Severe pain, told to “forget about it”

OP so very sorry to learn of your situation, your treatment has been shocking.
If it were me I would be paying to see a specialist privately. Please don't be fobbed off by your GP, as others have said get a second opinion.
This is your life OP and you deserve better.
Good luck with getting it sorted.

@Glitterballofdreams i tried gluten free due to similar issues but stopped as pain came back, my husband convinced me to try again and i realised that i had accidentally had barley lots of times in sauces etc that you don't expect, a year on i now rarely take painkillers , this is in comparison to a year ago when i was on 8 strong ones a day! If it is gluten it can take many months to clear up and you have to check everything you are eating

Sorry this is happening ? Could it be sphincter of oddi dysfunction.. ask your GP

I would go to a chiro and get your ribs and that area checked - I get probs under my ribs maybe you are having muscle spasms

I wonder if it's a stomach ulcer. My husband had similar symptoms, was in extreme pain and doctors thought it was his gall bladder. Had the scan which was all clear. Also looked at the liver, again was all clear. Wasn't until he had an endoscopy (camera inserted into his stomach) they found the ulcer.

Here's the NICE guidelines for gallstones.

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg188

Here's the NICE guidelines for diagnosis & management of endometriosis - your GP should be working towards these - have a read & specifically say the NICE guidelines advise A, B or C - please will you refer me.

https://www.nice.org.uk/search?q=Endometriosis

You can get acalculous cholecystitis - inflammation in the GB without stones. Your pain sounds very much like biliary colic; I suspect there’s probably some sludge/gritty material which is passing through the bile ducts - it’s this that causes that sharp stabbing colicky pain and the distribution you describe is typical.
If it isn’t settling then you’d need an MRCP (MRI of the biliary system) or an ERCP (like the gastroscope you had for the hiatus hernia but they look further round and inject dye to image the bile ducts) to diagnose - neither iirc can be requested from primary care so you’d need an upper GI/general surgery outpatient referral. In the meantime - decent pain relief - I’d try antispasmodic too like buscopan; and if not contraindicated potent NSAID (naproxen) and avoid fatty food completely as will aggravate.

Things to say to your GP - this is severely impacting my ability to function. This is severely negatively impacting my life. I am in severe pain the majority of the time. I feel my symptoms are not being taken seriously. Could you tell me what the NICE guidelines for these symptoms are please? (Or better still, research this yourself before the appt and tell them what you expect!). I’m angry on your behalf.

I had my gallbladder out ..that pain was worse than childbirth
I had to go to hospital in an ambulance twice because of the pain .there was no carrying on and functioning for me .
Some of what your saying does sound similar to how I was with my gallbladder.
But the extent of bleeding is not normal and needs sorting out ,you should not be left putting up with that .
I wondered if there is two issues at play here ,and that is what is confusing the doctors,I wonder if it's gallbladder and a separate gynecological problem .
Keep pushing, don't be fobbed of

I don’t have any advice but … I was in hospital recently where a woman had lower abdomen pain in the bed opposite and just after I got on the ward a doctor visited her and basically said there was nothing they could do for her coz they couldn’t find the problem of the pain and all she could do was go home … but then when the woman who was doubled up then said she would go home they made her sign a letter to say she was discharging herself 🤔
I then realised after I had my op etc that they basically wanted you up out of the bed so they could get you out of it ready for the next patient . They had no interest in anyone bed blocking so finding out the cause of this woman’s pain wasn’t as important as the bed. It’s just awful 🥹
I hope you get to the bottom of your pain .

Sorry not read all the replies but have you heard of sphincter of oddi dysfunction? That’s generally on right side near ribs. I have that, alongside chronic pancreatitis, originally caused by a rogue gallstone. Assume they’ve checked you for gallstones and pancreatitis (latter you’d have high CRP / other inflammation levels). I can understand your frustration as it took 5-6yrs for my chronic pancreatitis to be diagnosed and I was in terrible pain daily, and ended up on a fentanyl patch. Keep pushing, as hard as it is.

