This morning I woke up with a level 8-10 pain right below my sternum. It was exactly the same as gall bladder pains that I used to have before my gall bladder was removed. A few hours before I had taken a morphine tablet for nerve pain in my right leg. (I have a pinched nerve on the right side that causes pain in my right hip and down the right leg. What could have caused the pain below my sternum? I'm in otherwise good health.