5+ months of chest pain

[michelle0524]

I am an 18 year old female. In November 2017 I was sitting in class and started having sharp chest pains on my left side. The sharp pain came and went and lasted sometimes just a few seconds or minutes to several minutes and this went on for several days. The first day I started having chest pain was on a Friday and it was so intense I went to the ER. All they did was an x-ray, gave me a tylenol and sent me home. The following Monday I went to my local doctor's office and was told it sounds like I have Costochondritis and they did blood-work but everything came back normal. I started taking an anti-inflammatory but it didn't seem like it was helping much. After a few weeks I wasn't having any pain. In January I started having the same type of pain so I started taking an anti-inflammatory again but it wasn't helping so I went back to doctor. At that point the pain was again off and on and lasted for a few seconds or minutes but it was on both sides of my chest, down the middle of my chest, and in my ribs. I had an ultrasound done to check my gallbladder and more blood-work done but doctors said my gallbladder and kidneys looked fine. The pain is still off and on and more intense at times. Sometimes the pain goes into my arms and shoulders. Is this something I should ignore and see how it goes or see a doctor again? Could it still be costochondritis?

[johnsmith]

See a Chiropractor. They can give a second opinion in regard to over tight muscle in various places causing pain. You then can back to the doctor with what they found.

[ssdw1958]

I am not a doctor but it sounds like you really need to find out what is going on with your body has any one in your family ever had these pains? I think you need to find another doctor to find out what is going on. This is something you just don’t leave alone. And for a doctor to say that what is his problem. That sounds like my doctor when I said there is something wrong with my leg and he said it was women probables. Then I left it alone. Then two years later to looked into it guess what I had MS. I am saying you don’t have MS but you need to find out what you have.

Good luck I would get your parents involved.

[cyberbarn]

There are many joints between the ribs and the sternum or breastbone, as well as around the back. All those joints can dislocate like any other joint in the body. These joints are held together with tendons and other connective tissue that can take longer to heal than other injuries. And if you are prone to strains, then you are more likely to have more of them.

There are also layers of muscles between each rib, and they can get pulled too, and cause pain.

I have a rib on my left side that cracks like when your fingers crack, and that always hurts. Sometimes it hurts more before it cracks, which I can do by twisting about. I also have the same thing on the right side sometimes too.

So you have a diagnoses of Costochondritis. Blood tests rare diagnose anything, they are just generally ruling out things, so that's good too. They have investigated other things, you have had an ultrasound, so that rules out several other things.

So it will be a matter of time before the pain will resolve. And there are loads of other things that you can do besides take painkillers or anti-inflammatories. You can try topical treatments like Tiger Balm, hot water bottles and heat pads, watching a really funny film with people you love (not kidding, Green Wing got me through post surgery pain when I couldn't take codeine!) and even a Tens machine.

So the simple answer to your question is yes, this could still be Costochondritis. And if you have pulled a muscle or joint once, you might do it again which will take even longer to heal.