First off here's my situation.
I'm 49 years old and have had minor irritation in different locations of the abdomen for years now. It would come and go and about a year and a half ago I went to the doctor but the discomfort diminished before anything was revealed so I just let it go.
As of a couple of months or so ago, discomfort and pain has come back but its different this time. Its both constant in some places and also is worsening overall, most dramatically in the past 3 weeks or so. I also have other odd symptoms to go with it.
Those symptoms include constant burning pain in my lower right side befow the rib cage and above the pelvic bone. It feels swollen, tight, and as of the past couple days, it appears I have some swelling lumps under the skin and maybe shallow fat or muscle layer(s). Those swellings hurt to the touch and at least one is right below the rib cage on my right front.
I also get on and off pain in the stomach area, dull pain on the lower left side and dull to sharp pains above the belly button to around the stomach area.
I've had a bad case of the chills a week ago that have come back once since but not as severe. I also get clammy, a little sweaty at times and as of the past day and a half I feel weird all over, like I'm ill with a fever but I don't think I have a fever.
I first noticed a drastic lightening of the color of my stools a couple months ago. It may have lasted a few days and cleared up. I've seen it several times after but it wil clear up and return to light brown. I haven't had diarhea nor any abnormal constipation although i have had minor constipation or loose stools. No blood or tar that I can see but I have had a sensation of having to go poop with only a little one coming out although I felt like much more was ready. This is a reoccuring thing.
I don't see any signs of jaundice but the area at the lower end of my liver is one of the areas that is causing me discomfort.
Last but not least, now over the past few weeks, I've had a worsening cough. I don't know if its allergies or not. My ear canals have been hot and itchy but I'm not having nasal issues.
Anyways, I have an appointment with my doctor coming up. As its gotten markedly worse the past few days, I'm now really starting to worry when I was doing okay keeping the worry away up until now. I've been trying to look up diagrams of the abdominal organs and layout and have also been trying to match those up with areas of my discomfort. I've also been searching through lots of abdominal maladies trying to match up my symptoms and get a better understanding of the possibilities for my problems so I can be informed when I go to the doctor.
I don't want to mess up this chance. Waiting for appointments can take weeks or more than a month here.
I'd like to arm myself with knowledge, questions and ideas of what kind of tests can be done and what we might be looking for here. There's a myriad of stuff that can go wrong in the abdomen and I don't want to waste any more time or exposure with my doctor than needed. I also don't want to be blown off by them either. I want to find out what's wrong ASAP so I know what I need to do next to work with it.
Thanks in advance for any advice or ideas as to what could be wrong that I can bring up to my doctor.