Osteoarthritis in the sternum

LisaJ86

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and new to arthritis! Last year I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease although I don't fit into a designated type they are treating me for lupus. I was told I have costochondritis but after a CT scan and a bit of a oopps moment from my rheumatologist I am now awaiting surgery for osteoarthritis in my manubrio sternal joint.
I have been living with the pain for a year (steroid injections and hydoxychloroquine treatment even when the diagnosis was technically unknown) but it has got much worse to the point where I am now off work and waiting for surgery - the surgeon has told me to stop driving/working. The plan is to take bone for my hip and then put a metal plate on top to rebuild the non existent joint! I now even have a visible dent :-( I have been told this is quite rare but I just wanted to see if anyone else suffers from this? Or has had this type of operation?

Also any advice on how to help with the pain? I'm on codeine, wheat bags, ibruprofen and rest but find everyday tasks very difficult!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as this is not my only Heath issue and only being 30 I am trying to remain as positive as possible!

Thanks in advance
Lisa

[Deleted User]

Welcome to Arthritis Care Forums, Lisa, from the moderation team.

I am very sorry to read about your painful condition(s).

We have some great members here with a wide range of experiences of arthritis and of living with the condition. I know a few have had costochondritis, but don’t remember anyone having had surgery there. However I am certain you will get lots of support from them and hopefully they will benefit from your shared experience too.

I hope this link might help a little dealing with pain:

https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/managing-arthritis/coping-with-pain

As moderators we are here to help with any problems you may have using the message boards so feel free to send us a message if you need to.

Please do join in wherever you like, you will be made very welcome.

I look forward to seeing you posting on the boards.

Best wishes

Ellen

LisaJ86

Hi Ellen

Thank you very much for your reply and your link, I really appreciate it thank you.

frogmorton

Hi Lisa

Welcome to the forums from me too. They are a great place to come for advice, support, a moan or distraction from pain. See the chit chat forum mostly for this. Could be helpful as you are currently not working. Weekends can be a bit quiet on here, but hopefully more people will happen along soon to try to help.

I have had bouts of costochondritis myself, but gosh yours sounds extreme.

Have you tried ice on it? I only ask because sometimes it can help in a similar way to heat. You can buy gels packs to go in the freezer or if you use crushed ice make sure you wrap it in a tea-towel. What about trying a tens?

You sound to be an upbeat positive person so I am sure you will beat this

Lovely to meet you

Toni xxx

LisaJ86

Hi Toni,

Thank you for your reply. I have tried ice once and it seemed to make things more inflamed? Since then I have just kept to heat pads and wheat bags. Also I'm not sure what a tens is? Still a bit new to this! I will give Ice another go and see what happens!

Yes unfortunately this diagnosis is just the tip of a rather large iceberg for me so I need to stay positive.

So unfortunately this is not costochondritis but deterioation of the joint from osteoarthritis, although it does frequently get inflamed. My main problem is that if I move too much I seem to move my whole sternum/ collarbone and rib cage out of sync which I then need to crack back into place! I've had cracking for over a year now and it would appear it's been one on bone for a while so it's all a bit of a mess !- I've been reading up on osteoarthritis and I would say it's probably the same as when knees and hips go but it's my sternum.
The problem is when it's inflamed I struggle to swallow and sometimes even breathe deeply! So I'm hoping the surgery is going to be soon!

Thanks again and nice to meet you too
Lisa

stickywicket

Hi Lisa.

I have RA and my sternum's fine but I found this on a reliable website. Just in case it's useful. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4671840/

LisaJ86

Hi

Thank you very much for that article, my mum had actually sent me that too as that's pretty near exactly the operation that I am going to have! Thank you again for finding and sharing it with me,

Lisa

stickywicket

Great minds think alike???

rngwenya

Hi Lisa,

I hope you receive this as I see you’ve been inactive for some time. By now you would have had your surgery and I hope you’re recovering well and finding your life is starting to normalise once more.

My partner has a similar history to you and is in the process of being passed from specialist to specialist. We’ve tried to do some research on arthritis in the sternum and there is not a lot available. It seems the condition is quite rare. I have some questions that you may be able to answer based on your experience.

[Email address details removed from public forum
Brynmor]

I’d be most appreciative,

Kindest,
Rossina

[Deleted User]

Hi Rossina and welcome to the Arthritis forums.

Sorry to hear that your partner suffers from osteoarthritis in the sternum. After nearly 18 months there still doesn't seem to be much more information available online about the condition.

Regarding costochondritis , you may like to look at this page from the NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/costochondritis/

Please note: I have removed your email details from the post above as once you introduce yourself and post a couple more times, you will be able to make contact through the forums using Private Messaging (PMs) to the member from their profile details.

All best wishes
Brynmor

rngwenya

Please note: I have removed your email details from the post above as once you introduce yourself and post a couple more times, you will be able to make contact through the forums using Private Messaging (PMs) to the member from their profile details.

Thank you for the warm welcome. I do hope I can get in contact with the user to find out a little more about the past to diagnosis and surgery. I noticed that the messaging was disabled.

Unfortunately even though there is some inflammation and this was relieved with steroids, it is not costrochronditis. My partner is 29 and has spent the last 12 months avoiding all lifting, exercise and sports. I’d not heard of wheat ang treatments and I thought ice would be more beneficial, but we will try that too.

Always positive,
Rossina,

Airwave!

A simple way to remember, heat kills the pain, cold stops swelling (no not her off of Dallas, hee hee!). 😂

molmos

LisaJ86 wrote:

So unfortunately this is not costochondritis but deterioation of the joint from osteoarthritis, although it does frequently get inflamed. My main problem is that if I move too much I seem to move my whole sternum/ collarbone and rib cage out of sync which I then need to crack back into place! I've had cracking for over a year now and it would appear it's been one on bone for a while so it's all a bit of a mess !- I've been reading up on osteoarthritis and I would say it's probably the same as when knees and hips go but it's my sternum.

Hello! I was just diagnosed with the exact same thing! I am 21. I was wondering if you've had the surgery yet and you could tell me how it went? They've told me I'm going to need that same surgery (or something very similar).

Thanks!

Marta

[Deleted User]

Hi Marta and welcome to the Arthritis UK forums.

So sorry to hear that you are having the same problems regarding Osteoarthritis in the sternum. I hope a couple of the links in this thread have been helpful.

Unfortunately, LisaJ86 the member you are quoting has not been back on the forums to say how she got on for quite a while, although you may be lucky. This is an old thread that has twice been revived.

Hopefully, rngwenya who posted recently will come back to give an update.

All best wishes
Brynmor