Getting Pain In Rib Area, Headache And Burning While Urinating. What Could It Be?

Posted on Thu, 5 Dec 2013

Question: Hi. For weeks I've had oncoming pains...the pain is located just under where my rib cage meets. It's such a bad pain that it makes me feel like I'm going to vomit. A few weeks ago it happened and I had to leave the movie cinema because of it and all I was doing was sitting. Now it's happening again. Is it something? My other symptoms are constant headaches, when I urinate it burns. Sharp, shooting pains, nausea, what could it be? Do I see a doctor?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (15 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Gallstones or peptic ulcer. Detailed Answer: Hello! Thank you for the query. If your pain is located in the right upper abdomen and occasionally radiates to the back, it is caused by gallstones. If the pain is more in the middle peptic ulcer is the reason. Both conditions give nausea and vomiting, both are triggered by fatty foods, spicy foods. Burning when urinating is caused by urinary tract infection or kidney stones. Here is what should be done: - abdominal ultrasound to rule out gallstones - blood work and urine analysis - if no stones in the ultrasound, gastroscopy is necessary In a meanwhile please avoid fatty foods, spicy foods, alcohol, coffee. Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions. Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (5 minutes later)

This seems about right with the peptic ulcer. It's a very bad pain that is always triggered when I eat foods. Within an hour or more after I eat some foods it's bad bad pains...it's been happening for weeks now. When I was laying on my stomach before there felt like there was a lump...I'm not sure but when you touch where it hurts, it absolutely kills. It only is triggered every so often. What do I do about this? I'm an Au pair from Australia, living in the USA with health insurance...is it worth getting checked up or not? The pain is located in the middle not towards the right

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: Detailed below. Detailed Answer: It needs to be checked with gastroscopy. The most common reason of peptic ulcer is Helicobacter Pylori infection of the stomach. Gastroscopy needs to be done to collect samples from the ulcer (what rules cancer out) and to check H.Pylori infection. In case of such infection, antibiotics needs to be prescribed. If you really can not get gastroscopy done, you should at least start Omeprasole 40 mg once a day (in the morning before any meal). This should be continued for 30 days. Hope this will help. Regards.

Note: Revert back with your health reports to get further guidance on your gastric problems. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar