I've been having chest and back pain now for weeks. The longest flare-up lasted two weeks straight. It feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest....or like a knife is stabbing straight through your chest and out your back...doing dishes, doing laundry, even throwing a ball to my dog can cause the pain to worsen. And wonderful stress and anxiety really increase the pain! It feels like you're having a heart attack. But when you try to tell your family this...they blow you off and say "oh you're only 27...you're still too young to feel pain." That comment really pisses me off. So an 80-year-old woman's pain is justifiable, but mine is just made up? I went to the ER for this pain about a month ago...they hooked put me in the "heart" room and hooked me up to a EKG and did a chest x-ray and took all these lovely blood tests. Everything looked A-okay! I was diagnosed with non-cardiac chest pain. I've gone to my normal doctor since and they said it's muscle pain. Last week I didn't have the pain, but now it's back. I made an appt with my doctor and she hooked me up to another EKG (even though she promised me that I was fine, but did it for my reassurance) and it again came back normal. Phew! But what is it? COSTOCHONDRITIS. Google it if you want to learn more about it, but it SUCKS! I decided to blog because I have so much shit that I want to say. I keep so much bottled inside. This issue is just one of them. I'm sitting on the couch and feeling like poo because throwing a ball back and forth to my dog made my chest hurt terribly. Sitting at a computer makes it hurt too. There has to be a way to get rid of this...according to people on costochondritis support sites...there really isn't....you just have to ride along with the wave......until next time.....-J