Costochondritis?

Costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage that attaches the ribs to the breastbone.. Is there anyone else with this?? From what I have found on the net it can last 6 months to a year.. and for some ppl it can become a chronic condition..I've had chest pains for a few yrs now causing my to give up good ol mary jane I always feel like im having a heart attack. Recently the pains and pressure on my chst have gotten worse..so much so I thought I was nearly about to die of a heart attack on the way to the hospital.. After a few hours in the cardiac ward I was told my heart and cardiovascular system was fine and was sent on my way with some non-steriod anit inflammatory drugs.. Now I'm trying to see the family doc to get tested for other related conditions...

Just woundering if anyone out there has had this.. did the drugs work?? can ya still blaze and not think your haveing a heart attack??
thanks for takin the time to read.

Wow, no one has anything to say?
Well I've gone ahead and answered my own question, though maybe it may be too soon to know.. The pills I got from my hospital visit dont completely get rid of the pain or uneasyness..and the first night of taking them I suffered some other the side affects.. waking up in the middle of the night with a killer headache.. and they've kicked the crap outta my guts.. which makes em not soo much fun to take when they make me feel worse..
Anyways I decided to give mary-jane another try.. And well it was kinda nice.. though being stonded seems to make the pains all the more noticable sometimes they come and go.. thats the only thing that make it not soo much enjoyable.. on the plus side this time around I know I'm not having a heart attack so I just deal with it reminding myself its not my heart... and another plus I got sleep.. and didnt have to waste most of my night sitting up or tossing and turning...

Omg, aree you still active? I'm 18 and have had it for the last like.....4 months...never been shot with a gun, but would rather be shot than deal with this any longer, at least it would only be painful for like a week. And I too had to stop smoking, I first discovered it while smoking I had basically heart pain and was like "somethings not right" then I stopped smoking, got progressivly worse and have been to the E.R twice thinking I was dyieng. WORST CONDITION EVER I FEEL FOR YOU. This post is old, did it ever go away? (Please tell me it did, I'm about to murder someone lol)

If anyone else has had this, please speak up. Its seriously the worst thing EVER.

My wife has been having chest pains for about 2 months now. She had a stress EKG and they found nothing out of the ordinary... Blood tests showed high cholesterol but otherwise normal... We are at a loss as to what the problem might be. Now you got me thinking...

Hey,
haven't been around in a while... Anyways yeah, the pains come and go.. some bareable, and some not soo much.. Soo I've seen the family doc, told her about my E.R. experience and she gave me some papers to go for some blood work, though I havent had time to do that yet. In the mean while she told me to pop some advils or some sorta anti-inflammatory pill with the on set of pain =o\ Not much help. Soo imma say whatever the cause is I still have annnd now I've added a hernia to the list fun fun! Sorry but I'm still pretty much in the dark =o\

oh man i had this for like 2 years ?!

I could pop my chest bone in the middle doing like a yawning stretch, and it would relieve the pressure.

I really do not know what fixed it. I am sorry. I did do a bunch of physical tasks, and was full body sore for a while ( moving residences and etc ). Maybe all that extra stuff did it. I have been smoking more weed than ever lately tho too, and living a home-baked lifestyle. So that may be it.

I feel sorry for anyone that has this. Sometimes even just standing, and all u can think to urself, god damnit theres an alien gonna pop thru between my pecs! Maybe it was an injury I never let heal.

Perhaps superman / yawn stretching was the cure. I did that a lot. I am very healthy right now, not a lot of inflammation anywhere on the body. I took lots of cannabis oil both orally and smoking in the last 6 months - 1yr, so that may have done it thru the natural healing process. I can even do pushups now.

Late to the party but, I was diagnosed in February after a heart attack like phenomenon struck me on christmas eve. Keep in mind I'm 17 going on 18 so a heart attack seemed unlikely (But just my luck since I was also battling stressed caused severe insomnia, migraines, and abdominal pain). After spending christmas in the hospital I went to a cardiologist and I was diagnosed with Costochondritis. I have a high resistance to pain medication to I've been using marijuana to combat my pain with great success. I've learned that when I start coughing I should slow down because coughing agitates it greatly. Take a break for a few minutes and should you want to continue go right ahead.

This is really late but.. I recently have been diagnosed with this too, on Christmas eve. also? I'm 17 also, & it first felt like it was a heart attack, but I guess it wasn't, after many trips to the e.r & several clinic visits this is what they had found.. throughout those e.r trips they kept saying it was my anxiety (which i'm sure it wasn't) they couldn't tell me anything but to blame the weed. I have no clue if I can smoke again, (or if I should) but what do you guys recommend? I'm feeling pretty upset everyday going through pains, less sleep from these pains, & now i'm just taking anti-inflammatory medicines that make me feel weird & depressed.. any tips?

