Hi Jon,

Obviously you aren’t looking for unsolicited medical advice/diagnoses (or maybe you are?), so I’ll just limit my comment to my own experience with my gallbladder. Hopefully that might help narrow down your own self-diagnosing.

As you know, gallbladder attacks can mask themselves as various forms of chest pain, which is probably why so many are suggesting your gallbladder. And I’ve heard, as well as the commenter above, that sometimes gallbladder “sludge” won’t show up on an ultrasound/sonogram.

Mine — at the ripe old age of 17 — began violently acting up. All attacks were triggered by heavy foods (e.g., meat, honey, oils). The first time it happened, I spent the evening in my bathroom attempting to vomit just to relieve the pain. I loaded up on tums, mylanta, nothing worked. The pain was awful. I can still remember it to this day (ten years later!). For me, it was on my right side by my rib cage, right around where the diaphragm is. Breathing was painful, I couldn’t get a full breath in, and I only found mild relief if I could sit myself in a specific position. After a few hours, the pain would transfer to feeling like a hot rod had been pushed through my rib cage and out my back — sometimes also why gallbladder stuff results in back pain. Then, it would slowly subside and the following day I would be left with a sore back and stomach muscles (even my rib cage hurt). For days afterward, I would be left with a feeling of mild discomfort (like I had pulled a muscle in my back or something). After the second time it happened, a general practitioner was prepared to run the gamut of tests on me — mainly he thought it was GERD, anxiety, or some strange form of asthma. As he was typing up the request for my bloodwork, he suddenly turned around and said, “Wait, where did you say your pain was again?” I re-described it and pointed to exactly where it hurt and what it felt like. He immediately sat back down and said, “I bet it’s your gallbladder.” Off to the hospital I went for an ultrasound. Gallstones showed up, had it taken out within three weeks. Those three weeks were sheer agony — it got to where I was no longer eating, because it wasn’t just high-fat, high-oil foods that were causing the attacks — I almost couldn’t eat anything without having an attack. Now, luckily I had a GP that took a lucky guess, and an ultrasound tech that caught it, and a surgeon who believed my pain.

Gallstones/gallbladder issues can be hereditary — and when my grandmother was 23 and pregnant, she checked herself into the hospital and had hers taken out, because no one believed her for months prior and thought she was just trying to get good drugs. Turns out all the doctors were wrong — her gallbladder was full of stones.

Anyway, sorry for the long comment, I just wanted to share my story so you could compare. Not intended as any kind of medical advice.

I do hope you feel better, you receive a treatable diagnosis, or the pain magically goes away. That kind of thing can be a bitch to deal with while trying to live every day life. Best wishes.

Sent you a PM tweet, but reading this after sending those, and I stand by my rec for an upper scope. In the interim, see if you notice any difference in relation to meals (better/worse with meals?; how soon after eating do you get pain?).

Can always try OTC Indigestion stuff in addition to Omeprazole, just to help give you clues as to what helps/hurts. If it’s something like gastritis (inflammation of the stomach) or an ulcer, taking Ibuprofen or Indomethacin can make it worse, a lot worse.
kcmd AT me DOT com(no spaces) if any questions.

Hi Jon,
I commented earlier but for some reason my comment didn’t post. Apologies if this posts twice. I just wanted to suggest that you see a pulmonologist if you haven’t yet. From a layman’s perspective, your symptoms sound a lot like pleurisy, which can have a number of different causes. My sister develops it almost every year (she has an auto-immune disorder) and the catalyst seems to be Utah’s crappy air quality. Hope you get feeling better soon!

Is it Legionnaires’ disease?? I’ve been ill since returning from Cozumel a week ago. (I don’t believe I have Legionnaires’ but I did read some folks are contracting it after visiting.) You seem to have some of the same symptoms.

Jon,

Here’s my two cents: I have three possibilities, be very interested when you get a diagnosis to see if I could have been right : ).

1) Costchondritis…this all seems to have started along with your picking up in exercise. Exercise can induce costo and will continue as long as the irritation is present. You say the pain is relieved by NSAIDS…this would fit as costo is inflammation and would respond to them. It would resolved eventually given you rest for a while and lay off the exercise.

2) Ulcer…you have pretty classic symptoms. NSAIDS will make it worse…the ulcer could be in your esophagus, which can refer to the your chest just like this. I’d get a test for H-Pilori (a bacteria that often causes them) and then a scope of that comes back negative. If you have reflux for a while, ulcer is a definite possibility.

3) If you are taking supplements/vitamins or pills daily…consider the chance that they are getting caught in your esophagus. I actually had this happen the other night with a vitamin C tablet and thought I was going to DIE. It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt…actually came close to going to the ER. Once I realized what it was I just tried to ride it out. It took a FULL day to subside and literally felt like a knife was being stabbed in my chest every time I took a breath…all from a pill stuck (that would NOT dislodge for anything!) Google injury esophagus pill induced…it’s scarily common and VERY common for people who take Vitamin C and antibiotics (both very corrosive and can quickly cause an ulcer in the throat). Even after the damn pill finally passed, my chest and throat hurt for a full day and I could not bend over or lay down w/o it hurting worse.

Good luck.