I think that Tietze's is simply chronic Costochondritis, but if I remember my reading, it's a more severe inflammation whereas costo resolves itself in shorter amounts of time.

Yea, I'd say stress is key here. My costo did not go away after 4 years until I left a very stressful job.

For me? It was the muscles around the base of my neck that were pulling my chest out of alignment. Once I knew that, the stress about why I was dealing with this pain vanished. I of course imagined all sorts of things were wrong with me. Total hypochondria due to pain. It's a natural reaction.

You however are dealing with other stressful conditions. I'm sure your panic attacks are causing a great deal of "bracing" which in turn excerbate the inflammation. Much of costo is soft tissue damage that keeps getting injured over and over. You can twist the wrong way in bed and cause another flair up. It's very difficult to keep from twisting your torso.

Stress reduction is key. Keeping your neck and shoulders relaxed is also key.

Might I suggest trying to find a talented massage therapist. They can work on your pressure points and especially your circulation and lymphatic system. I think you are a good candidate. You must really know that the person working on you knows what they are doing and they are familiar with costo. If they are not they can actually hurt you.

I can't live without my massage therapist. Out of all the things I've done now in natural healing, this one modality has done the most for my quality of life.

Good luck.

Molly

Something that may help is Arnica Rub. My daughter has had 2 bouts of it already and she's only 11. Both came from injuries related to pulled muscles. The first time, she fell on the playground and hyper-extended her arms. She suffered for weeks until I finally put 2 and 2 together and figured it out (I had a case of it 'bout 15 years ago). She has von wilebrands so she can't take ibuprophen. We were pretty much stuck with alternative therapies. I picked up a bottle of Arnica Rub a the health food store and she improved greatly after that. The second time, we jumped right in with the Arnica Rub, 2-3 times a day, before school and sometimes after school and at bedtime. She was better within a couple of weeks.

This is the stuff we use:

http://tinyurl.com/r22djn