Hi Shawnee,
Welcome to the Pain Mangement Forum. I am so very sorry to hear about your undiagnosed pain.
As suggested above this could be your gallbladder and it bears some more diagnostic studies. Obviously there are other possibilities.
I find it interesting that when you apply pressure to the area it eases the pain. A diseased gallbladder should be painful to touch. You wouldn't think that pressure would ease the pain. But it is certainly true that everyone is different.
Have you seen a gastroenterologist? Your pain sounds like a spasm. It may be possible that this is related to your GI Tract. Esophageal Spasms come and go, sometimes they are extremely painful and other times they are just plain hurt and are very annoyingly painful. Is that makes any sense. Applying pressure to the area will sometimes reduce the pain and spasms.
I encourage you to consider all possibilities and seek out a diagnosis. You could have an extreme case of GERD which can also come with a variety of symptoms. It can produce spasmodic and sporadic pain. Whatever it is should not be ignored.
Cardiac pain, especially in females is not always present with the classic symptoms we have been taught to watch for. However your pain does not sound like is is Cardiac but I would leave no stone unturned.
We all know how chronic pain disrupts our lives, even when it is sporadic. So please make that appt, possible with a gastroenterologist. If you've seen one ask for a second opinion. I hope that you will let us know how you are doing. I will look forward with interest to hearing from you again. I wish you the very best.
Take Care,
~Tuck
You may want to ask your doctor about a HIDA scan just to rule out the gallbladder. I had those same exact symptoms and nothing, but the HIDA scan found the problem. I had countless other tests for the gallbladder like ultrasound, cat scan, ect and they came back normal. It wasn't until the HIDA scan, which is a very long test that showed my gallbladder had stopped working. Good luck.
You could still have a gallbladder problem even though the ultrasound detected no gallstones present. You'll need a nuclear medicine test called a HIDA scan to check how well or not your gallbladder is functioning. Another possibility is very small stones (also called sludge) in the common bile duct. Since the problem is intermittent it's something that should be considered.
You'll need to see a gastroenterologist for more in-depth testing and treatment. If your pain gets worse after eating, and particularly after eating a fatty meal, those symptoms point to a problem somewhere in the biliary tree, which includes liver, pancreas, gallbadder, and bile and pancreatic ducts. Something is obviously not right in there, so if you aren't getting any answers with your current doctor it's time to find one willing to think outside the box.