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03-02-2004, 04:51 PM
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#1 | Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: LA
Posts: 43
| Unexplained URQ Abdominal Pain/please help
I have posted here before but I still have not found an answer ANY ideas are very much appreciated.
I have had constant pain in the upper right side of my abdomen - just under my ribs for 7+ months now. It started suddenly and has NEVER gone away since--I have it 24 hours a day. The pain feels like a strange sort of pressure from the inside - like something is trying to push its way out of my abdomen because there is not enough space for everything to fit. The pain gets worse when I eat (anything). I cannot eat or drink more than about 4 oz at a time w/out suffering terrible pain - as a result have lost 20+ pounds (and I was thin to begin with).
The pain also gets worse if I move certain ways (i.e. twisting my abdomen/trunk)...and of course if I press on the area. The pain is NOT musular as is does not hurt when I do a sit-up or tense the muscles and press on the area. It only hurts when I press and my belly is soft.
I have NO lower abdominal pain at all, No pain on the left side of my abdomen, and NO bowel changes or symptoms. The pain never moves and it does not radiate to other areas.
I have seen a multitude of specialists (GI (2), Infectious disease, gynecologist, urologist, nephrologist) and have had a battery of tests.
Tests includine abdominal CAT, MRI, HIDA scan (w/out CCK) (gallbladder and liver), Upper GI, endoscopy, enteroscopy, wireless endoscopy and tons of blood tests for everything from lupus to Celiac to lead poisoning. ALL tests have been negative - have shown NOTHING abnormal.
I am on Elavil for the pain (but it is not helping w. pain but helps me sleep through the pain.) I have take Protonix for 2 months and tried Zelnorm too w/ no response to either.
The surgeon I consulted with is pretty adamant about NOT doing a laparoscopy since all of the other tests have been negative - he doesn't think it will show anything.
I am desperate to feel like a normal person again...to be able to eat a normal meal and to end the constant pain. I don't know what to do...since none of the tests I had showed anything AND no one is willing to do a laparoscopy to potentially find something that may not be showing up on a scan - I am left to suffer in misery with no answers and no help. I seem to be at a dead end...
Has anyone had a similar experience or can anyone possibly shed some light on this situation? Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?
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03-03-2004, 09:07 AM
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#2 | Inactive
Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: philadelphia, pa , usa
Posts: 232
| Re: Unexplained URQ Abdominal Pain/please help
HI TWEETY, i HAVE HAD THE SAME THING ON AND OFF THE LAST YEAR..i HAD A COLONOSCOPY DONE AND IT STARTED AFTER THAT..THEN WENT AWAY AND CAME BACK IN AUGUST AND THEN WENT AWAY AGAIN AND i AM 12 WKS PREGNANT AND IT'S BEEN THERE SINCE i GOT PREGNANT..IT IS A CONSTANT ACHE AND IT BOTHERS ME IF i SIT A CERTAIN WAY OR LAY ON MY RIGHT SIDE OR PRESS THE AREA..i ALSO HAVE INDIGESTION ALSO..i HAD A ENDOSCOPY DONE 11 MONTHS AGO FOR REFLUX BUT EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL..MY gI DOCTOR ALSO WANTED ME TO HAVE A GALLBLADDER ULTRASOUND BUT i NEVER WENT BECAUSE IT WENT AWAY..i AM SCHEDULED TO SEE HER NEXT MONTH ..I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE IT COULD BE..I FEEL SICK AFTER EVERYTHING I EAT AND MY BOWELS ARE LOOSE..
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03-03-2004, 09:34 AM
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#3 | Senior Veteran (female)
Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Mt. Pleasant, MI, USA
Posts: 1,286
| Re: Unexplained URQ Abdominal Pain/please help Quote:
Originally Posted by Tweety22 I have posted here before but I still have not found an answer ANY ideas are very much appreciated.
I have had constant pain in the upper right side of my abdomen - just under my ribs for 7+ months now. It started suddenly and has NEVER gone away since--I have it 24 hours a day. The pain feels like a strange sort of pressure from the inside - like something is trying to push its way out of my abdomen because there is not enough space for everything to fit. The pain gets worse when I eat (anything). I cannot eat or drink more than about 4 oz at a time w/out suffering terrible pain - as a result have lost 20+ pounds (and I was thin to begin with).
