So sorry you also have this! ❤️

I have had this happen to me! I went to my normal doctor because the females in my family have had gall bladder problems and it came back normal. But I noticed it is around my period time. I’m glad but not so glad to hear it’s not only been me!

I also had regular periods with no pain my whole life prior to this year (tho I was always on birth control). Stopping periods with continuous hormonal birth control has made an incredible difference, especially now that I’m past the breakthrough bleeding phase of the first few months. Maybe something that could help!

Thank you for sharing. I will check into that because who knows...but I've been off birth control for 15 years now and have always had regular periods, with no pain. This is very recent...just started last month and this month. I've been gluten free for 20 years, already eat a whole foods diet as I complete in fitness competitions here and there. I'm pretty spot on with foods, exercise, etc. However, that may have been helping with issues that I have and didn't know it. So maybe it's just rearing it head now so to speak. Were your periods painful for years prior to getting on birth control? I do not have a family history of endometriosis, but I am not ruling out anything since this is a mystery as of now. I really appreciate all the insight. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start or what questions to ask until you hear someone else's story. I hope you get more answers as well. ❤️

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. I had exactly the same experience. Doctors that were positive it's my gallbladder. But now have some suggesting it could be endometriosis on my diaphragm. I think the gallbladder workup is the first thing to do to rule out major problems and hopefully get a straightforward answer if for example your HIDA scan is really low / gallbladder isn't functioning well. I agreed to an abdominal MRI and a CT scan in the ER at different times while I was having severe attacks. All of my tests came back normal though.

After months of this not being resolved and knowing I had a family history of endometriosis, I decided to go back on hormonal birth control as a treatment for endometriosis. My pain attacks started soon after I went off birth control for the first time in 15+ years so that was an obvious experiment to try. I went on continuous birth control (new round every 3 weeks) so I would never have a period. That has made a DRAMATIC difference in my level of pain, so it might be something to explore if you haven't tried it. This made doctors think it's probably endometriosis and they said no way to diagnose for sure except surgery, which they wouldn't do if symptoms are improving. I had problems with breakthrough bleeding for the first several months on the continuous birth control and when I had breakthrough bleeding I had pain attacks, but much less severe. But now, I never have a period but I have much more mild but chronic upper right quadrant/rib pain and soreness. I'm journaling everything to try to understand triggers and high fat food and alcohol seem to make it worse. I have no idea if this is a gallbladder problem, endometriosis, or pain from IBS, or maybe some combination. But I'm trying to treat the pain now by eating whole foods diet and reducing food triggers (gluten and dairy), cutting out alcohol/coffee, drinking a lot of water, exercising, acupuncture, etc, all the things. I think all of that is helping, at least for now.

So I don't have a perfect resolution to share, but birth control has been the best treatment by far and all the holistic eating helps some too I think. It's so frustrating not to know what it is, I really hope you get some information and relief soon! 💜