I am a healthy 37 year old male in good physical condition. I have never smoked,drink only very occasionally, and am not overweight.
For the past 3 years I have had intermitent pain right below my lowest rib. Sometimes the pain is on the right side, and sometimes it presents on the left. And occassionally it comes on both sides along the same axis below my last ribs. The pain feels like a burning sensation, and if I press on the area it becomes much more sensative to the touch. The pain only lasts a couple of seconds and then goes away. A minute or two later it comes back. This will last for a couple of days at a time (maybe a week or two) and then not come back for two or three months. The pain has not increased in intensity during the 3 years that I have been bothered.
During the last couple of years, I have had multiple utrasounds, a CT scan, and X-rays of my ribs, and blood tests. None of the tests have showed anything. My internist and gastro specialist have both told me that because they see nothing to worry about from the tests, and that the pain is on both sides, it is probably inflamation of some sort, or stress related; especially because the pain has not gotten worse over time. But the anti-inflamitories have not really worked and I cant relate the pain to anything that I eat. Of course I worry about the worst, and that the tests are not picking up the actual cause of the discomfort. My father died from pancreatic cancer when he was 62, and although I know that is not what I have, I am sensitive to bothersome abdominal pains. It is difficult to live with a pain on and off for three years and not know what is causing it.
Any thoughts? Could it just be stress? (I do have stress in my life)