★★★★★
Had a bout with sub-clinical hypothyroidism. TPOab, hashitoxicosis, all said to be part of Hashimoto's, (thankfully, mine is now in remission according to the clinical standard > 100 TPO anti-bodies.) At one point during those hellish months, I noticed I could see my sternum poking out from my chest slightly. The entire area had been slightly tender for months and I had thought nothing of it.
I asked a quite well known functional medicine doctor who specializes in thyroid issues if he had noted a correlation between thyroid disorders and incidence of tendonitis (costochondritis.) He indicated he had not, which surprised me. Incidental reporting on the internet seems to indicate a correlation, indeed, among Hashimoto's sufferers, and it is largely accepted that the thyroid requires quite a lot of protein and collagen to function properly and particularly, to heal.
My costochondritis became worse and worse. It produces frightening sensations mimicking heart issues as described in the heading for this topic. I tried every anti-inflammatory supplement and diet, rested the area - you name it. But suddenly it occurred to me, why not try supplementing collagen? Perhaps my struggling thyroid was drawing the collagen away from my rib cage to use to bolster and heal. Well, I took 35 mg of Type l & lll Marine Collagen from a company with two trees as their logo and was quite improved within 24 hours. I researched further. If these two types could help, perhaps another kind could as well. So I started with Type ll. Guess what that's made of? Chicken STERNUM - the very area that had been so alarmingly inflamed. I'm going to add this. I'd love to see Art or another researcher look into the collagen - costochondritis connection. I really believe I've hit on something.
