Question About the Sternum (Page 1)

What did the lump turn out to be?

Well im 15 nd when i sometime stretch my xiphoid process sometimes pops out of place i asked the doctor about it yesterday and he told me to come back if it happens more. Most likely if the end of your sternum is aching your xiphoid process is broken. I know you said not to say this but seeing a doctor is most likeyly your best option so you should do that asap who knows it could be a growing tumor sorry to tell you but if you keep avoiding this problem it could get worse. Yeah I know a lot from a kid take no heed to my advive if u find me to have no credibility or because you are probaby SIMPLE. If you have any further questions my facebook is marvin lamar abdullah.

I am currious if anyone was able to answer this. I noticed the same thing, and now I am a bit nervous, cuz this is the only thing that comes up in a google search. Please let me know.

I have the same problem how odd that with a day or two of each other we feel the same problems? I have lost alot of weight, so I am noticing things about my body more. My sternum was cracked when I was carrying my twins...But recently I have noticed it protrudes more, hard, if I rub it , it is sore. Anyone else have any idea whats happening....?

Did you ever find out? I have the same problem after carrying twins.

Hey I have one too on my sternum... What did you all find out it was?
Help appreciated as I have several other lumps and cant seem to get a doc anytime til feb??
Thank youuuuuu
::

Within the past couple of months, I have noticed a dull pain in my sternum and now notice that it is slightly raised (like a small knot on your head after hitting it). At first, I thought it was just soreness related to some weight lifting, but it has not gone away. I can not find the precise location of the pain. It is dull and sometimes feels stronger when I lean forward or hold out my arms. I have no other symptoms. I did a simple google search to see if I could find anything and I found this site. Should I be concerned? I have scheduled a physical later this month, what should I ask my doctor? I am 34 male.

Thanks

Can't believe it, but are we all just finding this a bit unusal at the same time? With so little information on it on the entire web? Same with me, lost a little weight to gain a lil health and found this lump at the bottom of my sternum.

Not sure whether to be relieved or scared. Anybody get any answers yet?

Thanks,

frankie

A few days ago I noticed a soreness between my breasts but seemly on the sternum. If I press lightly in that area, i'm getting a deep soreness. I can't accunt for this. Has anyone found any answers to this?

After nearly 40 years of on and off pain from the xyphoid process lump. Usually brought on by exertion or lifting I recently attended a pain clinic where again the painfull lump was examined but not explained, however the Doctor suggested that i try VERSATIS 5% Lidocaine medicated plasters to apply to the area, and despite my scepticism, IT WORKS! at least it does for me. The doctor is on my christmas card list now! I reccommend anyone with xiphoid pain to try it what have you got to lose except the pain?

Most of the patients I see with these symptoms have what is called Costochondritis. It is an inflammation of costochondral junctions of ribs or chondrosternal joints of the anterior chest wall. This is the most common diagnosis, but your symptoms should not be overlooked as a possible cardiac problem, enlarged liver, or pancreas in which could be a much more serious problem in itself. If you are experiencing a popping noise or sensation when pressure is applied to the xiphoid process most likely it is Costochondritis which is a minor problem that can be managed by pain medicines, and by visiting a good chiropractor. Costochondritis is mainly a structure (bone & cartilage) issue. Usually after a few adjustments of the spine, rib cage, and pelvis your symptoms will be gone. I hope this helps you.

I too have had this pain. I have always had a slight pain in my sternum area...Ever since I can remember. I am 40 now and have just finished doing some major house renovations that really stretched me physically.

The pain in my sternum also goes right through to my back and I am having real trouble sleeping. The pain intensifies if I press firmly on the sternum and also if I 'tense up' my chest area.

I have no lumps or anything and have had no wiight loss so I was just putting it down to some type of wear and tear as I do not recall a moment where I may have inflicted some type of injury.

Of course, thoughts always turn to the worst case scenario, so I am interested to keep an eye on this thread.

