Bracing Archives

Walt, can you confirm whether this is costo?

Hi Walt,

I want to thank you for continuing to maintain this board. I found you about 4 years ago when I developed interstitial cystitis. At that time, most everything I read said that IC was an incurable condition and offered little hope of ever feeling better. I'm so thankful that I found your explanation of it, because it pointed me down the right path that allowed me to resolve it. Today, the feelings of urinary urgency that once occurred constantly almost never occur. (Elizabeth - if you happen to read this post, your posts in the archives on resolving IC with yoga were extremely helpful for me. They're what introduced me to Hatha yoga in the first place. Thank you.)

Here's one lesson I think I'm just learning. Just because you think you've resolved one muscle bracing condition, don't think that you can just slack on SR because stress will continue to occur in your life and you need some effective way of dealing with it.

So here's my story. Right after Christmas, after going through several months of high stress while at the same time not meditating, practicing yoga, or any other form of stress reduction other than exercise about 3 times a week, I developed what I think is costochondritis. My initial symptoms were tightness in my upper chest that restricted my breathing. For the first two weeks, this led to some anxiety off and on until the yoga and meditation I started doing again kicked in. Throughout all of this, my breathing was normal if I could belly breathe and it was normal at night (when I naturally breathe from my belly).

To treat this, I've been doing yoga fairly regularly and meditating 20 min morning and night for the last two weeks. I think I am noticing improvement. At the very least I notice a decrease in signs of excessive sympathetic nervous system activity (eye twitch, hyperhidrosis, tight raised shoulders, tight throat). I'm also beginning to notice a direct connection between anxious, angry, worrisome thoughts and constricted breathing. I am able to relax the tightness a little when I notice it now. By the way, I saw my M.D. when this first happened and he is not concerned about heart problems, lung condition, etc. We did talk about stress, though :) I'm female, mid-30s, and I eat a whole foods (per Beth's book) primarily vegetarian diet plus fish. I don't smoke or drink, I exercise one hour 3 times a week at least. My cholesterol is low (116).

I've read through the archives and from what most people describe, costo seems to primarily manifest as chest pains (one person did mention breathing problems w/o chest pain). I have had very little pain in my chest, although I've developed a little more as time has gone on. Given your years of experience diagnosing this condition, does this seem like costo to you? Given my history of being able to brace muscles you'd never think I could :), I'm *almost* certain this is and that 3-6 months of consistent SR will resolve it. An expert opinion would be appreciated, though.

Hope everything is well with you and thank you for your time.

Namaste'

Daisy

Re: Walt, can you confirm whether this is costo? (TESTIMONIAL about bracing.)

Re: Walt, can you confirm whether this is costo? (TESTIMONIAL about bracing.)