Pain along right side of rib cage?

anonemouse · 02-12-2008, 04:59 PM

I've been experiencing pain off and on, and it seems to be primarily located right around my rib cage, under my right breast. Anyone know what that might be?

**Wheetsin** · 02-12-2008, 05:19 PM

Hehe.

Can you relate it to anything else? E.g. sharp stabbing pain with deep breaths? Notice any differences in pain after certain types of meals - particularly much later in the same evening? Etc.

Enter standard disclaimer than I'm not a medical professional. ;)

anonemouse · 02-12-2008, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wheetsin

Hehe.

Can you relate it to anything else? E.g. sharp stabbing pain with deep breaths? Notice any differences in pain after certain types of meals - particularly much later in the same evening? Etc.

Enter standard disclaimer than I'm not a medical professional. ;)

It's kind of throbbing/stabbing/sharp ache pain, if that makes any sense. I haven't really paid much attention to what I was eating before it's happened, so I can't say with any certainty that I was eating a particular type of food before the attacks. If I had to guess, though, I'd say higher fat meals than I usually eat. I think the last attack was after I'd eaten beef tips sauteed with rice, onion, and cheese and a really cheesy broccoli casserole thingy from a restaurant. It's not a constant thing, though. I'll go days with no problems and then it'll start hurting off and on for a couple days.

Marimaru · 02-12-2008, 07:41 PM

If it flares up after you eat, and especially after you eat higher fat meals, that screams gallbladder to me. Evidently losing weight (any way you do it) is tough on the little thing. I'd get it checked out.

anonemouse · 02-12-2008, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marimaru

If it flares up after you eat, and especially after you eat higher fat meals, that screams gallbladder to me. Evidently losing weight (any way you do it) is tough on the little thing. I'd get it checked out.

That's what I was worried about. If it gives me any more problems, I'll definitely give my surgeon a call.

**Wheetsin** · 02-13-2008, 12:19 AM

Yeah, that's why I asked those two questions in particular. I had my GB out in August. It took a while to diagnose because I had atypical symptoms - it took an ultrasound to be sure. If you can associate it to meals, especially high fat meals, and especially later in the evening, say it's waking you up at night -- GB is definitely in the line-up.

On the breathing I asked because of pleurisy. You pretty much (as I understood it) nailed the location, but you'd probably feel it more with deep breaths -- have to breathe shallow to avoid pain -- even if it didn't last long. (I've had pleurisy with an upper resp infection, it hurts).

Then again, I don't get paid near enough to diagnose people, so it's worth exactly what you paid for it.

Audie · 02-17-2008, 01:26 PM

I would also agree you might want to have your gallbladder checked. I JUST had mine out like 2 weeks ago. I kept getting these weird (and might I add, very excruciating) pains under my rib cage. It totally felt like someone was kicking in my ribs. And mine radiated around to my back. I didn't really know I was having gallbladder attacks (I'm a dumbie and thought maybe something was stuck in my band!). It had been happening off and on since August until I was in miserable pain for 2 weeks straight and was afraid to eat anything. I was also having nausea and vomiting. lol, and get this, a stone got stuck in my duct between my the gallbladder and liver and I jaundiced. Thank god for that, though, because then they yanked the damn thing out right away!! An ultrasound confirmed I had many stones and was attributed to the very rapid weight loss. So I hope you don't suffer as long as I did .... and get it taken care of!

Good luck!!

Fanny Adams · 02-17-2008, 10:27 PM

Erk... I was lying in bed last night, wondering what the hell was this odd pain I felt, and it sounds very much like yours only milder. If it works its way up into anything more severe, I'm off to the doctor's to check it out *sigh*

sallyjo · 02-20-2008, 03:11 PM

I only had two attacks after being banded for almost two years. The second one sent me to ER. The very next day an ultra sound and the next week gall bladder surgery. Two good things about my surgery. It was a very easy surgery and my surgeon was also a LAP-BAND^® surgeon and after I woke up he said I checked your band while I was in there and everything looks great.
So get it ultra sounded. The first attack scared me but by the second one I had read enough on this board to almost know what it was. Good luck Laurend.

