My 11 Year Old Is Complaining About a Pain Under the Back Right Side of Her Ribs

Updated on February 06, 2019
K.T. asks from Happy Valley, OR
16 answers

My 11 year old girl is complain get of a sharp pain under her right lower rib cage. Does anyone know what it is or if K should take her to the doctors. She has never gotten this pain before. She has only had migraines and growing pains. Please answer.

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D.B.

answers from Boston on

Sharp pain? Unknown cause? DOCTOR! Maybe it's nothing serious but no child should be in pain while a parent is on the internet - teach her responsible health practices by modeling them.

7 moms found this helpful
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D..

answers from Miami on

I don’t think she is being bullied here. Moms have given her opinions, including the MOST important opinion to get her to a doctor. One mom points out that interpretations of her question differed - advice for different interpretations aren’t going to help her.

Medical advice is best gotten from the daughter’s ped. We can only guess, and guessing won’t help anyone. And this forum really isn’t a place for every question, just because it’s a site for mothers.

4 moms found this helpful

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S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

maybe she has a broken rib. maybe she fell and bruised something. maybe she's having a heart attack. maybe she swallowed a piranha and it's devouring her from within.

how the bleep do you expect strangers on the internet to know why your eleven year old is in pain?

smh.

khairete
S.

6 moms found this helpful
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Z.B.

answers from Toledo on

ETA - B made an excellent point! I read your subject and took it to mean just behind the rib (which to me meant the front side of the body). She read it and took it to mean the back side of the body. Further evidence that you cannot get medical advice this way.

Original answer:
I noticed a couple of moms said it could be her kidneys, and (no offense to those moms) the kidneys are in your back and not at all in the area you described. This is exactly the reason you should never ask a website like this for medical advise. Any doctor on this site is going to tell you that they would need more information in order to know what is wrong, and anyone answering is probably not qualified to tell you what's wrong.

Call your doctor.

5 moms found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Could be muscular or maybe her kidney.
I'd have a doctor check her out.
If it's nothing I'd be relieved to know for sure.

Additional:
The subject says "complaining about a pain under the back right side of her ribs".
Back right side of her ribs is where her right kidney would be located.
Granted it depends how low that pain is, but just above the edge of the ribs on your back is where the kidneys are.

5 moms found this helpful

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Please just call the doctor's 24 hour nurse advice line and ASK. They will walk you through her symptoms and advise you on whether or not you should bring her in.

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G.♣.

answers from Springfield on

I would call the doctor. You don't have to take her to the doctor. Call the office and tell them what's going on. Most likely a nurse will call you back and ask you questions and let you know what you should do. You might need to have her seen, but you might not.

Call the doctor.

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H.M.

answers from Dallas on

Could be so many different things. I hope you took her to a Dr.

4 moms found this helpful

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

I would hope you’d take her to the Dr vs reaching out to strangers on the internet.

How would we know what it is? If it were to be serious, you are wasting precious time.

Go to the Dr.

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M.G.

answers from Portland on

I'd call a medical professional and ask - because they'd know the right questions to ask, as this could be anything from kidney related, to gas, to pulled muscle, ...

I once thought I had a pulled muscle/spasm, and it was an infection and I had to go on antibiotics. No clue.

That never would have dawned on me.

Just call and let them ask you the questions - that would be my advice. They will likely say come in, but by then, maybe it will have passed, or they may say "Call us back in 10 hours" (if digestion related, it may have passed by then) .. and they will have better advice than we can give. Hopefully it passes

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Q.1.

answers from Portland on

Does it hurt worse when she inhales? If so, she could have a rib out. If you follow that rib around to the front, you may find she has pain there too when you press on it. Easily put back in place by a chiropractor. Sometimes they go back in by themselves but you have to breathe through the pain until then.

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N.K.

answers from Miami on

Could be gas, could be exercise-related, like muscular pain, could be constipation, could be PMS.

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K.J.

answers from Portland on

I thought this app was for mothers to ask anything & have other mom’s give their advice. I see no reason to be a snotty B**** to the mom. Maybe her health insurance sucks & it cost a lot to go to Dr. Maybe she wanted to make sure it was important enough to go see the Dr. about. If I took my kid to the Dr every time he complained about pain, we’d be at the Dr daily. I agree about taking her to a Dr, but that’s all that was needed to be said. I can’t believe how many of you acted like a child & bullied the woman who was brave enough to ask for help when she need it! Stop being so judge-mental, you have no idea what her situation is.
Good Luck to you & your daughter, hope she is pain free soon!
Quite 1.- thx you for the HELPFUL ideas, without bullying her!!!

2 moms found this helpful

W.W.

answers from Washington DC on

K.

Welcome to mamapedia.

Why would you NOT take her to the doctor if she has pain? She might have a kidney infection or she could have a broken rib.

Strangers can't diagnose her. Her doctor can.

take her to the doctor.

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S.M.

answers from Boston on

One of my daughters seems to get this when she’s constipated.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

I've had random pains under my rib cage. If she doesn't have a fever, I'd wait to take her to the doctor. I called the doctors office the first time. They said just turning or lying crooked on the side could cause this pain. They advised to wait and see if pain goes away. I've had a similar pain a few times. The pain is gone within 24-48 hours.

Her stomach is located there. Could be gas and/or related to digestion.

Could be a muscle cramp.

You could call the nurse advice line to learn more.

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