posted
I spent the afternoon in the ER from Costochondritis. Started right below my shoulder blade in the back and all the way down to the bottoom of my ribs and wrapped around toward the front.
I couldnt breathe.
It hurt so bad to move.
It hurt to take a breath.
I was driving and after 15 minutes and almost hyperventilating I went the ER because I couldnt get any relief and I was scared.
After test after test and xray they said it was Costochondritis.
I have had this before in the front of my chest but never in the back like that before. It was worse than anything I have experienced with it.
I remember reading this is a LYME thing too.
So I am left with a lot of pain and was informed this one could take days to feel better.
Have I mentioned how much I hate all this????
It is truly scary, painful, frustrating, agonizing...
Anyone else have it this darn bad????
-------------------- Seeking renewed health & vitality. --------------------------------- Do not take anything I say as medical advice - I am NOT a dr! Posts: 830 | From TN | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yes, I've heard others here say they were dxd with it. I'm sorry it was especially painful for you today!!! Hope they gave you something good for the pain and that you can get some rest now!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yes, I have been dxd with the same thing, and I have also experienced esophogeal spasms that act just like you described. They are extremely painful, and I went to the ER many times with that. Since I have been on Toprol XL..knock on wood..I have not had any episodes of the spasms. It has been 6 yrs now.
My left rib cage can burn, ache and be tender to the touch. That is the Costrocondritis.
I feel that these symptoms are lyme disease related. All I know is that it hurts like heck and drains me for days.
Hope you are feeling better now.
Hugs Perplexed
........................ "Frogs have it easy: they can eat what bugs them." (Barbara Johnson)
Posts: 324 | From Lexington, KY, USA | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
I have this, too. It hurts.
Hopefully the ER gave you something for the pain?
If not, call your LLMD and see if something can be called in till you get past the worst of it.
Feel better soon.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
they did give me rx but expect it will be several days still
glad im not the only one.well kinda...
-------------------- Seeking renewed health & vitality. --------------------------------- Do not take anything I say as medical advice - I am NOT a dr! Posts: 830 | From TN | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
heiwalove
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6467
posted
yes, i have this too. it is terrible and has landed me in the ER as well. at one point (pre lyme diagnosis) it was so bad they had to give me morphine, which barely even touched the pain.
cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
i just recently started getting this.
It really hurts!!!
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
bettyg
Unregistered
posted
yes, me, too for many years. had it last 8-06 in ER; they hooked me up to heart monitor then took plugs off for xrays.
then hooked me up again HURTING ME REALLY BADPUSHING SO HARD in the areas where i came in with the pain. i let them know about it verbally.
also they sent survey and i really let them have it in there. later supr. over ER spoke at education class, and i spoke to her directly afterward; she remembered me well!
these areas are all the fibro trigger pressure point areas; so it's extremely painful.
best yet to get to er making sure it's NOT HEART ATTACK.
IP: Logged |
posted
I was dx'ed with it also. It comes and goes for me. I hope you get relief soon......Rich
Posts: 413 | From nj | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have had this since I was 14 but was not diagnosed until I was in my 30s. Multiple ER visits. Never any answers except that it was probably stress. Was even told "stop being a baby" by a nurse once after 4 ER visits in a 24 hour period.(I was 27)
My worst attack gave me slurred speech and other stroke type Sx along with the horrifying pain. That ER visit is when I was properly diagnosed.
When the ER MD left the room I said to my hubby, "I feel like such a baby, it's nothing again" The MD overheard this and came back into the room. He quite forcefully said, "You are not a baby. You are experiencing the same pain as someone having a heart attack. You may not die from this but you will have to deal with pain for years. Don't ever think you're a baby for being in this much pain."
I stopped having attacks when I was 38 and didn't have another attack for about 3 yrs but they have returned with my increase in lyme Sx.
Typically these attacks are supposed to stop in your 40s but I think the lyme puts a whole new twist on it. (mine came back at 41)
I am sorry that you are dealing with this too. I wish you the best!(and less pain)
-------------------- Every victory, no matter how small, deserves to be celebrated. Please excuse me while I do a little dance. Posts: 25 | From North Carolina | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
thanks everyone for the posts. i hate others deal with it too but glad i am not alone
it also increases my certainty on LYMES! Whereelse would so many experience the same!?
-------------------- Seeking renewed health & vitality. --------------------------------- Do not take anything I say as medical advice - I am NOT a dr! Posts: 830 | From TN | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Costochondritis and pleurisy were both big problems after I was bitten and before I was treated. (six years before that doc would agree that I had lyme)
However, after I found an LLMD, and started adequate treatment, I have not been bothered with either, although when I would go off abx for any length of time I still developed severe knee and shoulder pain.
