Sternum Pain

[Robyn10217]

So I have been having this sternum pain since yesterday. its a constant pain, gets worse when I breath and when I lay down. Today I did a bunch of test, ekg, echo and labs and overall everything came back normal. inflammation markers are normally too. so I was wondering if anyone has this problem sometimes.. its been 2 1/2 years since my last surgery and its never been this bad. I have been having heart problems but my test came back good.. so I am very confused. and in a lot of pain.

 

[Jkm7]

So sorry to read this.
What are your doctors suggesting is the problem? Have they not begun any treatment course?

 

[Greg a]

Have you had blood work done ?

 

[nngbwh]

Sorry to hear you are still having pain. Hope you feel better soon and make sure you keep us updated.

 

[Robyn10217]

as for labs they did the normal cbc comp pt/inr, d-dimer, troponin, sed rate, crp. and they all looked good.. so thats why I am so confused. they pain does feel a little like inflammation but nothing test wise shows.. but I wont know my echo report for a couple days. but I am sure it was normal. I just hate taking pain meds, I never take them but i cant lay down other wise. and I definatly cant lay on my sides, I cant breath otherwise. I am hoping that it is a little better tomorrow. thank you all for the support & best wishes.

 

[bdryer]

Hi Robyn

Hmmm, when you get the results from the echo cardiogram, ask about the wall thickness of your ventricles. You may be suffering from hypertrophy of both the right and left ventricles seeing that you have both mitral and aortic valve problems. The hypertrophy may be causing pain emanating from the heart.

If it is in fact sternum pain, the fault may be due to muscle knots in your pectroralis major and minor, oh heck, you know the chest muscles. Try massaging and stretching the pecs as a cure.

 

[guyinva]

Sorry to hear you are having pain. I an 7 months post op and had a similar situation a couple weeks ago. Went to cardiologist and everything was fine. He seems to think the pain is coming from the sternal wires.

 

[kfay]

If everything checks out ok with your heart, you may want to look into costochondritis (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/costochondritis/DS00626). I had this in my sternum about the same time frame out from heart surgery as you are now. It was in the lower part of my sternum on the right side and at times could be so painful it would take my breath away. After having everything checked by x-rays and an echo etc, I eventually ended up getting a steroid shot directly into the cartlidge next to my sternum in the area that was causing the pain. Within a couple of days, I was completely pain free and it has stayed that way for about 6 months now.


Kim

 

[bdryer]

Hi Kim

Wow, this is good info! I'm saving the link in the event I end up with down the road sternum pain. Thanks for sharing this research and your experience!

 

[Bryan B]

After my first surgery I started having unusual sternum pain after 6 weeks. After about 3 months of this constant pain they did a MRI on me and could find nothing wrong, but the pain continued. Seven months after surgery I had my sternum wires removed. After the surgery my surgeon said he still didn't see anything that would be causing me pain. After having the wires removed the pain went away. To this day I still have no clue as to what was causing pain, only that it went away after having the wires removed.

With this surgery it has been much better. I was sleeping on my side before I left the hospital. At 12 weeks out after surgery I still have some occasional soreness and minor pain when laying on my side but that is usually only for a night or two after playing golf. Geez I wonder what could be causing that? I have limited my golf to once or twice a week and the soreness always always goes away after a day or two and is only some slight discomfort when laying on my side.

If the pain is interfering with your ability to lead a normal pain free life I would keep pursuing the matter. I was on narcotic pain medicine for 7 months before having my wires removed and ended up becoming addicted to them (I did get off of them with some help). After this surgery I only took them for a week after surgery (that includes the 3 days in the hospital after surgery) and then again for about a week at my doctor's advice when I had bronchitis like systems. But she had me take them mostly to suppress my cough (plus my sternum was killing me from all the coughing).

 

[Robyn10217]

Thank you everyone for all your support... my doctor called and said that all my labs looked good but my echo still looks the same. Having severe aortic stenosis, moderate stenosis mirtal with regurg, Stenosis tricuspid. I just have to wait it out, I have started chemo treatments for my lupus a 2 weeks ago to try and get it undercontrol and maybe solve the heart problem. I truly dont see it happen and a hand full of my doctors dont think so either but it will be safer to it this way. Im still in a lot of pain but it is barable, I will keep you all updated.

 

[bdryer]

Hey Robyn

You hang in their for this most challenging ride. You need to bitch, vent or cry we are here for ya!