posted
there is cartilidge that connects your ribs to your breast bone, so just like any other joint, this cart. can get irritated and inflamed by Lyme. What results is pain, sore feeling ribs, and crackly/crunchy, poppy sounds when they are pressed on.
Also, if you lay on your side or belly on a hard surface for too long the will hurt like hell the next day...just like if you were to irritate a sprained ankle.
Posts: 594 | From NJ/NY | Registered: Jun 2006
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groovy2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
Hi All
Elley is right-- rib cartlage
I thought I was having small heart attacks- for years-- because it mostly happened on left chest--
Most people have this pain on left chest --may have to do with if you are left or right handed --maybe puts more strain on the oppisite side rib cage--
Elleys discription of the sprained ankle is perfect annaligy--
For me I think Babs caused this--
After I started treating for babs Also- the pain went away-AAhh --Jay--
Posts: 2999 | From Austin tx USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
That's interesting about the heart attack analogy. My daughter kept telling me she thought she was having one.
The last thing I was told by one of her doctors is that it is tendonitis in her ribs. Sigh. More anti-inflammatories of course.
I just watched Mystery Diagnosis - the one about Lyme. I'm in California and it was on during the 1:00 hour. The first thing the teenager presented to the doctor was horrible chest pain. I'm not sure how to spell it, but it was diagnosed as costochondritis (something like that). Then came the rest of the nightmare. It's just interesting that this is such a common symptom amongst Lyme sufferers.
Posts: 40 | From Pasadena | Registered: Jun 2006
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Jill E.
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posted
I had this for the 10 years I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the 1980s - this was before my tick bite in 2003. I went through all the tests for liver, gallbladder, pancreas, you name it. I even had an appedectomy (wasn't the appendix) and exploratory surgery to see if it was endometriosis (it wasn't), told it was costal chondritis, etc.
The only thing that helped me was going gluten-free.
But also when I first became symptomatic with Lyme, but didn't know what it was, one MD had me begin treatment for Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) in which bacteria from the large intestine gets into the small intestine and can cause bloating, burping, upper abdominal pain, etc. You can do a google search on it if interested.
But the above posts make a lot of sense to me in terms of Lyme and the ribcage pain.
Take care, Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
That was my one of my very first symptoms in 2003. I was a rower and had just completed a 200 meter row (142 miles) row in three weeks on my indoor rower.
I then had crushing chest pain and difficulty breathing for weeks.
Had two ekgs - checked for blood clotting disorder - 2 ER visits thinking I was going to pass out with severe air hunger...it disappated and would wait until 2004 to then present again with a huge number of other symptoms...
I thought it had been costocondritis too - which maybe it was but it was induced by lyme I am sure ...
-------------------- �Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.� - Ezre Taft Benson Posts: 655 | From NC, Exit 88 on the Deer SuperHighway | Registered: Dec 2004
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Foggy
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posted
My chest pain turned out to be Babs. Went away with Babs treatment.
[ 09. July 2006, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: Foggy ]
Posts: 2451 | From Lyme Central | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
My 16 year old gets this pain often. We went to a cardioligist that helps patients with lyme and he told us it was periciditis. They put my son on Indocin and it helped a lot with the pain.
-------------------- Amy Holloway Posts: 255 | From Michigan | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
It's such a coincidence that you mention rib pain/soreness.
I hadn't felt it in about 5 years--it was one of my first symptoms along with sternum/heart pain/aches.
Well, just this morning, while attempting a yoga DVD I had to lie on my stomach for a pose--OUCH! My right rib was sore! Yep, I still have it!
Foggy, you think it is Babs and not Lyme? I haven't been tested for co-infections yet.
Posts: 366 | From MA | Registered: Apr 2006
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mlkeen
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posted
If you work with a chriropractor, he might be able to help.
Several weeks ago, I had a similar pain, but in the back under the shoulder blade. My first thought was heart attack too. His exam found a "rib out" to quote him. He pushed on it with two fingers and it slid right back. No pain since.
After three years this chiropractic stuff still amazes me!
Posts: 1572 | From Pa | Registered: Jun 2001
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Foggy
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posted
allie, definately Babs for me. Testing meant zilch, as LLMD said it's not accurate. Old LLMD wouldn't treat me for Babs though I had all the symps. Changed LLMDs, treated Babs, and goodbye chest pain.
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Truthfinder
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Wow, Babs, huh? I have been fighting costochondritis for years, off and on. Since December, it is on all the time though not always disabling.
For years, I was able to control it with chiropractic, too. But then my rib cage got so sensitive that any chiropractic adjustments that put pressure on my ribs ANYWHARE caused an acute flare of the costo.
Mine can be anywhere in my ribs, front or back, and now it can migrate from one side of the body to the other. It just makes sense to me that an infection is the culprit.
Souonds like a different test for Babs might be in order.....
Tracy
-------------------- Tracy .... Prayers for the Lyme Community - every day at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and 9 p.m. Eastern Time � just take a few moments to say a prayer wherever you are�. Posts: 2966 | From Colorado | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
I have the same chest pain as you guys are talking about,swear you are haveing a heart attack, i have had it for 18 months i just started my babs treatment and am hopeing it will go away, it has lessened some in just a week of mepron/zith/ art
i know a person who had the same problem, severe chest pain and air hunger, babs treatment fixed it, alone with long term antibiotic treatment he has been symtom free for about a year now.
Posts: 82 | From Northeast WI | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Thanks for all the responses. It is just fascinating that this is such a common symptom. Well, now to get my daughter checked for Babs (sigh).
Posts: 40 | From Pasadena | Registered: Jun 2006
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kelmo
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posted
rib and sternum pain is a common symptom of "fibromyalgia". My daughter has not tested positive for anything but bart. I'm thinking it's all part of that connective tissue like someone else said.
My daughter said she just touches her rib area and it hurts for hours.
I think it all just comes with the crud.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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Michelle M
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posted
I used to lie on my bed on my stomach and talk on the phone (much more comfy!). However, it gives me really bad pain under my right ribcage - so much that I cannot do it any more. Every single time, like clockwork.
If this is babesia related, I tested positive for babesia WA1 and have been treating it for almost two months. (Along with lyme treatment x 1 year). So that doesn't seem to be it, for me.
Note to self: Never lie on stomach.
Hope your 13 year old finds some relief. Tell her (or him) to avoid lying on her stomach, if possible - it seems to exacerbate things.
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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I went to the beach a week and a half ago and sun bathed on my belly. The next day my ribs were sooo damn sore it was awful.
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henson2
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posted
Here is how my LLMD explained it to me. My LLMD sees this a lot.
The spirochetes like to hang out in the nerve roots in the spine. By being there and acting up, they irritate one or more nerves that wrap around the rib cage (either side).
This particularly inflames the nerve endings, which are on either side of the sternum. (at the costo- chondral junction).
This can also cause soft tissue pain.
My LLMD was the first Dr. in almost 6 years who had any clue what was going on. It was wonderful to hear that this was familiar to my Dr.
BTW, I went for a second opinion, 2nd LLMD who did not consult the first one. Their answer: this chest pain is unquestionably Lyme related.
I do not mean to rule out the co-infections here, as we know Lyme can come w/ a lot of co-infections.
Please be cautious if your non LLMD wants to try pain relief through nerve block injections into the sternum/ ribs. This made my pain much worse!!
I too know the feeling of having a heart attack, but getting checked out and having it be normal.
Even if you were to try to biopsy the area, no organisms would show up because they are in the spine, in the nerve roots.
This pain can get VERY sharp.
Much sympathy and understanding for everyone dealing with it! You are not alone.
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