costochondritis

I have recently been told i've costochondritis, which is very painful, i find it's making my asthma worse, as it makes you feel breathless. Does anyone else have this and how do you cope with it.

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Oh yes! It is horrible, isn't it? And I find once ribs have got the idea they tend to be prone to flare up again with breathing etc - though mine did eventually stop doing it. My GP said it's very hard if you cause it this way though; with an exercise injury you can stop doing the exercise but as she said you can hardly stop breathing, plus it probably does encourage you to breathe wrong as it can hurt to take deep breaths.

I take ibuprofen for it but I'm ok with that; I realise quite a few asthmatics aren't. But some sort of painkiller definitely recommended in the acute stage though this obviously has to be something you can actually take safely - ask your GP. This is just my experience given that I know it really hurts so nice to have something to take the edge off if you can.

Otherwise...hmm, trying to think if I did anything. I find it helps to sit upright and well supported; slumping hurts more and makes breathing worse.

Sorry I can't be more help but I do sympathise! Hope it goes away, or gets better, soon.

Wondering if a resp. physio would help at all to sort any breathing bad habits you get from this - maybe not while it's really painful but ask about going afterwards, otherwise you might find it messes up your asthma even when it stops hurting.

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Thanks for the advice, this can happen again? I can't take any inflammatary medication my gp gave me inflammatory gel to take as she though since I'm not swallowing it, it should be ok. unfortunately it's not, but I have some co-admol I can take them thank you god. I will take your advice about sitting up. Thanks again.

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Well I found mine took a while to settle down and tended to flare up with asthma - I'm not an expert at all but from my experience it seems like once they've been inflamed they're a bit more sensitive for a while to things that wouldn't have bothered you before. Mine did eventually mostly settle down though and didn't get to the really nasty acute stage again.

Glad you can have the co-codamol at least, hope it helps. I don't know why ribs are so painful when things go wrong but I guess we use them more than we realise!

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I have had it on and off for the past 3 years. In fact I had a spell that ended just a few weeks ago. I got into the very bad habit of making my chest crack and then it used to be ok, but without it ""cracking"" (I pushed on my chest and brought my arms as far back as possible) II could hardly breathe in it was that painful. My doctor put me on codeine for it but not even that managed the pain

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I'm not one to take painkillers, but I find the co-codamol just takes the edge off, make the pain more bearable. I just wish it would just go away. I get coughing fits as well which doesn't help with the pain. It's nice to know I have people to speak to, who have experience what I'm going through. Thank you.

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I agree with the others, it can be very easy to get into some nasty breathing habits which can make you more susceptible to further chest infections because you’re not forcing the base of your lungs to move. One method that my GP taught me for helping with the pain of deep breathing with costochondritis is to use a pillow tucked up under your shoulder against your ribs and try to take some slow deep breaths and build up to taking deeper breaths. If you try to force it straight away all you'll do is aggravate the pain. Sleeping is also easier if you tuck a pillow up against your side.

Hope it feels better soon, it's a horrible pain to have to put up with