Left side rib, back and stomach pain

[Primulabrandyb]

For the past two weeks I've been having awful gnawing in my lower left ribs and stomach (my actual stomach, the pain is in the upper left of my abdomen) and it goes straight through into my back. My stomach gurgles extremely loudly for hours and spasms if I eat anything. I'm not nauseous or vomiting, bowels mostly normal, no jaundice.

My ribs and back throb and throb and it feels like I've been kicked in the side. It's excruciating, 8/10 pain and seems to match gallbladder attack symptoms, but since it's on the left it doesn't seem likely to be the gallbladder.

The back and rib pain has been bothering me for a year and I've so far been fobbed off with a diagnosis of costochondritis, even though the rib pain is nowhere near my sternum. The GP took bloods in Feb and all came back normal.

I'm seeing the GP again on Thursday but keep contemplating going to A&E, however I'm not sure what they would even do other than give me pain meds. The pain is horrible, it makes me cry and I have a pretty high pain tolerance.

Any ideas what this might be? I'm thinking it could be gastritis/ulcer/H.Pylori but Omeprazole, Gaviscon and Buscopan haven't really helped that much so far.

The pain is a pretty exact match for the purple areas labeled for the stomach in the image. Sometimes it hurts slightly higher and lower in my back as well. Forgot to mention that wearing a bra is excruciating under my left breast, the ribs in that area feel very sore.

Hi,@Primulabrandyb ,
I'm sorry to hear you are in pain
My aunt had similar pain issues and after many years, it was discovered that she has diverticulosis or diverticular disease. It is extremely painful when she has an attack!
Her pain is on the left side like you mentioned.
Maybe you can look on the internet to see if this may be the cause of your pain. My aunt is able to control it by watching what she eats.
I hope you feel better, whatever the cause.

I just saw the diagrams that you posted@Primulabrandyb . Your pain is a bit higher than usual for diverticulosis but sometimes you can get referred pain from other areas of the body.

Left upper abdomen is also spleen - not sure whether you’ve ruled that out already? Sorry that you’re in that much pain.

That's where my pain was when I had kidney stones - I do have very long kidneys apparently though 🤷🏻‍♀️

Did you figure out what this was? I am having the EXAXT same pain in the same areas for almost a year now. Docs keep brushing it off.

Could be gallstones. My husband had them and initially it presented as back pain then chest pain.

Impossible. I no longer have a gallbladder

I’ve been having similar pain and the GP did send me for a gastroscopy and full bloods and also ultrasound. Nothing much of note other than a blood test that needs rechecking. Was then told it must be muscular, it still comes and goes a year later so wasn’t really resolved at all.

@Primulabrandyb did you ever figure this out? I have something similar. I niggling slight stabbing pain upper left abdomen that I feel in my back. Had it for a few weeks now. GP prescribes lansoprazole but doesn't seem to be doing anything. No heartburn, acid reflux etc.
I do have gallstones which were diagnosed a few years back but have caused me no real pain. Could it be that? I thought gallstones pain was mainly on the right.

I have something similar. I have been on omeprazole for years. When it started i panicked and went straight to thinking I had pancreatic cancer so paid for a private mri, which showed pancreas, liver, gall bladder etc all fine. Have a gastroscopy in a couple of weeks, stool test shows bowel inflammation but no blood and some elements of kidney function are lower than should be. Ca125 and ca199 are fine. I do have a small cyst on my left kidney but gp doesn't think that's causing the pain. Sorry to hijack but some of the tests I've had might be helpful for you.

@Barleycat that's exactly where my mind is pancreatic cancer. I might try to get some private scans as my GP surgery don't seem so concerned. It's main the pain which radiates to the back that worries me. Did you have that without reflux? And did they find out what the cause of your pain was?

No , its still ongoing though not so bad. Hoping the endoscopy will find out what it is. More worried now about my kidneys and not convinced that's not the source of the pain. I was ridiculously anxious before I had the mri and the relief once I knew it wasn't that was incredible. Definitely worth the £400!

@Jess38 - I had similar and it turned out to be reflux and probably duodenitis and gastritis at the time. I was in a state and also paid for private ultrasound as was so scared it was pancreatic cancer, it’s amazing how our brain goes to the worst possible scenario.
I did have raised calprotectin in my poo so they thought ibs but I had colonoscopy and small bowel mri and no sign of it 🤷‍♀️
Now I’m a lot better but I have to manage my reflux carefully with ppi, gaviscon and diet. It’s a joy!

I did get increased acid but I think that came after the pain started and was probably due to anxiety. I also went to a and e with chest pain which was most likely anxiety as hesrt lungs etc were fine 🙂

@Cattyisbatty did you have a niggling pain on your left then went through to your left back? I thought it might be gastritis but I don't have reflux, acid burning pains or indigestion....which is why my mind it taking me to the pancreas :(

I do have terrible HA so I am known to look at the worse case scenario but what else could this be?

@Barleycat @Cattyisbatty how did you go about arranging the MRI / ultrasound privately? Did you still have to go through the GP?

@rattytattynightmare - no need to go through GP. Look to see if Vistahealth have a clinic near you.

@Jess38 / I didn’t have reflux that I knew of when it started (my reflux started w a sore throat then I lost my appetite and had two really bad instances of heartburn and GP prescribed omeprazole.
i felt awful (was post covid so not sure if that was a factor)
had mainly right rib pain but some pain in left - a classic reflux symptom (which I didn’t know then)
felt nauseous/not much appetite (I could eat but wasn’t hungry)
diarrhoea on and off
really bad central back pain by bra strap which made me feel sick. Every time I dropped off to sleep it would wake me up. I’m a veteran of msk back issues and it wasn’t like that at all.
GP prescribed co-drydamol so i could actually sleep. This is what lead me to have the ultrasound re the pancreas and also had back mri - both privately. GP did not think it was an issue but I had the back pain on and off to a lesser extent until I went on acid watcher diet to relieve the reflux.
If you can afford it I’d book an abdo ultrasound, they’re about £200 and it will indicate issues and you should get an immediate answer. I had a lovely lady do mine who walked me through it.

I used vista health too

Thanks both, I'll look them (vistahealth) out!

I had pain on the left side near my ribs - on and off for a couple of years. Made me vomit and unable to sleep. Each bout would last a day or two and then I’d be OK again! A and E Doctors told me it was gastritis and gave me omeprazole.

One day I had an awful bout which just would not get better. It turned out to be pancreatitis caused by gall stones. Ended up having emergency op to remove gall bladder.

I would get checked properly.

@Primulabrandyb I hope you are doing ok now but did you ever find out the cause of your pain? I have a very similar problem.