I wish I had found this subreddit sooner.
I am a 23-year-old woman. I don't go to gym. I don't do any exercises regularly really. I've seen that most people here go to gym, but that's not my story. I live a mostly sedentary life, I guess. I don't go out that often. I used to play sports in my early teens, but not anymore. I usually just work at home on my laptop, and I don't have a proper chair and desk to sit on most of the time.
And there are some other things that might be related to this. For example, my mental health is not great. Before I got this pain, I would spend a lot of time crying in my bathroom. Prior to getting this pain, almost 12 days ago. I was having a really hard time. I would just cry all the time, and the only place where I can cry safely is in my bathroom. So I would stand at the sink and cry a lot. After that, I would have neck, eye, and head pain, but it would last for a short time. Maybe my shoulders would be hunched over while standing and crying for a long time. So maybe that contributed to this. I don't know. The issue is that right now, I couldn't get any proper guidance for my pain.
Initially, what had happened was that we had a very hot day here, and there was no cooler available. So I just sat and worked for a whole day. After that, my feet were a little bit puffy, and I had pain in one leg. But in a few days, it got better. My feet were back to normal. But after that, I started getting pain in my left underarm area and chest. I was very scared because at first, I thought it was like a lump related to breast cancer or something. So I got very, you know, scared about it. I went alone to the doctor, and she said that it feels like normal muscular pain, and I did get my ECG done. So there was nothing wrong with my heart. That did make me feel better because the day prior to that, I had thought that I was having a heart attack, and I'm just going to die. So she prescribed me Ibuprofen and said I should rest, which I did for the next three to four days, but my pain was getting worse, actually.
And by the next time I went, what I didn't realize was that my chest was feeling very hard and firm and stiff and slightly bigger than usual, but I couldn't articulate that because that seemed like a crazy and scary thought to me, that why would that happen. Is something growing inside me? What is happening? So throughout this time, I would mostly get dull or piercing pain in my left chest. And apart from that, I would sometimes, very rarely, get pain in my back. My neck would also feel very stiff while sleeping. I'm a very skinny person, so my collarbones were very visible. They are not anymore. And so the biggest way I would get pain is when I would try to sleep at night. I couldn't sleep because if I would lay flat, I would feel so much pressure and then pain on my rib cage. So the only way I could sleep was by half turning to the right side when I didn't have any pain on the right side. So I tried that, but I still couldn't sleep for three to four nights.
So I went to the doctor again for the second time, and she suggested that I get some blood tests done. I got them done, and the report was fine. The third time I went, that doctor wasn't available. So I went to another doctor and told her this senior doctor had checked me, and she is trying to investigate what has happened to me. She did a physical examination on me. And she said that yes, your rib cage feels elevated. That was the first time someone validated my pain. She referred me to an orthopedic. She said it's a skeletal issue, and she also said that we only have male orthopedics, so if he would want to physically examine me, I could ask her to be present there. She was very kind. She said I would come with you if you weren't comfortable with another physical examination.
So the next day, I went again for the fourth time. This was 2 days ago. This is where my biggest disappointment lies right now, and I feel so lost. I don't know what to do. So I went to that orthopedic, and I thought that at least he would properly do a physical examination. At least he would listen to my symptoms. But he was just so non-serious, and he was like a senior doctor, yet he just started making jokes. He was just making fun of everything. He said that I'm just stressed out. He said that I'm stressed out over a boy. He literally said that. And he said it's just stress. And I know the culture I come from is very misogynistic, but I was not expecting that. I was in shock. I wasn't even triggered. I was just in shock. And my mother was there as well, and she kind of agreed with the doctor. But that female doctor, she went with me. She advocated for me. She said to him that I think you should at least see her chest, it's elevated. She said that to him twice or thrice, but he ignored her.
He just asked me, do you do exercise? I said, no. I don't do exercise at home. I just walk around after eating. And after that, he said that is why this has happened because you don't do exercise. He was so vague. He didn't even suggest anything. He said maybe this happened because you work on the laptop all the time, but he primarily blamed it on stress. He said that I'm very stressed out about something in my life, and I should confide in my mother about it. He didn't even let me talk. Every time I'd tried to talk and say something like how I struggle to sleep at night, he just cut me off. He said I should do exercise, but he didn't even recommend any exercise to me. And he said I shouldn't take any painkillers at all, no matter how much pain I am in. I was just in shock that day that I couldn't sleep at night, and I'm in so much pain, and the doctor just dismissed my pain. I had never been in a situation like that before. So I'm still confused about what to do. I do think this is probably costochondritis, but I don't know what to do exactly.
I don't have much pain on the left side anymore, which is great, but the swelling is now on both sides, left and right, and the chest is still elevated, and any movement causes pain. I did take ibuprofen some days ago, and the voltaren emulgel gel helped a lot. I can sleep at night, but only in a certain position. And my chest doesn't feel as heavy anymore. But sometimes I realize it's still elevated. And my back also feels stiff, that's new.
So I am just anxious. I have no guidance. No one to help me. Everyone except that female doctor dismissed my pain as stress and a posture issue. Also, I want to acknowledge that my posture isn't right. It happened gradually over the years because of depression and fatigue. I just didn't have the same energy as before. And I guess, when you don't feel confident in your life, it just kind of happens over time. I did intend to work on it after I get some things in my life sorted, but I guess I'm paying a huge price for that if that is the only explanation for why this has happened to me within ten days or something. What should I do about all of this? I don't know. But I need help. I don't have much money of my own right now, so I can't go to another doctor soon. And, honestly, I'm kind of shocked by all of that. So I'm even scared to tell a new doctor about what I am going through.
So for now, I'm just at home, and I need to know, is there any exercise that could help me? I did try doing exercises and working on my posture, but that actually worsened my pain. Now I have back pain, and pain in my rib cage area, not on my left or right side, though. I just need to get better. I heard people saying that it never really goes away or it stays for years, or there's no cure for it, and you have to do everything on your own. It's just too much information to take in. I don't know what to do on my own. I just want my chest to go back to normal. I want it to look and feel normal. And I want to be able to walk around normally without any pain. Can it go away entirely? For now, I want to manage it so that I can work on my life. Could this affect other parts of body too like digestion, heart, etc.? Maybe it causes strain on other organs, too?