# Pain in the Rib Cage/Kidney Area?



## Guest (Nov 2, 2000)

Have any of you experienced pain in the rib cage (front & side) area slightly above the bellybutton? Do you also get this pain like it is wrapping around your back, say near the kidney area? I get this on the left side.My GI doctor says it is splenic flexure pain and common in IBS patients.My gynocologist was questioning whether it might be a kidney stone. Please! The last thing I want to do is be tested for anything else! My regular doctor didn't put much stock in this as my urine was negative, but the gyn really wants to look into this! Uggh! I just read on WebMD that IBS can mimick kidney stone pain, so I think I'm sticking with my GI on this one.Any thoughts or similar symptoms?


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2000)

bump


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2000)

I have the same symptoms. I'm going to my GI in a couple weeks, I'll ask him about it and let you know.


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## JK (Oct 26, 2000)

I went to the ER several weeks ago for very severe, sharp pain under my rib cage. Everyone there was certain it was my gall bladder. After an X-ray and ultra sound, everything came back normal. They figured it must be my IBS...go figure!JK


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## SigKnee (Dec 15, 1999)

I also get that pain and sometimes it's unbearable and I have to take an ativan. Although, mostly always have that nagging throbing under my left rib, I cannot wear a bra it bothers me so bad. I have been checked for gallbladder and everything else. I believe it's all due to the IBS.


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2000)

Wow Sig!I had that same thing in the summer time when I first had this pain! Couldn't wait to take my bra off! LOL!The weird part is that I had the pain really bad the day before yesterday and had one or two BMs that morning. Yesterday, I was just about painfree, but was in the bathroom with D! Also got my period yesterday morning. I wonder if any of this correlates.


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## Delta (Aug 17, 2000)

Same here. I get it all the time.


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2000)

Wow I thought I was the only one with that kind of pain. Going back to doc's next week to try to eliminate a few more things. Since it was so high up I didn't associate it with IBS. Thought it was a kidney problem of some kind combined with an ulcer for the front and side pain.


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2000)

Hi GE,My GI doctor said that the colon runs right underneath the rib cage (in the front), so pain up high is not uncommon.I did decide to go for a renal ultrasound because my gynocologist was concerned the pain might be coming from a kidney stone. I really don't think that this is the case because I have heard that the pain is usually quite severe with a stone. This is more of an achey, crampy kind of a feeling and occasionally light pain.Do you have an ulcer? Let me know what your doctor says![This message has been edited by terrifictwo (edited 11-02-2000).]


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2000)

I see the word pain so often on this board, but I often wonder if the word "ache" or "discomfort" would better describe the feeling one usually has with IBS C.On my left side, right near the base of my left ribs if I grasp that area with my thumb over my front and my fingers round the back and squeeze and really dig in I can tell that there is a stricture or spasm in that part of my colon (I guess that's the splenic flexure??). It's the part of the colon that turns the corner and starts down and I am often massaging it because the feeling is so annoying. I have a spasm in that area all the time, and so does my girlfriend. We also both have tightness up our backs, generating from that area. My boyfriend will massage that area for me vigorously, and it feels fabulous, but the spasm will not let go no matter how much it's massaged. I will sometimes get a crampy feeling in that spot if I get one of my rare bouts of D. It is a terrible, annoying sensation in that whole area. Sometimes more noticable than others. The tightness generates all the way up to my neck sometimes. My girlfriend has the exact same symptoms, and so I would assume a lot of people do. I think this is probably what most of the people who've responded to this thread are experiencing. ??Anyway, it's nice to know a technical term for that spot. However, I find it pretty amazing that any doctor could mistake that problem for a kidney stone! I am constantly amazed at how little doctors know!Lisa


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2000)

Just got this from the Merium Webster Medical dictionary:Splenic Flexure: the sharp bend of the colon under the spleen where the transverse colon joins the descending colon --called also left colic flexure.Wow, this is great, now I can tell everybody my splenic flexure is killing me!


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2000)

Hi Lisa!Thanks for taking the time to respond and do some research!According to my doctor, the splenic flexure is actually up a little higher than where you described your pain to be (I get pain there too). If you put your left hand at the base of your ribs in the front, say up and left of your bellybutton, and then move it around to the side, that is where the splenic flexure is. If you look at a diagram of the colon, that bend is up pretty high and is almost parallel with the kidney. I can get pain/discomfort up there all the way down to my hip!But like I said, my GI doctor never mentioned the kidney, it was my gynocologist. My husband had kidney troubles when he was a child and he said that you can get pain in the front even when it is coming from the kidney. I really don't believe it is a stone (on the other hand that would be great, maybe I could get rid of the rest of these symptoms!), but between the gyn and my husband, I'm going to have it checked anyway!


