[MacMattico]

What should I do? What could it be? I'm probably going back to the ER tomorrow if I get the sharp pains again. I'm female if that matters.

[Liz]

(1) If it comes and goes-—you could be periodically ingesting something that collects as a gas in that area-—avoid anything carbonated. Soda is injected w/ carbon dioxide to make it fizz-—carbon dioxide is a gas.

(2) If it is an inflammation-—as several posters conjectured-—you need to up your ingestion of Omega-3’s.

O/3 is usually found in seafood-—but a faster way is to buy flax meal (not flax seeds). Some supermarkets carry it in health food sections.

Flax meal has no taste-—can be added to yogurt and blueberries for a healthful breakfast-—some people add it to bran muffin batter.

Doctors who are knowledgeable about nutrition recommend flaxseed oil doses for those with inflammation attached to allergies.

3) This may sound strange-—but one woman told of being rushed to the ER w/ horrible pain-—her system shut down and she was on IV’s. The cause? She had pigged out on coconut macaroons. Seems when we ingest coconut, it sucks up all body fluids in the process of digestion.

[logi_cal869]

My father had this a number of years ago:

Pleurisy

Don't want to get you worried, but he ended up in surgery (not emergency surgery) to have a thick mucus film scraped from his ribcage. The doctor told him it was likely a result of the pneumonia he experienced prior.

He's been fine since. Have you had any episodes of pneumonia or coughing fits from flu or other viral episode?

I hope that helps and wish you a speedy & healthy recovery, whatever it is.

[EnquiringMind]

Here's my 2 cents - I've had this type of pain in the past. I curl up on the bed in a fetal position and twist around to untrap the gas. I hope you feel better soon!

Gas in the Colon – Also known as the splenic-flexure syndrome, excessive amounts of gas trapped in the colon can cause pain under the ribcage. Gas in the colon can trigger pain in the left upper abdomen or the lower left chest. A person suffering from such pain should sit in a chair to rid the colon of the trapped air. Consuming food that causes indigestion can contribute to such gases.

[The Great RJ]

I had a similar ER visit last February also with left sided chest pain. I was worried about a heart attack as were the ER doctors. My older brother has 5 stents in his heart and there is a history of early cardiac death in my mother's family so my concern was very much for a possible heart attack. After a chest X-ray, EKG and cardiac enzyme tests in the ER. I was admitted for overnight monitoring and the next morning had a radio isotope scan and cardiac stress test. While I was relieved that no heart blockage was found, the cause of my chest pain was never found. I visited with my regular doctor about possible causes for my chest pain and he said that often no specific cause can be found and unless the pain reoccurs he recommended no further testing.

[Russ]

Are there other hospitals in your area you could go to?

My son-in-law had a similar occurrence about a month ago. It took them three days of tests and observation to find out he had a blood clot in his kidney. Your symptoms sound the same.

[Jim Noble]

Does it hurt to take a deep breath?

[Mamzelle]

Doctors don't know one way or another about insurance when you are in the ER. Maybe the front desk knows, but the doc does not care about your insurance. He is, however, motivated to add a lot of charges to your bill for the hospital to try to collect on its own. Almost all ER docs in the US earn a salary or wages these days.

CT scans are over used, and they cause cancer. Did he say they were expensive, which seems very unlikely for him to say, or did he say they would cost in in cancer risk?

People are so sensitive to the costs that they are convinced doctors think about the patient's insurance all the time.

[AppyPappy]

So you don’t have a doctor?

[EandH Dad]

Skip the ER and go to an urgent care clinic. Demand a urine test specific for blood and a CT. Ongoing for 3 weeks is a bit much but my bride of 28 years had her first kidney stone 2 weeks ago. Not saying that’s what it is but it’s possible. Bottom line; get a CT. If you don’t work around radiation the dose isn’t enough to affect your health. It would take multiple CT’s over a short period of time so don’t be concerned about that.

[hopespringseternal]

If you can actually pay, ER is only interested in you if you are dying. As soon as they determine you aren't going to be dead in the next few minutes, you get tossed out the door, whether they are busy or not.

The amazing thing is the mooches keep coming back and getting free medical care for trivial things.

[X-spurt]

Kidney stones ain’t your friend.

[MaxMax]

Sounds intestinal. I have the same pain at times just because of how my guts are strung. A kink. It goes away when I drink plenty of water. And I stopped drinking in 2011.

[MacMattico]

thanks everyone. I’m going to try to sleep now and hopefully make it through the weekend with no ER and get in to my Primary doctor Monday.

Or that’s the plan for now.

If I end up in the ER, I will get all test results and a decent referral.

[KoRn]

There’s a lot of ‘stuff’ in that area, and I’m not even gonna try to guess what it could be, though I have my suspicions. Go back to that ER, and tell them its worse, or find another hospital ER. Chances are, whatever it is isn’t gonna kill you, because you aren’t dead yet, but you probably do indeed need a CT Scan.

[NautiNurse]

For the last 3 weeks or so...This went on, like I said, on and off for the past three weeks...I was so busy and wanted to get past Christmas.

[HotHunt]

I have been hospitalized twice for 4 days at a time for acute pancreatitis. Acute pain in the midsection caused be the inflammation of the pancreas that seeps into the lining of the abdominal wall. Very painful. Etiology: Binge drinking, passing gall stones or on rare accessions, adverse reaction to some blood pressure medications.

Since I did not drink alcohol at all, let alone binge drink, and a CAT scan and sonogram revealed no evidence of gall stones passing through my bile duct, it was decided that my blood pressure medication was the cause, both times. I have not had a reoccurrence of the pancreatitis since my blood pressure medication was changed even though other problems resulted from the change in the meds over time, which I will not elaborate on here.

Both times my doctors were initially stumped as to the cause of the onset of the pancreatitis. They both admitted that they had learned something new from my case, since it was not caused by the usual suspected binge drinking and gall stones.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

Stop going to the ER (if possible) for starters. Go see a internal doctor to start and let him/her refer you to a specialist.

[seeker41]

Hi, I had similar symptoms and am female. You need a CT scan and/or a colonoscopy. It may be Diverticulitis. Easily treatable but uncomfortable. I found that siting down and then standing made the pain worse, also pressing on left lower quadrant and release was painful as well-weird I know. Just my 2 cents....

[Western Phil]

Had quite similar symptoms, enough pain that it severely impacted my morning run. Went to a weekend clinic on Sunday evening instead of the emergency room. They x-rayed and things were inconclusive. Gave me pain medication. Next morning they called & said I had pneumonia. As far as I could tell, it affected only the bottom tip of the left lung.

[joe fonebone]

Colonoscopy is needed..... could be diverticulitis flare up