My LLMD feels that it is possible that we may only be able to manage lyme now, as I was untreated for so long. Having never done the IV route, that may be the last option for me. But living without the costochondritis type pain has been a big achievement!
It is possible to get rid of that with the right abx combo. Hope it works out for you.
Ann
Posts: 287 | From Northern California, USA | Registered: Oct 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oh yes the pain of this is as awful. I had it when I was 28...it knocked me to the floor and I thought I was having a heart attack...
...when I got to the ER, THEY thought the same thing. I don't have Lyme (post here because my daughter does) BUT I can only imagine how horrible it must feel to have this symptom when you also have all the toher Lyme related pain and symptoims to contend with.
Hugs Elle
Posts: 217 | From New Jersey | Registered: Apr 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
cj- I have this too- it hurts quite a bit. Feels like you've broken a few ribs. Breathing hurts. I have found no pattern for the flare ups. One ER visit tho, thought my ribs were cracked, but no. Have had it for a number of years, comes and goes. Took naprosyn for a long time, not sure what it did. When I feel it coming, I try to take it extra easy. Rest of course help everything.
Feel better.
Posts: 11 | From NYC | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
Truthfinder
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8512
posted
I needed to read this thread right now..... there are times I think maybe it isn't Lyme that is causing me all these symptoms, and then I see something like this and know I am in the right place.....
I'm battling a particularly nasty flare of this right now..... it literally feels like I have been shot in my R chest if I try to clear my throat, sneeze, cough, etc.
I do think a short period of prescription anti-inflammatories can usually help......
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
| IP: Logged |
Foggy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1584
posted
My chest pain was Babs. went away with Mepron.
Do a search here. Lots of info.
Posts: 2451 | From Lyme Central | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i had it so bad i went to ER too. they tol me it was anxiety and the doctor was a creep....
i waited six hours to be seen and, yes, i've got full coverage....
next time i ain't going unless the grim reaper takes me himself.....
i agree, it really hurts tho and scares me half to death....another lyme problem...
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Boy it sure does hurt and lingers too. I have
been quite amazed how I have learned to live
with "new normals" throughout the years. If
someone else had this hit as hard as it has hit
me these past few days they would be down for
the count! Not bragging but isnt it amazing
how much we can endure since we have been
through so darn much....truly it is sad.
what i wouldnt give to feel like I did 8 years
ago more than not.
Every once a while I have a day or two in a row
where I feel like "ME"....
But this has been the worst one ever with this.
Like someone else said - I wonder at times and
then I see a thread like this and know I am in
the right place....
It feels good to know I am not alone and that I
am NOT crazy! Thank you all!
To everyones health and progress!!!
-------------------- Seeking renewed health & vitality. --------------------------------- Do not take anything I say as medical advice - I am NOT a dr! Posts: 830 | From TN | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
I had the diagnosis of costochondritis too about two years prior to the lyme and tbi diagnosis.
I was rowing and shoveling snow a lot and so they just chaulked it up to costochondritis...found out later after abx treatment it was related to lyme.
Hope you feel better soon. When I would get it I would feel like I was suffocating...not fun at all...
-------------------- �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
| IP: Logged |
posted
I am so glad that I found this thread. I had SEVERE pain in my chest yesterday. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain but I was in agony.
I googled "costochondritis" which I have known is associated with LD but nothing came up that desribed the pain as beyond excruciating.
I thought maybe it was something else or that I was just a wimp but after reading the posts in this thread I know what it is and that the pain was as bad as I perceived it to be.
I had a similar attack about eight months ago. Since it was the first time I'd ever felt anything like that I was terrified that something was wrong with my heart.
The pain was absolute torture. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening again? Is there anything I can do to stop it when it happens?
posted
Ughh this was one of my very first symptoms and I got it off and on for the next 8 years before I was diagnosed with Lyme.
During some of my herxes in the first year of treatment, the chest pains would flare up again. Now I am 2.5 years into treatment, and have not had chest pains in about a year!
I know it is the worst pain, especially since you can't get away from it since you can't stop breathing, but in my case the treatment worked.
Try to relax, get a heating pad, and don't lose hope!
Posts: 46 | From Texas | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have it too and it increases my fatigue and the pain in the breastbone makes me feel like I have pneumonia and weak.
I am not sure it is just relatedto lyme , because viruses can cause inflammation too in the connective tissues in the chest .
When I have an attack : I take generous amounts of olive leaf ectract, and golden seal, and a capsule of oil of oregano for several days . I also take an NSAID like aleve . These truly make a difference . The herbs are antiviral agents . Most of us have high levels of other viruses because our immune systems are not efficient as a result of lyme.
I am never without goldenseal and olive leaf because they help me with costo.
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[group hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)
![[confused]](graemlins/confused.gif)
![[cussing]](graemlins/cussing.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic