Constant pain in the lower abdomen, CD or UC? - Bowel Disorders Message Board

lemoneko · 05-08-2005, 11:58 PM

Hello,

I am posting this to help my boyfriend. For six weeks now, he has been in constant pain in his lower abdomen. There is never a time where the pain is completely gone, and at times its so severe that we've ended up at the ER but the doctors there won't do further tests or help him. Hhe says that it feels as though there is a meat grinder going through his insides at times when it's severe. He's lost close to 30 lbs now, is fatigued easily and has a minor fever at times. He hasn't worked for the six weeks either. There seems to be no pattern to the peaks in his pain.

He's on buscopan and that seemed to help for a while. But it's not doing anything anymore. Pain killers, antacids and sulcrate hasn't helped either. We've been given the runaround so many times that we're trying herbal remedies now. I've given him some sage tincture lately, but that doesn't seem to help.

He's been tested with blood tests, urine tests, x-rays, gastroscopy, and a barium GI and an ultrasound and everything has come back normal. The doctor he is seeing now says he's a "mystery" and seems to gave given up. When I mention that ultrasounds only show 95% of gallstones, or that IBS doesn't account for the weightless, he seems to avoid it. Whenever I mention that to any of the doctors we've seen, they seem to avoid it.

We're trying with the doctors again tomorrow, he's tempted to see a vet if they don't do anything proper. Talk about incompetent doctors, we seem to have all them here in SK.

We're starting to think it's Crohn's or Ulceritis, but he doesn't have diarrhoea. He has had minor constipation though. No blood in the stools, or mucus, he says. Does UC or CD always have diarrhoea as a symptom? Could someone out there please shed some light on our little problem here?

I'm also considering a parasite, like a tapeworm. Does anyone know any info about this senario?

Thank you muchly.

michaelfloyd · 05-09-2005, 12:33 AM

Has he had a colonoscopy or a sigmoidoscopy? Colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy are the tests done to diagnose those diseases. If he hasn't had either of those then I would recommend that.

chigs489 · 05-09-2005, 08:16 AM

from what I've seen and read, inflammatory bowel disease (UC or Crohn's) almost always involves major diarrhea, sometimes bloody, but there are rare cases when it doesn't. The other major symptom is stabbing abdominal pain, which obviously applies here. Weight loss is another issue, although if he is feeling lousy, he's probably not eating as much.

I'm not a doctor, but I suspect Diverticulosis here. My cousin had it bad, and had similar symptoms. He needed a colonoscopy to get a diagnosis. He had surgery to correct it, and he's 100% fine now.

Get a colonoscpy for sure to figure out what's going on. Also get a IBD antibody test to totally rule out IBD, since Crohn's affects the small intenstine as well.

But my suspicion is Diverticulosis, or maybe even a bad case of IBS, since the latter also causes big time gas pains around the clock in some people.

lemoneko · 05-09-2005, 01:06 PM

No, he hasn't had a colonoscopy or a sigmiodoscopy. He was supposed to go for a colonoscopy, the GP referred him to a specialist for one, but the specialist doctor switched it to a gastroscopy.

Does IBS account for the weightloss? I can't remember reading anything that does, but IBD does. (He's eating almost twice as much as me, and has been eating healthier since he moved in here four weeks ago. That's why I also think maybe he has a parasite or something ^^; ) We're seeing the doctor tomorrow, we're trying to get a colonoscopy booked sooner, or maybe get the tests done in the ER (it's a month wait for the referral, probably two month for the test. The pain's getting worse, we can't really wait that long.)

Thanks, we'll ask for an IBD antibody test tomorrow.

FireWoman · 05-09-2005, 02:21 PM

From what I understand UC and Chron's usually present with diarrhea and blood. He may need an actual colonoscopy, not just a barium enema, for a more accurate diagnosis. He may have diverticulitis or IBS. I have IBS and suffered weight loss, but that was because the pain caused me to not want to eat.