Costochondritis or possible return of pericarditis

[Westie2012]

I had pericarditis and an effusion December 2020, by august 2021 I was told I had no signs of either condition anymore but I was getting lots of pain by my ribs and I was told I have costochondritis . Fast forward to now and the pain has got so much worse, it’s there all the time and can be anything from a dull ache to full on sharp pain that’s 10/10 on a pain level . , it’s all on my left side from my waist up towards my collarbone , I’m beginning to wonder if if could be pericarditis again, the last week I’ve been getting more out of breath walking upstairs , worse if I’m walking outside going uphill and my heart has started racing again on exertion which it hasn’t done for many months.

[Qualipop]

I often get costochondritis as part of my fibronyalgia. The doctors have always told me to press on it. If it hurts when I press it's costo, if not it could be something else so get it investigated. I also have a damaged vertebra at exactly the sternum level which sends pain into my cheat so it can be really difficult to work out what's causing what.

[Westie2012 in reply to Qualipop]

I went to get checked in hospital , my infection markers were raised so I’ve been started on colchicine again as a precaution incase it’s the start of pericarditis again (I was very unwell with pericarditis and an effusion December 2020) and I’ll be having a cardiac mri. I thought I’d just have a blood test and ecg then be sent home when the tests were normal . I’m glad I went as I was undecided whether to leave it a few more days to see how things went . Had excellent care today and I felt like I was listened to properly .

[Qualipop in reply to Westie2012]

Good job you didn't wait if your infection markers were up. Sounds as if they were really on the ball. Better to catch things early.