Hi, my name is Sophie-Jade. I am currently at school and i have a part-time job at a local salon. My rib pain started 3ish years ago. I had a very dry cough. Right around the time my cough was clearing up, I started to experience a lot of tightness and pain in my chest and T-spine. I wasn't sure what was going on but I kept going to the doctors complaining about this pain and all they would do was give me ibuprofen. It wasn't severe pain, but it was obvious that something was "out".I honestly don't remember when the next flare up happened but I do remember that they were pretty consistent - about once a month or so I would have such severe pain. Rolling over in bed was impossible and sleeping was immpossible! Whenever i had a bad flare up i would go to the doctors and they would just up the painkillers. My pain was unbarable at night and I was repeatedly going down to the out of hours clinic to see if there was anything they could do when my doctors was not open. All they could do was give me some strong painkillers and send me off home. I went to the doctors after around a year of suffering with this and i was getting so down and fed up with living like this, so they finally done a load of tests, they then came back to me and said "its just chronic pain-there's nothing we can do. We dont know when but one day you will just wake up pain free." This was not what i wanted to hear! I was being told "grin and bare it," "It will be gone by the morning," "Your lying,""It cant hurt that much." I was one of the worst times of my life. I was missing alot of school i was constantly in bed or laid on the sofa in tears with this uncopable pain and i was being told nobody can do anything. On the 21st of november 2013 at around 7.00pm i was just trying to eat some dinner, but i had this pain again. The pain was unbarable, i felt sick- i couldnt eat anything. I couldnt move. I was just sat there in tears. That's when my mum knew, it wasn't 'fake' and i'm not getting any better. She phoned 111 an out of hours doctors sevice, they asked questions like 'how bad is the pain from 1-10' and 'how long has it been going on' so mum past me onto the phone, i was so breathless i couldnt answer the questions she was asking me so she asked me to pass back onto my mum. She said "Mrs ****, i dont want to panic you but there is a paramedic on the way to see Sophie, i think she needs medical help" So she got off the phone and by about 5 minuets i was being checked over by a paramedic. My oxygen levels were low and he put my on an oxygen supply and called an ambulance to take me to the hospital. I had to have the oxygen all the way to the hospital and rather than me and to wait in A&E i was taken straight down to the CAU (Childs Assesment Unit) Where i slept the night and was checked over. The doctor there then told me about Tietze's Syndrome/Costochondritis and said thats what i have. It is a chronic illness so the doctors were kind of right but they should have done all them tests the first time i went in, not the 5th or 6th, thats what upsets me. To this day i still have flare ups and theres not alot i can do, but i am just happy i have a diognosis and i finally know why I get these pains and I dont have to be worried about what it is and when my next doctors appointment is.
This is only my second blog post and it's very personal but please follow for more blogs either like this or about beauty and i will also try and write some fun ones too. Thank you so much for reading and if anyone else has the same problems as me, feel free to email me, i would love to hear your stories also.
Sophie-Jade x