Upper right quadrant pain for 6 years

[ESmith33]

I'm 34 male. Not the best shape but not obese. Heavy drinker. I eat right and get a small amount of exercise.

For the last 6 years, I have had a strange aching pain in my upper right quadrant, right around the ribcage where the liver/gallbladder would be located. When the pain first started, and fearing it was my liver, I went to the doctors and had blood work, MRI, and ultrasound. Doctor said everything looked fine.

Around 3 years ago, I AGAIN went to the doctor. Same story. Everything came back fine.

Now I am having the constant URQ pain again but also weird spasms. I can literally feel something inside me spasm around the ribcage. I am having really bad heartburn too and sometimes wake up coughing on bile.

Considering going to the doctor for the 3rd time around and inquiring about the gallbladder. Does this sound like it could be gallbladder? After 6 years of this pain, I am just tired of it and want some answers.

[ESmith33]

I have heard of that sphincter of oddi dysfunction. I wonder if that may be it. I will bring it up with the doctor. Thanks for the reply!

[raiderfan252]

I am 35yo female and I also had my gall bladder removed in 2009. I've had more problems since the removal with nausea, vomiting bile, and severe pain where the gall bladder would be. It turns out the issues weren't from my gall bladder but from sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. It has to do with an opening that controls bile juices my opening wasn't opening and closing correctly, so I had a procedure similar to an endoscopy where they went in and cut it a little so it had more flexibility. It didn't completely clear my symptoms but it helped make them more manageable along with some meds and diet change. The problem is this issue can keep occurring and may only last a few years before you need another procedure and also if they cut it much it can make things worse. But it's a simple out patient procedure. I had to go to a specialist and there was only one dr who specialized in it in my area. I am not a doctor but its something you might want to check into.

[barbinpain]

If your doctor does a hida scan with CCK make sure you ask what your ef rate is. Also if the injection reproduces the same symptoms it most likely is your gallbladder. I have the same symptoms for 9 years and the only thing it shows is the ef rate of 88. There is a large controversy over what is normal. Basically ef rate between 35-74 is considered normal.. Good Luck!!

[ESmith33]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, I'm guessing gallbladder too at this point.

As far as the diet, I already eat a pretty good diet. No fried food, no overly fatty foods, no soda, etc. Mostly fresh meat and vegetables.

I made a doctors appointment but it's a few weeks away. I'll update when I find out more. If anyone else has any suggestions or input, I'd love to hear it.

[CalGal]

It does kind of sound like your gallbladder, but only some testing will give you an answer. Consider asking for a full blood panel with liver and pancreatic enzyme levels, a gallbladder ultrasound and possibly HIDA scan with CCK injection.

Are you following a very low fat diet? It might be of help.