Costochondritis.

For a long time now I've been having this pain in my chest. Not chest-pains, just a pain in my chest. And it hurts. Like crazy! It was hurting more than usual yesterday and quite a bit today, so I put my foot down. Today, I told myself, I am going to get it looked at.

So I did. I went to an Urgent-Care up in Kansas City. It wasn't very fun. First they had to check my heart to see if anything was wrong. An EKG. They stuck a ton of little square sticky things onto my chest and attached all these wires to me and them monitored my heart. Everything was fine. After that they got an x-ray of my lungs. That wasn't very fun either, though not nearly as embarrassing. Nothing was wrong with my lungs either. That's good. As a full-time Pessimist I tend to think of things at their worst and I guess you can imagine all the things my brain was coming up with. I went in expecting the worst.

It turns out I have Costochondritis, also known as Tietze's Syndrome. Costochondritis is a condition that causes chest pain due to inflammation of the cartilage and bones in the chest wall, at the junction of the rib bone and breastbone. At this junction, there is cartilage joining these bones. This cartilage can become irritated and inflamed. And, depending on the extent of the inflammation, it can be very painful.

My list of ways-to-get-well is very simple. #1. Rest. I guess that means no more midnight movies and that, to catch myself up on sleep, I may have to start taking naps. Eeesh. #2. Heat Applications. Hmmm. That sounds really good right now. I'll have to look into getting something. #3. Anti-Inflammatory Medications. The doctor prescribed me to Motrin (aka Ibuprofen). I must take it three times a day with food.

I also can't do anything big; like no running, heavy-lifting, etc. That's going to stink. At work I am always doing those things. They call me The-Machine. Yeah, it's silly, but for some odd reason I enjoy it. I hope they're okay with it. I was told by the doctor that it should only take a week to get better, for my body to heal. But I have a feeling its going to take longer. About.com says that it will take 4-8 weeks and that all symptoms of pain should resolve within six months. I sure hope it doesn't take that long... ...Well. I think I'll go take a pill.