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Pain in my upper/middle right breast area

I am a 40 year old female and I have had this pain in my upper/middle right chest/breast area on and off for awhile now.  I had seen one doctor who gave me some type of medicine and seemed to go away for a little while but then all of a sudden came back.  It is a very sharp pain and it comes and goes.  I went to see another doctor again and he prescribed some imflamatory medicine and ordered a ultrasound of my gall bladder, liver and kidneys.  Everything came back normal.  After that proceedure it seemd to go away for a little while and now it is back again.  I said if my heart was on my right side I'd feel like I was having a heart attack.  There really isn't any much pain that run through to my back during this.  When I get the sharp pain it sometimes helps by applying pressure to the spot or laying on my stomach.  Seems like everytime I make an appointment to see the doctor the pain goes away.  Can you please help me out and let me know what I need to do next?
Thanks
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547368 tn?1440541785
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
Helpful - 0
655875 tn?1295695107
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.
Helpful - 0
82861 tn?1333453911
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.
Helpful - 0
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