Has anyone had diagnosis after RUQ pain?

[scb234]

I have had RUQ discomfort right around my rib cage area for several years with no diagnosis. sometimes, it is constant annoying feeling, rarely is it a sharp pain. On some occasions, I have had elevated bilirubin (total 1.8). My upper GI, CT scan, hydascan, and urinalysis were normal. No gallstones seen.

What I want to know is if anyone has had a diagnosis after similar pain and what was it? Should I be worried about having a serious illness?

[Jen1031]

A related discussion, Right Upper Quadrant Pain was started.

[Dr.Wannabe]

I sound just like you guys!!! In August of 1996, when I was 17, I had severe RUQ pain. The docs tooks out my GB, but the pain got worse... Over the years I have had hundreds of tests, even to the point to where one of my doc's showed me how to draw my own blood, and had me do it at the start of the pain, and then 30 minutes after until 5 hours past, or the severe attack was gone. What it showed was that my liver enzymes SKYROCKETED for the first 30-60 minutes, then dropped to below normal and then reached the normal area. After that I have two liver biopsies, which both confirmed that I have Non-Specific Hepatitsis, which means I am postive for all of them, even the rare ones, but don't actually have them. My liver is also 4.5% larger than it was in 1996 and still growing, giving extreme pain. I also have Bile duct stones and was later diagnosed at Shands Hospital in Gainsville,Fl. with Bilary Duct Obstruction Disorder. They would use an ultrasound the blast the stones, but I have them several times a week and my insurance will not pay for it. For some reason, no surgeon is willing to do the operation I need (Slicing the duct and putting a permanent shunt in there), they say they fear for pancreatitis. I say I don't give a damn! I want this fixed. I will be 23 April 29th, and have just had an intercostal nerve block to try and dull, if not kill the pain. It releived me of about 35%-45% of the daily pain. Gonna hafta wait and see how it handles an attack.
Don't forget that YOU are incharge of your heath and welfare, NOT the doctors. They are only advisors. They best thing you can do is research, research, REASEARCH!!!! That is you only weapon to help you through this nightmare!!!

[susanrdh]

Hello,

   I am 31 and have been experiencing much abdominal pain along my right side just beneath my ribcage that extends to my back.   I was being treated for a lumbar strain which was diagnosed a few weeks ago.   I have had 4 physical therapy visits but now my PTist is not giving me any therapy until we find out the real cause of my pain.    It all started as lower back pain and has since radiated upwards concentrated to the right side.   It feels as if I have knives being pierced in my side and also have nausea all the time along w/trouble breathing.  

   I saw a GI specialist the other day who sent me right away for a kidney & gallbladder ultrasound.   His feeling was that I either had a gallbladder problem or kidney stones.   The results were normal.   I still have extreme pain and the specialist is now treating me for an ulcer w/anti-spasmodic meds as well as a pain med Darvocet.   I was looking at a past blood workup I had done the end of Nov. 01' which stated my bilirubin (direct) levels were abnormal.   I am wondering if this is all related??   I am seeing the specialist on Monday as well as my primary care physician.     Any insight would be appreciated.    

Thanks,

Sue

[guiliett]

We all sound like a broken record! I am 45/F been having constant..mostly dull discomfort RUQ. For 1 month now I have been eating only jello and a small bowl of pasta with nothing on it.My liver enzymes are normal, I have a slightly elevated WBC, urine normal, amylase normal,Ultrasound negative, CT abdomen normal, Hida Scan(no results yet). They can no longer measure the ejection fraction of the GB as they can not get CCK anywhere in the US so I am not sure if the HIDA scan was a necessary test for me.I do know that the uptake of the Tec99 showed the small bowel at 12 minutes but the GB did not fill until almost 36 minutes. About 1 week ago I was tempted and decided to eat 3 red grapes and about a half hour later was in extreme pain(I had not had anything like that at all) with pain to my back and ocassionally to scapular. Passsed after about 2 hours and now back to constant dull pain. No stones have shown on any scan. I am so frustrated and am thinking about testing out alittle more food. Fatty foods do not seem to necessarily cause an increase in pain. The worst is the severe bloat within 15 minutes of eating and intensifies over the next hour or 2..even when eating the plain pasta. I am not sure what other tests can really be done for as far as I know there is no other way to determine sluggishness of the GB..any suggestions???

[taylee]

I had the same problem for over a year also. Nothing really showed on my tests either, and I had MRCP, 2 ultrasounds, CT scan of the abdomen, upper gi with small bowel follow through, bloodworks galore, and HIDA scan which only show a very high ejection fraction rate and pain reproduced during the test.
They thought it may have been gallbladder just because of the symptoms, not due to test results. So they did offer to take it out letting me know that, it may or may not cure the pain.
I decided to do it after much struggling with it. When they did get inside, they found it to be chronically inflamed, and stuck to all of the internal organs with scar tissue.
I am not sure why this wouldn't show on tests, but it didn't.
My gallbladder was slightly enlarged and folded on some of the pictures, but they didn't think that meant a whole lot.
Well, if you have read any of my other posts, I can tell you that some of the pain had been relieved maybe 25% but I am still uncomfortable after meals with the dull achey soreness that makes me stay away from food still.
I may have to go further with an ERCP but really don't want to go that route. Too scared.
Good Luck in finding a diagnosis, and let us know. I do have a friend going through the exact same thing, and cannot get any answers.
Taylee

[Ami]

You sound just like me!  I have had RUQ pain and tenderness for about a year now, most concentrated in the past few months.  The pain lately has been constant.  I have been through the ringer of tests--ultrasound, EGD, CT, HIDA Scan, etc. and they found that my gallbladder was not functioning properly.  It's functioning at 22% and the normal is 40%.  
I have had numerous appointments with my gastroenterologist because of this pain.  This week he said he thinks the gallbladder needs to come out and he is in the process now of giving the recommendation to a surgeon.
So, you are not alone.  I don't have stones, but my gallbladder just doesn't function properly.  
With your HIDA scan, did they check the ejection fraction?  If not, you should have that done.  That's where I found out mine was only functioning at 22%.  
My gastroenterologist strongly believes removing my gallbladder will cure my pain.  However, he said I may have a condition called the Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction, in which the sphincter that lets bile into the gb isn't strong enough and doesn't function, causing bile to leak out into your blood stream, and causing gallstone-type pain.  In this case, you would have elevated liver enzymes.  Have you had a liver profile done?  You can do a search on the spincter condition online and find lots of info.  Anyway, he said we won't really be able to tell if I have that dysfunction until we remove my gb and see if I still have symptoms.

Sorry for the rambling, just wanted to tell my story.  Good luck in finding a diagnosis.

Keep us posted!