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I Have Suffered Upper-right Quadrant Pain And Malaise
Posted on
Sat, 14 Nov 2020
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Sat, 14 Nov 2020
Answered on
Fri, 9 May 2025
Last reviewed on
Question : I have suffered upper-right quadrant pain and malaise on and off for 2 years. It starts off as a constricting band of pain around my liver area and moves around my back.
MRI and ultrasound show no issue with liver or gallbladder, and my endoscopy showed my biliary ducts to be ok.
My doctors are stumped and the constant flu-like symptoms when it flares upare beginning to really crush my morale. I even tried looking into diabetes, parasites and more, but these all came back negative.
Do you know of anything else it could be?
MRI and ultrasound show no issue with liver or gallbladder, and my endoscopy showed my biliary ducts to be ok.
My doctors are stumped and the constant flu-like symptoms when it flares upare beginning to really crush my morale. I even tried looking into diabetes, parasites and more, but these all came back negative.
Do you know of anything else it could be?
Brief Answer:
Kindly more information is needed.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
The pain in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen can be related to many medical conditions.
I see through the query that you have already excluded intestinal causes.
Another possible cause can be an infection of the right kidney.
Kindly more information is needed to help through the diagnosis.
Do you have a fever?
Do you have burning while urinating?
Do you have any bulge in the upper right quadrant?
I will be waiting for your response to help you better.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Kind regards!
Dr.Dorina Gurabardhi
General &Family Physician
Kindly more information is needed.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
The pain in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen can be related to many medical conditions.
I see through the query that you have already excluded intestinal causes.
Another possible cause can be an infection of the right kidney.
Kindly more information is needed to help through the diagnosis.
Do you have a fever?
Do you have burning while urinating?
Do you have any bulge in the upper right quadrant?
I will be waiting for your response to help you better.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Kind regards!
Dr.Dorina Gurabardhi
General &Family Physician
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Thank you very much for your response.
To answer your follow-up, I don't have any notable fever and do not struggle to urinate. Though I have no bulging stomach the crest of my ribcage on the upper right quadrant can be quite sore to the touch when symptoms present.
Symptoms normally come on like this:
-feeling of a "bruise" inside my URQ , roughly where my liver is.
- pain deepens and radiates through to my back after a day or two.
- I begin to feel malaise and lose appetite. Sometimes I will struggle to hold up my head and want to sleep all day. The pain will now make my ribcage tender to touch.
- normally a total of 3-4 days of this before I now just feel incredibly fatigued, and the pain subsides (and becomes the "bruise" feeling again).
These episodes occur 1-3 times every month for the past 2 years.
Thank you for your continued help.
-Tommy
To answer your follow-up, I don't have any notable fever and do not struggle to urinate. Though I have no bulging stomach the crest of my ribcage on the upper right quadrant can be quite sore to the touch when symptoms present.
Symptoms normally come on like this:
-feeling of a "bruise" inside my URQ , roughly where my liver is.
- pain deepens and radiates through to my back after a day or two.
- I begin to feel malaise and lose appetite. Sometimes I will struggle to hold up my head and want to sleep all day. The pain will now make my ribcage tender to touch.
- normally a total of 3-4 days of this before I now just feel incredibly fatigued, and the pain subsides (and becomes the "bruise" feeling again).
These episodes occur 1-3 times every month for the past 2 years.
Thank you for your continued help.
-Tommy
Brief Answer:
Probably intercostal neuralgia.
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
The examinations that you have done, rule out most abdominal issues that can cause the pain.
In my opinion the pain can have a neurological cause.
It can be related to intercostal neuralgia. It is caused by irritation of the intercostal nerves, which are below the ribs.
You should consult a neurologist to confirm the diagnosis.
Meanwhile, I suggest using lidocaine patches to treat the pain.
I also suggest using capsaicin cream for local application.
Hope it helps.
Take care
dr.Dorina Gurabardhi
Probably intercostal neuralgia.
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
The examinations that you have done, rule out most abdominal issues that can cause the pain.
In my opinion the pain can have a neurological cause.
It can be related to intercostal neuralgia. It is caused by irritation of the intercostal nerves, which are below the ribs.
You should consult a neurologist to confirm the diagnosis.
Meanwhile, I suggest using lidocaine patches to treat the pain.
I also suggest using capsaicin cream for local application.
Hope it helps.
Take care
dr.Dorina Gurabardhi
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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