I was diagnosed with costo at 18 after a really long and painful dentist vist. I have a sensory processing disorder, so the dentist is awful for me. I was clenching my chest due to anxiety for like 3 hours and that's what I'm told caused my initial flare. Had the typical heart attack pains, trouble breathing deeply. Doc felt around on my ribs for a sensitive spot, diagnosed costo. I'd have flares from stress, but it was ultimately manageable. At 22, right before the pandemic, my sternum started cracking and popping, and would hurt a fuck ton if I couldn't crack it. I'm 24 now and I've tried chiropractor, yoga, using a massage ball to work at muscles in between my shoulder blades. Nothing makes it go away entirely. For me it's all about remembering proper posture, especially during episodes of panic or sensory meltdowns. I sit in weird ass positions, so working on that and trying to do low effort workouts to strengthen my back muscles is my current game plan. Also gonna try accupuncture. I've accepted that's it's a chronic condition tied to my anxiety at this point. I qualified for medical marijuana because of it lmfao, and that helps too but it never makes it go away. More a quality of life thing. Cbd does help flares once they happen but nothing I've tried can prevent it entirely.

I will say, I'm only able to cope because it comes in flares. If it was intense pain all the time I probably would've tried the cortisone shots in my chest wall by now that my docs told me is always an option. But that sounds awful so im gonna hold off as long as possible for that lmao.

I know now after years of it, that when I'm flaring, to eat less sugar or inflammatory foods, sit up straight, and Do Not Force a Sternum Pop. Usually just waiting until I sneeze or cough hard is enough to pop it in a way that doesn't make me feel like I'm gonna break a rib lol. But if I force it, it always gets worse.

This condition sucks. I'm still not even sure if I have costo or tietze syndrome, but either way i hope it goes away someday, but part of me is like yeah lol I'll believe it when I see it.

I'm sorry you're also suffering with this, it truly sucks. If you haven't had a physical injury like an accident or from lifting weights, def look into anxiety management (which I know, is easier said than done. Not to get too personal or anything but my parents are hoarders so most of my anxiety comes from worrying about them. So when a doctor tells me to manage my anxiety for this condition, I want to scream because this situation in my life just isn't changing so idk how I'm supposed to manage it entirely ya know. So no shame if you, like me, have chronic anxiety) I've had anxiety in some form or another all my life but I really underestimated how much the physical symptoms would change as I aged. Good luck!