I, too, have noticed a raised, knob-like structure on my sternum, parellel to my lowest rib-bone. In the past month or so I have noticed a slightly painful sensation in the surrounding area (not just in the bones either) and it is especially noticeable when, for example, I lie in bed on my stomach or I am pressing against my girlfriend during intercourse. It's a sensation, I think, more than a pain, at first... But if I don't change my position so that nothing is putting pressure on it then it will develop into a painful feeling. Two years ago I had an appendectomy performed and the surgeon also removed a dark mass of tissue around it. The size of the mass required that I have a right hemicolectomy done at the same time. After recuperating from the surgery I underwent a chemotherapy regiment but, after 6-8 weeks of taking a drug called fu-5, and getting really sick afterward, I chose not to follow through to the end of the program. Very shortsighted, I know! So I am now waiting for an appointment to see my local doctor, a general practioner and my primary care physician, for his opinion.... And i'll be sure to post any developments... Thanks...

Doctor told me it was the following. Symptoms have gone away. I hope others are told the same thing. Sounds like it may be common.

Costochondritis. In this condition — also known as tietze's syndrome — the cartilage of your rib cage, particularly the cartilage that joins your ribs to your breastbone, becomes inflamed. The pain from costochondritis (kos-toe-khon-dri-tis) may occur suddenly and be intense, leading you to assume you're having a heart attack. Yet the location of the pain is different. Costochondritis causes your chest to hurt when you push on your sternum or on the ribs near your sternum. Heart attack pain is usually more widespread, and the chest wall usually isn't tender.

Hudson, you are right on track! Everyone in this forum should see the 'sternum problems' forum. It is very long but has a lot of good information in it. You will see my posts near the end. I have had this condition for almost 9 months now.

Here's to total health for everyone!

Jack_bauer

After having been at my ideal weight for the first 40 years of my life I finally slipped and gained a lot of weight. After loosing a lot of this weight about 3 years later I noticed a lump at the bottom of my sternum. I was wondering if this was caused by my big belly forcing the cartilage at the bottom of the sternum to protrude outward because of the three years of constant outward pressure?

I just noticed this bump that is uncomfortable only when I touch it. I scheduled a doctors appt. tomorrow 04/19/07. I will post results. I can't help to worry because along with the bump I have some upper left back pain and some arm pain.

"Below the sternum is a hangy down bone nubbin called the xiphoid. Its main function is to terrify parents into thinking it is a tumor. "What's this bump?" This is especially true when the youngster is thin and when the sternum is spoon shaped pointing the xiphoid forwardish rather than down."

i am a 22 year old male student in decent physical shape. i too was scared out of my wits when i noticed this bump. like a fool i kept it to myself for a while, feeling more anxious with every passing day. one day i cracked and while visiting my family covertly patted my father just above his stomach and noticed the bump there as well, i did the same thing to my brother, just a pat was enough to notice the bump. my fathers bump was smaller than my brothers' and mine was of a different size than both of theirs. this put me a little at ease but i still could not quell the hypochondriac itch. a few days later i asked some of my friends if they had it, and one of them (who also had never noticed it before) noticed the bump and she got extremely upset and started rambling about cancer. for some reason, despite the fact that all three people i asked or "examined" had the bump, despite the fact one of these people is a woman and despite the fact none of us are related by blood (me and my brother are adopted from different families) i had managed to convince myself and my friend that we had tumours. i eventually gave up and just went to my doctor. do you know what she told me!?

"That is just part of your sternum."

and then she laughed. all this worry for nothing. i told my friend when i saw her next and she cracked up. when i told my family about it afterwards they had a wonderful time hysterically laughing. for so many people all over the place to confuse a normal body part with a cancerous lump or some other sort of harmful infliction is sort of humorous in a mildly dark way, when you think about it. dont believe me? here are some links on the topic;

http://www.pediatric-orthopedics.com/Topic s/Bones/Thorax/thorax.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiphoid_proce ss
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/humana natomy/skeletal/sternum/xiphoid.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/xyphoid-proce ss

i hope you all rest easy after reading this.

peace be with you.

(p.s. unless it is causing you a great deal of pain or growing significantly larger, or oozing puss or something inexplicably unusual, it is most likely just this very normal part of the human sternum.)