I'm 19 and I have also been diagnosed with this and get the heart attack like pains in my chest, however these pains get significantly worse when I smoke. At first I just thought it was a bit of paranoia but no matter how relaxed I am when I smoke the pain just keeps coming back I have been told by the doctor that costochondritis is fairly common among young guys and that its not very serious. it still hurts like hell though and keeps me up at night. I got told I could try 3 things:

1. Take non steroidal anti-inflammatory pills
2. I got told by the doctor to try this stretching exercise which apparently helps if you do it in the morning and in the evening. Its quite difficult to explain but anyway; what you're supposed to do is find an open corner of a room where the two walls are connected in a right angle and put one hand on each wall and then lean in. Try not to stand to close to the corner so you have space to lean in. I was told that this opens up the cartilage or something. I'm not entirely sure how it helps I was just told that it does.
3. Also I was told to stop doing any chest exercises in the gym because they create tension which makes costochondritis worse.

When it comes to weed the only tip I can think of is to try and maintain in your head that the pain is JUST the costochondritis and not anything else. I have smoked a few times whilst I have had it and it was definitely worse the first time because it scared the shit out of me. While the pain doesn't seem to go away for me the more often I smoke, it has never been as bad as the first time I smoked with costochondritis, I can now usually occupy myself with having a good time while smoking and remembering that it is just the illness thats creating the pain which makes it a bit more bearable.

For most costochondritis apparently only lasts a few weeks, and from personal experience it is definitely made worse by stress, anxiety and lack of sleep. I hope this helps guys

Hello everyone,
I have a bit of a story to tell.I have been in so much pain this past week. I have had pain in my chest and in my collarbone. I feel like there is something sharp in my collarbone area& it hurts when I move or talk . I am an asthmatic so it has made it difficult to breathe at night. I have hardly been sleeping & have been up crying & tossing & turning from the pain. I have been to the hospital twice this week & once to my doctors. All doctors took xrays of my chest, checked out my heart, and tested my blood.. Turns out the cartilage in my chest is inflammed, but they didnt tell me why or how it got that way & they didnt diagnose me with costochondritis. The hospital gave me anti-inflammitories& they didnt seem to help at all, also my doctor gave me some strong anti-inflammitories because I told her the ones that the doctor gave me didnt seem to be helping . I have been taking Robax for pain. I am a daily marijuana smoker & it has made it extremely difficult to smoke. I take tobacco with my weed when I smoke it, so I am questioning if the weed/tobacco could be whats inflamming the cartilage in my chest? Or if anyone has had a similar experience. It feels like when I breathe in the soft spot at the base of my throat sucks in too much, I know that sounds weird to explain Over my left side of my chest, my rib sticks out ever so slightly more then the other side& its sore to the touch. have tried showering, bathing, ice packs, and alcohol.. nothing seems to help. Its making me want to quit smoking & I really dont want to but if its whats causing this pain then I will. Sorry for spelling errors :s

Cut out the tobacco, it has inflammatory and vascular restricting properties that are probably worsening your situation. Marijuana alone is the complete opposite it is anti-inflammatory and relaxes blood vessels.

can't believe I found a group of people experiencing the same thing as me, I used to smoke every day for years and recently I took a dab and instantly knew that I had fucked up, I thought I was having a heart attack but knew that weed can't do that to you.. I let it pass and acted like maybe I just had a bad reaction, so I tried again to smoke weed and the same thing.. I then started having heart pains and had no clue what it could be from, went to the doctor and he diagnosed me with costochondritis, it's only been 4 days in since he prescribed me meloxicam and I feel like it does nothing, il be fine all day and when I lay down for bed it starts happening all over again, intense chest pains and almost an overwhelming feeling like I'm going to lose control, I found that that's the anxiety of it all and it just freaks you out, I went and did a EKG on my heart and everything was running smooth. I've been taking vanerial root and I found that it helps out a lot when trying to lay down and relax. I'm scared to try to smoke weed again and it sucks because it's a big part of my life, I smoke without even thinking about it it's just an everyday thing to me.

What's up guys. I recently got diagnosed with Costochrondritis aka Tietze's Syndrome as well. Mine isn't too bad- just a dull pain/tightness in my chest that comes and goes. Does feel like a heart attack though. Sometimes I get a super sharp pain for a split second, but it goes away within a minute. When that super sharp pain comes, it hurts to breathe deeply. It all comes and goes, part of the day I feel completely normal. Aleve has helped me a lot. I have no swelling or anything.

