pain under right rib cage, right shoulder blade, pressure has ruined my life.

tuffyas wrote:

brucergoldberg wrote:

I am in desperate need of help. I have had every known test known to mankind yet no one can figure out what is wrong with me. I was attracted to this site as I found the posts listed below of 2 people that had the exact same problem as myself but no one ever responded, and they drifted away.

This all started about a month ago. All arrows pointed to my gallblatter, but I have since had that removed and the pain still exists....

I have had:

5 blood work ups
2 Hedi Scans (before and after the gallblatter removal)
kidney mri
back mri
colonostrophy
stomache scope
rib xrays/chest/lungs
Pain injections
diabetes test
full STD work up

I have lost 14 pounds.

Pain is under right rib cage, also sometime center of back to under shoulder blade. Hurts to breathe sometimes on right, lots of pressure.

I will send you a nice gift in the mail if you can figure out what is wrong with me or point me in the right direction that leads me to an answer. Please read the below posts:

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I had my GB removed in April, it is now Aug. I have bad back pain that just doesnt want to go away. It started about to two weeks after surgery. Ive had Xrays, CT scan, 2 MRIs done and they cant find anything wrong. IM GOING CRAZY. dont know what to do. I was told that i would be out of work for 2 weeks. WE ARE GOING ON 5 MONTHS. Has anyone seen/heard of anything like this.........

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am just past 3 weeks after gall bladder removal. What's up with this "mystery back pain"? i thought I was pretty much all fine and about 80% or better. But last few days my upper or maybe middle back on the right side is sore.

i saw 2 doctors today and they think it is just back muscle spasms. NOT A KIDNEY problem. I don't seem to have any urination problems or anything. no fever, no sickness etc. Maybe it is simply my back, but doesn't seem like anormal back pain.

meanwhile the surgey areas are a little sore and they were all cool the last week or so. Seems weird to me that the pain is sort of cycling back. I thought i was pretty much over it. I only used pain pills the first 3 days or so and felt improvement up until about 5 days or so ago.

Does it seem like the pain can fluctuate back in? I thought i was over pain.

the back seems the worst. it fgeels like about an inch or so just below my ribs on my right back area. Is this simalar to what you guys feel and the location?

it's not horrible- not like teh gall bladder was SOOOOOO bad. But this is painful. God i hope it's not my kidney. Docs...say nope. but man it hurts..

have it all the pain is like a sword going thru my shoulder into shoulder blade and breast had over a year no help 5 doctors told me they cant help me isnt there some kind of test that could show that whole aera. at times its a constant stabbing like pins and needlees HELP HELP

I had gallbladder surgery, one month later had my daughter, about 6 months later I had horrible pain, vomiting, off of work again. I had both upper and lower GI's. Believe it or not, it was an inflammed nerve! Once I was given the correct medication I was fine and have been until today. However today oh my gosh, like 22 years later. I hope it is only my lack of water and to much caffeine.

I have the same thing!  I have had cortisone injections, two nerve blocks, Botox injections, x-rays, chiropractic treatments and physical therapy.  I have had this pain in my shoulder blade area, on the right, into my rib cage and under my arm, now for almost two years.  All the doctors I have seen act like it is no big deal. My neurologist, who did the injections, thought it was from my work-typing all day. I have been out of work for four weeks now and am not any better. Nothing helps the pain. Sometimes I even have pain down my right arm and deep inside my back. It hurts to breath also. Most of the pain I can feel in small spots, just pushing on it with one finger sends me to the moon! The pain sometimes radiates into my neck/head and causes a migraine.  Has anyone found out what the heck this is???

I finally had a steroid injection in my ass and haven't had rib cage pain since ! I thought it might be constogongitis (inflammation along rib/breastbone cartilidge) and so far the relief has been great. Also just plain "feel Better". Suggest to docs.

