Recent diagnosis after a year of pain - Advice needed

Hi, i have recently been diagnosed with costochondritis after complaining to my GP of chest pain for a little over a year now.

At first it used to come once every 4-6 weeks and the pain would usually pass after 3-4 days with the help of ibuprofen.

4 weeks ago, i had my latest "wave" of the pain and after having said pain for 7 days i went to see my GP again who has diagnosed costochondritis (she also mentioned Tietze's syndrome too which i am not sure about as the pain is affecting my shoulders and around my collarbone too but not my arms)

my GP's advice was to take 800mg ibuprofen 3 times daily with 30mg dihydrocodeine in the morning and 60mg dihydrocodeine in the evening with another 30mg if necessary during the day.

After 5 days of trying this with no positive results i returned to my GP who told me to try adding Paracetamol to the (already hefty) dosage.

What i would like to know is if there is anything i can do myself to allieviate the pain? i've tried gentle exercise and rest but nothing seems to be having any positive effect.

I have now been taking the above cocktail of painkillers for 4 weeks and am scared i will end up with a stomach ulcer or something equally as nasty

Any helpful suggestions would be greatly welcomed

(i am a 28 year old male, who is fairly lazy and not particularly active)