Do you experience severe, even at times debilitating pain on the lower right side of your rib cage? Have all your ultrasounds and blood tests come back normal, and your doctors either
- Can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong
- Don’t believe that anything is wrong
- Think you are imagining the pain?
Well, you are not alone. There are thousands of people with the same malady, and for the most part their doctors are as equally baffled as yours. Many have endured their pain for years. So take comfort — you are not crazy, nor are you imagining the pain. It is real.
So what’s causing the pain, and what’s the cure?
Well, I am not a doctor. I profess no extraordinary medical knowledge. However, I have scoured the Internet asking just these questions and have found that, after reading hundreds of cases, the same (successful) diagnoses keep cropping up. I have listed them here in order of likelihood. I recommend that if you suffer from an unidentifiable pain in your lower right ribcage (LRR), that you print this list and take it to your doctor, and ask them to check for each cause.
1. Costochondritis
Doctors often don’t think of costochondritis when a patient complains of lower rib pain. Costochondritis is caused by inflammation of the cartilage joining the rib to your breast plate, and usually causes pain in the breastbone. At times, this pain can mimic a heart attack, although the pain will be confined to a small area, rather than widespread as with a true heart attack. (Note: If you feel any kind of chest pain, don’t try and differentiate between the two — assume it’s a heart attack and call 911 immediately).
Costochondritis can also manifest itself as pain to one side of the ribcage, although this is rarer. Many doctors don’t consider Costochondritis as a potential cause of lower right rib pain for that very reason. Also, Costochondritis can’t be observed on tests, so doctors are often hesitant about providing a diagnosis. In spite of this, Chostochondritis is probably the leading correct diagnosis for those suffering from LRR pain.
Costochondritis is not curable, but it is treatable Here are some prescriptions that doctors have given to patients with LRR pain whom they have diagnosed with Costochondritis. Patients prescribed these treatments have called them “great” and “miraculous”. If diagnosed with Costochondritis, discuss these treatments with your doctor, but on no account place yourself on any medication without their approval.
- Celebrex
- Vioxx (no longer available)
- Anti-inflammatory medications
Note: People with Costochondritis often report that the pain resurfaces or becomes especially severe after times of stress. Since Costochondritis has also been described as a “cramp” of the muscles and cartilage around the ribs, this makes sense. Stress causes your chest to literally “cramp”, causing the pain. To this end,
- Massage
- Heat
- Relaxation
are excellent strategies to try, and do not need a doctor’s approval first.
A more severe form of costochondritis is called Tietze Syndrome, and includes swelling and tenderness.
2. Gallbladder
This one’s tricky. For many people, their LRR pain is caused by a complication with their gallbladder. Then again, there are many people with LRR pain who have had their gallbladder removed already.
Often, gallbladder tests will look normal for people with LRR pain. If this is the case and you still think the problem may be with your gallbladder, request an old fashioned test where the doctors give you dye tabs and a drug IV to make your gallbladder contract. They will then X-ray the gallbladder to see how much dye comes out when your gallbladder contracts. This test can often find existing gallbladder problems even if your ultrasounds come back clean.
An HIDA scan with CCK will also check gallbladder function and may show gallbladder problems even if you don’t have stones.
One patient whose LRR stemmed from their gallbladder found that
- Drinking two cups of hot water
really helped alleviate the pain. That might be something to try while you wait for your test results to come back.
3. Loose Cartilage
This is especially common among people who have experienced some sort of fall or blow to the chest. Essentially, what happens is that a piece of the cartilage on their ribcage breaks off and just kind of floats around. If it becomes inflamed, it can cause intense LRR pain.
When cartilage breaks off your ribcage, it is called costo-chandral separation (slipped rib syndrome).
A doctor can usually tell if this is your problem by pulling up on your ribcage with one hand and feeling around underneath with the other (no surgery needed). Note that you cannot do this test by yourself.
Surgery is often not an option for this ailment. However, their may be medication to help the pain.
One patient found that taking
- Two Gas-X pills + a pain pill
really helped alleviate the pain. However, neither the patient nor their doctors knew the reason why it worked — only that it did. Again, never take any kind of prescription medication without your doctor’s approval.
4. Acid Reflux
Many people associate acid reflux with heart burns and throat pain. However, some patients with previous histories of acid reflux who no longer have that but who now have LRR pain have found that by taking medication that blocks stomach acid, their pain almost completely goes away. Some such medication includes:
- Nexium
- Lanzoprazol
- Omniprazol
If acid reflux is something you have suffered from in the past, and LRR pain is something you suffer from now, you might want to suggest to your doctor the possibility of trying an anti-acid medication like Nexium for a few months to see if it stops the pain.
