Denial

I refuse to accept that this pain in my ribcage is a flare up of the old costchondritis. Refuse. I must have gotten punched in a barfight when I wasn't paying attention.

Yes, that must be it.


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Costochondritis Questionnaire

(say that 5 times fast)

I love me some Google Analytics. I created an account for myself a few weeks back, and had a blast finding out where all y’all come from and how you find this blog (shame on you person who googled “ginormous belly pics”),. It made my heart warm to know there were so many folks checking in from time to time. The overwhelming trend for new visitors was people who find this blog after googling some combination of “costochondritis, pregnancy, holy-hell-this-pain-in-my-ribcage-is-going-to-make-me-lose-my-mind”. Since this is ICLW week (see the linky graphic thingy to the right for details) I thought it would be a good time to ask folks a couple of questions. Go ahead and leave your answers in the comments. One of these days when I’m feeling motivated, I might compile all the comments from here and other posts I’ve done about costochondritis into a mega-post on the subject.

For those new to the costo, costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage that connects your ribs to your sternum (breastbone). It causes acute pain at that junction that can make your life suck. I had a particularly awful case of it during my pregnancy that was fairly well treated with a combination of acupuncture and physical therapy. Some folks ain’t so lucky and have to resort to ultrasound guided cortisone injections, opiates and/or bedrest.

The Questions for Folks Who’ve Been Pregnant:

1-During your pregnancy, did you ever have pain in your ribcage? (If no, you’re done. If yes, please continue on.)

2-On a scale of 1-10 (1 being barely noticeable, 10 being hysterical emergency room craziness) rate the worst the pain ever felt.

3-How often did you feel this pain?

4-Did you seek treatment?

5-If yes to #4, from whom (OB, regular doctor, naturopath, etc)?

6-What was their diagnosis?

7-What was your treatment plan?

8-Did it help?

9-What was the approximate reduction in pain? You can answer numerically—for example 9-2 would mean: my pain was originally a 9, after treatment I’d rate it as a 2.

10-Did the pain continue after you delivered?

Bonus-Anything else you’d like to share about your rib pain?

Rib update

I’ve gotten a couple of questions about this, so I thought it good to share publicly.  I’ve been going to my physical therapy and acupuncture appointments for my costochondritis twice a week for the past two weeks.  While I’m not “cured,” I am feeling a fair amount better.  The pain had gotten a lot worse in intensity and duration over the month preceding the beginning of treatment, and I feel like I’m back to where I was pain-wise in early June.  I always feel the worst the day of physical therapy, though, because the manipulation and massage is really deep.  It takes about a day to bounce back from.  Moving forward, I’ll be going to physical therapy once a week now, and continuing with acupuncture twice a week for the next two weeks.  Hopefully we’ll just continue to make progress!

 

At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

I had my first acupuncture appointment today, and it wasn't scary. My ribs were a little tender to start with after PT the day before (physical manipulation and ice). Putting the needles in didn't hurt--except for two that pinched a little extra. I didn't even mind the ones he put in my ears. My ears! The weirdest part was when the doctor hooked what looked like a miniature car battery up to little leads that connected to some of the needles. The sensation of the electricity was odd, but not uncomfortable.

My pain is returning this afternoon, but so far I haven't had any extreme episodes. I'll be going to PT and acupuncture both two times a week (4 appointments per week is going to suck down my leave balance quickly!) so I'll be interested to observe if and how the pain diminishes over the next few weeks.

On an unrelated, but very happy note, I heard this week that Dan's deployment will be coming to an end soon and he'll be returning to Gulfport within the month! I'm hoping he'll have an opportunity to swing by Colorado if he gets any post-deployment leave. I'd love to see him!

Misery, thy name is Costochondritis

Since I was about 12 weeks pregnant, I’ve been experiencing an unpleasant pain in my ribcage intermittently. For those of you who are googling “pregnancy, rib pain” the pain is located in the front, on my right side, just under the bra line, and occasionally radiates around my rib cage to my spine. I have long periods of the day where there’s a dull ache or tingly feeling, and then episodic bouts of stabbing pains. Sudden movements (like coughing, or throwing a ball to my dog) can exacerbate it, and as the day progresses, the pain gets worse and worse. As the weeks have gone by, the pain has become more frequent and more severe, to the point now that I’m occasionally driven to tears and have a hard time sleeping at night.

At first I thought this was all digestive in nature—as it hurt the most after eating a large meal. When it started flaring up when I had an empty stomach, I ruled that out. Then my OB started testing me for all types of internal possibilities—liver failure, gall stones, kidney issues—but everything came up clean (thank goodness!). This last appointment, she diagnosed the problem as Costochondritis. From MayoClinic.com, “Costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone (sternum). It causes sharp pain in the costosternal joint — where your ribs and breastbone are joined by rubbery cartilage. Pain caused by costochondritis may mimic that of a heart attack or other heart conditions.” In the last 24 hours, I’ve learned that this can affect either your right or left ribcage, but usually not both. Also, it’s not uncommon in pregnancy.

My OB and I talked about treatment options, and if I weren’t pregnant, the easy solution would be anti-inflammatories. Since these are a big no-no during pregnancy, however, we have to develop a Plan B. In my case, Plan B will include regular physical therapy and acupuncture sessions in an attempt to manage the pain and inflammation. If these fail me, I could end up in a Vicodin haze on bed-rest. Let’s hope for success!

I thought I’d post this info for those, like me, who’ve spent hours googling “pregnancy, rib pain” and haven’t gotten good information. My first PT and acupuncture visits are this week, so I’ll keep y’all posted.

And by the way, are there any readers out there who have received acupuncture before? I’m a little nervous at the prospect, but I figure it can’t be any worse than the pain I’m already in!

**Edited to Add:

It turns out this post is one of the most visited sites online about having costochondritis when you're pregnant! Who knew?

It's a shame that there isn't a better source of information out there on this disorder for pregnant ladies. But since there isn't, let's create one. If you came to this blog by searching for information about treating your costochondritis during pregnancy, would you please fill out this questionnaire in the comments? I'll compile any answers I receive and work on creating a post that summarizes our different experiences.

1-During your pregnancy, did you ever have pain in your ribcage? (If no, you’re done. If yes, please continue on.)
2-On a scale of 1-10 (1 being barely noticeable, 10 being hysterical emergency room craziness) rate the worst the pain ever felt.
3-How often did you feel this pain?
4-Did you seek treatment?
5-If yes to #4, from whom (OB, regular doctor, naturopath, etc)?
6-What was their diagnosis?
7-What was your treatment plan?
8-Did it help?
9-What was the approximate reduction in pain? You can answer numerically—for example 9-2 would mean: my pain was originally a 9, after treatment I’d rate it as a 2.
10-Did the pain continue after you delivered?
Bonus-Anything else you’d like to share about your rib pain?