Pain in belly, just under the boob area...help?

[bouncy]

Thought I would ask you wise mumsnetters some advice.

I have a pain, just under where the bra wires are (not the cause, just trying to give you the area). Its like a ache, I remember getting it a while ago, went to bed and it was gone. Does anyone hazzard a quess what this could be or do some of your get it.

Thanks

[SamboM]

Are you pregnant? if not I have no idea, maybe trapped wind?s

[musica]

Could you need a new bra? I sometimes get that if I've been slobbing around in pjs and no bra, and I'm not very big - it could just be you need more support.

[efmach]

Gallstones??

[breeze]

I get a pain right in the middle when I have trapped wind, very painful but I even had an embarrasing trip to the hospital once

[Nome]

I developed post-partum gallstones (yes, unusual...), entirely pregnancy related. The pain was where your ribcage starts spreading and felt like a hot thin wire was being drawn tight around my chest. Excruciating. It did go away and come back and go away and come back.

I hope you have trapped wind, not gallstones!

[SueW]

Sounds like gallstones to me too, epsecially if it feels like a stake is being driven through you. Pain usually just under RHS rib cage and in back, under shoulder blade.

If you see a doc they will prob send you for a scan then you can have surgery - gall bladder removal.

Sadly Rosemary Conley has already cornered the market in diets to avoid gall bladder surgery - that's how the Hip and Thigh diet started.

[bouncy]

I can not sleep so I thought I would check mumsnet again. The pain is really bad now and I have called nhs direct, it does feel as though someone has put a knife into it, but I do not have any back pain. This is really painful, I get this probably once ever 6/8 months or so.

[Gilli]

Is the pain in the centre, just where your rib cage rises up in the middle/ Is it tender there? If so, you may have gallstones or an ulcer: if you have any Gaviscon try taking a load while waiting for NHS Direct to call back: it won't hurt, and if its an ulcer it will help a lot

[bouncy]

Yes right in the centre, I have been advised that call back is 90 minutes. I have taken some gaviscon, took it an hour a go and it doesn't seem to have helped at all. Everyone else is asleep and I am a worry wort.

[JJ]

Gallstones are my vote, too. I had them when pregnant and then had my gallbladder out 3 weeks after having the baby. Easy peasy surgery. I took narcotics (Demerol in the US) during the episodes as they would last 4-5 hours. It helped immensely. The surgery cured everything, though.

Hope you're feeling better. Just to warn you (and to reassure if this happens): I'd get extremely hot and start vomiting during a bad episode. I guess that's not infrequent. Hope that doesn't happen to you.. just don't want you to panic if it does.

[bouncy]

Still have not called me back. Just a quick question for those who have had gallstones, as I said I only get this once every 6-8 months or so, I mean I have only had this once or twice before, if it is gallstones is it likely to come more frequent.

[ScummyMummy]

sounds really painful- hope they call you soon, bouncy.

[GeorginaA]

I had that under the left breastbone a while back and it turned out to be really bad acid indigestion. Took a day or two of chain eating Rennies and it calmed down. Think it was some sort of bug that had irritated my stomach causing lots of acid

Hope you feel better soon.

[Girly]

Bouncy, snap! I have gall stones too, am due for an op on the 8th July, have had a couple of scans, i very detailed and i am sure its pregnancy related. I had a few attacks when dd was 18 months but nothing too bad, but had one in April and it made me pass out, passed a stone apparently and boy did it hurt.

[breeze]

Well as I said on another thread, I was up last night too with similar pains. I even thought about calling the doctor out. This morning it still aches a little. Mine felt like some had their elbow digging in my ribs. Hopefully its the acid thing.

[RockingRosebud]

You haven't done any exercise that you wouldn't normally do and strained something?

