Tietze Syndrome: What is It, What Are the Symptoms, and What Else Do I Need to Know?

Named after German surgeon Alexander Tietze (1864-1927), Tietze's Syndrome is a condition discovered in 1921 where the cartilage between the ribs and chestbone become inflamed and swell, causing heart attack-like symptoms. Learn everything you need to know about this condition from this helpful article.

What is Tietze Syndrome?

Most people with Tietze Syndrome go to the hospital thinking they are suffering from a heart attack. A careful doctor, however, can recognize the symptoms. It's a rare disease similar to Costochondritis but it can last for decades. As a rare disease, there is a lot of misinformation on the internet about it, but here you will get the facts straight.

How to tell if you have Tietze's Syndrome.

There are some clues that let you know that the chest pain you are experiencing is related to Teitze syndrome. Do you feel pain when rolling out of bed? This is because your chest is tightening and the cartilage is aggravated. Does it hurt worse when breathing? Does the pain feel somewhere in your upper chest, but not in a specific place? These are all clues that you may have Tietze's Syndrome.

How to treat Tietze's Syndrome.

Though there is no real perfect cure for the chronic condition, some have found different home methods that seem to cause it to lessen or completely go away. One of these is changing your diet. People with Tietze Syndrome and other arthritic conditions have found that avoiding foods such as red meat, dairy products, fat, and sugar stops the pain. Because of this, many people find that switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet helps their Tietze Syndrome.

Another method for treating the pain of Tietze Syndrom is to block the pain by using anesthesia on the Stella Ganglion, a section of your spinal cord that sends pain messages for your frontal chest area. The benefit for this option is that over time each injection of anesthesia makes the pain go away for longer and longer. Of course, this is not actually curing the disease, but only making it no longer hurt, but for many people with acute pain this is an excellent options.

Other more common ways to treat the disease are getting plenty of rest, using anti-inflammatory over the counter drugs, using heat therapy, and in some cases even surgery to remove the affected joint or joints.

Conclusion

Tietze's Syndrome is a rare but painful condition that plagues many people each year. If you think that you may have this condition, contact your doctor and explain your suspicion. Remember that the symptoms of Tietze Syndrome may appear similar to that of a heart attack, but they are very different conditions. If you're looking for more information on Tietze Syndrome, consider looking at All About Tietze's Syndrome.

Source:

http://www.tietzessyndrome.com/