Monicomi...could you let us know what you and your doctor has found out? I have a friend who has an inflamed xiphoid process (the lump/bump). Has anyone found any relief from the pain? What did you do? Please share. Thanks-

My Xyphoid process has been sore since giving birth to my 4th child. He is a year this month. During this pregnancy my abdominal muscles become "unzipped" due to all the weight gain, repeated usage, etc. Apparently I stretched them too much and they didn't go back. I think mine are split apart all the way up to my xyphoid process. Which keeps it inflamed and sore (due to using those muscles). The Dr. said I had xyphoiditis (an imflamed sore xyphoid process). Just said take anti-inflam's and wait it out. It could be a long wait.

But in my opinion, I don't think mine will completely be well as long as my Diastasis Recti (verticle abdominal muscles..having the gap).

A Tummy Tuck/Abdominoplasty is my only option...but Insurance won't touch it!

Did this happen to anyone else after birth or b/c of Split Abdominal muscles?

I have a golf ball sized lump on my chest as well. I showed it to my doctor and he did x-rays to see if it was just bone. It was not. I had to go get a CT Scan done to see what it was. Well, they said there was a tissue growth on top of my sternum and that it might be a tumor. I have a PET Scan on the 10th to see a little more. I'm getting a biopsy done shortly after either way. Everywhere I look online refers to Sternal Sarcomas (Cancer of the sternum). If you have a lump that you think shouldn't be there, go to the Doctor immediately. If he says you're crazy then so be it, but you can't drag your feet on things like this. Starnal Sarcomas have a pretty high mortality rate so everyday counts. I'll post back when I have results.

-26 Male

Hi- I hope you're doing well. My friend's lump has actually gotten bigger. This is based upon our assessment of two CT scans six weeks apart. She also got a bone scan and the scan indicates that there is no cancer of the bone near the lump. Could you elaborate on the biopsy (how it was done) and the result s of your biopsy? I hope you are well.

Surfrider

Approximately four years ago my father started feeling pain in the sternum area.

He used heat packs and ice and mild pain relievers and it kept it under control. Approximately two years ago the pain became worse. At that point he saw a specialist and that specialist thought it was due to rib that had been broken which was pushing on a nerve and that caused the pain.

Consequently my father had this troublesome rib removed... They also checked lymph nodes for cancer and things like that.

The pain did not disappear.

And within a few months the spot on his chest became warm to the touch and was usually redder than the skin around it.

At that point various tests were done on the sternum and it was found to resemble "swiss cheese". It looked like something had been gnawing on it.

The most damaging thing was that it appeared that cancer was in present in the area also.

From that point on things went down hill quickly. He soon had tumors develop within the lungs and the bladder. Both of those tumors were "small cell" cancer, which of course is highly aggressive.

My father passed away a little more than a week ago. The tumor in the sternum had become very large at his time of death-- but it was the tumors in his lungs that eventually killed him.

Most doctors in this area had never seen anything quite like it (the tumor in the sternum area).

There are several unanswered questions about it all. We don't think that the cancer had been present for the last four years. Not small cell cancer, that's way too aggressive. And my father never had that "cancer look" until really the last 6 months of his life.

But something did trigger cancer in that area and something did attack his sternum.

My uneducated guess is some form of candida yeast fungus. Candida yeast is growing problem in this country due to our poor diets and other factors. Candida yeast is tied by many experts to not just gas and bloating but other things like nail fungus, sinus problems and athlete's foot.

My father had both digestive problems and horrible nail fungus on both his fingers and his toes.

My feeling (after researching it all) is that this candida yeast fungus attacked the soft sternum... eventually weakening it to a point where it made it an easy target for small cell cancer. My father was a smoker for close to 40 years. It seems likely that the small cell cancer was contributed to greatly by the smoking. The cancer then attacked his sternum and lungs (he'd had lung issues for several years prior to the cancer).

This whole sternum pain/lump problem thing is very interesting and it seems very elusive when it comes to the medical community as a whole.

Like I said my father suffered from pain there for the last four years of his life and it eventually helped contribute to his death. I wish there was more out there on health issues dealing with the sternum.