i am so glad I am not the only one with this "condition". I, too, run 3 to 4 miles 3-4 times a week. I am 25 years old and in good, healthy shape. I drink a cup of coffee a day and eat very healthy. I've had severe pain in/under my left rib cage, consistently for the past couple of weeks. I've gotten this before, even when I was little, but now, it's pretty consistent. It is so bad that I feel paralized. Even the most sudden movement or breath feels like a heart attack. I will be fine all day, and then, all of the sudden, there is this horrible, paralizing pain. My husband tells me to takes deep breaths, but even a tiny breath or movement is crippling. I've been told it's heart burn, but I am so healthy and my pain is not in my stomach, ab, chest or throat. It is also not a burning, warm pain. The pain I experience is shooting, almost like an electric shock. I am so frustrated and just want to know what this pain is.

I also had this horrible pain about a year ago. This is the first site I came to for answers... Even though I did not find the answers here.

After researching I came to conclusion that there is a big possibility that it was my colon. And fortunately it was. But the only way I found that out is after a 3 month colon cleaning with colonix. It has been at least 9 months and the paid is gone. The big pain left within days to couple weeks after beginning the colon cleansing, I was so excited with the product after so much anxiety of what this pain may be and how serious it could be.

To make a long story short I believe lots of people who suffer this pain with doctors not able to say what exactly this is.. Should look into a nice colon cleansing product like colonix. This sounds like a sales pitch, and I wasnt sure how else I can speak of this without sounding like a salesman... I believe in this product all the way, and I made a promise to myself that I would come back to this forum to help others with the same pain once i'm free of it.

I make nothing from this except to complete my promise. You have nothing to lose except lots of crap from your colon.

The site is www.Drnatura.Com

you can also check out some photos and read the testimonies of all the people who used this product...

Thanks

danik

I had gastric bypass in 2004 and within two months of surgery, I was diagnoses with a gastric ulcer. My Dr. Put me on prilosec. I did fine for awhile but then I began having this pain on the left side that lasted sometimes for a few days. My Dr. Did every test possible and I was in the hospital several times for pain managment and still nothing has gotten rid of it. He tells me everything is normal and that I shouldn't be having this much pain. I have lost 130 pounds and now weigh 180. I do not have my gallbladder, this was removed before I even considered gastric bypass. I just want some relief.................... any suggestions?

I'm very happy to see i'm not the only one with these pains. I've been to my doctor only once with this and she says that its nothing but i've been having these pains for more than two years now and i'm only 13,i'm worried about these pains because its also effecting myu breathing. Ever so often I can't inhale on either my left or right lung, it hurts. I had x-rays done but my doctor hasn't told me anything yet. I've been to my school nurse and talked to some of my teachers and they're worried for me but my mother things it's nothing much. So could anyone help me, i'd really like that if you did.

Gotta love this mysterious "pain under left ribs" problem.
I find it even funnier that the word "hypochondria" means "below the ribs" ....
That's even the word that my family doctor called me right before he tried to push mood medication of me for about the tenth time.

I'm seeing a doctor now called an osteopath who believes that there is something physical wrong with me. My ribs are protruding out of my body and when this started happening, my pain started. She is working on these ribs to try to push them away from any nerves that may cause stomach pain. There is also a condition called costochondritis that can hurt a person's ribs and exercise aggravates it.

I hope you all find an answer to your problems as far as this pain goes. I know that i'll keep searching, cause my body is tellin me that someting isn't right and i'm going to listen to it.

Don't stress out about it though. Stress only makes things much worse.

After experiencing this problem in different degrees, and finally going to several doctors, I finally found one who made some sense, and proved it to me. I had a x-ray and it opened my eyes. This problem was at its worst when sitting at the computer or riding in a car for long periods. It was making breathing difficult, I felt movement under my ribs and occasionally stabbing pain and burning there and lower just below the waistline. Im not overweight but thought my stomach getting bigger was just age catching up to me. My diet and bad habits are to blame. Too much coffee and bad eating habits had me plugged up, my colon was full , I was taking meds for gas which I thought was the problem, turns out the gas (ya both kinds) was a symptom not the problem. My xray showed feces and gas that is the cause of the moving, the gas would move and it had the colon streched to the ultimate. I took citrate of magnesia ( 1.29 at WalMart ) Im still a little sore a couple of days later but what a difference, my stomach is half the size with no pressure pushing at my ribs. Be careful though, I drank a entire bottle, with some dramatic results and should have taken way less. You will need your privacy and several hours of unrestricted use of a bathroom. This solution cant be used if you are on a salt restricted diet, Milk of Magnesia would be a better choice. I will keep you posted, I was scared I was going to find out I had stomach cancer, or something equally as devastating. But the progress so far has made a believer out of me. I am also trying a fiber suppliment. If you have been living on pain meds and gas aids give this a try, Im sure glad I did.