**FairyFacade** · 02-20-2008, 05:56 PM

How interesting! I have pains under my right breast occasionally too, but mine have to do with my breathing. Once I thought I had a lung tumor due to the sharp pain of breathing in.. 2nd time was about a week ago, after I ate a HIGH FAT and lot of it, meal. I thought for a moment it was a heart attack. Then I remembered it's the left side.. but then I've heard it can be the right side.. blah blah, rambling thoughts in my head. It passed, I was fine. But I am curious what it might be. It's so infrequent, but when I have them it's a sharp stabbing pain when I breathe in. I read about Pleurisy (because Wheet, your medical diagnosis is much better than the last time I sat at the ER to find out if I had a blood clot in my lungs.. which in retrospect, I think was actually when my port flipped..and they sent me home and said take advil heh). Doesn't sound like it either. If it ever persists for more than 15 minutes I'll get it checked out. Doesn't sound like mine is gallbladder either!

Sunwyse · 02-21-2008, 01:13 AM

I had my gallbladder out 8 years ago. I can still remember the pain, mine didn't come and go mine came and didn't go again until I had it out, about 3 weeks later.

The classic symptoms are the 4Fs, female, fair, fat, forty. And you are much more likely to get it if you've had a history of dieting and binging a bit.

georgia girl · 02-21-2008, 01:26 AM

Laurend, this is soooo weird............first the ear infection, now this. I'm begining to think we were seperated at birth, lol!

I am having the same problem....kinda. I had an episode last Saturday night, a very sharp, cramping, stabbing pain in back started and lasted for about 30-45 minutes. It went away, so I didn't think much about it. Then last night, I had the same sharp, stabbing pain right around my ribcage on my right side, it lasted for about 30 minutes. I couldn't hardly move and it hurt worse when I tried to.

I did some research and I was thinking it could be gallbladder. I never knew that losing weight could cause gallbladder problems, I always heard that obese people were at high risk, but not weight loss. I guess I'll wait it out and see if I have another attack......

Gloucester · 02-21-2008, 08:05 AM

It sounds like what I was going through recently - gall bladder issues. At first a couple attacks lasted only a few minutes (and I attributed it to over-eating and the band letting me know). But, then, after a month the pain escalated to several hours. I took some of the codine based medicine I got at the time of surgery and that didn't even touch it. Turns out it was gall stones.

My pain began on the right side, but ended up wrapping all the way around and up my back. I was also throwing up acidic fluids. It wasn't like a pb. I called my surgeon's office first, since I did think it was the band. The nurse that I love answered and asked if I'd ever had gall bladder problems and suggested I go to my primary doctor.

I would definitely suggest that you schedule an appointment with the doctor as soon as you can for a diagnosis.

And, the fat content of my food recently has been building. On the wake of Christmas and V-Day, my fat consumption probably outweighed the last 6 months worth. I did read that fat is a trigger, and losing weight will bring on stones, too.

**FairyFacade** · 02-21-2008, 10:48 AM

Don't some people have their gallbladder taken out with the WLS? I admit I haven't paid much attention to this, but it sounds like it's pretty common that they will go hand in hand, and I thought people have mentioned them doing it both at once.
My dad had his gallbladder taken out about 10 years ago.. He thought he was having a heart attack!

georgia girl · 02-21-2008, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyFacade

Don't some people have their gallbladder taken out with the WLS? I admit I haven't paid much attention to this, but it sounds like it's pretty common that they will go hand in hand, and I thought people have mentioned them doing it both at once.
My dad had his gallbladder taken out about 10 years ago.. He thought he was having a heart attack!

I've never heard of gallbladders being removed with WLS, but I have heard that some people had hernias repaired with WLS.