Abdominal pain radiating to the back. What could it be?

Digestive health
1

I had sudden severe abdominal pain one afternoon and it struck quite quickly. Within 30mins I was screaming with pain that was radiating to my back, spasms through my abdomen and couldn't move. I was taken to hospital and admitted for 12days. They did all sorts of tests but unfortunately they failed to explore problems in the digestive system even though I had other symptoms also such as loss of appetite, acid feeling in my stomach, diarrhoea, constipation, vomiting all in the 12days I was in hospital. When I got out I went to see a private gastroenterologist who did an MRI scan and endoscopy which were fine. He said my blood results showed a problem with amylase levels which means there might be pancreatitis but we are waiting for the results from the CT scan at the hospital for further checks. It's been three months and I still have pains but they are not severe like the time I went to hospital. I've been trying to figure out myself what and when the pain strikes and One thing I've noticed is that when I eat chilli I get pain, or anything very cold but this is not the only times I get pain so not sure. Another thing that helps me deal with the pain is taking a medicine called Omeprazole 20mg which was given to me to take twice a day for 6weeks but I now take it when I have pain until the pain goes which is a day or two. It's really frustrating not knowing what this is and I can't help but think of the worst things it might be or lead to such as a critical illness. It doesn't help reading things on the internet trying to diagnose your illness yourself cus the symptoms relate to so many illnesses if the digestive system. I also feel my pain gets worse when I'm stressed out but I find it difficult to find time to chill and relax.

Has anyone else had these symptoms and had a particular diagnosis?

2

It can be a number of things from kidney stones to gallbladder inflammation to lymph node infection. The CT results will be more infromative. 

3

Avoid chiili and cold things and keep a food diary to see if you have other food intolerances.  Take a note of the other times you get the pain to see if other patterns emerge. Maybe that is why you are having vomiting and bowel habit change along with acid reflux and stomach pain. Stress also looks like a trigger for you.  

If omeprazole helps, it suggests you have a digestive complaint. If nothing shows on your CT, your amylase levels improve and nothing else shows up, you could ask about IBS which can cause your gastric symptoms. Have you been tested for h pylori, and had a fecal calprotectin test?

4

There are a couple of rarely diagnosed conditions that can cause the problems you're having. MALS (Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome) which seems to fit many of your symptoms. Some other conditions that can occur with MALS are SMA Syndrome and Nutcracker Syndrome. Not that you have any of these but at least you can look into them as many doctors aren't even aware that they exist!