Rib pain

[chelseauk]

Hi,

About a week ago i was diagnosed with Costochondritis when i got a really bad pain in my left rib cage. It happened at night (felt like someone had punched me - not nice). As a result i turned the auto setting down on the cpap machine to 15 - to give it a chance to heal. And the pain went away.

Last night i tried it on full auto again (and when i do the machine hits 17.5 -18.0) and the pain came back (Although not as bad - as the moment it woke me up i turned the cpap back down).

As such (and bearing in mind i know more about CPAP than my doctor - a bit scary) and i've read there might be a link (but can't find anything specific). Anyone else know is CPAP and Costochondritis are related. Also i have GERD
(Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) and i've read that can lead to swallowing air during CPAP - anyone know the symptons for that.

(I've got an appointment with a sleep technician in about a week - and when i get told off for mucking about with the settings - i'd like to know all about this so i can talk through it).

[Joe McManus]

I see a lot of discussions about GERD on the American CPAP Talk. A search in Google like this will pin point all 1800 threads of them so I hope you have a week off so you can read them all

I briefly mentioned a solution to GERD here.

Regarding inflammation of the cartilage of the ribs/breastbone, it would be interesting to know whether it's caused by virus or indeed the pressure put on by you actually breathing again now on CPAP. It could well be your lungs and chest/rib cage just weren't used to a decent work out anymore so they are being stretched to new boundaries, causing some discomfort and inflammation.

From Googling around, I see standard treatment is paracetamol combined with avoiding heavy breathing. So no threadmill for you for a few days and it might not be a bad idea to lower the CPAP setting and gently increase it over a week or so.

[chelseauk]

The reason i mention GERD is that Aerophagia is worse with it and with CPAP on higher pressure.

I think i'll try to persuade them to get me a bipap if they want it running at 17-18

[Dopey Plumber]

Are you still getting the rib pain Chels? I've had a lot of costochondric (sp?) and similar pains ( which among other things means I can't sleep on my back, so less snoring!). I've found Glucosamine fixes it pretty well, prescribed about 750mg/day, but you can buy it. Fish oil works too, but is considerably disgusting!

[chelseauk]

Hi,

The rib pain seems to have been air from the CPAP machine - as i turned it down a bit and it helped - for those of us on higher pressure (mine needs 15 at least) i think we may need to work up to it a bit.