I have come to believe that it could be something like what you describe. One thing that differs, though, is that it is not actual "painful". It is an extreme tightness around the lower rib cage and midriff. I do think it lies in the Fascia of the rib cage that are extremely tensed all the time. It is just this constant "squeezing" and it is incredibly unbearable to live with year after year. Now if I press down with my fingers in this area, I can find painful areas but only painful when I press down, not otherwise. There are also little nodule-like areas, which are often described in trigger point therapy that when you push on them are extremely painful but otherwise you don't feel them. My insurance paid for a couple of weeks of therapy but somehow the therapist was not quite getting it right. It's hard to explain. It didn't help a bit.

However, with kind people like yourself, writing in with possible diagnoses, I have a fighting chance of getting some help with this. I will look up the MALS as it is a possibility. Thank you very much.