Upper abdominal pain and bloating?

In the last several weeks, I have been getting pain when I eat slightly to the right above my belly button. It's pretty localized to that spot, but it also can be extremely tender about a fist size above. A few nights ago I went to the ER because the pain got up to a 7. A CT scan and ultrasound only showed a partially collapsed ovarian cyst (which would explain the pain down there, but that's been mild compared to the upper abdominal pain). No strictures, abscesses, fistulas, or blockages showed up.

I only have had a very mild fever (which they're not even counting because it's a high 98, but that's high for me since my normal is 96.8-97.1). I am having normal BM's for the first time in forever (thanks to Remicade). It's not my pancreas; my lipase and amylase levels are normal. I also don't have much of an appetite, but since I finished a prednisone taper a week ago that's normal.

I didn't have any changes in meds or diet. The pain comes and goes, and I thought it had faded after the ER visit and the wonderful dilaudid they gave me, but I did an echocardiogram (my heart rate hasn't been under 100 in a few weeks; my sitting heart rate was 135 when I saw a surgeon two weeks ago for my fistula) and when the woman pushed to see the bottom of my heart from my stomach above my belly button, I just about came off the table. It hadn't been hurting on its own, but she pushed down and I realized the pain wasn't something I had been "imagining" (I always worry about that when tests don't show anything).

My body doesn't absorb oral meds - high doses of oral dilaudid do nothing, and I can take 20 mg of ambien and still be wide awake two hours later. Even if it did work, I don't want to just mask pain, I want to know why.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? My PCP didn't know where to go from here. I haven't discussed it much with my GI yet because I want to have ideas if it's just "phantom pain" or if it could be something real, you know?

Sorry that you are suffering. How long have you been on pred? The reason I had to stop pred was when it put me in a severe stomach flare up and I had then to be put on iv fluids and injections for more than 2 weeks. 5-Asas sometimes irritate my gastritis.
The site of your pain is not of the stomach but it could be the duodenum, I'm not sure but I sometimes have pain in this area. Did you have an antacid or ppi? They can help.
Hope you feel better soon:)

Thanks @minnietoty, you're so nice about answering lots of peoples' questions. :)

I was on prednisone for about 6 weeks, but I've been on it before and for much longer (10 months of 40 mg/day being the longest) and never had this problem. It also started before the prednisone. I take 40 mg of omeprazole (prilosec) a day for GERD (I've had esophageal strictures that have been dilated before). All of the supplements are oral, but I've been on them for a while and haven't had problems.

lol, not trying to be difficult! I appreciate all your suggestions because they make think through things that hadn't occurred to me.

I didn't feel a bump....I do have cold chills quite frequently. I haven't hit a 7 since Wednesday when I went in, but I'm hanging out anywhere from a 2 to a 5. It sometimes feels like the pain switches around between 3 or 4 spots, which is why I have a hard time wanting to say anything, you know? Especially when all labs are clear. I mean, what else can they do, really? I feel like half the time you have to be on death's doorstep before you're really taken seriously.

Unfortunately, oral pain meds are completely ineffective. I'm not sure if my body doesn't absorb them or what, but dilaudid, lortab, percocet (all at fairly high doses) don't touch anything. And they also get me crampy and constipated really, really fast.

The pain isn't a general pain or gas pain. There are three specific spots, each no bigger than a dime, that will just start hurting. I've felt around and there aren't any lumps or anything. There's nothing I eat really that causes it. And I'm not having any of my typical Crohn's symptoms. The first spot started when I was on 40 mg of prednisone.

I've been on the phone back and forth with a nurse at my GI's today and yesterday. The GI and his nurse left early yesterday and are out on Tuesdays, so I was talking to the nurse practitioner's nurse today, lol. But today all I ate was a bowl of shredded wheat for breakfast and an apple for lunch, and by then the pain and bloating had already started so I forced myself to eat the apple. My GI said I need 25g of fiber a day. It's not fiber related, because I've been eating this stuff for a while. But seriously, my upper abdomen is sticking out at least an inch. My husband can see it even under my baggy shirt.

They want to try out Carafate for a few days....anyone heard of it???

The Carafate seems like it would coat your stomach and esophagus, but that does not seem like that is what you are describing as the problem. Fiber pills like Citrucel or Metamucil work better for me, but you have to go up on the dose slowly and it can cause more gas. While you feel so bad, try to stick with applesauce instead of an apple, or canned fruit. The apple may be too much fiber all at once. I hope you feel better soon.