Pressure in right side of abdomen

Hi all. I think I might have an answer for everyone. I've suffered with ulcerative colitis throughout my adult life, and recently changed my diet quite radically. This also came with the uncomfortable feeling in my liver area. My dietitian recommended I get my stomach acidity levels checked and they were quite low. I started taking betaine hydrochloride capsules after each meal (the more protein in the meal the more capsules to be taken) as a substitute for the stomach acid missing in my body and not only did the pressure near my liver subside but my system seemed to correct itself too.

I now notice if I don't take the capsules after meals I get the pressure under my ribs. Might not work for everyone but it worked for me. If you want to check your stomach acidity levels put a teaspoon of baking soda in a half glass of water and gulp it down. If you don't let out a big healthy burp within a minute or two then you have low stomach acidity. Low acidity is also the cause of excessive gas.

I had the same symptoms as everyone here. I finally read somewhere to try omeprazole and I did (the tablets I got also contained sodium bicarbonate) and from the first day I noticed the discomfort getting a little better.
Now 3days in (9 days to go to finish the tablets as recommended) and the discomfort is light and getting lighter every day.

I'm getting that same pressure. Hope on of us finds out what it is

I've had same symptoms had an ultrasound and the results showed gall stones. I have an appointment with a surgeon in two days.

I had this issue for many years. I had ultrasounds, upper endoscopy, many blood tests, and the only thing doctors were able to deduce was that it might be air trapped in my digestive system. It is true that when I do not feel bloated and my digestion works well I don't feel that pressure/pain anymore. My doctor recommended probiotics and a medicine to reduce the bloatedness and I'll have to take first for one month and second for 3 moths. 1 month in and the pressure is almost entirely gone. So if you find no answers it might be air trapped in your digestive system that is causing the pressure/pain.

Thanks. What is the medicine that reduces bloatedness?

The probiotic is called Prodefen (take one a day - dissolved in water - after eating) and the medicine is called Lansoprazol (take one pill before breakfast). Those are the names of the medicine here in Spain where I live. They are quite expensive though, but so far they help me a lot. Will see my doctor in 3 months again to see if my symptoms improved overall.

Btw the best is to talk to your doctor and ask for tests. Here are the tests I’ve done prior to this:

1. Two detailed blood tests over the course of a year to see what/if something changed. They can tell you a lot about the functions of your kidneys, liver, pancreas, or if you are bleeding (anemia) and other stuff. My tests were all perfect.
2. Urine and stool tests. The stool was to look for harmful microorganisms. They found nothing harmful.
3. Full abdominal ultrasound to see if any of your organs are inflamed or if they spot something abnormal. They found polyps on my gallbladder and I’ll have to check them out every year (ultrasound) to make sure they don’t grow (since that’s a risk for cancer, and gallbladder cancer has little to no symptoms and is one of the deadliest cancers out there so you have to make sure you check your gallbladder for that). I had no gallbladder stones which are a common reason for the kind of pain that many people describe here.
4. Lactose intolerance test - to make sure that is not causing my issues. The tests were negative for me but the test is only 60% accurate when negative (so you might be lactose intolerant and still get a negative result, but if while performing the test you get little to no symptoms like bloating then is likely you are not lactose intolerant).
5. Upper endoscopy with tissue samples. They insert a tube with a camera down your throat to best check your stomach and duodenum. In my case they only found out my stomach does not close properly and that leads to heartburn (acid reflux). The tissue samples test were for stuff like inflammation and the H.Pylori bacteria which is a very dangerous one that causes ulcers and cancer. They found nothing.
6. I had several physical exams where doctors pushed against my abdomen and checked to see if they can feel anything or if I feel pain - they said all is normal.
7. My doctor said that if I feel bad in 3 months then we’ll have a colonoscopy as well, but that’s for my indigestion issues nothing to do with the upper right pain.

So you can try the stuff that I take that my doctor recommended but I suggest to everyone to go to a gastroenterologist (specialist in such problems) and insist to have as many tests as possible and try different medicine or diet. For me it also helps to avoid foods that usually cause me problems (bloating, indigestion).

Hope it helps.

I've had a quick skim through all this, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned anxiety/stress. Tightening and pressure in this area can be caused by tense muscles, and worrying about it will make it worse.

Doctors generally overlook the wide range of symptoms that can be caused by stress/anxiety

Yes ! I think it's because of stress as well. I'm having the same sensation as well and my exams are going on which is making it worse. What do I do ?

Yes I can confirm that stress also adds up to this. Or body position when I sit at my computer for longer periods of time and in uncomfortable positions.

Hi everyone. I'm feeling precisely what many of you are describing. I am a 25 year old male. I've been drinking coffee every day and my job forces me to sit down for 8 hours a day. I have had back pain for years. If things don't get better in the next two months, I'm going to a doctor. If that fails to fix it or convince me - then I'll check an osteopath. I'll come back here soon with some updates.

Part of the solution is recognizing it for what it is, that takes away some of the worry/stress and so the symptoms subside

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I did also research anxiety/stress and do agree with you about the possibility that this may be part of the factor. I have a high stress occupation and live an extremely busy life. My only "but" in this is that I have lived this way for 20 years now and just in the past year or more the symptoms have shown up. Could be a part of aging as well. However I recently did another experiment, not intended. Due to a really busy schedule, I got off my probiotic/enzyme schedule and the symptoms all returned within a week. That was interesting to me. So now I am remembering to make sure I take my doses regularly because the weird symptoms just bring on more stress. I also agree with the person who thought it might be air in the digestive system. That's sometimes what I thought that "ball" was under my ribs near my liver. But for me, the best solution has been the combo of the probiotics and enzymes - I had gotten rid of those symptoms for a few months using those products.

Guys, I'm feeling much better. I have no idea what my issue was and you could be suffering from something different but here goes what I did: I reduced coffee intake, I started going to the gym daily for 40 minutes, started sleeping in different positions, cut on sugar, started stretching twice a day. I was going to the gym for only 20-25 minutes I realized it wasn't enough. If I don't leave feeling exhausted and sweating a lot - there's no point in going. I hope you all recover.

Have you ever found out what was it ?