Strange pain/cramping feeling under right lower part of rib cage

Hi there - I'm a fairly healthy male, 33 yrs old, 6', 180 lbs, and for about a month I've been having what feels like cramping or muscle pain/weakness on my right side under my rib cage, moving towards my far right side of my ribs at about the same height.  I've also had some minor pain/tiredness at times in my upper back/shoulders.  This has been happening on and off (more on than off) for the past month or so.  

I took a very low does of klonopin for about a year, and stopped it about 2 months ago.  I had some minor muscle cramping for about a week after, but not sure if that was related to me stopping it.

I checked my symptoms and I know that some things point to possibly gall stones - but wondering if my symptoms sound like that, or possibly something else like stress.  

I'd appreciate any thoughts that you might have.  Thanks in advance.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
If you have pain under your right rib then there could be a liver infection, pancreatitis, or a gall bladder problem. Get a liver function test, ultrasound or CT of abdomen, and pancreatic enzymes. It can also be due to acidity and duodenal ulcer. Take a late night snack. Raise head end of bed. Take Omeprazole empty stomach in morning and an antacid gel at bedtime. Refrain from smoking, alcohol, fuzzy drinks and spicy food. Walking around also helps clear gas. It could also be muscle pull that can be treated by applying local analgesic creams. It could also be costochondritis, which causes pain and tenderness at points where your ribs attach to your breastbone.  The inflammation around the joint area gives sharp pain on taking a breath. This can also cause tenderness on pressing the area which pains. An orthopedic doctor can diagnose this for you. Generally there is no cause. However it can be due to infection, blow, injury, or fibromyalgia. It usually goes away on its own. Otherwise it can be treated with muscle relaxants, and non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs. It can also be muscle pull. Shingles can also start this way. Pain under right ribs with gas can be due to any inflammatory bowel disease like Celiac or Crohn’s, IBS or due to food intolerance. If all these are ruled out, then laproscopy should be done. Such an undiagnosed pain is usually due to adhesions and cutting the adhesions takes care of the pain. Pain under right rib case can also be due to pleurisy, asthma, or any other lung problems. Usually this is accompanied by lung related symptoms like breathlessness, cough etc. Since a confirmed diagnosis cannot be given on net please discuss with your doctor once. Hope this helps. Take care!

[motherof3boys91503]

I started out by having pains just around where your breast plate is and down to the right and even sometimes up the right side of my shoulder. I thought it was a heart attack. The doctors diagnosed me with anxiety and several other things. they said something about chrons disease, but I had no symptoms of that. It got so bad sometimes that I would have severe heart burn that would feel like it was eating thru into my back.the pains were bad at times. sometimes even to the right of my chest. I fought so hard with the doctors telling them something was wrong with me. There were times that my blood pressure was a little low and they assumed it was just normal. Finally they got sick and tired of me going in, I told them I wasnt leaving til they did an MRI or catscan. They ended up doing both and found that I had three gallstones logged in the bile duct cutting off the blood supply. I was so happy to know what it was finally, but knowing that you need to have your gallbladder removed meant you have to go on a special diet. No fatty foods, no caffeine, no chocolate, no saucy foods. I thought to myself, great! Now what am I going to eat? lol...well needless to say I had the operation and was out the same day, but I have to take the omeprazole everyday or else I get severe heart burn. Your body has to adjust to not having your gallbladder anymore. And if thats what it is and you do get the surgery, one thing to remember! You can get whats called a phantom pain. I kept getting pains up til about two months after surgery. I thought great once again, this was misdiagnosed...just a phantom pain! eventually that went away.

[mstanfordrn42]

I am so sorry your having problems.  I am afraid I won't be much help as a nurse, since I am an OB nurse and your not complaining of labor pains!! Have you talked with your PCP about this?  I definitely can see where the right upper quadrant pain can be gallbladder related.  I would definitely get this checked out because you wouldn't want to get worse.  Hope you feel better soon.

[lan81]

I am having similar symptoms for more than 7 months. I went through blood test, ultrasound, CT scan etc, still not diagnosed.  It drives me crazy....

[cfc1964]

I'm getting bad pain under my right rib it feels like I have football there when I lay on it iv got loss of appetite can't sleep for the dissconfet been doctor and all I get is pain killers that dint kill the pain