What is thisRUQ pain?
RUQ: What is thisRUQ pain? - British Liver Trust
RUQ
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Ksvlm
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14 Replies
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Hi
Sorry we use too much jargon. It is pain in your right upper quadrant, ie, the area on your right hand side above your tummy button. Many people complain of it and it may, or may not, be related to a liver problem.
I hope this explains
Isabelle
Can someone actually post a picture for liver right upper quadrant pain ? So that we all can get educated ?. Google pics are not that obvious as compare to where some pain is located
Right upper quadrant pain in some doctors minds is a psychological manifestation that we get. Their thinking on this is that the liver doesnt have nerve endings therefore cannot be felt. There isnt a picture of where it would be because everyone describes it different. Usually when someone says they have RUQ they clinically are found to have an enlarged liver and the feeling they are getting is it pushing against the ribs and other organs. It seems to be a description people give In earlier disease I find and it's not typically a pain more so as it is an awareness. Now actual pain in that area can be a signalling of other things as there are other organs near that area that can radiate pain. If one was to feel pain from the liver area it would more likely be felt radiating in the shoulder area.
Darkdog in reply to
Great reply Phoenix. That’s the whole point. RUQ pain is very hard to diagnose since lots of organs are related to it. However, liver RUQ pain does not radiates to shoulder area.
You can read or search online about the pain and most people have relied back that they just RUQ pain which is more likely liver related.
My doc denies it’s a liver pain as to all my tests are normal and they just put as a muskuskeletol but then when I read threads posted here and other forums, RUQ pain is related to fatty liver. Although one will argue that you enzymes needs to be elevated etc.
Jonjara in reply to
Hi, my name is Jon, I had hep C for 25 years, I have had treatment and now my liver seems to be doing simply fine.
I just wanted to remark on the RUQ. I had hep C genotype 3a, it’s considered the more aggressive Geno type (causes more damage quicker than the other Geno types). I had years of RUQ pain and always knew it was my liver. My specialist told me it was NOT my liver as "The liver has no pain receptors". It is funny about 3 weeks going into treatment, my liver pain (RUQ) pain went away. It is funny how I had pain every day for years then when I went on meds that would calm down the inflammation and my liver area pain just went away. Anyway, after years of my specialist making me feel like I was crazy, like the pain was not real.
My specialist finally agreed that you can feel liver pain. It is not the liver that feels the pain, it is the membrane that surrounds the liver that has nerves. When your liver is inflamed it stretches the membrane that cause the pain. It is the membrane that cause the pain from the inflammation. If you have active hep C and and have RUQ pain. Please take it from someone who suffered horribly from it and the pain is valid.
Liver pain is quite documented to be felt radiating to the right shoulder. This is a short list of sources. but the list is quite endless really.
"Liver pain is felt in the upper right area of the abdomen, just below the ribs. Usually, it is a dull, vague pain though it can sometimes be quite severe and may cause a backache. Sometimes people perceive it as pain in the right shoulder." - Livescience.com
"Some conditions which may cause shoulder blade pain include gallstones, peptic ulcer disease, acid reflux, and liver disease." - Verywellhealth.com
"Depending on the cause, a liver that hurts may show up as pain in the ... abdomen, between your shoulder blades, or in your right shoulder." -webmd.com
Signs and symptoms of liver cancer often do not show up until the later stages of the disease, but sometimes they may show up sooner. Some of the most common symptoms of liver cancer are:
Weight loss (without trying)
Loss of appetite
Feeling very full after a small meal
Nausea or vomiting
An enlarged liver, felt as a mass under the ribs on the right side
An enlarged spleen, felt as a mass under the ribs on the left side
Pain in the abdomen or near the right shoulder blade. - cancer.org
Right upper quadrant pain cant be diagnosed because it's a description of a feeling and not an actual medical finding.
Ahem!
in reply to
What the heck did I mean by Ahem?
Hi,
I have had very bad pain ruq area, radiating to the back with occasional shoulder pain since 2000. This followed gall stone pancreatitis and subsequent ERCP, and gall bladder removal.
I've had every test my Dr could think of, as they didn't want to assume it was caused by Pbc ( which was diagnosed in 2006 as result of tests to identify cause of pain). Although pain is a recognised symptom of Pbc, as described by T.Addison when he first discovered the condition.
I've been seen by pain management consultant and he explained that unlike the limbs that have straight nerves to the central nervous system, organ nerves are supplied by a net of nerves and explains why people get referred pain. I am likely to have scar tissue and my liver was enlarged. The capsule around the liver ( Gleeson ?sp? ) stretches and causes pain.
Finally he said when this net of nerves is overstimulated, (from having gallstone pancreatitis/ operations etc) it mixes up the messages felt as pain. Therefore it was suggested I have Visceral hyper Algesia.
So although the liver doesn't have direct nerve endings it can feel pain, especially if pain response is confused due to the limbic system nerve supply.
Best wishes to all.
That is the best explanation I’ve ever read. Thank you!
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