(GASTRITIS IS THE CAUSE)I just wanted to cry when i read this post, i could of written it myself, i am not alone,  i suffered a year with this pain, until i was rushed in to have my gallbladder removed which had erupted, all started after the birth of my daughter, but even after having my gall bladder out pain continued about 3 months after, mainly happened at night while sleeping, id wake up with rib pain and right shoulder pain, laying down flat triggers the pain for me, when i sit up with cushions it helps easy the pain, the back pain was always there just came and went, also noticed my skin feeling a little itchy but no spots, and just fell the need to scratch in places, iv had tests, mri, endoscopy etc, the endoscopy showed i had stomack gastritis which was the cause of my pain, iv been put on omeprazole which i take daily, and i do not get the pains anymore but if i stop taking it the pains will come back, i also invested in some pure aloevera with manuka honey juice form amazon, its a godsend, and pure liqurice to help with the bile, so can i suggest you maybe asking you doc for an edoscopy test of your stomach which can diagnose if you have them same problem. gl :)

i forgot to mention the symptoms of gastritis, vary and can be more severe to others, chest and upper abdominal pain also radiating to the back and shoulder, nausea, fever, belching, bloating, burning inside, vomiting, feeling full, bowel problems etc gl all with this worth checking out as you can get stomach ulcers and Helicobacter pylori from this.

Gastritis in NOT the cause for me anyway. I've had my gallbladder checked in the hospital (ultrasound) and it was o.k. I've also had this pain for at least two years and I have been on Omeprazole daily for more than three years.

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I have the EXACT PAIN you are having LISHA93.... I fell almost 2 years ago and was diagnosed with fractured rib but no x rays were done .. this was my 1st mistake!!! The pain has NEVER gone away.

I have been misdiagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, then they found a disc at T6-7,7-8,8-9 that is protruding onto my spinal cord, but one of the best spine surgeons at Vanderbuilt Hospital does not feel that is what is causing my pain (I saw him 2 weeks ago).

I can not get this pain to stop!!! NO MEDS are helping !! They take the UNBEARABLE pain to breathe or just pain that is constant down to a 6... but never any relief. Like you, the pain is in my back, right side.. that goes under my shoulder blade so deep that it follows my rib cage alll the way to the front and DOES feel like a heart attack would feel!!!!

When I raise my arms above my head, I get dizzy and light headed and feel if I could pass out.... everything goes white and blury!

I had a lung CT scan with the dye 4 weeks ago... only problem with my lungs are that they are holding fluid due to me not breathing deep... I CAN'T BREATHE DEEP BECAUSE OF THE PAIN!!!!!

I have an appt with another neuro surgeon this Wednesday for a 2nd opinion,,,,, this will be my 3rd return to this surgeon, he is the one sent me for EPIDERAL CORTISONE INJECTIONS that did not work and the lung CT!!!

Epideral injections were a joke....One lasted a day, the 2nd caused me pressure so bad on my back/lungs that I could not breathe..which caused pneumonia (i have pneumonia or bronchitis about every 2 months due to not breathing deep due to the pain)..... I am with you PLEEEEAASE SOMEONE HELP US!!!!

WOW!!i'm sorry for all of you that feel this pain, its miserable, I am NOT a doctor, but i'll tell you what i know so far..

I think we have SLIPPING RIB SYNDROME. (ribs out of place)

i couldnt believe reading this, this rib pain is ruining my life. im a 32 y/o female. felt this off n on sometime now, but now its severe and will not go away!! feels like someone is stabbing me with a hot firepoker thru my back, ribs, coming out chest, beside breast. mine is all left side. and gets so bad my anxiety shoots through the roof!! i get nauseated!! I cannot hardly stand to be up longer than 30 mins and have to lay down. when i lay down, after 20, maybe 30 minutes it eases up some, and i feel a little relief. (sometimes)

i will list what makes mine worse and what helps, and what i have found out recently.