Ya I also thought I was going crazy, and because it comes and goes people think its in your head. But actually wondered about worrying being the cause of some of it. I also had back aches, when cooking or doing dishes, I think that was caused by the pressure increasing in a area that was not designed for that much bulk. Causing additional pressure on my spine from the inside.

I also had the side aches, and the extreme pain like something pushing the rib cage out. When I layed on my back my ribs stuck out like they were abnormal. The doctor had me feel several hard lumpsacross my stomach and left and below my belly button. These were old food just sitting around causing gas and pressure in my entire stomach area. It got so bad it started to hurt under the left breast. I had a hernia on the right side up by the sternum that used to poke out and hurt when I bent over, that hasnt happend since I cleaned myself out. My stomach hurt to much I was only eating small amounts once a day. And snacking on junk (didnt help) cause I always felt like I had just eaten too much.

I've had this pain for over 10 years. Sometimes it's a dull ache, sometimes it's an intense, stabbing pain. Mostly on the left side, but occassionally a little on the right side. I also have back pain in between my shoulder blades which started around the same time as the rib pain. I'm pretty sure there's a connection. I've had all the tests, which showed nothing. If I dig my fingers around in the area right under my ribcage, I can actually feel tissue, right where the pain is, that seems to be rubbing against the bottom of my ribs. One doctor thought it was scar tissue on the under side of my muscle fascia that is rubbing against the bottom rib/cartilage. Another doctor thought it was splenic flexure syndrome. I believe it's from gas pressure pushing stuff against my ribs (intra-abdominal hypertension?). I had a hiatal hernia, which I had surgery for about 1.5 yrs ago. The pain hasn't improved. The surgery left me unable to burp, so I am just as bloated as ever. I have other symptoms, which I believe are related, but I won't go into them now.

In any case, for those of you experiencing anxiety over this mysterious pain (I did, too) I can tell you that I've had it for over 10 years and, while it hasn't gotten any better, I'm still alive and it hasn't gotten any worse.

I'm a newby on this site, but not to the pain in my lower ribs. Most pain starts in the lower left side, but sometimes goes across to the right. No doctor I've seen has a clue, always giving up after multiple tests and says it must be muscular. The pain gets set off by things as simple as sitting on the floor, sitting on a wooden chair or bench, or even sitting at the computer too long. It feels like my lower ribs get inflamed. Tried neurolists too, but no luck there. Read a lot of the other posts, but no one seems to have their rib problems set off by the same things as mine. Any suggestions appreciated.

My rib problem is set off by the same things. I have to have a certain sort of chair and bed, or I will be terribly sore in the morning. Also, and I find this extremely strange, I used to sleep religiously on my left side, and now since the rib sticks out, I haven't been able to do that in a year. The way my rib problems began was that I was wearing pants that were a bit too tight for me... I know that sounds ridiculous, but it forced my left rib cage to stick out much further than the right over time. It's constantly in a "stuck" position and I have to have an osteopath trained in osteopathic manipulative medicine push it back in. I have been told that over time this will help it, but I am a bit skeptical. However, since I've been getting the treatments done, it has gotten a lot better. I have the same problem, because no one really knows what mine is, either. From what I have heard, it is extremely hard to diagnose pains that occur under the ribs... good news for us.

Mine also gets worse when I have a BM. I am good for a while when I don't go to the bathroom, and then when I go, all hell breaks loose in the rib area.

Have you done anything that you think of that might have set it off.... like a behavior that you have been repeating for maybe several months now?

What sort of tests have you had?

Does stress seem to make it worse?

Does anyone's rib stick out like mine does?

Do you have constipation?

Perhaps by answering some of these questions, it might shed some light on what you could do to minimize the pain.

Feel free to contact me if you would like, as I've had this problem for a year and deal with it every day. I am no doctor, but I've been doing a lot of research on my particular problem, like keeping a diary to find out what makes it worse and trying to avoid/cut down on those things.

Also, another strange question, did anyone on this board happen to play the video game dance dance revolution and then stop playing it? ... i know that sounds ridiculous, but my pain seemed to come maybe two months after I stopped playing that game, which was extremely good exercise for me.

