on the street for cheaper than i can at the pharmacy. They are everywhere as well. I even did the whole SSRI thing, welbutrin and basically did what drs were telling me to do and now my Dr is like well i think you should try TCAs or seroquel. I'd really just rather treat it on my own. If i get arrested ill tell them i have a benzo dependency and hopefully they won't leave me to die, if they do, they will likely face a huge lawsuit afterwards. My biggest fear is what if my sources run out and i can no longer get benzos/etizolam, which is why i'm slowly lowering my dose and will eventually just switch back to kratom. It's sort of funny going to the hospital and telling them you are there for 'benzodiazepine dependency' and all of the sudden you are like in the express line there jumping in front of everyone. They do know how serious it is, but don't really care if you are comfortable, just so long as you don't have a seizure.

these are the inherent problems with self-medication, even if you are responsible, it is not very stable and one thing going wrong can mean a seriously bad withdrawal. But if it comes down to me either going to a psych ward or killing myself, then i'm going to self medicate. That's just my experience though and i sometimes border on responsible user/complete addict every now and then.

I suppose the only way to escape the blight on your medical records would be to literally move to a different country.

Kratom seems to work well for lots of people. I can't use it because I'm on methadone unfortunately which is a shame. One thing I might consider doing is save up 5mg of my methadone a day so after a week I have a surplus for emergencies. I can't believe I didn't think of this before. With a controlled dose it should slow my breathing down a bit and make it more shallow which can only be a good thing with my condition. Again, it's not ideal, but I know my limits so it shouldn't be too dangerous.

Try SL if you think you really need the benzos, you're in the UK so you'd find many "domestic dealers". Maybe stay off the pot for a while?

I was paranoid about my heart and/or emphysema, I've been smoking +40 cigarettes for a good long while. Went to the doctor, was told my heart was fine, had an x-ray done to my chest and there was some check-up thingy where they listened to my chest and I was told my lungs were in very good shape, the doctor was surprised when I told her I smoked at least 2 packs a day.

The reason I had pain was because I got inflammation on my sternum from time to time, it's sterile and not an infection but can cause pain, even mimic angina (lol even gas can do this, apparently). It stressed me out a lot, so I can kind of understand your situation.

Hope it works out for you man.

Yeah I quickly learned that the cannabis doesn't help with this at all. If it was just a simple pain issue it would be perfect but the breathlessness that causes panic is only exacerbated by cannabis.

That said, I have been using topical cannabis salve. I think it's helping a bit but I had another attack last night (just after posting this thread!) so I'm still suffering. Also I'm not sure if it's a coincidence but taking hot baths seems to help a bit because I assume it reduces the inflammation to an extent.

I had my lungs checked and they're fine. I managed to hit almost 800 on the peak expiratory flow meter (the thing you blow into as hard and fast as you can) which is good because I was worried the 10 cigarette-a-day habit I used to have affected my lungs (I quit a couple of months ago and have been on 1mg Nicorette lozenges ever since).

1394 you're lucky your lungs are fine with smoking 40+ fags a day. That's a lot of cigarettes! Do you smoke that much because you get anxious, because that sounds quite excessive?

When you say SL I hope you don't mind me asking what that stand for?

 

[1394]

Hot baths, or hot steam will help with all the flegm in your lungs (vaporizors were used for asthma patients, way before us potheads got into it). I used one as a child lol...

I heard the NHS was shit, have a few relatives in the UK, tho I didn't know it was this bad... you should really push your GP to prescribe you something. I remember reading a post of yours were you mentioned you were taking methadone, maybe benzos are not too much of a good idea? I've never had any issues with opiates so I'm just shooting in the dark here...

Cannabis has anti-inflammatory properties so it should help with any inflammation, but I'm not a doctor so again... I'm just guessing here.

10 cigarettes a day isn't too much, depending on the duration... my father smoked about 40+ like me for at least 20 years... and his lungs are fine but has a bit of a problem with the heart... nothing that can't be taken care of mind... The reason why I smoke so much is... well my mind works a little different, I try and catch up with all the racing thoughts... one of my little quirks...

SL= Silk Road... but think carefully before you get into benzos... I think you should try and get real medical attention rather than resort to self-medication.

This is just my 2 cents, pennies or whatever currency suits the occasion. I hope you get well soon man...

 

[Artificial Emotion]

Hey, sorry for not replying sooner - I'm in Poland for the Christmas period now so have been busy.

