OT: Costochondritis

I feel for her. I had this once years ago, brought on an upper resperatory infection. I don't remember getting steriods for this, but did have antibiotics. Alternated heat and cold, and took lots of Ibuprofen. This one can take weeks to get over unfortunately. Sorry.

Donna in Virginia

Did the doc say chronic, or something caused the inflammation?

Glad she's weaning off the prednisone - that could have her really eating a lot. Definitely rest, the NSAIDs, gentle heat. I'll look - I think that I have something in the homeopathic ointment/rub stuff that will help. My tube of Arnica says it's good for muscle aches & pains - as well as primarily for bruises. I used to have something called Triflora - that had Arnica and the Rhus Toxicondron in it - that was the perfect thing for aches/pains.

Has she done any soaks with something like a mineral/herbal muscle relaxer? WE use "Radox" herbal bath which is from the UK, but works really well as a muscle soak. I've also tried some Ahava mineral soak - that helps (but the Radox is awesome when someone here has overdone time on the ice).

Let me know if you need me to pick up something and deliver. It can be arranged - if nothing else - I can surely hand off to your dude - unless he's changed work locales - that's easy from the new house.

Gentle hugs to the DD - so sorry - hope she's doing better.

ellice

I've had it, as did my sis-in-law -- it's very painful, and the only remedy I've ever heard of is anti-inflammatories and time.

So sorry your daughter is dealing with it.

I've had it as well and I agree. Not much will speed the healing, but it does get better with time and rest.

Give her some very gentle hugs from me.

Lucille

Muscle relaxants to allow the muscles to stretch easier and not inflict so much pressure on the cartilage.

Good luck, AK in PA

Turns out she did NOT have costochondritis afterall. Two doctors and one PA all agreed she had it, but the treatment she was given made it worse instead of better...she was at the point of whimpering in pain on the couch or bed.

Trip two to the ER, this time with Dude. She doesn't have costochondritis, she has acid reflux with erosion of the esphagus, to the point where it hurt her to breathe yet. They gave her some numbing stuff mixed with maalox, and she immediately lost that pinched look on her face (says Dude).

So now, she's doing great, taking a script for something "like" Nexium (can't remember it's name at the moment), Pepcid-AC before meals that might upset her, and maalox for whenever things feel bad. No acidic food (tricky with a vegetarian diet, luckily she isn't vegan).

I am not the suing type, but considering that she was misdiagnosed and given medicines that made the situation a lot worse for two weeks, I can't help but think that we could at least put her thru college on what we might get in a settlement! I'm not calling a lawyer, just one of those passing thoughts that makes you go hmmmmm.

Caryn

Glad to hear she's doing better. Did they suggest sleeping with the head elevated (like a wedge pillow). That helps, as well. AFA the med, it could be Aciphex or Prevacid. My g.i. doc has me rotate through them - they're all "proton pumpers" so I'll take Nexium for a while, then switch to one of the others. Personally, I like prevacid the best, but it's even pricier. If her stomach has been damaged, they may also suggest that she take Carafate - which acts as a buffering agent to coat the stomach and helps with any erosion, healing, and prevention of further. Just requires a lot of spacing of the meds - can't do them at the same time.

It is frustrating - but OTOH, if she was displaying symptoms that 2 or 3 separate docs all identified similarly, you'd have a hard time. More like you'd be able to pay for a term or two. Glad she's doing better.

ellice

I'm one of the first to hold people accontable, but, I'd hold from jumping to conclusions about the cause of a misdiagnosis. What the tests showed (bloodwork wise) and nothing like this would show on an x-ray, although they may have thought some kind of inflammation was present to suggest the costochondritis. And, honestly, gastric reflux - if it's been going for a while - two more weeks - well - it's pretty unlikely that there is incredible permanent damage. The tissue should heal with proper treatment and diet. To me the thing that doctors in separate locations came up with the same diagnosis - incorrectly - would seem to indicate some symptoms being demonstrated or described that led them to that. And, what was the follow-up after the diagnosis? With no improvement at all or worsening - was this a wait of 2 weeks before calling the doc again?

A lot of times when people are seen in the ER, not saying this is necessarily the cse here, they don't follow up promptly with their primary care physician. If there's an issue - the ER doc isn't your primary care person, they're not following your history closely, and you're not following up with them. Or, typically - people wait for it to get really bad - and then back to the ER. Or, maybe they'll go to a specialist after a while.

