Burning pain under right rib! Please help!

[Andromeda]

I'm so sorry for posting.
I am absolutely desperate!

I've had intermittent pain under my right rib for over a month now.

I was on holiday eating a bag of chips on the beach, I'd had one bite of a chip and then got the most horrendous stabbing twisty pain under my right rib that lasted about 10 seconds (sounds like classic gallbladder attack) it happened again in the evening and I freaked. Then it went away. And then i started to get pain in my right upper back etc so I went to the doctor and he's referred me for a scan.

My scan is on Thursday but this morning I have got a bad burning pain there, it's sore to touch - just pressed in on it and yep it's sore...and last night the pain was going round my back and under my armpit!

I'm really really fully terrified that my gallbladder has just become dangerously infected.

I stopped eating any fried or fatty foods a month ago with that first pain and the pains seemed to subside but I had a Linda McCartney sausage last night against my better judgement and I've panicked myself into thinking that's tipped my gallbladder over the edge!

I really feel like I can't cope anymore. I feel like I'm just waiting to die

[Aussie11]

Hopefully the scan can shed some light for you. I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago and I was lucky in that I never actually had gallbladder attacks as such (was incidental finding that I had sludge in there when they did a scan). Whilst it is an annoying thing to have to do, if they do find gallstones at least you know that they can do something about it and you wont have to experience that pain again. Even better if they find nothing wrong and you don't have it occur again though of course! Wishing you the best of luck!

[Andromeda]

Hopefully the scan can shed some light for you. I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago and I was lucky in that I never actually had gallbladder attacks as such (was incidental finding that I had sludge in there when they did a scan). Whilst it is an annoying thing to have to do, if they do find gallstones at least you know that they can do something about it and you wont have to experience that pain again. Even better if they find nothing wrong and you don't have it occur again though of course! Wishing you the best of luck!

Thanks for your reassuring words. I think I have read every single post on here about gallbladders and people having theirs removed and everyone has said it's no big deal etc but I have never had an operation or had general anesthetic so the prospect of potentially having to have it out is absolutely my worst fear.
The pain I can live with, the fear is much worse than the pain!

I'm in the throes of recovery from a nervous breakdown where I developed agoraphobia and became housebound. Now that i've worked on that it seems like it's just transferred itself into a recurrence of severe health anxiety!

[childofgaia]

Hey! I’m having similar symptoms as you, but unsure if the gallbladder is really my issue! Wondering how you are doing, and if you got your scan? Hope you’re feeling better!

[eshu55]

Oh I feel for you. I've been having similar issues, but mine seems to be related to gas/anxiety/bad posture/????? It comes and goes, and I've got other back pain. However, it appears to be triggered by spicy food and food that I am sensitive to (FODMAPS), I ate grapes last night and have been suffering since! It started with middle back pain, which went around the ribs, mainly on the right side but also on the left, and lower back (so I diagnosed it as anxiety/muscle strain as I have had the same thing before...but when it didn't go away straight away, I started panicked thinking it was something horrible, so I went back on Zoloft (figuring I would nip the anxiety in the bud). However, this time, the Zoloft gave me the most horrendous side effects (gastritis, loss of appetite, random muscle pains, etc) so I stopped it again four days ago, but still have the stomach issues. Mine seems to be helped by Mylanta, exercise, sleep and eating bland food, but I am still stressing...