I just wanted to say I stuck with taking the naproxen the GP prescribed - taking the maximum dosage of 500mg x 2 per day - and it's really settled down now. I was worried it was going to stay as bad as it was for ages or forever, as irrational as that fear sounds, but I'm on my way to recovery now. It's not completely better but I can breathe perfectly fine at the moment which is a BIG relief since there's nothing worse than constantly having to gasp for air.

The hot baths do help with the inflammation, as does heating up a wet wash cloth in the microwave and placing that on the chest.

As for the methadone, I am saving up 5mg tablets after self reducing the dosage from 65mg to 60mg per day. I will keep it for a rainy day when I'm in desperate need, but hopefully I will never have to rely on it. It's more of an insurace policy than anything else!

Thanks for the help mate, I appreciate it even if it's just someone to talk to. The benzos were a bad idea, you're right, but I might just get a small supply - again just for a rainy day when I really need them, but hopefully I won't.

 

[1394]

When it rains it fucking pours man... glad the chest is clearing up.

 

[THE_REAL_OBLIVION]

i constantly seem to have this burning, tight sensation in the upper left part of my chest. Feels like i have the symptoms of a heart attack or am in a perpetual physical anxiety attack. It sounds similar to your issue, though not serious enough for me to call an ambulance, i just try to pretend its not there. I've been to ER twice because of it and had tests/bloodwork done and nothing is wrong. They still wouldn't give me benzos though, even when my pulse was over 160 (wasn't even high or anything, just sitting there). My blood pressure is always high as well and no one does anything about it. Even if i take my normal dose of etizolam, i can still feel it but it doesn't bother me as much.

I share your frustration, after years, the best i can do is get 8 5mg valium from my dr/month, which is just about useless. My gf has far less of an issue with anxiety and has been getting monthly prescriptions of lorazepam and zopiclone together, without any trouble. I don't get it, why do they refuse to treat me?

Now here's a strange tip i learned from someone in the industry. When you go to ER, look like you have money, dress nice, where your nicest stuff and act very polite, level headed and never undermine your symptoms. I have a tendency to act as if it's not a big deal but it actually is and if it is for you (which it must be if you are taking ambulances all the time) then make sure that they know it's a huge deal. If things don't go your way, speak to a patient advocate at the hospital the next day, then go back in and see how they treat you. The medical industry is fucked and so frustrating for me. I just self medicate because my quality of life would be nothing if it were up to them. I'm not trying to give you a tip to get drugs you don't need so you can abuse but rather get the quality of care that you should get. No one goes to the ER over and over again for fun or to get a benzo script, that'd be ridiculous.

oh yeah on my hospital records it likely shows that i went there for 2 benzo withdrawals and an opiate withdrawal induced panic attack. So basically i am fucked for getting any treatment and always get treated like a junkie. People always say be honest with your Dr so they can help you and i was and it completely fucked me over. I would almost rather have just had a seizure than have this follow me around now.

Alright, I know this is an old thread but for the sake of anybody who has to live with this condition, I gotta post about my experience and what treatments I was given. There are actually big surgeries that can be done for this but like most surgeries, even more in countries where hospital is "free", they will disregard the surgery options and try something else. Costochondritis is an inflammation of the muscle tissue between your ribcage bones, basically your sparibs are inflammed, heh. I've had this bullshit since 2005 or so, on and off...it could be a sign of a lowered immune system...but what doctors did officially with me was script me their favourite shit : celebrex and a goddamn prazole proton pump inhibitor antacid because I really used to react badly to NSAIDs (blood in my stools etc.), but celebrex is terrible for your heart, more so than regular anti inflammatories, I could go and quote sources right now but just google it (or ixquick it in these days...), so one day I was looking at all NSAID's that are out there and obviously I wasn't informed of meloxicam (Midol), because it is cheap and won't make big pharma companies rich, but once I found a doctor who knows what I studied in life and respects me I was able to be scripted it, especially since meloxicam, and any nsaid of that class (tenoxicam, and some others) are really mild on the stomach. And it really does help this burning stuff, also what helped is reducing my smoking hardcore...I now smoke 2-3 cigarettes a day from my girlfriends packs and not 25-30 like I used to before...obviously tobacco smoke, and yes, weed smoke, could irritate the cartilage near your lungs in theory and obviously in practice since I have stopped toking weed regularly after smoking errday for 9 years and a half, everything got better chest wise after that, also not using amphetamines, at least in large doses (had to reduce my dexedrine dose, which wasn't a big deal, except for the weight gain...) but all of these things made the costochondritis become a lot tamer.

