Costochondritis After Severe Vomiting

Hello everyone! I know this post is long but if you've had costochondritis I would be very grateful if you could read & share your experience!

I have fibromyalgia and I have a severe case of costochondritis & from what I've read it seems those with fibromyalgia are more prone to this very upsetting condition . It didn't happen randomly, I had a very very severe case of vomiting (ended up going to the immediate care to get it under control). In total, including dry heaves, I threw up around 50 times in the span of a little over 3 days! Shortly after I began having difficulty breathing, especially getting a deep breathe along with dull aching in my chest and random sharp pain in my ribs. I've had 4 different doctors listen to my lungs and they say they're completely clear so they believe I developed costochondritis from all the straining over those 3 days. I'm on the 4th week of this and I'm at the end of my rope!! I've done different home treatments and it's improved to an extent, but my anxiety is getting the best of me at this point since it had been this long & everyday is a struggle to distract myself from this. If anyone has had difficulty breathing from costochondritis I would really appreciate if you could share your experience, how long it lasted, and what assisted in healing it. I'm willing to even get the steroid at this point if it can end this nightmare for me. Thank you so very much!!

Thank you so much for responding, I really appreciate it!

The nausea seemed to stem from the birth control I was previously on (possible endometriosis too unfortunately) because it had been causing me really bad nausea & when I stopped taking it the severe nausea & vomiting stopped. I've consulted with my PCP & she has given me some advice but not much besides what I've already found online unfortunately.

I have had gastritis before pretty bad but minus the vomiting & I did have some pretty bad stomach problems in the week or so after the vomiting got under control so it's possible it flared up again. I never considered that so I'll probably have a talk with my gastroenterologist. Thank you so so much I really appreciate your input and thoughts!! So glad I made an account on this site

Hi again: Sherrine always has great advice! I had forgotten she had costochondritis, but do recall she has mentioned it before.

She's so right: Stressing makes your muscles tense up. Cold weather can do it, too. Also, the deep breathing she mentioned is so important. That's what I love about this forum: I always get some good reminders. Dealing with this stuff keeps us so busy, but it feels good to find ways to deal with the issues.

Just going to mention that I didn't have the vomiting issue with the gastritis, except for one time. I developed gastritis after taking naproxen for pain after surgery. Now I take acetaminophen for pain instead.

Mostly I had a very raw feeling, which was irritated quite often when I ate. Very sore! My gastro doc said I should avoid rough, spicy, and acidy foods (aw, that's no fun! ). I did better for a while, then it kicked up again; however, I know I wasn't as careful about eating as I thought (I thought the gastritis was completely gone and veered away from the 'careful' diet--wrong thing to do!).

Glad to see you here (but sorry about your health issues). It's a super forum--I've learned so much and gotten great tips.

I surely miss the spicy foods, soda pop, and things like orange juice and popcorn. But it's also taught me to be more creative about cooking, so I guess that's a positive thing. It is time-consuming, though, but well worth it, and much less pain.

ETA: Just mentioning there are some natural ways to space births, such as the Sympto-Thermal method and the Creighton model. They are seldom mentioned, which is unfortunate. Many women say these have also strengthened their marriages, since they involve both spouses in their use.