Plz help

[Lonethinker]

Hi am woman of 41. .. 6 years back I had some shifting work and i had hyper mobility of ribcage after few days it got painful n sore and when I went to ortho he said it's costo after few months I did some workouts like planks push ups a week later what I was going through was unexplainable my upper body movement made me to fart and I didn't know what's the connection between arm or torso movement with farting doctor gave acid reflux meds and said I have anxiety till now it's unsolved recently I had some activities that made the rib sore and again I have weird burning sensation in centre torso plz tel me should I treat it as gastric or muscle cartilage related?plz help me to overcome

[Dizzytwo Moderator]

Hello, I am very sorry you are suffering. Unfortunately no one here is medically qualified to answer your question.

I would suggest you go back and speak again with your doctor.

Or if possible maybe get a second opinion from another doctor.

I do hope you find someone who can help you.

Momo

[Lonethinker in reply to Dizzytwo]

Ok I shall do the same Thank you for reading and responding to my post 🙏👍

[JayCeon]

Hi - I'd treat (it as) both, could be a combination. "Roemheld" might be the gastro version and costo the rib version, making one another worse. Most people confuse costo with heart attack and go to hospital for a few hours for nothing (me too). You can fairly easily check if it's your rib muscles by pressing your fingers on them everywhere: If that hurts, it's them (alone or as well), if not, it's internal.

But I'm surprised you did planks and push ups for costo, these are things that may easily make it worse. Did you try the many youtube stretches for it?

[Lonethinker in reply to JayCeon]

Hi sorry I saw ur reply now thank you so much for responding...I didn't know much about do 's and don'ts for costo and I did those planks n push ups...I regret till now...my rib muscles are the cause I noticed ...as am a teacher knowingly or unknowingly i stretch arms and torso much while using black board or trying to point something on smartboard or chart even while correcting notes projects or just enacting in class...thank you I shall try those stretches May I know how's your costo now?

[JayCeon in reply to Lonethinker]

Hi - actually, it took me years to learn myself, that just trying to strengthen when something is already inflamed or when posture's wonky will make it worse. I love to do push ups and thought they must be good at first, then realized they were good for my arms, but they were creating something like an imbalance in my back and overstraining. I had to stop them (or keep to 10) for years. Now I can do 30 again without backlash, when the energy is there.

Theoretically, blackboard etc. stretching seems good, but it's one-sided, strained - physically and mentally, and isn't out for what your rib muscles need. At the very least for every stretch of that kind we need a counter-stretch, if possible right away.

Now? Good! - But my rib muscles still need daily attention, like my whole back, neck to tailbone, all connected. For that I need my 10'/d of back exercises almost without fail. Most directly the rib muscles are influenced by my slight 'hunchback', so shoulders back is important. At night I for a long time needed a small hard cushion under my hunchback for sleeping on my back (no pillow in the middle), but now I manage by arching my legs backward and twist-stretching in recovery position while I sleep.

Then? Costo first came on me when I was 16, had been sitting hunched a lot for exams and it hurt so much that I felt I should lie down and then the muscles cramped and I couldn't breathe anymore - even panic I was going to die, but getting up small breaths were possible again. No one helped me with all my back pains for years until a good orthopedic doc told me to get a hard mattress, shoes without heels and "isometric" exercises - that's all necessary for me till this day. Physios at the time weren't much good, my first 4 didn't help, but the 5th showed me the crucial details (like tensing the buttocks, pressing back, shoulders and wrists into the mat) and the 6th gave me a rich amount of stretches to choose from. Today even any aerobics teacher I've come across seems to know these details, thankfully.

Generally, the sooner we realize it's costo and the sooner we start correcting posture and practicing gentle short stretches for it, the less bad it gets and the shorter we have it.

[Lonethinker in reply to JayCeon]

Hi am amazed at your analysis and research ur really clever to have found the causes and remedies too...am so happy and thankful to you.i should focus my actions as am careless many a times ...here only few docs have deeper knowledge of costo and rest others gave me acidity n gastric meds some even suggested me to go to psychiatric n that everything is in my mind not body

[JayCeon in reply to Lonethinker]

Thanks! Well, I'm lucky that I'm interested in these details of body stuff, unlucky that I wouldn't have much (quality of) life if I didn't focus and were more careless, lucky that focusing makes me happy.

Can you take even more? ;-D

I don't think most docs anywhere know this body stuff, I was lucky that what he pointed me too helped me with the rib muscles, altho he diagnosed about 6 back problems, but actually not costo at all. Self-diagnosed in hindsight, lol. Usually I suggest to people to go to good physios, not to doctors for this stuff. But even my good physios all only helped a little, lots of small pieces of the puzzle. Stopping them all and just using youtube and my own sense of my body is what has really become my main route, making myself the expert. But I spose people have to get there first, so I'm happy if a few people are able to put any of my ideas to work and don't get lost in the details. O.o

You've already said you've sensed that it actually is the muscles. If docs jump to it being gastric/stomach that has many strings attached. Firstly it's usually not the stomach, but gut bloating that can cause such a general pressure on the chest, so something for the gut would be better than for the stomach. Secondly even if it were the stomach, sorting out the reason would be better than suppressing the acid, because often enough (esp. in fibro), people have too little acid in the first place (hypoacidity) or they if they didn't, they may have got it from using antacid meds. If there really is too much acid, that would mean getting heartburn/ reflux/ GERD/ stomach burning from acidic, spicy, hot, minty, fizzy triggers and these are then best avoided. Same goes for things that bloat or irritate the gut (= IBS-C/-D or -A) in other ways. Meds for that are possible, but avoiding triggers might be a better more sustainable help with less side effects.

Psychology rather than psychiatry I do actually think is a good idea to try, cos good ones should be able to understand that it's not in the head at all, but that firstly the head can worsen or improve the physical stuff, by helping with "acceptance", "tolerance", "management" and "coping" of all the very real symptoms, which can halve that "double trouble". But secondly it can also help us with things we find difficult, like finding ways to focus on self-care and being less careless about understanding the symptoms and finding ways to treat them. Thirdly I think we've got enough trouble physically, so it's good to learn more techniques from therapists or counsellors how to deal with any stressors, energy vampires, people that believe it's all in our heads etc.....

Hope that's helping - not annoying...