I too have called the ambulance many times (thankfully my insurances pay for it, canadian healthcare does not pay for ambulance rides, at all, you gotta have an additional insurance for this and they're hard to find). I thought I was going to die from a heart attack right, or a pulmonary emboli, or thinking I was developing cardiomyopathy due to my add meds which i thought was leading me to congestive heart failure...and all kinds of shit, until i've had so many EKG's, and a stress test + echocardiogram done that said my heart was totally fine and that they did a lot of blood tests and that I don't have anemia either (a lot of people in my dads family do...with arthritis, and heart disease and anxiety and alcohol abuse problems....) so of course I was weary that this shit was getting to my rather young mid 20's to now early 30's person....now I do have an actual problem in the region, mild lung hypertension but it is unrelated to all of that and I didn't have it until 2 years ago which doesn't correspond to my much earlier costochondritis problems.

Really, take your vitamins and do exercise, you gotta strengthen up that immune system, which could mean to stop smoking weed regularly if you are doing so, weed is mild but not harmless. But reading this post made me totally remember how fucking insane costochondritis can be, and we aren't to blame for this. I was put on benzos due to the repeating nature of the costochondritis and it is to blame for me getting hooked on opiates, especially since I would be inventing pain problems to get scripts to opiates or I would be using my smoker's cough to get semi-legitemately pure hydrocodone pills (Hycodan) or codeine syrup (with nothing else of course, we canadians do not have those strange codeine syrup concoctions).

But yeah, an anti-inflammatory that isn't hard on the bowels or less likely to cause cardiac problems (meloxicam and everything in it's family), and not smoking anything or very little are good ways to get rid of the costochondritis crisis like pain. It's not gone, 90% of the time they do not know what is causing your rib meat to get such inflammation...which is fucking annoying. One an ER doctor took the time while being quite reassuring and he's performed a several corticosteroid injections right in my chest (that was a bit freaky), and believe it or not that also helped. But if what I give as a tip at the beginning doesn't work, you could go on a couple months trial of oral prednisone or prednisolone, once after i got pneumonia I had coughed so badly I had caused myself a huge flare up, which is one of the few things that can make someone get costochondritis, and those 3 months of prednisolone prevented me from getting any symptoms related to that shit for a good year. But that's for extreme cases, which might have been the kind of case op is going through.

Opiates don't help for this kind of pain, they can justmake you ignore it, but here I am sitting after eating 2 25mg metadol (methadone pills for pain) pills (don't do this at home kids) and I was still feeling a little chest pain before I decided to eat 7.5mg of meloxicam and its gone.

It's one bizarre of a bitch disease, also it could be Tietze's Syndrome, check out it's symptoms, the doctor who had given me those shots in my chest had decided it's what I had.

Good luck.

As for you RobotTripping, a lot of doctors will throw benzos and opis at women because they are "so fragile and soft" while us men are supposed to suck it up and stop being babies.....such non scientific behaviour from supposed scientists. Makes me sick to my stomach but it's the way it is, with docs who have zero compassion, doesn't work this way with my current doc, he's a bit elderly but fuck I wish he doesn't die in my lifetime, he's a lifesaver in many ways, how many gp's will replace your benzo script for several months because you are unable to see your psychiatrist ? Heh, and a lot of people in my town think he's a hack and call him dr.pill while they fail to realize he doesn't give people pills for non indicated reasons (off label) while so many do for so many things (like my first neurologist who scripted me topamax for my trigeminal neuralgia....what the fuck, at least he gave me also .5mg rivotril bid..).

And RT doesnt need to move to another country...in canada one ER will only have records of visits you did to that ER, it's not networked at all, although my province (qc) suddenly decided to come up with this DSQ (basicallly making it so all your records become centralized and everyone can see everything from your doctors, pharmacists, ER nurses and even social workers) needless to say I filled the form to opt-out of it...i'm not participating into fascism.

 

[Chziime]

This is what cured my chronic costochondritis:
-Paleo diet (a facet of which includes eating anti-inflammatory foods and no pro-inflammatory foods)
-Noni Juice (seemed to help a little)
-Glucosamine/Chondrointin
-I didn't use it then, but a product called E-Pharm Joint Force works great for my current joint problems

Good luck, and sorry I didn't read the OP or any of the following ones!

