It's Official

The first symptoms your were describing could have been a spontaneous pneumothorax, its fairly common in tall thin males, but it would not go away in 5 minutes.

the next thing I thought of was gas... .but my best guess due to your history you have given may be intercostal condritis?

It is not heart related based on your description at all!

If you can find an area of pain that is very tender to touch and it hurts more with inspiration and it only goes away if you take it easy and sit still without moving much or taking deep breaths...you may have intercostal condritis.

Its really a joke to try and diagnose over the internet without being able to talk one on one. But if this sounds like your symptoms, then it could be. Are you having trouble sleepings because the pain is so bad that you can't find a comfortable position?

And can you tie this to any event of strain?.. keep in mind this stuff doesn't kick in for 2 to 3 days after the straining event?..

Please give a bit more history and if this sounds like what your problem is, I can give you more details.... if we are on the wrong track its no use to bother.

And have you been taking any medicines and if so what to deal with it?

If your symptoms come and go with several days in between, you could be having referred pain from a gallbladder issue or other gastrointestinal issue with the types of food etc.

With more history maybe we can figure this out, but that may be unrealistic expectations over the internet or otherwise without a Dr. inspection and test.

 

tall, yes. thin, sure but not by model standards. male, nope.

it's not that gas kind of pain. most recent meal was toast with some butter, which has never given me trouble before.

intracostal condritis? inflammation of the cartilage...somewhere? don't remember many latin terms from my one premed class in undergrad.

whew. glad to hear that.

can't find anywhere that's painful to the touch, but the rest is spot on.

i hear ya. just like DH and i discussing broken cars on the internet. can't diagnose over the internet. no trouble sleeping at all, never once has woken me up or anything. the trouble sleeping i have certainly isn't related to physical pain.

no physical strain lately. taking it real easy due to wear and tear on my body from stress.

had an injury at age 17, can be likened to slipping on ice and falling directly on my butt. also had some trauma in the neck area seconds before that fall.

not a fan of drugs in general. know too much about 'em. ibuprofen for pain, couple times a week tops.

i go weeks to months without trouble, then it's once, then it disppears again.

not expecting much. really relieved to know it's not my heart though. thanks.

 

Humm.. unless its arthritic.... this is going to be a tough one to nail down.

Heart pain has a mind of its own, you cannot reproduce it by breathing, moving, coughing or other. It comes from lack of oxygen to the heart muscle and it starts screaming..... on only thing that alleviates it is increasing oxygen to the heart via nitro, or other means... movement is not related at all.

Well unless Evan of someone else can thing some something... I am only guessing from here out.

 

thanks for all the advice guys. maybe i should get that checked out then, i try to avoid the doctor's office though... spent enough time there for that back issue back in high school.

while DUMC hospital is one of the top in the nation... the student health center is strangely lacking and of course the #$*&(*^ insurance they give us, i can't really afford to hit up one of their diagnostic clinics unless i have something to worry about. and of course duke rules the whole city's medical systems.

well, i have been on OCs for 6 years... couldn't have made it through college without em, but this was happening before i started that too. blood clots run in the family, grandmother had a pretty nasty stroke preceded by a number of TIAs a few years back, but no PEs or DVT or anything like that anywhere else in the family. have smoked maybe 4 cigarettes in my life. my BP is spot on, cholesterol's good, heart rate's pretty normal. activity level is low lately, but normally i'm pretty active.

the GB thing you mentioned is interesting. my half sister has had 6 stones so far, and she's only 21. she's been hospitalized for them more than once. haven't had any myself though.

all right i'll have it checked out. i'll also check my heart rate when it happens.

i deserved that bzd shot, evan, after my joke about d2 receptor blockers in your thread :lol:

 

I totally understand wanting to stay out of hospitals... no one "likes" to go. I've seem people go for a simple problem only to have complications and 6 months later be in a much deeper mess due to complications, infections, and miss-diagnosis.

One the other hand, I've seem people wait till the bitter end until they "have" to go, and when they go, they spend weeks fighting something they could have resolved with a simple dr's office visit early on.

Its very similiar to not every getting your car checked out or never listening to your cars ailments!

All in all... I think its best to study as much as you can about anything the Dr. thinks you have and give him a good run for his money and ask questions and be informed.
This helps avoid stupid mistakes as well as you the patient works in harmony with the Dr. the way it should be.


I'm glad the site is back up... this is my first post since it went down..... I am getting too dependent upon this forum.......

You guys are nice family to spend time with in the eves!....

Prosper and be in Health!