If the doctors spent time, didn't appear to be callous and inattentive, it could just be a simple and unfortunate error. If the patient is clearly having pain 30 minutes after eating, and when they sleep - or lay flat - and worse - showing blood when they go to the bathroom, or spit up - clear indications of a gastric problem - ulcers, reflux, etc.

Some of these things are hard to diagnose if the obvious signs and symptoms aren't present. It's always too bad when someone suffers longer, unduly - but mistakes happen and I find it hard to jump quickly to sue people for something like this - unless they indeed were careless. Certainly I'd expect some apology.

ellice

She went to ER 10/15, follow up at our GP (saw a PA, because her doctor is out on Mondays) 10/16, was worse 10/17, so saw her doctor at the family practice. That's when the Prednisone was perscribed.

God knows we saw the doctor often enough! lol

I have not called the GP's office yet, I'm still too angry. DD is doing a lot better, she made it to school today, she's more or less her old self. Tomorrow I will ask to have the GP call me, since he's not in today anyway. See what he has to say when I present him with the actual problem. Meanwhile, I'm having a devil of a time getting the pediatric gastrointerologist (sp?) to answer their phone to make an appt. The Gastro group locally won't see her because she's only 15.

Caryn

Jeez - with those symptoms they definitely should've been looking right away at the GERD diagnosis. Especially the night time occurrence (sleeping positions tend to bring this out).

Glad at least the ER doc got it right. You know I love you, and your kidlets - didn't doubt your following up. Of course, I'm pretty quick to believe in heading to the specialist for anything out of the ordinary. I'd say you could get a year out of this....

Hugs to the kid - and you, ellice

Just a little side note - as one who has had both severe reflux, more common heartburn, and costochondritis - while the Prednisone would perhaps have helped the inflammation in the cartilege if that had been present - my experience is that it can SEVERELY worsen existing heartburn and GERD, as well as cause severe temporary heartburn in someone who didn't previously have it. Both conditions can be difficult to detect in one visit though - a good guideline for costochondritis is to gently massage around the sternum (breastbone) where the ribs attach - if the pain is worse, that is more likely to be the cause. Heartburn & GERD cause a more internal pain that massaging doesn't make worse.

Pissed off on your and DD's behalf about the misdiagnosis, but so glad she's feeling better!

Sara

Thanks! She's back in school, and loaded down with make up work. She did her best to keep up with reading and such, but there are limits to what she could do at home.

She's even up to taking her younger sister trick-or-treating tonight. Gotta love that the 10 yr old is the token "little kid" in a group of

Caryn

Hmmm indeed. I was having very similar symptoms a few weeks/months back - reflux causing bad pain and burning of the Oesophagous. It turned out to be a hiatus hernia, and I have one tablet of Ompeprazole each morning which has fixed it! I may be able to drop the tablets, but the first time I tried it the symptoms came back. I may try again in a week or so.

Pat

We have a lot of problems over here with teenagers "Trick or Treating", particularly in towns. Too many of them go too far with the "Tricks", and can be pretty scary to elderly people on their own after dark. Someone suggested putting an age limit on them, and I hope that this happens. One older kid as protection for a few smaller kids is fine. Several older kids (even with a token small kid) can be intimidating to "Olds" living on their own!

Pat

I certainly understand your frustrations, Caryn. And am glad the kiddo is feeling better. (((Hugs))) to you both.

--Mickey

Edmonton, AB to reply: mickey18385 at yahoo dot com

Pat, if it's a hiatal hernia, well, an effect of the hernia is actually acid reflux. It's hard to explain what's happening, but essentially something from the abdomen gets to pole up through the hernia opening in the diaphragm. It may, may, repair itself over time. Generally the treatment these days, if it's not a large hernia, is weight loss if that's an issue (which I didn't think was in your case), and medication. Also, sleeping in the more upright (wedge position, elevated head of bed) may help. There are easy surgical repairs - which for some people is the way to go. But, don't stop your meds unless the doctor has checked and told you it's subsided.

I've had one for a few years now, and it's extremely noticeable (read this painful) when I bend over to do things like tie skates, shoes, etc. Feels like a very strong "stitch" in the side - except it's not in the side - and then it's just wait for things to go back whence they belong. Anyhow - my advice would be not to be cavalier about dropping the tabs. Although, OTC Prilosec is about the same as Nexxium (not prescription strength) and you can likely switch to that - assuming you're taking something similar. But, the OTC stuff takes a few days to work - if you've had a gap in the medication.

ellice