A case of costochondritis

This case is a beautiful example of how homeopathy can help resolve pain and inflammation within days. 

Client was a young female in her 20's. Severe rib pain started while driving and it was so bad she had to pull over and someone picked her up to take her to the ER. After a bunch of tests showing her heart was okay she was sent home with a diagnosis of a muscle sprain or tear. However, the pain continued being intense. She described the pain "it was like my ribs were clawing me and my chest was seizing up, I would fall over and keel over because the pain was so bad, I couldn't move or breath."

A couple days later she was diagnosed by her doctor with chostochondritis and was given a higher dose of advil and told to see a chiropractor or physiotherapist. However, due to a sensitivity to advil she took muscle relaxants but they made her tired.

Five months later she was still not able to move much, especially her arms without causing the pain to return.

She tried hot baths, rolling her ribs on a ball, avoided heavy lifting and kept her activity to a minimum. She couldn't do much else.

Eventually she went to a chiropractor and was given exercises but she couldn't do them at all.

Leading up to the onset of the rib pain she was under a lot of stress, busy moving and was very tired.

Personality:

She described herself as a very stressful person, always in hurry mode without time to take a breath, little things can frustrate her easily. Her body gets really tense and she thinks she doesn't breath properly at all. She walks around with her shoulders hunched up, "like I'm on a mission." She is always worried about the next thing, doing things on her own. She's highly independent and a perfectionist. She is always worrying about her next step.

She wants to show people her best and that she is capable. Fear of failure. The pain frustrates her because she can't be the person she wants to be, perfect and doing everything. She feels a lot of guilt.

The rib pain:

Pain: squeezing, clawing, sharp like something is digging into her

the pain is more on right side especially under the mammae and bottom ribs (hanging ribs)

the sternum hurts a lot

worse pressure applied to front ribs

better pressure applied to back and rest and heat, although ice on initial onsent

worse movement, lifting, lying on soft, moving fast, TWISTING, SITTING, moving arms, going to the washroom, wearing a bra, sneezing

feels like rib cage is digging into her, clawing, it's sharp and causes everything to seize up

after this she is left with a bruised sensation and everything is very tender

when it first happened she was "frozen" for a week 

I decided to give her a remedy from the Ranunculacea plant family as it covered a lot of pain and inflammation of the ribs. I chose Staphysagria 200C due to her tendency to perfectionism and overdoing it and had her repeat as needed which resolved things nicely within a few days.