Is it my gallbladder?

I'm not sure if this is related, but back in May 2011 for a couple days I had severe abdominal pain that almost prompted me to go to the ER (but I didn't have insurance at the time).  When I was sitting or standing I felt like I had a brick in my stomach weighing me down, but lying down flat I felt fine.  This went away after about 2 days.  Then over the summer I would have mild intermittent pains all over my abdomen.  These pains feel like dull burning pains.  Now for the past 2 months the same pain is focused right under my right rib cage.  It is a dull burning/aching pain that is constantly there when I first wake up and when I go to bed.  When I eat even a small meal I feel nauseous and my stomach bloats out for a couple hours and the pain gets worse.  I also sometimes get a sharp, burning pain between my shoulder blades like someone is pinching my muscles very hard, but after a few minutes my muscles feel fine.  It doesn't seem to matter what I eat I always have the same feeling, also no change in bowel movements.  I went to a new Dr for a physical and she basically blew off my symptoms and didn't take blood work or anything.  My husband's Dr is very good but won't see me until January, so a couple weeks ago I went back to the same Dr and got her to do blood work: all of my liver panel was normal so she told me I might have GERD and put me on prilosec.  She told me to come back in a week and tell me if the prilosec helped (which it didn't) and when I showed up a week later she had cancelled my appt and wouldn't come out to talk to me the secretary told me to call her if I had more pain.  I haven't had any GERD symptoms, no pains or anything above my ribcage at all, no regurgitation or anything like that.  I am thinking of calling and requesting she refer me to a specialist and an ultrasound.  Based on my symptoms I think it is gallbladder or liver related.  Is a gastroenterologist the right specialist to request?  She is not a very good Dr so I am trying to figure out what the next step would be myself, any other ideas besides seeing a gastro dr and getting an ultrasound?

PS - my aunt (mother's sister) had primary biliary cirrhosis diagnosed at my age (25) and now just had a liver transplant. Also I am on the NuvaRing, no other meds.

[mammo]

It appears that your doctor is one of many medical students that graduated at the bottom of their class and is still called Doctor!  Don't waste anymore of your time on her, and see a Gastroenterologist who will get right to the problem which sounds like your gallbladder, and nothing like GERD!  Good for you for questioning this doctor, and seeking out a specialist!  Make an appt. with a GI doc and he will get right to the problem as this is their area of expertise whether it's your gallbladder, live etc.  Hope this helps and that you get some relief quickly.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Did you mean you have pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen? Right upper quadrant pain could indicate disorders in the liver or gall bladder. If you have jaundice then it could point towards an obstructive disorder like gall stones. The referred pain could be due to the diaphragm getting irritated by the inflamed liver or gall bladder. The other causes for pain could be GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease), where the acid contents of the stomach came up into the esophagus and peptic ulcer disease. Discuss these options with your consulting doctor.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.