I had ultrasound and CT scans which showed nothing. Ended up paying £350 for an MRI. It shows atrophy of my pancreas. I think my pain has been pancreatitis. I have a genetic fault that makes me prone to liver and pancreas problems. I'm waiting to see gastro (third time of being referred). I think it's causing digestion problems. Just to throw that one in the mix. A decade ago I thought I had gallstones. But none were ever found. Will be interested to see what they do next.

Hi OP I have endometriosis and gallstones, I’d say this could be gallstones but equally as endo can attach anywhere it could be diaphragmatic endometriosis, if you keep that in mind while they are scanning.

Also not one single scan showed mine, MRI, CT, vaginal.. nothing all clear, but I paid for a surgery and the endo was on most of my pelvic organs. It’s a disease where the only way to find out it to go in.

assuming pancreas , bile duct etc all clear?

If you can afford private see dr Peter Barton smith in London, my survey was at 45 and I’m pain free at 50, he’s an amazing surgeon and human.

I ended up in hospital with extreme pain on my right side, the appendix looked fine and they could see nothing that could be causing it. I think they were getting ready to discharge me when I was violently sick with no warning. I was rushed to theatre and they found out that I had pelvic inflammatory disorder but it was all over my left side, so they said that my body obviously likes to confuse us. Because they opened me up like the thought it was my appendix they took it anyway so if I'm ever unconscious they will know the appendix is gone.

I got good painkillers and 2 weeks of drain killer antibiotics.

Sounds very much like gallstones. They often do not show up on scans.

I highly recommend doing the Liver & Gallbladder Cleanse - the book is on Amazon, by Andreas Moritz. A series of these cleanses rid me of gallstones and the pain went away.

In the meantime, you can manage your symptoms with a vegan diet or at least by not eating red meat or fatty foods.

I’d bet my house this ends up being your gallbladder OP

I had an ultrasound on my gallbladder on a Thursday evening. Was told all clear no signs of stones. The following Thursday I ended up in a+e with chronic pain. Kept in and had a mri done on Friday. Showed my gallbladder chock full of stones. Didn't happen in a week. Push for mri

Pain radiating to shoulder can also be gynae.

OP, I had a lot of admissions to hospital in my 30s for abdo pain. I had ovarian cysts and then repeated adhesions. Two decades later it started again and I had appendectomy, oophrectomy and fallopian tube removed and they all looked normal. I was very upset but was told by the consultant that unexplained gynae pain is very common but removal of those organs frequently helped but they didn’t know why. It took about a year but the pain did go. For ages I was told I had pelvic inflammatory disease in spite of having no markers for infection or inflammation. They just made it up as they didn’t know what else was the problem. I feel quite angry about how women’s symptoms are so often not taken seriously and unhelpful and inaccurate diagnosis given. Persevere with another doctor. Update, I see you have and hope you get a diagnosis and treatment soon. x

@Glitterballofdreams was wondering how you were getting on? Hopefully you've got some better pain meds?

On Gabapentin, tramadol and diclofenac (suppositories- my stomach can’t handle NSAIDS) - and I’m still in a ridiculous amount of pain. It’s very localised around my caecum area. But given I don’t have any infection markers or nausea I feel like I’m being fobbed off.

Just got my ferritin results back at 1/10 the lower accepted level and been told to take multivitamin and diet changes, been doing that for 6 months and the level has dropped marginally - Have attempted to message to doctor back but up to a 3 day response….

Feel like it’s your a menstruating woman of a certain age now just go away and shush.

Taking the kids away to the beach tomorrow to see their aunties.

Glad you got referred. Did the new GP give you some better pain meds?

Im glad you can give an impression of being normal to your kids, I’m failing miserably I’ve spent most of the weekend in bed continuously popping pills but still in agony and now my anxiety has kicked in. Shouldn’t have googled but I have and freaking out.

Hope the CT scan date comes through quickly!