I've been having pain on my left hand side of my abdomen below my ribs for 7 weeks now, ive had blood, urine, stool tests that have all come back clear. An ultrasound has also not detected anything. The pain is there 24/7, it does not go and return... it is constant. I feel sick a lot, have been sick a few times, pain has recently spread to my pelvic area. Currently waiting a ct scan. Any advice would be great. X
Well, please be patient. The symptoms often reflect symptoms of quite a few things. Diverticulosis, crones, colitis, stones, hernia, nerve impingement etc.
Try to keep a good record of your episodes and if anything makes it better or worse.
It most likely isn't one of the awful choices listed, just be vigilant.
Do you have any change of bowel habit? Does your pain move about your stomach? Does eating/not eating make it worse? Have you tried a food diary to see if a food(s) are causing pain? Have you had a pelvic ultrasound? Left sided pain may point to an intestinal problem because that is where your intestines are located. If your CT shows nothing, ask to see a gastroenterologist. Have you had any stress?
I had constant, non stop generalised stomach pain in 2015 for three and a half monrhs. The pain varied in intensity but never disappeared. I had on off nausea although I was never sick. I had constipation and then loose, urgent stools. All my tests were negative and in the end I was diagnosed with IBS. IBS patients often feel their pain on their left side. After diagnosis, my bowel habits settled down and so did my pain. I now have long periods of remission. Stress triggered my IBS.
Thankyou
Hi Pippa.
Bowel movements are the same as always, the pain is in the same area 24/7... eating makes it worse but only because if my stomach is full it feels like it's pressing on something, not in my actual stomach. I've had a pelvic ultrasound too. IBS was mentioned and tablets given but no improvement, i also dont have bloating, constipation/ diarreah or it getting worse with certain foods. I have the pain wether i eat or not, drink water or wine or eat spicy or bland. I have also been given gastro tablets for stomach acid .... but I really feel it's not digestive. However I think I will keep a food diary just incase. X
A gastroenterologist would help though to rule digestive problems in or out. IBS patients don't always have problems with food; food causes me no problems. When my pain started, I didn't assocoate it with digestive complaints either. It was there whether I ate or not. My first IBS medication, Mebeverine, made me a lot worse, but Buscopan made me a lot better.
Nausea and vomiting would suggest that the stomach is irritated with something and is digestive related. Not everyone with IBS gets bloating. IBS varies a lot from person to person. However, bowel habit change is a key symptom and if you don't have this, it may be something else. On the other hand, maybe you are having very subtle bowel habit changes that are too slight to notice. There is such a thing as atypical IBS which means you have IBS but your symptoms are not typical of the condition.
Another possibility is to have a celiac blood test. I requested this test because no one could find out what was wrong with me and I was trying to give my doctors more to work on. I tested negative for celiac. Were you ever tested for h pylori or gastrits? The more you are tested for the better.
When you say you have a pain, do you really mean, discomfort and annoying interference? Not saying you don't have pain, but pain is really a severe word and some people call it that, although it's a really interfering and nasty experience with their everyday life that doesn't let you do things you would usually expect to be able to do.
It's definitley pain, I have a very high pain threshold but this one's got me! Not only in my abdomen but in my back too...I can't go running anymore and have had to stop playing netball. I have to carry on with everyday stuff as have no choice, as a single working mom I can't just stop - I'm just looking for any possibilities.
You seem very knowledgeable, I have never been ill in my life (apart from the odd cold etc) so don't know much about illnesses. Understandably you've done a lot of research since being diagnosed. I've been tested for coeliac disease and it came back negative. I had mebeverine too but this made no difference at all, good or bad. I've also got pain in my mid back - also a constant pain. I've had so many different suggestions from various people, I just want and answer... and when you Google your symptoms you end up with 4 cancers, a life long illness and needing to see a dr urgently! Haha
I got caught in the google trap too because I had to find things to ask my doctors that related to abdominal pain. When I googled abdominal pain, the list was huge. I ended up terrifying myself and I got severe health anxiety.
I also had back pain but lower down. I found out later, this is related to IBS. With me, this pain was intermittent. However, I do have a lower back injury which flares up now and again. Maybe ask for an endoscopy and colonoscopy to see if that turns up anything.