MY HISTORY (briefly): I had back surgery 3 years ago. L4 L5 fusion. herniated disc. L5 S1 (due to heriditary problems) i always suffer with that pain as i have plate screws, and alot of nerve damage in legs. Neurosurgeon put in a spinal chord stimulator to help with pain in my legs, low back, etc. it does help with leg nerve pain, but mow i can NOT have an mri, i have a battery inside my body. Ever since the SCS placement surgery, i have had this RIB, MID BACK PAIN, and cannot hardly stand it!! I also have buldinging discs T5678&9, but as of last MRI were minor and shouldnt be causing this kind of pain.

PROCEDURES/TESTS I'VE HAD: back surgery, L4 L5 S1 fusion, spinalcord stimulator placement surgery probably 15 or more epidural steroid injections (waste of time and money) Nerve root blocks (4 times) to numb the nerves around ribs (t7 t8) so you cannot feel the pain) DID not work!! several mris cat scans myelograms discogram several doctors, pain management, neurosurgeon, internal medicine, orthapedic, chiropractors, etc nerve studies **all of these not due to ribs only, also for my other back problems)**

WHAT MAKES IT WORSE: BREATHING, coughing, eating or being full, sitting up, driving, standing, walking, carrying anything..including my purse, twisting, any daily life activity, EVERYTHING makes it worse, it just HURTS!!

WHAT HELPS RIB/BACK PAIN: Laying down, with hurting side up, is my number 1, it just makes those burning, tight muscles relax, and after 20 to 40 mins it feels so much better! ice (for inflamation) Ibuprofin ( anti-inflammitory) warm baths ( i dont think this is good for inflammation. but it feels good at the time) LIDODERM Patches, they are pricey if you dont have insurance, luckily my doc gives me samples, they numb skin and deeper that skin, they dont stop pain, but they help. Nuerontin (for nerve pain &spasms) Zonegran (a seizure medicine, i dont have seizures but it helps with spasms ans nerve pain because i cannot take lyrica) Pain meds hydrocodone (helps some) Muscle relaxers (ive tried zanaflex, soma, robaxin) soma helped for a while, but after a while stopped, so he switched me to zanaflex 4mg, 2 at night. thats a big dose and it knocks me out, but out is better than pain )

THIS IS ALL I CAN COME UP WITH.. (only my opinion and research) SLIPPING RIB SYNDROME ..other names include: interchondral subluxation: rib tip syndrome, clickinf rib, slipping rib carlidge sydrome, rib tip syndrome, nerve nippin, painful rib syndrome.... SLIPPING RIB SYNDROME is one of the most MIS-DIAGNOSED conditions today. It basically meaning you have ribs out of place. every rib is lined with a nerve, so ribs out of place causes inflammation, swelling, irriatation of cartlige, muscle, etc which touches your nerves therfor causeing pain. Out of place ribs can also cause muscle tears or cartlidge, which would be the burning pain we feel. The shooting pain (or feels like your skin hurts) would be the nerve pain.

THE ONLY 2 OPTIONS I SEE FOR RELIEF:

1. chiropractor.. unfortunately i have found few, that actually got long term relief, BUT several people i have read about have gotten relief from their chiropractor. The problem is, finding a chirpractor that has experience with SLIPPING RIB SYDROME. and being diagnosed correctly!!

2. Surgery... There is also a surgery my neurosurgeon mentioned SURGERY just last week ;(.. severe cases are treated with surgery, in which the anterior part of the ribs are removed.