Like I said earlier, anyone is welcome to contact me if they would like some sort of support for this mysterious rib problem. Good luck, everyone!

I have suffered with this symptom for more than 10 years, after many x-rays, blood tests, stool tests and urine tests, a variety of physicians could not find anything wrong. I am a healthy male, over 40, work out 4-5 days a week, but they could not isolate the cause of the pain. After careful attention to my diet I am convinced I have found and have eliminated the following from my diet and the pain is completely gone: Pepsi, Coke (especially the diet) and all caffeine products like coffee and ice tea, Mountain Dew, etc. Individuals I have known for years who often did drink dt. pepsi, they have all died of stomach cancer. The doctors were useless in helping me resolve this reoccuring and sometime very intense pain. But try it, stop drinking any dark sodas, and caffeine products, and increase you intake of good water, you will feel better.

i would like some answers to my big problem. for about 7 months now i have had intermittent left sided chest pain and sometimes tightness. It feels fine when i awake but later in the day it will hurt and burn. i play the guitar and when sitting i notice i lean over it, letting it dig into my chest. I had EKG, chest xray, CT scan of abdominal area and all was negative! blood pressure is good and pulse good. It seems the mnore i stress about it the more pronounced it is. i keep thinking it is my heart but wouldnt something have shown up or been more of a stabbing severe pain instead of a dull ache? someone help, thanks
I should add that I was diagnosed with costochondritis but should it flare up and keep occurring? It all started after i helped a friend put a yard in with alot of raking and digging etc.

My pain started about 5 months ago. I went to the emergeny room and they found a kidney stone. It was to large to pass so I found a urologist and they did lithotripsy to bust it up. I was still in a lot of pain a month or 2 later. I was treated for IC and TseTse Syndrome but nothing helped. They did another cat scan and the stone was still there. Another lithotripsy was done but the pain never went away. They did a 3rd cat scan and found that the stone is sill there AND I have ovarian cysts. They don't believe the pain is from the stone because it's still in my kidney and the cysts don't explain all my other pains. The pain is in my lower abdomin, my left rib cage (sometimes the right), my back (the kidney area), and within the past few weeks, my sides. It feels like i'm being stabbed and I have constant throbbing pain. I've been to 6 different doctors and they have no idea whats wrong with me. I had to file for a leave of absence from work because the pain is so bad I can't work!! I'm desperate for answers!! Somebody PLEASE help me!!

I am experiencing a dull pain or discomfort under my left rib cage too. I have had it for a few months now and I have noticed that it gets worse when I am stressed. It feels like it could be inflammed too. Does anyone have any thing similar or know what it might be?

For two months now I've been suffering with similar symptoms to what others here are having.

Started as a dull "ache" in my lower left ribcage. Then became a sort of "cramping" sensation. Dr said it was likely musculo-skeletal, and to take Aleve. This sensation would come and go. Aleve didn't do a damn thing, I switched to ibuprofen.

Week later I started having back pain. Called the Dr, she was on vacation. The Dr that was taking her calls saw me, said I had prostatitis, tossed me on antibiotics.

Didn't help my back pain at all. Though my prostate (which was inflamed) seems to be doing better.

Yesterday I woke up very early with burning under my ribcage. No longer cramping sensation, this actually HURTS.

I so hope this is something simple, and not what I suspect may be a problem with my pancreas.

Had a follow up appointment with my regular GP on Monday. She wants to get a CT scan done. Said they'd call with my appointment.

They called me today with my appointment. FOR THE 26TH. Three weeks? That's out of line. I told her to find me an appointment somewhere else if they had to, there are at least three other places within 50 miles of here that can handle that kind of test.

I wasn't too sure what has been going on but after hurting again under my left rib cage today, I tried something. I took two doses of a inhaler and it worked. I'm out of pain. This makes me think it has something to do with my lungs. I'm going to the Dr. on the 20th and hopefully will find out more. I did just quit smoking and it's funny the pain started then. The body sure can be strange. Hope that may help. I hope this may help someone else out there.

I have had pain below left rib cage and it keeps me up at night and it's not exactly plesent. does anyone know what it is please tell me. I'd prefer not to spend money to find out it's nothing.

Lizi

I don't blame you for not wanting tests that show nothing. I had my CT scan done (though it was just with drinking barium, not with IV contrast) and it showed absolutely nothing. Well, nothing they can see. Now my whole side hurts.