Struggles of costochondritis

[KatieRichie94]

I as diagnosed with having costochondritis a couple months ago. I've been having the symptoms for a while. I was prescribed voltaren gel (ibuprofen in gel form) . I don't like to use it every day since it isn't good to do that long term. I have started working out my chest muscles again and my chest is killing today. I'm currently using an ice pack . It really sets off my anxiety because it hurts to breathe and I'll think I'm not breathing efficiently. Does anyone else have this issue?

[Lanababy]

Yes at times. What i realised was I was tensing my stomach muscles and so that prevented me from breathing right and I always had that feeling of needing more air. So I lay down flat and relaxed my muscles. I then practised some diaphramatic breathing which should ease your pain. Could be that you've just strained the chest so might take a few days to go.

[Agora1]

Yes, I have had it over the years and it is very painful. What worked for me was heat.

I would run washcloths under hot water and then place them on the trigger points of the chest. Over time I have learned the signs of overstressing those muscles and also use deep breathing techniques when I'm not in pain. Within the last week, my daughter now has had sharp pain in her upper left rib causing her to have pain when taking a deep breathe, coughing, hiccups and moving. If she lies perfectly still it goes away. I know how it can feed into our anxieties but as long as you have been diagnosed with costochondritis, I'm hoping that might help some. I understand how you don't want to take pain medication everyday . Wishing you a better day today!