Upper Left Abdominal Pain

[NJgirl75]

In 2003 I was diagnosed with GERD and having been taking Protonix for it ever since. I also had my gallbladder removed the same year for stones. In the past month I started to experience a pressure/bloating type pain in my upper abdominal area, just below the rib cage that came & went. It kind of felt like a band being squeezed. Then with no warning, I woke up one weekend to a stabbing pain in the upper left side, just under the rib cage. I have been suffering with it ever since. Sometimes the stabbing pain goes away but I still experience the bloating/pressure. My family doctor had blood work & an abdominal ultra sound and all came out ok. Food doesn't seem to effect it, or sometimes I will get some pressure or pain a couple hours after eating. Occassionally, I will experience alot of gurgling or noise and then I will be ok. The pain will sometimes radiate to my back, center and/or right side. The oddest symptom is muscle pain. It feels better to lay down flat but if I am sitting up, walking, etc it will get worse and anything that requires me to use the muscle in the upper abdominal area causes pain. I made an appointment with a gastro. specialist but he can't see me for a month. I should also note that I suffered from gastritis about 20 years ago when I was a teenager but my symptoms are nothing like those I had at the time. Is this possibly a complication from GERD or could it be something else? Any help would be appreciated!!

[Elliot R Goodman, MD]

difficult to say what the diagnosis is yet
would suggest asking for an endoscopy as next step

[NJgirl75]

Thanks Linda, I took a look but don't believe that is the problem. To the Dr... just wanted to note that today is the first day this has happened - I had the same exact pain in almost the same exact spot but on the right side this time.