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2000)

Ttwo, Well actually, the tightness feels as if it goes up pretty high. Can't get my fingers up under my ribs, but that's the area of trouble for me.Oh my splenic flexure!!! Oooooooooh!!!(That is my new chant.)And I'll betcha you don't have a kidney stone! Betcha betcha.Lisa


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2000)

Lisa - you are killing me! LOLMy splenic flexure (hee hee!) hasn't bothered me at all today! I'm sure it will rear its ugly head soon enough! Do you get pain down to your hip bone or is that just me?


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2000)

Ttwo, I get an annoying achy feeling that goes from my lower back up to my **splenic flexure** area then up the left side of my spine all the way up to my neck. Doesn't ususually go down to my hip, but I think it has on occasion. Have someone give you a deep rubbing on your hip and your back on your left side, and see how good it feels. My boyfriend digs his fingers in all up and down my left side and it feel like morphine! He has IBS too, so he's very understanding. Though he's D and I'm C. He say's Cs have it better!Lucky us!


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2000)

You guys are all talking about pain on your left, can the transverse colon also cause discomfort on the right side?That's where mine is. Not exactly pain (although sometimes achy), but discomfort just under my ribs. Feels like something is pressing out against the bottome of my rib cage. I have back and neck pain as well (doc seems to think from tense muscles) but I just attributed that to stress at work. Ahhhhhh, ain't life grand?


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2000)

Hi Vicky!Although I don't have right sided pain, I have seen many postings about pain in that area, from the ribcage on down to the lower abdominal area. I don't think that pain is uncommon to IBS sufferers, but I have noticed that a lot of people with pain in that area have had their gallbladders removed or at least have had them checked to rule out that as a cause.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Unfortunately the circulating immune cells (granulocytes) and tissue immune cells in the gut (mast cells) which "react" in IBS react by "degranulating"...meaning they have structures within them that contain preformed very powerful (in the context of the nerves and tissues of the gut and circulation, and the nerve tissue of the CNS that they come in contact with) "chemical mediators" designed to produce the reactions of the body that these symptoms and pains are associated with. Unfortunately these reactions are only supposed to occur in response to pathogens or toxins, so as to elicit a cascade of protective mechanisms. The results are side-effects from the tissue, nerve, and blood vessel effects. Worse it seems IBS patients not only exhibit these abnormal reactions which cause these mediators to be released, we have even more of the tissue immune cells in the gut than we should (the mast cells) so we dump even more chemical (and synthesize more of the ones that are formed after degranulation) than the average Joe or Josephine when these cells are activated. And they can and do in many people remain in a constant state of reactivity, punctuated by episodic worsening of the effects as exposure to the triggers ("allergens") fluctuates. So symptoms go on and on at either a low level of perception or a high level of perception, until the sources are eliminated in the diet or the effects of the reactions are attenuated with pharmacotherapy, or various psychotherapy forms, or all of the above. The whole GIT from top to bottom is subject to these effects, and they can be felt very strongly in the colonic flexures especially due to the anatomy and the neurology involved.Hoe Today Finds You All PFMNL________________ www.leapallergy.com


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2000)

Thanks Mike! Once again, you have given us more insight and valuable information than most doctors would reveal to their patients. There are those of us out here that not only want to know if our symptoms are normal, but WHY do we have them in the first place?[This message has been edited by terrifictwo (edited 11-06-2000).]


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2000)

Ive had this same kind of pain off and on for the last couple years. I reasoned that it was just a pulled muscle of some kind and no lone wear underwire bra's because of it. Started out on the right side, but now I get it on my left side from time to time. I'm following up with a urologist because I have also had blood in my urine for over a month now.I am wondering if it is related to my lower right sided pain now... I never made that corelation until reading this thread.Perhaps the Four Corners of my universe (colon) all have tight turns? Except, so far (crossing fingers and banging head on desk, no lower ab pain on the left side. May the Gods let it remain so!