Other than a kidney stone or Chostconditris, I can't think of what it could be. Try not to worry to much and wait for the results of CT scan.
I hope you get some answers soon. I can't imagine having that kind of pain 24/7! Have you ever had an endoscopy/colonoscopy? The ct scan should be helpful, hope they can schedule you soon!
Thankyou. Kidney stones is something someone else has mentioned.... would these show up on an ultrasound though?
I've never had either, ive never been ill apart from the odd cold etc. I'm a reasonably fit 34year old so never had any invasive tests etc..... hoping not to if I'm honest. I'm just gutted I've had to stop running and netball. .. as you say, hopefully I'll get a ct scan soon. X
Luckily I'm not an anxious or stressy person or I could be in more pain due to this. I'm hoping a ct scan will show up something before I have to venture down the endoscopy or colonoscopy route, ive never had any kind of invasive tests so am hoping I won't need to bit obviously will if needs be.
Thankyou for all your advise, defo a new insight into what you read about IBS online.
Leanne, I've suffered with this pain for almost a year. It does have a lot of candidates which match up with the symptoms so we're not gonna be the same. After negative test results for stones, diverticulosis, hernia and even having steroid shots for a theory it was a pinched nerve due to spinal stenosis, I am now confined to bed with a last theory that I've torn the tissue attached to muscle along the left lower rib.
Six week experiment with no bending, stretching etc.
Hope you have better luck but just eliminate one at a time.
Best of luck.
It's always useful to be as informed as possible for yourself as well as helping others because getting a diagnosis can be so difficult. I really hope you can get answers soon before you need invasive tests. Things like kidney stones would show up on ultrasounds.
Hi Leanne, did you find out what this was? I’ve had the same now for nearly 7 weeks, it’s very uncomfortable, feels like I’ve ripped something inside of me, it’s in my side in the space between ribs & hip, started to affect my lower back about 2/3 weeks ago, which could be just a coincidence as I suffer from psoriatic arthritis too. As you can imagine I don’t get to do much exercise so it’s baffling me how I’ve done this, going back to the Drs Tuesday for a plan of action hopefully! Can’t cope anymore.
Hi
I've had a similiar pain just below the ribs and it goes to the side and to the upper back. Moving makes it worse. What could it possibly be?
All, im new here. Please try to read the response, it is a bit long
My daughter (5years) has been experiencing the same pain/discomfort described by Leanne for a long time now. First it started in Nov 2017 until end Dec 2017. The pain has now started again end of Feb 2018 and is still on as we speak. The pain/discomfort gets so bad that she sometimes cries and wakes up at night. Below is an outline of the pain and the medical assistance we have sought since
1. Pain is localised to the left side of abdomen, above the belly button and occasionally moves down, just below the belly button. She describes it as a very tight and rapid squeezing feeling that results in pain. The pain is 24/7 and does not seem to be made worse by eating or lack thereof.
2. Occasionally she indicates that she has a slight headache and also feels a bit of pain on her back.
3. She has the following allergies: egg white, wheat, soya and peanut. Before the pain started in Nov 2017 she used to eat most of these food items without much trouble but we have since pulled back after the pain started.
4. She is slightly asthmatic and highly allergic to grass. In fact when the pain started after she was put on a program for asthmatic program where she was taking
5. We have been to see a paediatric Gastroenterologist and did the following tests
a. Barium swallow to see movement of food in the stomach
b. CT scan
c. Abdominal and Pelvic Ultrasound scan
d. Endoscopy
e. PH Catheter test
f. Countless blood tests to check liver, kidney, bladder and all other organs. The only thing we picked from the bloods was low antibodies for which we have taken booster vaccines
g. stools samples
5. We have tried countless meds (Buscopan, Esomeprazole, Lacteol forte, Gaviscon)
6. We currently only giving her Pegicol (for constipation)
The Paediatric gastroenterologist had diagnosed her as having constipation. I have some doubts and think that it is something else. I am a very concerned dad and would like your assistance as this condition is having a big impact on my daughter.