The pain also gets worse if I move certain ways (i.e. twisting my abdomen/trunk)...and of course if I press on the area. The pain is NOT musular as is does not hurt when I do a sit-up or tense the muscles and press on the area. It only hurts when I press and my belly is soft.
I have NO lower abdominal pain at all, No pain on the left side of my abdomen, and NO bowel changes or symptoms. The pain never moves and it does not radiate to other areas.
I have seen a multitude of specialists (GI (2), Infectious disease, gynecologist, urologist, nephrologist) and have had a battery of tests.
Tests includine abdominal CAT, MRI, HIDA scan (w/out CCK) (gallbladder and liver), Upper GI, endoscopy, enteroscopy, wireless endoscopy and tons of blood tests for everything from lupus to Celiac to lead poisoning. ALL tests have been negative - have shown NOTHING abnormal.
I am on Elavil for the pain (but it is not helping w. pain but helps me sleep through the pain.) I have take Protonix for 2 months and tried Zelnorm too w/ no response to either.
The surgeon I consulted with is pretty adamant about NOT doing a laparoscopy since all of the other tests have been negative - he doesn't think it will show anything.
I am desperate to feel like a normal person again...to be able to eat a normal meal and to end the constant pain. I don't know what to do...since none of the tests I had showed anything AND no one is willing to do a laparoscopy to potentially find something that may not be showing up on a scan - I am left to suffer in misery with no answers and no help. I seem to be at a dead end...
Has anyone had a similar experience or can anyone possibly shed some light on this situation? Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? | Hi there. So sorry for your troubles. Sounds very suspicious for gall bladder disease - pain and the feeling of pressure was how mine started, and then chronic daily ache in that area, and severe stabbing pain when I ate or drank anything. Like you I lost 20+ lbs (although I could stand to lose it) from not eating. Other symptoms I had with GB disease included nausea, occasional vomiting, diarrhea, light tan to yellow stools, general overall fatigue, low grade fever, and tenderness in the area under the right ribs, and just feeling like sh** every day. I had 2 GB ultrasounds and 2 hida scans over the course of 8 months with supposedly "normal" results.
The doc I was seeing for my GERD was convinced my gall bladder was giving me the trouble even with "normal" results. During the 2nd hida scan I was given CCK which elicited a typical painful "attack." That was when the doc sent me for a 2nd opinion who concurred that it was my gall bladder. Almost a year after first noticing vague symptoms which worsened to daily painful intensity, I finally had the GB out. Turns out the GB was severely inflamed and covered in scar tissue from repeated attacks.
So in other words just because your tests seem "normal" (mine did too!) doesn't mean that everything is ok. Ask your doc about ordering another hida scan, this time with CCK and see if it elicits your current pain symptoms.
Hang in there - I'm thinking of you,
Katie G
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03-03-2004, 12:16 PM
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#4 | Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: LA
Posts: 43
| Re: Unexplained URQ Abdominal Pain/please help Quote:
Originally Posted by Katie G Hi there. So sorry for your troubles. Sounds very suspicious for gall bladder disease - pain and the feeling of pressure was how mine started, and then chronic daily ache in that area, and severe stabbing pain when I ate or drank anything. Like you I lost 20+ lbs (although I could stand to lose it) from not eating. Other symptoms I had with GB disease included nausea, occasional vomiting, diarrhea, light tan to yellow stools, general overall fatigue, low grade fever, and tenderness in the area under the right ribs, and just feeling like sh** every day. I had 2 GB ultrasounds and 2 hida scans over the course of 8 months with supposedly "normal" results.
The doc I was seeing for my GERD was convinced my gall bladder was giving me the trouble even with "normal" results. During the 2nd hida scan I was given CCK which elicited a typical painful "attack." That was when the doc sent me for a 2nd opinion who concurred that it was my gall bladder. Almost a year after first noticing vague symptoms which worsened to daily painful intensity, I finally had the GB out. Turns out the GB was severely inflamed and covered in scar tissue from repeated attacks.
So in other words just because your tests seem "normal" (mine did too!) doesn't mean that everything is ok. Ask your doc about ordering another hida scan, this time with CCK and see if it elicits your current pain symptoms.
Hang in there - I'm thinking of you,
Katie G | Katie,
Thank you so much for your informative response. I looked at the records from my HIDA scan and it doesn't look like I was given anthing called CCK, not is there an ejection rate listed. I put a call in to my GI doc and I am going to see if I have already had this, and if not I am going to ask to have it redone. I am praying for an answer.
Thanks.
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