Oh, Costochondritis: Wish You’d Stop Giving Me A Ribbing

Laughter is the best medicine, unless, of course, you have costochondritis.

Months ago I had a cough.  Then I developed rib pain.  It was so painful I thought I’d cracked a rib.  Went to the doc.  They took x-rays and said nothing was cracked, so that meant I had costochondritis.  That’s inflammation of the cartilage between the ribs, usually caused from a prolonged or hard cough.  The doctor suggested I take Aleve.  I did that and modified some of my exercises because certain things just hurt too much to do.  A month later it was mostly gone when I sneezed and found myself back at square one.  (It was not a good day and a pint of ice cream was consumed.)

This round was even worse, for about two days driving hurt, breathing hurt.  I was scared to move.  I was terrified to sneeze.  I couldn’t get comfortable in bed.  I went back to the doc sure that I’d done something worse.  Nope.  It was still just costochondritis.  Doctors don’t get up in arms about costochondritis.  They act like it’s no big deal.  But I make my living moving.  And movement is what keeps me sane, so it’s […]