What is Tietze’s Syndrome?

The Definition of Tietze’s Syndrome

Tietze’s Syndrome was named after a German surgeon called Alexander Tietze (1864-1927), who discovered the disease in 1921.

With Tietze’s syndrome, the cartilage in between the ribs and breastbone (the costal cartilage) is inflamed and swells, causing mild to intense pain that can mimic a heart attack. Tietze’s syndrome is not costochondritis; you can ready why not here. This researcher found than in half the patients afflicted with Tietze’s syndrome, the pain lasts more than one year.

Fifteen years ago, I had never heard of it. If you’d have asked me what it was, I would have said it had something to do with mosquitoes (it has nothing to do with mosquitoes).

Tietze’s Syndrome Symptoms Make an Entrance

It started when I was taken to the ER in 1992 with symptoms of a heart attack at age 26—a crushing feeling on my chest like an elephant was sitting on top of me, intense pain like nothing I had ever experienced, and the panic that was accompanying the pain in my ribs.

This is What Tietze's Syndrome Pain Feels Like!

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” an impatient chest specialist told me after two months of trying to diagnose the excruciating pain in my chest. I’d had tests for heart problems, blood disorders, stomach disorders…all to no avail. “You should consider seeing a psychiatrist,” he told me. I took him up on it, but a year later, I still had the pain (and a prescription for Valium).

The large amounts of ibuprofen I was consuming were doing a number on my stomach, and no over-the-counter medicine could stop the acid reflux that had become part of my daily life. I went to a new doctor to ask him for prescription strength Zantac. Being a new patient, he performed a thorough exam, listening to me as I asked him not to tap my chest. He did, anyway. “You’ve got Tietze’s Syndrome,” he said.

I’d never heard of it, I said. The doctor explained that he’d only heard of it in passing, and that all he knew about it was that it was a rare disorder, characterized by crushing pain when the chest is pressed on. Tietze’s syndrome, he explained, was like costochondritis–only unlike costochondritis, with Tietze’s syndrome the rib cartilage swells and the condition can be chronic–sometimes lasting decades. For more information on the major differences between Tietze’s Syndrome and Costochondritis, see this post.

That is how my year-long journey into understanding Tietze’s syndrome happened. I wasn’t crazy or stressed. I had a legitimate disease that was caused by a virus (how do I know it was a virus? See my post Shipboard Virus Causes Tietze’s Syndrome. Two decades later, I still have Tietze’s syndrome, but I’ve learned ways to manage it. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation on the web about the condition; it’s almost impossible to find good information out there–that is the reason I started this blog.

Related posts:

1. Shipboard Virus Causes Tietze Syndrome

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