By Janine on Saturday, June 03, 2000 - 03:41 am:

Hi,

Does anyone have Pectus Excavatum (sunken chest)
who has EDS or HMS. I think I am a mild case of EDS
I heard the chest deformity is sometimes part of it.
I have hypermobile joints, double-jointed fingers, and
cracked all my joint regularly since I was a kid.
My worst problems are my jaw (TMJ), neck, and wrists.
I have headaches everyday and my joints hurt. It is no
fun, but I am physically active (hike, ski, climb)
I had surgery for the Pectus Excavatum. I also have
long legs and arms. I am 45.

What do you think?

By Bridget on Saturday, June 03, 2000 - 03:41 am:

My husband has pectus excavatum, and HMS. He's had chest pain as long as he can remember, on and off. Other painful areas are his back, wrists, neck, and head.
No one has ever suggested surgery in his case, we've never found any doctors to be helpful for any of his problems, except to intimate that the problems are
psychosomatic!! ( a common tactic they use, instead of just admitting they don't know....)
Bridget, Tucson

By Janine on Saturday, June 03, 2000 - 03:41 am:

The depression in my sternum was severe enough to cause
displacement of my heart and breathing difficulties. My surgery
was six years ago (I am 45). I don't have the problems with
exersize I was having before the surgery and I can take a deep
breath and my ribcage expands.

By Bridget on Saturday, June 03, 2000 - 03:42 am:

Thanks for the info. This is interesting to me, as my husband has had some trouble breathing as of late. We hadn't even thought about it being related to his sternum.
What type of doctor would be knowledgeable about how this can affect your heart and/or breathing? He does also seem to have more trouble with his heart, such as
irregular beats, it stopping, even passing out on occasion. Perhaps you can e-mail me, and we can continue the discussion if you have time..... Thanks,
Bridget, Tucson

By Lisa Moody on Thursday, September 07, 2000 - 11:58 am:

My 8 year old son has Pectus Excavatum due to cliedocranial dysplasia. His birth defect is due to the fact of a gene mutation. None of my other 2 children have it and I was told that it is very unlikely that the child I am carrying will get it. Jacob has a very mild case of CCD. The only noticable things are; Pectus Excavatum, small stature, small nails, adult teeth that have not come through the gum even though the primary teeth have already fallen out, the ability of almost touch his shoulders together(which he thinks is cool), and I believe this is all.

By Pat on Wednesday, September 13, 2000 - 09:11 pm:

My 22 year old son has Pectus Excavatum with slowed heart beat on expiration. He has never had any other problem with it.
To lighten this forum up:
We didn't know we had EDS, but we did know we had loose joints, until this summer. My older son began calling his younger brother "Concave-the-chest Man" when they were in high school. I felt bad for #2 son for a while, but he loves that name so much no one at the university knows his name isn't "Cave" except the faculty! At least his brother didn't call him "Flat Feet"!

By Vicki on Sunday, May 13, 2001 - 08:47 pm:

to Bridget and Pat,
I work in a hospital and we do several surgeries on Pectus Excavatum patients. I work on the pedi floor so most of our cases are between the ages of 5-17 but we have had up to 36 years of age. The doctor that does them at our hospital is perfecting a new method with a bar and the recovery time is improved. I know a great surgeon if you need one. My daughter has HMS and so far has had no problems with her chest. I never really noticed a corraltion between the two conditions but I'll ask the surgeon if he has ever noticed and I think it would be interesting to start taking note of the patients we do see with the Pectus condition. You've given me something to think about.
Vicki