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## Deana (Dec 12, 2004)

hi, I have the exact same discomfort on my left side up high and going down the side and into the lower back feels like a pulled muscle alright..also at times it is contracting just like lower back labor pains...this ibs really does get to you at times its so hard to plan your days...glad to hear i'm not alone with the pain...deana


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## runnl8 (Mar 23, 2000)

YES, I soooooo do have this exact same pain that you are experiencing!!!I have lot's of bladder problems also, and it seems whenever my bladder is acting up, the pain in the left side radiating around to my back gets worse. I had an ultrasound of my bladder that came back as my having thickenning of the bladder wall. I'm supposed to have a cystoscopy soon. I also have blood in my urine, microscopically, almost always. I believe this all ties in together. I will have the heating pad on my tummy, then move it down to the bladder area, then move it around to my back. VERY IRRITATING to say the least...........runnL8


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2000)

AHHH how can I ever thank you all for becoming members of this site.I realize the same wrap around pain, so bad that for 2 days I can't move from the corner of my couch without extreme pain. I'm both D&C.I have not had a doctor diagnose me with IBS but have had many people tell me that my symptoms are right on and now that i've read all your input on IBS I'm sure that's what I have. Again thanks so much for all the great facts and help with this.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2000)

Thanks you all for your replies! I can't get over how many people have this complaint!LunaSidhe & Runnl8,What do your doctors say about the blood in your urine? Have you been formally diagnosed with IBS?seeseemego,I too felt I probably had IBS before I saw the GI doctor. I would suggest you get checked out to make sure that is the case for you. Even though he has told me this, I am still pursuing testing just to make sure.







[This message has been edited by terrifictwo (edited 11-06-2000).]


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## runnl8 (Mar 23, 2000)

Hey Terrific.......Yes, I was first diagnosed with IBS when I was about 19 years old. I've had a barium enema, an upper GI, 2 colonoscopies, and 2 endoscopies. I also have GERD. I have this pouch type area that looks and feels like it is filled with fluid, just on the left of my belly button. It swells up. No one can diagnose it without exploratory surgery. NO WAY!!







I have diarrhea alternating with constipation. Ummmmm, the blood in the urine has gone on for some time now, about 6 years. I will always test positive for blood in my urine, but when I'm really symptomatic with the raw feeling in my lower pelvis, it will be chock full of blood. I can always tell. Very uncomfortable feeling to say the least. For years I didn't realize that the pain was coming from my bladder, I thought it was the IBS acting up or female in origin. It was the bladder. I'm supposed to see a urologist today actually, but that all depends on the old tummy and the IBS. Being sick sucks!!!!!!







RunnL8


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2000)

Hi RunnL8!I don't blame you for wanting to skip the exploratory surgery. My gynecologist said that the only thing left for him to do after the ultrasound (presuming it's normal) is a laparoscopy to see if I have any adhesions that could be causing the bowel changes. No thanks! I'll just stick with the IBS diagnosis and go about my life!What diagnosis did the doctor give you for the blood in the urine?


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2000)

I have this pain on my right side now. For the last 40 years I have had D constantly. For the last 2 months I have increased my fiber dramatically and have the D almost under control. Only problem is, ever since I started the fiber routine I have had this right side pain. I describe it as being right in back of my gall bladder scar. The doctor says it's in the area of my pancreas and liver, but he ran some blood tests and had an upper GI done and they didn't see anything. It has gotten uncomfortable enough that I have now scheduled an appointment with a GI specialist, but he can't see me for 2 months! In the mean time, here I sit with my jeans unbuttoned because the pressure is so bad. The weirdest thing I find about it is that the doctor can't find it by punching around in the area, but if I bend over wrong it will hurt like hell!


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2000)

Runnl8,How did your appointment go with the urologist?


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## scottyswotty (Jun 29, 2000)

Wow what kind of fate.All through my exams I have been prodding that area and it sends some kind of "wrong" spasm down to my lower pelvis.I am seeing a guru of shiatsu massage at the moment who can sense what areas are very tight in the intestinal tract so I'll see what he says about this.ScottySwotty


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2000)

Updateoc prescribed two weeks of 150 mg Ranitidine twice daily. Suspect excess stomach acid causing pain. Scheduled abdominal ultra sound for Monday afternoon to look at gallbladder, pancreas etc. After two weeks I go back and if nothing shows up on ultra sound and the meds didn't work then I get sent to a GI which should take 3 months waiting time.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2000)

Thanks for the update ge!Is your pain on the right or left side? Please let us know what your ultrasound results are!


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## Guest (Nov 10, 2000)

My pain is on the left front just under last rib sometimes on the side and the back around kidney area.


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