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Rib cage pain

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Fibromyalgia
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Posted 1/30/2020 8:02 PM (GMT 0)
We don’t have any definite diagnosis,
Along with others symptoms a major complaint
Is the constant pain around the rib cage , my daughter says it feels muscular. It’s all day every day for months. She is 30 years old.
She is an ulcerative colitis patient and had been on remicade for about 4-5 years.
She came off when the body pains began.
1st was suspected drug induced lupus. After almost 2 years under the care of an excellent rheumatologist still no definitive diagnosis.
Maybe fibromyalgia but he can not say for sure.
Muscle fatigue in all limbs, burning skin, no rashes. Tons of blood work some not so good.
I don’t want to go on about all of her symptoms.
But this rib cage is bothering more than most of the other symptoms. Does this sound like a common fibromyalgia symptom.
She’s been on gabapentin for at least 6months can’t tolerate more, and plaquenil at least a year.
Nothing is helping.
Thank you for any help.
Posted 1/30/2020 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Jayce, and welcome! The rib cage pain could possibly be costochondritis. It is inflammation of muscles in the rib cage. If she presses on the sternum (breast bone) and it’s tender, that generally points to costochondritis. When I have bouts of costo, I use ibuprofen with food to help.

As far as the muscular pain, I use ibuprofen, Tylenol, vitamin D3, magnesium malate and a muscle relaxer called Robaxin (methocarbamol) that has made a significant difference in my pain. Also, it’s not good to sit or lay too much. You will be stiff as a board and have more pain if you have fibro.

Be sure to read Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum. There are links to good info about fibro and she just might see herself there! There is a link about costochondritis also. Have her come to the forum. She needs to read the info.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. Don’t hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine
Posted 1/31/2020 4:14 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for answering Sherrine.
I started going through fibro101 and will read more in the morning.
She can't use ibuprofen because of the ulcerative colitis, it's only Tylenol.
But it seems like the meds she's on aren't helping and I need to see what people are using
For constant pain.
As I said the Gabapentin isn't working and it's making her naucious especially in cars and trains.
Also on LDN. Not helping her pain, but I'm thinking it may be keeping her colitis in remission.
I'll show her the site.
Thank you again
Posted 1/31/2020 1:07 PM (GMT 0)
I have Crohn’s disease and can still take ibuprofen. I get ulcerations too. With Crohn’s you can get ulcerations anywhere in the digestive tract from the mouth on down. Actually for 11 years I had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis until they discovered it really was Crohn’s through a colonoscopy. The stomach is usually where ulcers can occur with ibuprofen...at least that’s what I was told. Anyway, my Internist, who is affiliated with a medical school in my area, put me on a medication that helps prevent ulcers in some people and it works great for me. It’s called Cytotec (misoprostol).

I’ve been taking ibuprofen for 33 years and developed stomach ulcers two times. I always take ibuprofen with food too to help protect my stomach. I was told by my gastroenterologist that I could not take any NSAIDs anymore but nothing else would work for my pain...even opioids! Ibuprofen has been my wonder drug so my Internist said this was a quality of life issue and suggested the misoprostol and I tried it. I take one tablet when I take ibuprofen and this has worked great for me for 8 years so far. So it might be something talk to her doctors about. No other doctor in all the years I’ve suffered with chronic pain ever suggested this medication! 🙁. I’m so glad I have a doctor who knew about this.

Sherrine
Posted 2/1/2020 6:20 AM (GMT 0)
Like sherrine, i also have to take an nsaid.i do have right rib pain as well as other areas..

I tried to wean off the nsaid years ago. But i could barely move without it..

I also use tooical pain relievers which cut down the level of pain and keeps my meds down also.

In fibro, our inflammation rates are low, but my PT says , we have inflammation but its not in the blood to show on tests, but rather at the cellular level,some believe this is caused by a latent virus..

