"Holy Mother of God, it hurts to breathe!": Regular Folks Who've Had What Putz Has

Where better to find out about an obscure injury than that land of obscurity, the blogosphere. From reading a bunch of people's stories about JJ Putz' new friend costochondritis (also called "slipping rib syndrome" (yikes)), it seems to range from a brief episode that's cured with rest and painkillers to something much more troublesome and chronic. Everyone agrees on one thing, though--it really f***ing hurts:

"Well it is inflammation in the chest area and rib area. It isn’t life threatening but it sure hurts like hell! It has been two days so far for me and it seems to be getting worse. I am not surprised it is getting worse because I have to pick my little one up and that just aggravates the problem even more. Holy mother of God it hurts to breathe!!!!" [Just Ordinary]

"I appear to have costochondritis now. Man, it hurts. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to push the lever on the toaster. It hurts to do anything with my right side. And there’s nothing I can do except for not doing the things that exacerbate the pain and take an anti-inflammatory." [Small Crooked Nose]

"I had costochondritis a few years back (inflammation of the rib cage cartilage). I don't know if it's a flare up of that or if it is something different. If it is my old friend costochondritis, I know it will be months before it clears up. The doctors like to tell you it clears up in a month, but when I had it before and did a Google search on it, I discovered websites people had made about it who were suffering from it. And those who have had it say it's more like 9 months to a year before it clears up. They're right, unfortunately." [Rural Route 2]

"It's usually controlled well by anti-inflammatory medication, and although it does flare up from time to time it's nowhere near as bad as it was. Much of the time I almost forget I've got costochondritis. I'm now able to dance, including training for competitions with my dance partner, again without my chest bothering me. When I finally do see the cardiologist I'll be extremely surprised if any heart trouble is diagnosed." [Honest Faith]

"I have something called Costochondritis. Which essentially means the cartilage in my chest, where my ribs connect to my sternum, is inflamed. Ergo, my chest is REALLY sore. And there's nothing I can do to make it just go away. All I can do is take Aleve every day and we have these numbing patch things that help a bit. It seriously stinks." [After Twilight]

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