Only when you're anxious? If so maybe the reason isn't that important? I'm not saying it isn't, but if a health care professional says it's OK....
I'm struggling very recently with some medical anxiety that has been pretty much kept at bay for years. Combination of factors really got to me today. The whole is it anxiety or some medical catastrophe. Generally gotten pretty good at pushing that back but not today. The symptoms are less once calmed down so logic dictates that it's probably just my mind playing games. But logic does not always win in my head.

i get both of those symptoms from anxiety. my doctors --back when i went to doctors-- called a similar pain i was getting under my rib cage, "pleurisy." they told me it was a swelling of the tissues around my rib. the abdomen joys were dx'ed as, "spastic colitis." i think they are calling that "irritable bowel syndrome" these days. did i just give away how long it's been since i talked to those doctors?

when i get either one of those symptoms, i start making my anxiety management a priority. both get ugly when they escalate. prevention is the best cure.

I’ve gotten that exact dull pain. It is on my right side upper quadrant. This happened to me about 2 years ago. I went to my GP. He sent me for ultrasound looking at gallbladder for gallstones. They didn’t fine anything really. A couple benign things that wouldn’t cause the ache. Doctor said it still could be gallbladder not working properly. He said he would send me for more in depth testing if it continues to bother me if it is very bad. I still get the feeling at times. Then it goes away again. So , long story short, I am an anxious person but I still went to my doctor and had that ultrasound done. If it gets bad I will tell him to go further.

Interesting Arfie. This could be something I can bring up to my doctor.

Hi Quagmire,

I'm sorry you are experiencing this. I know you posted about a month ago that they found a diagnosis of Fatty Liver in your ultrasound. And, your liver is located exactly where you are describing today. Upper abdomen, a little to the right side.

Here's what it says for symptoms of fatty liver - "Abdominal pain or a feeling of fullness in the upper right side of the abdomen (belly). Nausea, loss of appetite or weight loss"

I believe eating the diet associated with fatty liver would be a good start. You can Google what that diet is. Then see if your symptoms get better. I know it is not fun to follow these diets, but I firmly believe - We are what we eat.

Side note - I have one gallstone. Never knew I had one. Just today, in fact, I went in for some blood work to check how my gall bladder is doing, because I have been having pain in my middle upper abdomen. So it's interesting that you posted this today. I will know more in a week or so.

Try the diet. If you still have pain, please get it checked at your doctor's. Anxiety can definitely cause stomach pains and digestion issues, and those are harmless and normal for anxiety. You are going to be okay... but follow up with your doctor just to make sure. Take care!

When I’m anxious, I get a lot of GI weirdness. I have ulcerative colitis so that doesn’t help either. I also have gastritis and acid reflux as well. So I’m kind of a mess with that at times.

When I’m anxious I also sometimes tend to gasp or inhale a lot of air. Another byproduct of my anxiety is hyper vigilance and hyper focus on my body. So everything feels very amplified. Not dismissing what you are feeling, just that it’s kind of a vicious cycle in some ways: discomfort begets anxiety, anxiety begets discomfort.

I think it’s best to check with your doctor. It’s likely nothing serious. It could be lots of things. It could just be from your fatty liver. It could be your gall bladder. Ultrasounds usually can detect gall stones but if your gallbladder is not functioning well, an ultrasound won’t necessarily pick that up. I had right sided pain under my ribs for a couple of years. Had normal ultrasounds. Finally it just got worse and worse, where it became pretty bad. My doctor ordered a test that measures how well your gallbladder is functioning. Mine was not functioning at all; zero function. So they took it out.

It’s funny I just recently had some pain on and off in that area. When my doctor palpated my abdomen he could tell I had gas in my upper abdomen. Like it was trapped. Who knows why. I have a lot of GI issues so it could have been from anything. I took some Gas X for a few days and it went away. Walking helped as well. So it could be something as simple as that.

So maybe also experiment with your diet. Keep it healthy, like eliminate soda or coffee or fatty foods and see if it helps.