Tackling Costochondritis – My Regimen

This blog entry is about my struggle with costochondritis. You can read my story and follow my blog entries in chronological order by going to this link.

Writing a blog entry for dealing with this costochondritis is not easy. I probably should start writing down a list of thoughts before I blog about this. I have a feeling I’ll be sitting here cutting and pasting my words so that they’ll not be so jumbly (and the spell-check says “jumbly” is not a word–but I’m saying it is today). More than a year’s research is floating around in my brain, and I know that there’s no possible way that I can document it all in one blog entry (hence the need for a whole series of posts so that you can read on your own time).

Today I’m going to devote my blog entry to the regimen I’m going to attempt to follow. I say attempt because my history doesn’t exactly include a heaping amount of determination or willpower. However, I’d love to get my life back, and that’s a whole lot of determination right there.

But first I want to share with you what I’m doing.

Diet Life-Changing Eating Plan

I hate that word Diet, and anyone who has ever been on a diet surely hates it, too. The word is not pleasant and brings back the thought of endless FAILED attempts at changing my eating habits. The word Diet has an unpleasant letter arrangement that I also associate with failed attempts at changing my eating–d-i-e. Yup, every time I go on a diet, the plan always dies. I don’t have much will-power. So, that being said, I have chosen–instead of Diet–to use the phrase Life-Changing Eating Plan.

My eating plan is developed around the perfect whole foods diet eating plan. 😉 Whole foods means that there is nothing processed in such a way that nutrients are stripped. So, basically, here is a list of foods I will be eating, followed by a list I won’t be eating.

Life-Changing foods (what I’ll be eating):

• whole grain bread, crackers, with no sugar or ingredients that contain -ose
• fresh fruits and frozen (no sugar added, no preservatives)
• fresh vegetables and frozen
• brown rice, quinoa, etc. (not refined)
• no-salt nuts
• non-breaded meats
• Greek yogurt, cheese (no Velveeta or the like)

Life-Inhibiting foods (what I will avoid):

• white flour
• canned fruit, dried fruit
• white rice
• breaded, processed meat
• anything with sugar in the ingredients or -ose in the ingredient list
• anything with monosodium glutamate in the ingredient list

Since I also suffer from acid reflux, I also plan to eliminate tomatoes, onions and celery from my diet (my acid triggers) for a while.

Relaxation

Relaxation is going to be a huge part of my regimen because I’ve developed the habit of bracing. My neck has been a long-time issue for me, and so I tend to brace against the pain. My neck often goes out of alignment and causes pinched nerves and pain. I am now trying to be more aware of the bracing in an effort to relax more.

Morning Pain

My mornings are rough. When I wake up, my sternum and ribs (front and back) are sore. If I awake while lying on my side, it feels like my sternum is being squished. Painful. As the morning progresses, I begin to feel better. This lets me know that I likely tense my muscles up during sleep.

How I’m Hoping to Fix It – Skilled Relaxation

Last year I discovered a website that has brought me my greatest number of resources in fighting and winning the battle against acid reflux and costochondritis. And that website introduced to me the book on the left: Recapture Your Health. It’s a holistic look at treating problems.

Supplements & Helpful Practices

Here is a list of supplements that I am taking:

• regular whole-foods multivitamin
• fish oil and/or flax seed oil
• magnesium
• B12
• Vit. D
• chiropractic care
• gentle stretching & walking

I’m keeping a notebook to keep track of my relaxation sessions, vitamins,and symptoms. This will help me to see if there is a pattern to my pain.