Like I said, I am NOT a dcotor and I may be waaay off, but this is all i can find after numerous hours, months trying to figure out a way to stop this pain!! you can google slipping rib syndrome, surgeries, treatment to find out more.. Hope this helps good luck

Hey bud ive got the exact same problem as you, pain under the right rib cage right to the back under the right shoulder blade i had it for two years but recently i went for a game of golf in which it aggravated it to the point where i couldnt move properly and i was almost bed ridin the pain was so sharp it felt it like 30.000 volts going through me i went to the hospital only for them to tell me that nothing is wrong with me and sent me home with pain killers which eased the pain but didnt fix the problem but in the two years i had it ive seen three different doctors and had two xrays to no avail right now i feel like c**p so im just wondering if you had any luck with yours if you did can you please give me some sort of heads up on what you think this is itll be much appreciated. Thanks

I am a 38 year old male non smoker i eat normally fruit, veges, meat, etc and am pretty fit do alot of running and pump alittle weights, two years ago i noticed a sharp pain under my right rib cage that went all the way through to my back under my right shhoulder blade although i had this pain it wasnt big enough to stop me from all the physical work i described earlier but it took just one game of golf to stop it all, i think because of all the twisting and turning that a game of golf endures i must of aggravated it and the pain was so bad it took me around almost two minutes to put a pair of socks on i couldnt bend i couldnt twist i couldnt turn properly if i moved even an inch well lying in bed it would send a pain like no other through my body similar to a high current of electricity going through you meaning the pain that i always had amped up 10 fold. In the two years i had it i saw three doctors and had two xrays which all told me the same thing that everything was fine and all is working well but the pain factor in my brain was telling me otherwise, its been two weeks now since my game of golf and three days since i admitted myself to hospital in which they told me the same thing that nothing is wrong with me and gave me some pain killers and then sent me home an hour later although the pain killers help alittle bit the pain is much worse than before for example i dont want to sit in a car when its moving because every little bump it hits feels like a lightning bolt to me thats how bad it is, damn im even having trouble typing this so if anyone out there has some suggestions or solutions please feel free to post, the way i feel right now id pretty much try anything. Thanks all.

Hi savannah - I would be interested to know what happened to the pain on your right side. I would also like to know the NMD info. Thank you!

Dear Alice, I am alreeady on the one of the prazole brothers, and I have that same sharp pain, that seems to be getting worse. From everything I am reading- even those who have the GB removed, they still have the pain. Any suggestions would be great.

Thank you!

Hi Savannah my name is Paul and i to would like to know more about the natural medicines you describe in your post my email is

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....and i hope your aches and pains dissolve away soon thank you.

Thank you Poly39! I have recently found out that my T6-7,8-9 discs are herniated. One neoro surgeon said not bad enuf for surgery...another that is an older/more experienced neuro surgeon has said they ARE CAUSING MY PAIN because everytime I breathe my lungs touch the nerves on my spine.
That makes sense to me. Plus my chronic pain doctor Has always felt it was my back. Since it is in the middle they will not do surgery. They said the outcome could be worse. It is a very delicate dangerous surgery. They have to open your ribs And move your lung And there are so many nerves right there in the middle That if they slipped I could become paralyzed. So.... They are treating me with medication that isn't working. I was on methadone 3 * a day And percocet in between. The methadone made my face tongue and lips swell ! Currently they are changing medication I don't know what it is until tomorrow . I ask them for the nerve block ... Apparently that is my only option other than medications . My chronic pain doctor Wants to try this new medication first That I get tomorrow I don't remember the name .

Apparently this is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life . My question is what happens If the disco from herneated to rupture ?? I'll have to ask my doctor when I go back. He's very concerned And avoided the question last time...... So it must be pretty bad?
I sure hope we all get results and answers. 2 years is a long time to suffer with pain not knowing what it is !!!!!!! I think we would all feel better if we had a diagnosis !!!!! the frustration on top of the pain is horrible !!!
good luck everyone I will let you know what medications and let you know if it works

I dont get gall bladder attacks anymore, having it out was the best thing, though i did suffer sever trapped wind my stomach would blow up like a balloon and id look pregnant, it would go solid like a rock, during this time id get the severe rib crushing feeling, and pain in my right shoulder blade, absolute agony, but it was just air stuck, soon as i had some fizzy tonic and managed to get the bubbles out i felt such a relief, the pain can be scary, but for me it was not something serious, the gastritis has settled due to keeping medication up, hope you all get some answers and good luck :)