Introduction and questions (long)

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

7 years ago I was playing softball and I fell flat on artificial turf.

There was a sharp pain in my lower left lung with every breath. I went to

the emergency room. When the MD pressed on my 2nd bottom rib I arched my

back and screamed. It hurt bad. He said I had a possible fracture but

there was no such thing as a chest cast so he said it would heal on my own.

A few weeks later I was working and the pain became very sharp and I

thought I was tasting blood and I went back to the emergency and the MD

said I had no internal bleeding because my soft belly was not overly

sensitive. He sent me home.

Time went on and the sharp pain did go away. In 1995 I played volleyball

and hurt my knee. The knee seemed to heel OK at first, but after months

there was a tickle when I walked, then there came to be a dull ache at

night, in about the second year a worsening pinch developed focused about

3/4 " in from the back outer knee about 1/2 " down from the bend.

Anyway, with the mid-section injury, the sharp pain went away until 1997.

From 1993 to 1997 I only felt like there was a small dense weight pulling

under my ribs. It was uncomfortable mostly in bed. Every shift of my body

I could feel the pulling or pushing (certainly movement) of the weight but

I ignored it.

But in 1997 in December I started to do sit-ups because of me starting to

have a flabby middle and the feeling of a weight under my lowest ribs

became more uncomfortable. It became worse and worse and now it feels like

under my lower left ribs there are two reddened inflamed tissue surfaces

that rub against each other with every, every, every movement and breath.

It is a little sensitive if you push on my lower left ribs, and sensitive

if you push on the soft flesh under my left ribs, but it causes greater and

more focused pain if you push in on the lower right part of my belly --

what I mean is, pushing on the right belly makes pain under my lower left

ribs. It is like you are pushing my innards on the right making pressure

and stress on the left.

Also, my knee grew worse and MD's prescribed many pain pills --

Naproxen

Nabumetome

Amitriptyline

Vioxx

Ketoprofen

Daypro

Clarithromycin

Indomethacin

Amitriptyline really put me to sleep but none of them helped with any pain.

The others in 1999 (Naproxen 500 & Indomethacin 50 I think) finally gave

me ulcers.

Back to my mid section, at a pain clinic I have had a nerve block injected

thru my back to the front of my left ribs. I had two series of trigger

point injections after that. None did anything.

The last few MD's I have seen have said many things (I am in Boston and

have seen 14 MD's over the years about these problems not counting the

emergency rooms). My blood tests are OK. I had a chest CAT scan with

barium that did not show anything to cause pain. One MD by hand exam said

the pain was coming from my cartilage being separated from the tip of my

ribs and it could not be fixed. The next said that the location of my pain

seemed to be my spleen and he referred me to a surgeon. The surgeon by

hand exam said that it was my stomach that was sensitive to movement due to

ulcers and gave me acid pills.

Most recent, I had my knee surgery and early this week the knee surgeon at

my 3 week check-up examined my mid section and said that I have severe

Costochondritis that could be taken care of by Gabapentin pills.

About my knee, it is now 3.5 weeks after the Arthroscopy and my knee pinch

pain is the same as before the op. The swelling is down 95% as it was

right after the op. The surgeon said she was very confident she fixed my

knee pain and in two more weeks the knee pain should be all gone. But I am

not trusting.

As you all know, constant pain that makes me short tempered and have

clenched fists. With the pain in my mid section, if I do repeated

stressful movement with my left hand such as mopping the floor or pulling

on a rope, the inflamed pain becomes worse like something is going to pop

and I am hunched over and don't want to move. Breathing out all the way

causes more severe pain than breathing in extra deep. I get pain sweats.

All the time, as I walk I can feel rhythmic pressure inside me in time with

the cycle of my step and movement -- like two raw scabs rubbing together as

my innards jiggle.

The only pills I have been taking for a while were the ulcer pills. But

for the first 3 days of this week I took the Gabapentin pills. They made

me sleepy and my lips and cheeks numb and the pain in both places is still

there. The surgeon said that Gabapentin would work fast within a couple of

days. So I have to doubt that I have Costochondritis.

This last surgeon said that Costochondritis cannot be seen by the eye if I

had a laproscopy and also cannot be seen by any test.

Can anyone here say what they think? What test can be done? The only two

tests that I can think of that I have not had are a belly MRI and laproscopy.

Jeff