Pain in ribs & stomach

[ecothern]

I have a problem when I do a deep bend,sit up or turn a certain way I have something in my stomach & around my ribs that sort of pops up and moves around it is kind of like someone sticking there fist in my stomach and moving it around.  It ususally only last a few minutes but can be dibilitating when it happens, depending on what area it pops up it can cause me not to be able to take a breath.  I have had several surgeries on my stomach such as gallbladder, hysterctomy & c-sections.  I was diagnosid with Fibromyalgia a few years back but have not seen where anyone else has this associated with fibro.  I have been to a surgeon twice over the last five years, but to no avail they have ran cat scans several times and have also did scopes to look for a hynated hernia and one for my bowels.  Again nothing showed up, the only time I can feel or see it is if I try to do a sit up or deep bend then it's all over with. If I press on the spot sometimes I can make it go back to were ever it should go.  It is not a hernia, hynated hernia. and nothing shows up with xrays of scans.  They have not did an ultra sound yet but I have been dealing with this for many years and have paid out multitudes or money for test.  I get discouraged and just drop it, but I can not keep living like this.  Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[bjmm]

I am 43 year old female (non smoker) and have experienced the following symptoms at various levels and intervals for the past 10 or so years.  When lying down for long periods of time or after sleeping, I usually wake up with pain (not sharp pain) when breathing.  It is hard to take a deep breath because of the pain.  It also hurts to move about in the bed. I usually get up and go the restroom and it will go away (I don't think going to the restroom has anything to do with the susiding of the pain as much as I think getting up in general does) The placement of the pain was hard to pinpoint when I first began experiencing it years ago.  It seemed to fill my abdominal cavity.  But now it seems to be located under my left rib cage, particularly around the last three ribs next to the breast bone.  I noticed when I consume certain foods and drink, the pain is more severe.  If I eat popcorn, tortillas, drink tea or alcoholic beverages.  I've lived with the pain due to the fact that the dr. had no idea and pretty much told me some pain we have to live with....mind you this has been going on for over 10 years.  I first noticed it after I had my first child.  At one time the pain was so bad that I could feel spasms (or some kind of jumping around in there) and it would hurt during the day but not so bad.  But it is not that bad since I figured out some foods trigger it.  I don't have it every night.  I go in spurts, sometimes it won't bother me, sometimes every night for a week or so.  I worry about it constantly.  Never had any tests because the doc said it was nothing.  I think it might be diaphram or gall bladder related.  Seems like something is collecting when sleeping and draining away when I get up and gravity takes care of it.

[Jaybay]

One possibility is abdominal adhesions, or scar tissue, that formed as a result of your past surgeries.  Developing adhesions after surgery, or any inflammation to tissues, results in scarring and is a normal part of the healing process.  However, sometimes that scar tissue forms on internal structures and can pull things like intestines out of place.  When you twist and turn, it could be scar tissue that you feel pulling.

Furthermore, scar tissue won't show up on any tests and requires surgery to both diagnose and fix the problem.  Many surgeons will resist cutting into what appears to be a healthy body when nothing shows up on their tests.  It all depends on how desperate you are and the surgeon's personal opinion on how to deal with adhesions.  Sometimes adhesion surgery turns into a vicious cycle of surgery to cut them down, and then the surgery itself causes more adhesions... you get the picture.  Anyway, it may be worthwhile to get copies of the surgical reports from your last surgeries and see if the doc mentions encountering adhesions.  Many times things show up in the written reports that don't get communicated to the patient.  Anyway, maybe it's a question worth asking your doc about?