[efmach]

Bouncy, I developed gallstones quite suddenly, 10 weeks postpartum, after my 2nd pregnancy. The discomfort was unbearable and didn't improve with gaviscon. It was a central pain in my chest, like indigestion but much worse. A scan confirmed that I had stones not only in my gall bladder but also blocking my biliary tract. I had to have a procedure known as an E.R.C.P to clear the tract and key-hole surgery to remove the gall bladder.
It was all done very swiftly and I made a full recovery with no problems.
There are non-surgical ways to manage gallstones but I'm not sure how effective these are in the long term.
Hope you get a diagnosis soon and are free from pain.

[bouncy]

Nhs direct called me back after midnight and advised that I should call out the on call doctor, within the time on the phone the pain eased a lot and I laid down on the settee and fell asleep until 6 this morning. It still has a very mild feeling there, but getting better, I mentioned gallstones on the phone last night she said it might be, but she would expect me to have pain in shoulder or something. So hopefully it was just very bad acid or something, if it comes back I will certainly go to the doctor.

[Jaybee]

I have had gallstones too - apparently the pain is caused when the stones move and block the bile duct - your body usually requires extra bile to aid digestion of fatty meals - hence Rosemary Conley's low fat diet. Have you eaten a high fat meal? My gallstones sound similar to efmach's in that the pain was excruciating and I also discovered that a stone was actually blocking the duct. The only thing that I found eased the paid was a hot water bottle and labour style deep breathing.
Unfortunately, my op was not so easy peasy - I was one of the 10% that have to have the full open surgery following the keyhole - a long story.
When I first went to my GP she said that it was either very bad indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome or gallstones.
I first suffered the pains in the October and I had my op the following March (work Private Health scheme) I probably had about 15 bouts of the pain in that time. I think the frequency of the pain depends on the size and/or amount of stones and where they are in the gall bladder.

[bouncy]

While working today, I keep burping and it is slightly stinging when they come up, could that be it or the gaviscon I tool last night.

[Girly]

Jaybee, I would if you do not mind like to hear about your surgery, as I am due to have my op in a few weeks time and have been warned about the possiblity of open surgery.

Bouncy, I still get that burpy feeling too, I also have trouble sleeping on my right side, the side of the gallbladder, I feel nausea and often bring up bile, ugh sounds disgusting! I would try and avoid food with high saturated fat content, i do most of the time, but if I do not then i really notice a difference.

[babster]

Another possibility... an ulcer (mentioned by Gilli already), or at least the beginnings of, caused by a bug called H. pylori. I had this few years ago and the pain was right in the middle of my breastbone, making me feel breathless. I had a blood test which confirmed the presence of H. pylori and was given about 7 different antibiotics and antacids to take each day. Not pleasant, but after a week or so it had cleared up and has never recurred. Hope you get seen soon, bouncy.

[Jaybee]

Girly, you asked for it!!
I was admitted for keyhole surgery in a Private hospital on a Wednesday, surgery was to be the same day and I was supposed to be home on the Friday. Had keyhole as planned on the Wednesday, I was monitored overnight and I was told on Thursday morning that there was something not quite right, my temperature was still quite high and they suspected that there was a leak from the biliary tract. I was told I would need a camera down the throat (can't remember proper term) to check what was going on. I was transferred by ambulance which was pretty uncomfortable and hauled onto a bed in the General Hospital - there seemed to be lots of people around and the last I remember was falling asleep while the camera diappeared down my throat. When I woke up - on a ward in the General Hospital I had had the full open surgery - there was a problem with the camera procedure. I had two tubes from my side - one draining bile and one draining whatever from my abdomen. I was transferred back to the private hospital on the Saturday. I was supposed to be in hospital until they removed the drainage tubes (10 days) but I managed to persuade them to let me home before then but had to return to the hospital to have the tubes removed. All in all it was a nightmare made worse by dd (who was then 3) coming down with chicken pox while I was in hospital.

[bouncy]

I am going to France tomorrow for 2 weeks, so I have decided to contact the doctor when I get back if any re-occurance when I am away. Also if I see a doctor now what really would they be able to do in a few hours other than make me worry.

[Jaybee]

bouncy - not alot - I would be tempted to take some gaviscon or similar with you and some decent pain killers just in case - sounds as though you don't get it too often so I hope it doesn't spoil your holiday.