gall bladder? or?

Question

so about 3 days ago i thought i pulled a muscle in my upper back,or rib area,now 3 days later all he pain is gone,except,for a sharp pain in my lower right rib area.....it's not below my rib,it seems more right behind my lower rib area...any ideas? i mean if it was my gall bladder,it wouldn't be like this for 3 days,and then all the other pain goes away and this starts.....would it?

Answer 1

Gallbladder pain is quite often felt in the right back, usually just under the shoulder blade. It can also locate itself just under the right lower ribs. If you concentrate on exactly where the pain is located, depth wise, that can also help. You should be able to determine if it feels like it's shallow- and therefore muscle origin- or deeper inside, which would suggest gallbladder. Think back to what you ate just prior to the pain starting. If it was a high fat meal, you might indeed be looking at a gall bladder problem and not a pulled muscle. Seeing as we just finished the great Thanksgiving feast and most folks enjoyed at least a day of indulging in high fat, high calorie foods- it's quite possible. Another symtom would be that you would notice an increase in gassiness- usually quite smelly, and possibly have diarrhea or looser than usual bowel movements. This is due to undigested fat in the gut, which is irritating to the gut. The only way to really know would require a trip to the doctor and an ultrasound of the gallbladder. Should you have stones, they will show up. You would then have a couple options on what you wanted to do about it. Gallstones won't magically go away on their own, though. And attacks will just come back with more frequency, getting worse and worse in terms of pain and discomfort. You could opt to try to ride out the holiday season and schedule removal afterwards, and just try to eat very low fat until then. You could also opt to have a laproscopic procedure now, which would eliminate the problem and let you recouperate in time to still enjoy the holidays. Or you can try the medication route. That takes up to a year to dissolve the stones, if they are cholesterol based. The medication is rather costly, and you have to have frequent blood tests and ultrasounds to monitor the process. And unfortunately, the stones tend to reform again after you quit the medications. Of course, in that year, you would still need to watch the fat intake and could still suffer attacks. Removal is easy to do, and takes care of the problem permanently, if it is truely the source of your problem. Best thing for you at the moment is to go extremely low fat diet, and see if the symptoms ease off. Motrin can help if it's muscle strain, not if it's gallbladder. Heat can also help a muscle, but again not do a thing for a gallbladder. There really isn't much anything except pain medications that helps with that. That and just removal of the problem are all you can do. Hope you find your answer before the holiday is upon us. A gallbladder attack during Christmas would definitely take the shine off your holiday. So if it's not improved a great deal in a day or so, or if you think it's a good chance that your gallbladder is screaming, a trip to the doctor is in order.

Answer 2

You're probably going to get a bunch of replies that say, "go see a doctor". The trouble is, online, no one can tell you what this is - there simply isn't enough information about who you are, what medical problems you've had in the past, and there isn't any information about other symptoms you might be having (e.g. are you short of breath, having you been coughing, are you hurting anywhere else, have you had fevers, any weight loss, etc. etc.). Most significantly, however, no one can examine you.

At any rate, a partial list of things that can cause pain where you describe includes gallstones, hepatitis, kidney infection, kidney stone, liver or lung cancer, right lower pneumonia, lung collapse, blood clot in the lung, pleurisy, shingles, rib fracture, and... simple muscle strain.

We can't help you more than that. You probably ought to visit with a doctor. Good luck!

Answer 3

When the formation of gallstones leads to attacks of pain and nausea, surgical removal of the gallbladder is the most frequently recommended treatment. The medical term for this operation is cholecystectomy (KOL-ee-sis-TEK-tuh-mee). Today there are two ways of performing it: Open Cholecystectomy: This method requires a single large incision under the right rib cage. The operation takes 1 to 2 hours. Your stay in the hospital can last 2 to 5 days. Laparoscopic Cholycystectomy: This "Band-Aid surgery" technique substitutes four tiny incisions for a single large one. One is made just below the belly button. Two more are made in the abdomen above the right hip. A fourth is needed just below the ribs in the middle of the chest. A tiny, lighted scope is inserted through one incision. Miniature, remote-controlled surgical tools are inserted through the others. To give the surgeon an unobstructed view, the abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide gas throughout the procedure. Like an open cholecystectomy, the operation takes 1 to 2 hours. However, your hospital stay may be less than a day. During the operation, the doctor will check for stones in the duct that drains the gallbladder, and remove them as well. Risks Although gallstones often can be dissolved by drugs or shattered by sound waves, the problem is likely to recur if these methods are used. Removal of the gallbladder provides the only permanent solution. Like all surgery, the operation poses a risk of internal bleeding or infection; and blood clots could form and lodge in the lungs, making it difficult to breath. In general, however, the procedure is relatively safe.

Answer 4

It could, JD. The location sounds exactly right, and gall bladder pain does sometimes transfer itself to the back.

Does it get worse after you eat? How about after you eat a meal with a fair amount of fat? If either of those is a yes, it's your gall bladder.

The good news is that they can usually wait unless the pain is unmanageable. Still, you want to see the doctor about this.