bloke in chronic pain

[Manbitescat]

Casting around for ideas, thought a post here might be useful. For the last 20 months (I count 'em), I've spent every day in pain and/or discomfort. Undertaken all manner of imaging tests and of course nothing seems out of place.
My symptoms are similar to gall-bladder issues. Right upper quadrant pain, radiating to to right shoulder blade. sometimes mild, sometimes bloody agonising. However these pains occur every day, without fail, making my life and that of my long suffering wife pretty miserable. Wondered if anyone had similar problems or insights or advice?

[FestiveEdition]

If tests have ruled out everything else, I would question if this could be IBS. I suffered from pain in similar area for a long time before IBS became more advanced and gave symptoms which were recognisable for a diagnosis.
Talking to IBS sufferers quickly shows you that they have a wide range of pains and symptoms which never appear on diagnostic criteria ...but are shared often enough to be obvious IBS related.

Quickest way to check is to take yourself off all high fibre foods (yep, that does mean the 5 a day goes out of the window)....safe veg for many sufferers are broccoli and frozen peas. Avoid brown bread like the plague, and use only processed white. Cut out all margarines and use only pure butter. Avoid anything with sunflower oil. Think about everything you eat ...plain unadulterated, and as low fibre as you can get.

In practice,...... try a week of nothing but white bread with pure butter, grilled or steamed fish or chicken, potato (if baked - do not eat the skin!) and safe veg.
Its no fun ....but if its IBS you should see a rapid improvement in symptoms. Then you can start to reintroduce foods one at a time, to see what causes issues .....its different for everyone, and random things can trigger. Fruit cake and peanut butter are treats I long ago learned to avoid.

There is a great book which details various symptoms from different - groups them into types of IBS - and suggests food approach for each. Well worth getting, if the week long trial improves things <a class="break-all" href="//www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Cooking-Ibs-Delicious-Symptom-Free/dp/1584794941/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383900859&sr=8-1&keywords=healthy%20cooking%20for%20IBS&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">Healthy Cooking for IBS

Good luck !

[FestiveEdition]

....forgot to mention the hardest give up of all, for that week (because it doesn't affect me personally)
Caffeine is a major irritant for some, so go de-caf along with everything else.
For some people, that alone can work like a miracle, but you can't know if that alone will work until you rest the system and then reintroduce.

[FutTheShuckUp]

MNHQ think this is in the wrong forum

[DazR]

Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction?

[Piscivorous]

Have you asked if gall bladder is totally ruled out? I think some people can have sludge rather than stones which causes symptoms but is harder to detect