5. Liver Toxins / Diet
We intake a lot of toxins in our diet — sodas, processed foods, artificial colorings — so much that we don’t even think about it. (Kind of like wireless and radio rays — we know that cell phones may cause cancer, but no one thinks about all the radio signals floating through the air and penetrating our bodies). Some doctors believe that people with LRR pain have too many toxins in their body, and it is overtaxing their liver, causing the pain. They have prescribed certain diets for their patients, which have met with much success in relieving the pain.
One patient takes a combination of
- Milk Thistle
- Digestaway
- Artichoke Extract
to clean their liver.
Another found that by completely eliminating soda, white flour, and milk products from their diet, and by eating lots of fresh vegetables and fruit (and organic meat, when possible), their pain significantly decreased.
6. Too Much Vitamins
If a person with LRR pain is taking any sort of (multi) vitamin, it may be that they are actually getting too much of a certain vitamin. A,D,E, etc. vitamins are stored in your body and can cause problems if their concentration gets too high. This is especially true for Iron, which can be harmful if you get more than you need (if you are older than 45 or a guy, pay attention to this especially!). An easy way to tell if your pain is caused by vitamin overdose is to stop taking your multi vitamin for 2-4 weeks. It won’t hurt you to stop taking it for that period of time, but it will make obvious whether your pain is related to getting too much of a vitamin.
I hope that these suggestions help pinpoint your case!
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22 Responses to Lower Right Rib Pain – Most Likely Causes
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Thank you so a lot for this impressive and efficient assist. I won’t hesitate to recommend you in my site and your internet sites to any person who demands guidelines on this scenario.
Thank you. I’m glad you find it useful.
Hi… Pain can also be caused by Hiatus Hernia. Pain occur exactly were you describe it. Causes, overeating, heavy lifting, too much alcohol etc…
Thanks
Yes, thousands seem to have this problem. The health boards are filled with people, with and without gallbladders, who have hundreds of tests and usually no conclusive cause.
Because there seems to be no physiological cause for Costochondritis, which seems to be the catch-all when nothing can be found — ala Fibromyalagia — it seems to be more of an anxiety problem. Once you learn this pain then you brace and guard against or because of it, and it makes matters worse. And makes anxiety worse.
Thank you so much!
I have been taking Protonix for long time. couple of months back I stopped it, and then I got heart burn and stomach pain , started taking Protonics but my LRR pain has not gone.
I will check with doctor and have my physical check up next week.
thanks for this information. i suffer from traveling rib pain. my shoulderblade, then my side, then front bottom rib, then chest, 5% of time on left side ribs, 95% on right side. going on 12 months.
i am so lost
That’s odd. The only thing I can think of immediately is loose cartilage, but I doubt it would move enough to cause the kind of traveling pain you’ve described. Perhaps a slipped disk in your back that is pinching different nerves? What does your doctor say?
[Update] Upon further research, I would assume costochondritis. As the pain it causes is frequently considered to originate in the breastbone (although many people feel it solely in the ribs), it is possible for it to appear to favor different sides.
Gall bladder. I’d bet on it.
I have been experiencing pain at both below my right and lift ribs for over two years i once want to see a docter and various tests was done including scan,hiv/aids, hypetitis B of my to kidynes and the docter said the all my kidynes are okey but i still experience the pains and sometimes gets heart burns.what is wrong with me
pain under/below breast and just under ribcage……?
Almost certainly costochondritis. Ask your doctor to test you for it.
how do you test for costochondritis? I have had 6 broken ribs years ago and now have constant pain again in right rib area? Just had a CT scan for broken ribs again but it was negative.
You cannot really test for costochondritis. Your doctor might seek to reproduce your pain by pushing on the cartilage of your ribs, which helps him know if it’s costochondritis. But costochondritis is usually determined by process of elimination — negative tests (e.g. a test for heart defects that comes back negative) for other causes usually means costochondritis is the culprit. Circumstance in your case lends an aid in diagnosing it — costochondritis is inflammation of the rib cartilage, and since you had 6 broken ribs, it’s possible the area is inflamed.
There is no “cure” for costochondritis, but rest, anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. Advil, Motrin), physical therapy, and even cortisone injections have been shown to help. Ice packs sometimes reduce the inflammation (and thus the pain), and Lidoderm may help with the pain, too. Talk with your doctor before trying anything other than rest and ice.
i have had test on my gallbladder and liver and they all come back negtive but still i have pain in my right side lower ribs doctor has no answers for me was hoping he would for sure but no he doesnt it 6 months the pain ok ty
Again, if your other tests come back negative, it’s likely Costochondritis. Ask your doctor what he thinks.