I also use an acupressure mat and a microcurrent unit, to reduce pain.
Posted 2/1/2020 3:57 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you Sherrine and LJ
I had never heard of this medication. I know that on occasion the Motrin medicines did help.
I'll tell her about it, and she can ask her dr.
Sometimes her inflammatory markers are raised. So it is confusing.
But no swelling. Also low fevers. These are what is holding back the fibro diagnosis. The rheumatologist was almost sure at first.
Right now are waiting for some hemotology reports.
Every couple of weeks the bloods throw something new depending on who is testing.
One test leads to another.
Does fibromyalgia often cause low fever?
Pain, night sweats, brain fog, fatigue, burning sensation of skin, light sensitivity and muscle weakness are all included .
Thanks

Post Edited (jayce) : 2/1/2020 9:53:51 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/1/2020 7:43 PM (GMT 0)
Fibro is not considered an inflammatory illness. Some people with fibro have no inflammation. But ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune. inflammatory illness. This is most likely where the inflammation is coming from. I have four autoimmune illnesses and my inflammatory markers can be off the charts but the inflammation isn’t caused by fibro...at least that’s where things stand for now. They are learning more and more about this illness.

It’s so easy to blame any symptom on fibro. I found that out the hard way. My back was always hurting me but then it started getting worse and worse. Fibro is not considered a progressive illness so I shouldn’t have been getting worse and worse. I was sent to a rheumatologist and after many x-rays and 8 vials of blood work, it was discovered that most of my back pain was caused by ankylosing spondylitis which is an autoimmune problem. I was actually keeping it under control with ibuprofen. So that’s when I spoke with my Internist about starting ibuprofen again. The rheumy did give me a muscle relaxer called Robaxin (methocarbamol) that really helped me with pain...enough so that I could back down of all the ibuprofen I was taking.

Our blood work usually comes back like we are the picture of Health but we have pain in all four quadrants of the body. Fibro feels like it’s joint pain but it doesn’t affect the joints like arthritis does so we don’t have swelling. Fibro affects the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the body and that’s why we hurt. These muscles are used in movement so that’s why it feels like our joints are affected but no damage is done to the joints, thank goodness!

Some people can have low fevers and some can have below normal temperatures. There are so many symptoms but we don’t have all of them. Everyone is different so this makes it difficult to diagnose. The hallmarks of fibro are the pain, fatigue, and cognitive memory problems that we call fibro fog.

Yes we have pain, I get night sweats frequently, fibro fog as I mentioned earlier, and I even get the burning sensation but when I feel the skin it feels normal. I also get cold sensations like I had been sitting on ice. Then there is the wet sensation and I have even felt like water was running down my leg but, of course, none of this was really happening. That’s where the nerve issues come in that Ljm mentioned in her post. And some have light sensitivity and muscle weakness. So, yes, the person you are concerned with could have fibro.

I wish you would get them to come here and then they could ask questions that are concerning them. At least they wouldn’t think they were losing their mind like some here used to think. We even had some members sent to psychiatrists! What an insult! And there are still doctors in the Dark Ages who don’t believe that fibro exist. But we are living proof that it does exist. Fibro is recognized by the American Medical Association, the American College of Rheumatology, the National Institutes of Health and the World health Organization. Plus teaching hospitals like the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins and many more know that fibro is a true illness.

I hope this has answered your questions.

Sherrine
Posted 2/5/2020 11:55 AM (GMT 0)
I wish I could offer you a solution, but all I have are more questions, cause my rib pain is really bothering me too. At first I didn't put it down to Fibromyalgia..... because when we first got snow this year, I slipped and fell in the Driveway, and I looked like a Pretzel laying there! My leg was bent up under me, and one arm was twisted UP over my head, and the other twisted down and under my back, and I couldn't MOVE; so I just laid in the driveway for a few minutes, quite certain that more than one thing was broken. Fortunately, I started to move.... VERY SLOWLY, and manged to get inside and I laid down... After a couple of days of pulled muscle pains and bruises, I was more optimistic about the damage, EXCEPT for a pain in my RIBS.... which I didn't understand how I hurt them... so, assumed I must have pulled the muscle while trying not to fall. However, it has been over 2 months, and this dull aching pain WILL NOT GO AWAY! I had thought that it may be a hairline fracture, cause if it was actually broken, I would have had problems breathing, and it would have needed binding or something... But, wouldn't a hairline fracture either have healed, and gotten better, or got inflamed, and become worse? Not that I'm happy that your daughter is in pain, but it is a relief that it may be Fibro related... although the timing is suspicious. Did your daughter have any injuries, even a MINOR incident, that could have triggered her rib pain? After reading your post, I think 2 months is more than enough time to wait, and try to ignore it... and that it's time for an X~ray or something. I still haven't found a Dr., so I guess Ill have to go to a Clinic. Hope your daughter improves soon.
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