Sternum Pain, Back Pain, Rib Pain, Chronic Condition. Treatment ?
Thanks for writing to us.
Chronic pains are generally hard to treat. It is difficult to point a clear diagnosis without physical examination.
It is wise to rule out certain medical conditions such as cardiac pain, gastritis / esophageal inflammation completely. I also hope neurological pain (paraesthesia) is probed for as a cause here.
Since MRI and all other reports are suggestive of arthritis, a few measures that may be useful are as follows:
1.If the cause of such prolonged pain is a muscular - try taking some good muscle relaxants like thiocolchicoside with the routine painkillers you take. I am not sure if muscle relaxants are over the counter at your locality. You could perhaps check with the local chemist. Else you may need prescription. Along with it, do hot fomentation and apply a local analgesic gel on the area.
2.Avoid sleeping on a soft mattress which do not give good support to your back.
3. Avoid weight lifting.
4. Some simple back pain exercises.They will help to strengthen the muscles and improve the stability of the spine.
5. If none of the above measures are helpful, pain specialist have used low dose tricyclic antidepressants, gabapentins or other anticonvulsants for modifying the intensity of perceived pain. This is also an option available which can be tried. Discuss with your doctors to prescribe the medications if needed
I hope this information has been both informative and helpful for you. If there are additional concerns, I am available for your followups.
Regards