A lot may depend on what gallbladder test they ran too. My gallbladder acted up and my test results were normal too. Until they did the Hida scan that showed my gallbladder wasn’t functioning. It took 8 years to finally figure it out which only happened cause the pain got so bad to where it wouldn’t even go away by applying pressure. When they went to go remove my gallbladder, they found numerous stones stuck in the bile duct. The surgeon said that my gallbladder was extremely close to gangrene-probably due how long it took to find it, or should I say how long it took to find a doctor that listened to me and instead of telling me the pain was all in my head.
My right rib pain started 4 years ago after lifting a case of water, and I felt a pop under my rib along with a sharp pain. Since then pulling, lifting anything causes pressure up under and against my right rib. Even when I turn to the right sharply, or bend over turning and reaching underneath I feel pressure and pain. This pressure causes difficulty then breathing. Something pops out against the bottom of my right rib, like a babies foot when pregnant… and the pressure is so bad, with pain I can’t move or breath for a ew moments. Any diagnosis? No test so far has shown any damage to rib. I’m scheduled now for an endocrinology procedure, will this find the problem?? Please comment or respond to me, at novellispwp@optonline.net
Yours sounds like a case of loose cartilage. Essentially, what happens is that a piece of the cartilage on the ribcage breaks off and just kind of floats around. If it becomes inflamed, it can cause intense LRR pain.
Your doctor can usually test for this by lifting your ribcage with one hand and feeling around for anything loose. Ask him about it.
Thank you for a well reasoned and articulate article. The pain that I currently have in LRR appears to have travelled around my body over the last year, although being relatively naïve about the function of the body parts, I don’t know if that is possible. I am 65, male.
I had been a bit under the weather and suddenly, one morning, started experiencing a pain around my waist area on my right. It got worse and worse and was quite excruciating, in spasms almost related to pulse. I went to bed fully clothed and just lay there and apart from getting up half an hour later to urinate, I was in bed for about two hours and then, upon getting up to urinate again, the pain had completely disappeared. I thought perhaps kidney stone(s) although I had never really experienced them before. However, a couple of weeks later it re-occurred and I then thought that perhaps it was UTI (urinary tract infection) oriented so I dosed on cranberry tablets (can’t get the juice) for a period but I then started experiencing pain in my right kidney area as well. That then continued, with overlap, to my left kidney area (the UTI apparently gone). The pain later appeared in LLR area (with overlap) while the pain in right kidney area disappeared completely. It has now moved to LRR (with a slight overlap) and I now no longer experience pain in either left kidney or LLR area.
Although the pain has differed in nature, to some extent, in each location, it has typically been and now is a sharp jabbing pain that occurs almost randomly and in groups, often in the process of sitting down, e.g. on the bed, into a car seat (I have to lift my second leg into the car).
I have read many threads on forums with regard to LLR pain but none of them seem to reflect what I feel has happened to me and, although your reasoning for costochondritis seems relevant with regard to my current pain, it is the apparent process that led up to it that seems to exclude it in my case.
Hmm, have you considered getting screened for colorectal cancer? Since the colon travels in a square-like shape throughout your abdomen, if you have a problem with your intestines, it could hypothetically cause the type of traveling pain you’re describing. People over 50 have a higher-than-average risk of developing this type of cancer, too, so if you haven’t been tested yet that’s something you should definitely consider looking into.
I’m really hoping you can help me. I’ve been in pretty bad pain now for over 12 hours. It started inbetween my rib cages felt like a knife was jabbing me in the stomach after I ate dinner last night. I originally thought it was from the marinara sauce so I took tums and then zantac, tried drinking milk and gingerale but it only got worse. After a couple of hours the pain has moved under my lower right rib cage and nothing I do is working. I’ve been laying with a heating pad all night and it helps slightly but not enough. Although it feels a bit better when I lay on my stomach with the heating pad under me when I move from that position the pain gets worse. Please help! Thank you!
Hi Liz, I wish I could help but remember I’m not a medical professional, so treat the following with a grain of salt. Since your pain started soon after eating dinner and was located in the region of your stomach, it is possible you have a stomach condition, such as an ulcer. Marinara sauce is acidic, so it could aggravate a condition like that. If the pain persists or recurs, I would definitely recommend checking in with a doctor!