Hello everyone
I was diagnosed as having CFS back in 2002 but recently it has been more like fibromyalgia symptoms of tender points etc. I’m new here so sorry to go straight in with a rambling post. I’m experiencing awful shoulder/neck/upper back pain and pain all around my ribs even though it often states that costroconditis is specific areas at the front round the sternum. I also have terrible air hunger on most days. Thank you for reading. Can anyone offer advice or have the same issues?
Hi Sarah, and welcome in, after such a long history of symptoms!
No worry about cutting to the chase, that's not rambling at all...
"Tender points" reminds us of the out-of-date tender point "test", but if you mean it just in the sense that we have alternating tender pain points all over, then that's like you say possibly more FM than CFS.
You mention 2 symptom areas, local torso pains and air hunger. Many of us have that.
Costochondritis involves a pain coming from the muscles between the ribs, which go pretty much all round and these can also influence further muscles. So I don't see anything that contradicts your idea. Also it's logical that the muscle pain causes shortage of breath. I had an experience in my teens where rib and back muscle pain made me lie down and that made me stop breathing completely, because my whole rib cage cramped up, my first of 3 seemingly death-near experiences in my life. (I was told if I'd've then fainted the muscles would have relaxed... but I'm glad I didn't find out.)
My main idea, because it helped me, is basically good rib & back muscle strengthening exercises. I'd first get an orthopedist to see if there are any bone specifics that need to be sorted out. And it took 5 physiotherapists at that time till I found one who could show me exercises which included tensing of many muscles incl. glute (gluteal muscles). But that's changed a few decades later - every aerobic etc. teacher should now know that.
I still need to do these exercises 10' every day without fail.
If you to try a quick solution, put 'costochondritis exercises' in youtube and just start. Gently first of course, because at the moment they're in a state of turmoil and might overreact. But good exercise videos will explain that and how to increase....
For immediate relief you will also find acupressure videos on youtube for costochondritis.
There are other forms of breath shortage which I feel have to do with other fibromyalgia muscle problems, and I've had times of, but regular, gentle, short exercises and stretches (e.g. 5 x 3 minutes per day, and each exercise only 10-30 seconds) can also help with that, I've found.
Like
@sunkacola's written down in her
post for people new to this - recommended reading - we above all definitely need to learn to keep to our sweet spots.
Hope you get relief quickly. If this is your main pain issue then I can imagine it being resolved fairly quickly (weeks or months) and you then just being 'content' with the CFS diagnosis
. I agree with stretching as being one of the most effective therapies I have tried. I have tried all kinds of yoga and perhaps it was, what to me, the rapid succession of moving from pose to pose but it didn't seem to help. I got a good stretching book and spend about 20-30 minutes a day stretching. It has helped me enormously. I wish you well and hope the pain eases.
