Heartburn, pain in LUQ and ribs. Anyone else?
Posted , 7 users are following.
Hi everyone! I'm looking for experiences, not a diagnosis of course. I'm a 37-year old female. In July I suddenly experienced what I call heartburn for the first time in my life: a 24/7 burning feeling in my chest and throat. I would wake up with a slight cough. I've never felt acid come up or tasted any. Just the feeling. It's there all day no matter what I eat. Also didn't feel better or worse after meals. I changed my diet, elevated my bed, nothing helped. Did the burp test, which I failed because I burped almost immediately. I was left with 24/7 burning, and burping frequently. Stools ok. Not long after this started I started getting this gnawing pain in my upper left abdomen. Around rib 8-10 I would say. The pain is in my stomach and often radiates to the left side of my ribs and wraps around the back. And some ribs are tender to touch. Again, this feeling is always there. The dr tested me for h pylori, which came back negative. Then put me on pantoprazole 40mg twice a day. I demanded an endoscopy but she wanted to try the pills first. I have health anxiety, so decided to pay for private mri. I knew you can't see into stomach etc but I was desperate. Anyway, mri only showed lots of tiny gallstones. But that's weird as gallstones would mean ruq pain right? Also my discomfort is constant, don't have any attacks.
Soon after the mri, the ppi started to work, or in any case I felt better. So after three weeks of feeling pain-free I tapered down to one ppi a day. Then to one every two days. I was ok for about 6 weeks. Then suddenly every symptoms returned. Went back to my GP, and she finally referred me. Next week I'm going for an endoscopy but I'm super worried. I'm sort of hoping it's my stomach, because all things I read about luq pain with heartburn and burping frequently leads to pancreatic problems and that scares me to death. Any experiences?
2 likes, 18 replies
amy80774 nicola27252
Posted
Ive had pretty much every test going to find out what was wrong with me. My Gp suspected it was gastro but all results came back fine. After 2 years ive finally been diagnosed with slipping rib syndrome. I noticed you get pain around your 8th and 10th rib which are the ribs that typically slip. I get awful heartburn and indigestion and ive never had it before this all began. Currently awaiting surgery to fix them but its worth looking into. I spent months on here looking for answers for something numerous doctors could not explain. With the left lower ribs being so close to the stomach when they become mobile they can irritate the muscles and nerves surrounding which can causes gastro issues.
kurt51413 amy80774
Posted
amy80774, did you ever get surgery on this slipping rib?? If so please give us an update!!!