Costochondritis - A Year and a Half Later
I was first diagnosed with Costochondritis in the ER around Thanksgiving 2022. At the time, the pain was intense and I was at the ER not for the pain itself, but for what we thought the pain was being caused by. I had been having the pain off and on for a while, but never really associated it with all being caused by the same thing. Sometimes the pain was on the left side, other times on the right, sometimes in the front, and other times in the back. When we went to Florida, it was in the right back side and I attributed it to the seats in our new car and never gave it another thought. In early November 2022, I was having pain in the right front and back of my ribs. I went to the local ‘doc in a box’ and they ran tests and ordered an ultrasound as they thought it was my gallbladder. The symptoms fit perfectly, so that is what everyone was treating it like. The day after the ultrasound, I was in a world of pain so we went to the ER, thinking it was the gall bladder and something was happening. The ER docs all thought the same time, and they were treating the pain (Thank God) and running more tests. After all the tests, the ER doc said that the liver and gallbladder are good and that maybe it is an autoimmune disorder called Costochondritis. Well, that fit as it defined the pain source, and Costochondritis is often associated with other autoimmune diseases such as Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis, and lucky for me, haha, I have both of those.
I saw my Rheumatologist and after seeing all the test results and performing an exam, she agreed that it was Costochondritis. Here we are a year and six months or so later and here is where things stand with the Costo.
Though everything I can find online states that it will often go into remission. Everyone in the support groups states that their costochondritis has never done so. So I don’t have my fingers crossed on this one. The pain has been constant on the right front side, towards the bottom of the rib cage. However, at times, there is also pain on the left side and on the back of the torso as well.
I have prescribed 100mg Tramadol for the pain, however, it only dulls it from a 6 or so down to a 2-3, which is manageable, and I can function normally for the most part. However, about 3-4 times a week, there will be a period that the Tramadol does nothing and the pain climbs up to a 6 or so, and spikes at an 8. Those days, usually in the evening after a long busy day at work, I end up having to cave and take a narcotic for the pain. It dulls it to a 1-2, but it never seems to go away. I have managed to get the dosage just right on the narcotic so that I can take it, dull the pain, and still function and not get high, which is very important to me. I do not like the high feeling, nor the feeling that I can’t function.
About 3 years ago, I had a really gnarly failed root canal (at the time, we never heard of such a thing) and for about two weeks, they were treating it with a heavy narcotic and I just basically sat on the couch, and drooled all day long for two weeks. It was not good, not good at all and I do not like that.
So, that is where we are on the costochondritis front.
Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.