 

[charmcitymama]

I've had this problem with my chest for the last few months. It started off as a pain which I thought might have been something to do with the my heart, but when it escalated to the point where I had to call an ambulance a few times, the tests showed that my heart was fine. They just said it was a pulled muscle and I forgot about it. However it didn't go away, and eventually it changed into just a tight feeling. Two weeks ago I had to call the ambulance again but they didn't know what the cause was at the hospital. Finally however I decided to go the GP a few days ago and she finally gave me a firm diagnosis of 'costochondritis' which is an inflammation of the cartilage in the chest. The problem is I'm having to call an ambulance on a daily basis now because this tight feeling is getting so bad I have a lot of trouble breathing and I feel as if I'm going to pass out. If it was just a one off thing it wouldn't be so bad but I'm having this every day.

I'm getting to the point where I just can't hack it anymore. The panic it causes is ruining my life at the moment and the doctors are unwilling to prescribe me anything to calm me down. So I'd lie if I said I haven't contemplated ending it all. I don't know why I'm posting this, I guess I just need to vent and ask for any advice you guys can give me, especially if you've been through something similar. I'm not one to wallow in self pity but it's really making life so hard I don't know what to do. I worry that even though in theory this condition doesn't go on forever for most people I will have it for years or the rest of my life because I've aggravated it so much by arching my shoulders back to 'pop' it out of it's position to make the pain go away. If that's the case then I really would probably try and end it but even in the short term I'm feeling so desperate I don't know what to do with myself! I guess it helps me to be more sympathetic to people with serious pain and other medical conditions. I don't know how these people stay sane.

I can understand why the doctors won't give me even a short term prescription for benzos but honestly it makes me angry that there are people out there that persuade their doctors to prescribe them these drugs for 'anxiety' when they don't really need it when I need it genuinely but can't get it. It doesn't feel fair but that's life I guess. If there's one piece of advice I can give other people it would be to never to admit to any sort of drug use to your doctor unless you're in diar need because you never know, one day you might actually need narcotics or sedatives and get refused because years ago when you were young you didn't know any better. Substance misuse doctors themselves have even confided to me that they've seen ER doctors give opiate-dependent accident victims lower doses of morphine in an almost cruel, self righteous way. As if the addict is not being punished enough already! Anyway I'm digress but this is not a good situation to be in, it really isn't!

Wow when I first googled costochondritis and smoking and came across your post I was astonished. I started reading your post and for a minute there thought I had written it myself. Your story reads exactly like my experience with costo has been. Ifirst started experiencing problems with costo in June of this year. Here I was folding laundry when out of the blue I felt like I was having a heart attack. Shortness of breath, dizziness to the point I felt like passing out, svere tightness in the chest (pretty much felt like I had boa constrictor tightening around my chest), and numbness in my left arm. Had my husband take me to the doctor. Dr. Did an EKG which showed no signs of a heart attack, blood pressure was fine, nothing. Dr. told me it was probably something musculoskeletal and to go to the er form xrays. Decided not to go that route. Still had the pain but went on business as usual. A month later same thing happens again second time I got a nice ride in the ambulance to the er room. Back in May had my first ride hanks to nearly passing out from pneumonia and from what I now know is condritis and fibromyalgial .yeah me. So needles to say I have been having loads of fun living with both disorders and trying to function as a normal hjman being. I can honestly say that my smoking isn't helping matters. When I inhale I feel like the inside of my chest, stomach, and esphogas are so inflamed that maybe I've developed cancer.
I can barely function beause of them. I can deal with most of the flare ups accept for the ones around my heart. Those scare the crap out of me cause you don't know if it's a costo flarenup or an actual heart attack. Just glad that I am not the only one going through this. Thanks for everyone's post. They are definitely helpful.

 

[Puddinpie]

Hey there,

New to this site and saw this post and had to comment. You aren't alone in these attacks and sadly there is not much research or data showing what can help, I've tried Diaz (and others in the class) and nothing has helped. I find sitting straight and breathing slowly and shallowly is what helps me. You can always smoke some green but for me that's a last resort.
Costo is something misdiagnosed and you might actually have something else (I believe it's) called tiezte syndrome. You can tell the difference by when you are having an attack press down on your diaphragm and sternum (the one that runs between your breasts/pecs) if it hurts to the touch you may have tietze. Either way there isn't much remedy for costo or t. Costo can also be a symptom of a larger problem like fibromyalgia. I suggest seeing a rhumotologist (one who specialises in fibromyalgia) and get yourself checked out. I get bad costo attacks ranging from a few times a week to a few times a month. Nothing seems to trigger them. And I've been hospitalised and put on a drip twice for it (the vomiting from the pain/feeling like you are dying), so I just wanted to say if you want support contact me anytime.

Good luck, be kind to yourself and find what works for you, it's different for everyone, on how to deal with this horrible pain.