I thought I was having a heart attack the other day, and went to the doctor. He did an EKG (similar to everyone above) and he said everything is normal. He said my cartilage is inflamed, and it could be caused by making a sudden movement like flinching or sneezing, or it could be from smoking which irritated it. He prescribed me extra strength Aleve and assured me nothing bad can come from it, it is completely benign. He said it goes away on its own, hopefully within a few weeks. If you are feeling chest pains and reading this, you should go to the doctor just in case.

I first noticed having this when I was about 16, and now am 27. I get panic attacks often when smoking often caused because of the chest pains I get making me think I'm having a heart attack and dying. Rest assured guys, this DOES go away and it is not harmful. I hadn't felt anything for years and it just sprung back up last week. Take Aleve , eat well and fill your body with good nutrients and ride it out. Eating well helps in my experience, eating like shit makes it feel worse. Fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, lots of water, take a multivitamin, omega-3's. Ice cold baths can help with inflammation but I have yet to try that for this, but could be an option for the people who have a more painful kind.

Laying off the weed speeds things up. If you must, eat it. The smoke is what irritates your cartilage. Stay strong friends, it'll come to a stop eventually.

A little late into this again, but after 7 months of being diagnosed with this it has sort of gone away, not completely, but I'm still sober knowing the fact that whenever I smoke I get really bad panic attacks still, I noticed that when my friends smoke around me I get second-hand highs and it feels like I'm completely stoned again, but without smoking? but when I try smoking a bowl or 2 I completely trip balls! Edibles work also but it's a really paranoid high

i had this when i was younger. it most definitely goes away and rather quickly too. this condition should have no affect on you smoking marijuana. you likely are just getting anxiety from the strain you've chosen. try different strains until you find what works for you. good luck brother.

gawd you guys had me fooled i thouht you all had costco-it-is like i gots!

Hi all. I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said. My wife has been experiencing this for over two months and is losing hope. It's also making my life hell and I am not concentrating on my work. She is not a smoker and hasn't done well with edibles. Has anyone tried the gel caps? Tetra makes one that looks really good and you get in 10mg of thc and up.

I nearly cried reading all of these posts. I thought I was going to receive a miracle answer. But I see everyone is in the same boat as me. This is the worst experience ever. The scarriest part is worrying about when you'll have another chest episode. It's been 6 months for me. It happened while I was smoking and I've been to the E.R. mutiple times for it. It's really killing me to realize I cant enjoy a high anymore, I tried once and thought I was dying all over again. This sh** really kind of changed my life, I'm in college and smoking with my friends was a normal hobby. Now I can't, and I've felt sort of like an outsider, lonely, and down allthe time

@Vandemore..thanks you've gave mesome hope. But that seems entirely too long to deal with this

All of you have discussed your chestpains, but have you all everexperienced the shortness of breathsometimes??Usually when you'vemoved around too much, likr excessive walking. That's really what kills me themost. Just wondering.

I'm way late but I've gydroChronix said:

Costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage that attaches the ribs to the breastbone.. Is there anyone else with this?? From what I have found on the net it can last 6 months to a year.. and for some ppl it can become a chronic condition..I've had chest pains for a few yrs now causing my to give up good ol mary jane I always feel like im having a heart attack. Recently the pains and pressure on my chst have gotten worse..so much so I thought I was nearly about to die of a heart attack on the way to the hospital.. After a few hours in the cardiac ward I was told my heart and cardiovascular system was fine and was sent on my way with some non-steriod anit inflammatory drugs.. Now I'm trying to see the family tdoc to get tested for other related conditions...

Just woundering if anyone out there has had this.. did the drugs work?? can ya still blaze and not think your haveing a heart attaakin the time to read.

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I know im way late but I have had Chostocondritis for 3 years now. The first year wasnt so bad, but now its horrible. I self medicated with opiates cause the pain was unreal in my Chest but my Chest never hurt at Work(on my feet all day bloods flowing idk it dont hurt when at work)it always hurt when I stopped moving and laid down and getting out of bed lol forget about it...if I would have had a gun i would have blew ny brains out cause the pain in the mornin is unbearable. Methadone and xanax helped now it doesnt anymore and now i have a drug habit cause hospitals dont want to help people in pain it seems like. Been to E.R twice they said your healthy as a horse I said ok than why do i feel like there a rock in my fucking chest lol he said oh its normal heres sum wutever they gave me antibiotics. Anyway in year 3 into this I smoke everday and it only bothers my chest when im sitting down, if your to the point u dont care anymore Methadone and Clonopins will help wuth pain..put a heating pad not icy hot on your chest before u blaze. Ice hurts Chosto Heat helps thats why the winters the worst