Anyone with Pain in their Chest? Pls Help!

[jason_winnipeg]

Hi Everyone,
Over the last couple of months, my pain flares seem to be everywhere. But the new one is on my "breastbone", and on my right side of my chest. I can feel stiffness and pain when I take a big breath in sometimes. Anyone else had similar with PA? It is kind of worrying me.

Thank you so much. Take care.

Regards,
Jason

[seedoubleyou]

Hi Jason: Based on your description, it sounds like what you're experiencing could be costochondritis (inflammation of the costochondral joints of the chest). This is a relatively common problem experienced by those with inflammatory arthritis (myself, included). You might try doing a search on the PA forum -- I know there've been several discussions on this in the past.

Hope that helps. Remember, you're not alone!! :)

[SandraJean]

Hi Jason,

I have heard people that have had pains in their chest from pa also. I can't remember whick posts they were in, but they are in the files someplace. Try a search on them.

Take care,
Sandy

[docmks]

Jason,

PA people do seem to get costochondritis fairly often. A number of us have had it. The cartilages that connect the ribs to the sternum become inflammed right at those connections. We did have a thread about this not too long ago, It can make your chest just ache. It would be good to consult with your doc, just to make sure, but it often presents as a tenderness right over those spots where the rib cartilages anchor onto the sternum.


MK

[CJ-888]

Hi Jason,
I'm new here, and you're first i've herd of this. I've had pain in my chestbone and ribs for over 5 years. It can be painful to breath. Doctors could not exlpain this, and looked at me like i was crazy. Year ago I was diagnosed with PA, and was very surprised it was a symptom of PA. I've been taking mtx, after 3 months i no longer feel that pain. Not even in flare ups.

Curious - do you have diffculty swallowing food?

hang in there, you're note alone.

chriS

[ruid]

I've had the chest pains before and I'm going through it now. The joints where my ribs attach to my sternum are swollen and I feel short of breath because I'm involuntarily breathing shallow breaths. If I sneeze, cough or laugh it feels as though I am being impaled with a sword.

I've been through 6 or 7 bouts of costochondritis (I need to make a note of that :)) since April. It usually lasts 3-5 days for me and I do have trouble swallowing, I believe it's psychosomatic just as the shallow breaths.

Ruid

[docmks]

Hi all,

We've talked about costochondritis before, as some have recalled, and I recently had a flare of this. It started out as really sharp pains on the right side of my chest that seemed to travel, but I was able to localize it to spots directly over the places where the rib cartilages meet the sternum. From what I gather from the comments here, it does happen quite a lot in PA. We just seem to have all the fun stuff!

mk

[rozeofgold]

I've had flares with this as well.

What cracks me up (no pun intended) is that my joints pop and crackle constantly. When I stretch, so does my breastbone! Weird. But yes, I get the pain in my ribs.

[oakrai42]

Ditto....

when my PA flared horribly a year ago, I think it hit every single rib/breastbone/spine connection/joint/area in my body... breathing hurt, moving hurt, stretching hurt.... ugh... Enbrel has gotten rid of it for the meantime for me. Very painful, and scary too if you don't connect the two. It does come back from time to time, but not nearly as bad as a full on flare.

Oh, did I mention I have scolios too, which hasn't helped it either. 12 degree C curve (not a hump - S curve I think that is). the base of my spine curves to the left just enough so I can take left hand corners REALLY fast :) ... so I get the rib pain on my left side more because it's a little more constricted.... oh... how I love walking around in this body... sheesh... God sure doesn't make things easy... :D

-Steve

[zdoob]

if you have PA, the pain in your chest is very likely another symptom of PA. i was quick to self diagnose costochondritis after reading posts here, but my doctor assured me that the connective tissue on your sternum is a common spot to become inflamed for PA sufferers. i didn't even have to show him where it hurt. he pinpointed it right off the bat.

i too have had lots of popping and cracking sounds in my chest. in fact, i got into a habit of "cracking" my chest - like someone might do with their fingers. my doc said "definitely stop doing that."

on a side note - i've been on humira for a few months now and all of my PA is gone, and my P is 90% better (knock on wood). i was VERY VERY reluctant to try a biologic. it's amazing how much better i feel now. you get so used to the symptoms of these diseases that you forget what it feels like to be "normal" again.

good luck with your treatment.
zac

[LMG]

Jason,

I am so happy I have found this site. I also, have the chest pain and discomfort. Several times, I thought I might be having a heart attack. Have you had any difficulty with swallowing??? By the way, I have had P for 15 yrs and I believe I have PA and have an appt this Thursday with my rhemy.

Take care,
Lisa

[CJ-888]

Hello –
I'm so very interested in this difficulty swallowing. About 7 years ago I Started having pain in my chest and difficulty swallowing. The first time I went to ER for the pain, they panicked and put me a heart monitors. I had small cuts from grabbing my chest. Truly painful. It would make me vomit, and leave me weak and sore for days.
After 2 years of testing I was diagnosed with esophageal spasms, a “nutcracker” and the sphincter at the bottom of the esophagus does not work correctly. Why? Well that’s been the magic question over 5 dr’s could not answer. And when I described the pain in my sternum and ribs, If I got a response at all. They suggested it was from vomiting. I made no connection to PA, until I started mtx(about8 months ago), and noticed the pain was gone and spasms not longer happen. I still have difficulty swallowing but better. Asked my ruemy, he didn’t know what to say. Yes the pain in the chest/sternum are symptoms of PA, but he didn’t know about swallowing.

Is this part of PA, or does PA make these already present symptoms worse? I’m on mission to find out. Please let me know if you have experience with this or opinions about it. And I’ll do the same. Seeing a new ruemy soon. This PA is something else!

Take care all.
chriS