Pain Upper Left Abdomen, worsens with body movement

Digestive health
1

Chronic pain, LEFT UPPER abdomen, already for 5 months.

- Dull pain, sometimes also feeling like bubbles. Worsens with body movement like moving fast around the house (but not with shaking of for example going on a car). 

- Sometimes also at heart level, rarely radiating towards armpit. Occasional back pain, also in left side. No pain in right side, be abdomen or chest.

- Pain started 5 months ago. One lung infection 4 months ago (pain disappeared temporarily with antibiotics). Periodic constipation and occasional nausea and heartburn

- Besides body movement, pain also worsens after fatty meals and stress.

- Doctor first suspected as pericartitis or pleurisy, now suspected to be IBS)

- Blood tests all normal (blood count, thyroid, liver)

- Negative celiac, negative H. pylori, no blood in stool).

- Normal ECG, normal Abdominal ultrasound, no Colonoscopy yet.

- Abnormal tests: slightly elevated IgA (but only barely above upper limit); weak positive calprotectin stool test (intestine inflammation)

- My suspected diagnosis: mild diverticolitis, pleurisy, fibromyalgia; B12 deficiency

 

Has anyone experienced something similar? Upper left abdomen pain that worsens with simple body movement?

2

I forgot to say, that as the chronic pain is under lower ribcage, I also suspected Crohn´s disease, costochondritis and chronic pancreatitis.

I am 36, male, I have mody diabetes (mild), controlled by diet, and periodontal disease.

3

I have IBS but I don’t experience upper left abdominal pain that gets worse by moving.  However, everyone experiences IBS differently. My pain is lower, generalised abdominal pain that moves about.

4

Update. Recently the pain moved further along armpit into the left arm and made it numb for a few days. After a GP appointment, it was clear that the cause seems more neurological (something akin to Fibro or MS, B12 deficiency or something neurological, - could be even something like Lyme´s). Another possibility is something vascular, but the GP does not think so. 

Nonetheless the GP also thinks there might be some small degree of latent IBD, because of the positive calprotectin. But recently, after improving fish and meat in my diet, omega 3 supplements, and reducing starches and eliminating gluten and dairy, the gut seems to working normal again.

5

I have neuropathy too in both arms.  One was caused by a fall snd the other was triggered by a medical error.

6

After 15 months i finally got a diagnosis!!!

The journey went like this: - Aug 2017, pain in upper left abdomen starts, initially some chest pain too. A week later, chronic constipation starts for a few months. ECG shows normal heart function - Sep2017, got pneumonia. Doctor suspected lung pleurisy. Symptoms disappeared for a month. Between guts and lungs, both me and doctors are left confused!

  • Nov 2017: return of constant pain under lower left ribs, now with GERD and food intolerances. I do many tests, mostly blood. Mild iron deficiency. No celiac. No H. pylori. Small raise in calprotectin. Abdomen ultrasound negative. Relief that pancreas, spleen and aneurysm, are not the cause of pain. Three doctors says its IBS, despite the unusual local persistent pain (not typical of IBS).

  • Jan 2018. Fasciculations started in the area of pain. I feel worried. Doctor wonders Crohns (but i have constipation rather than bloody diarrhoea). Other options considered were lyme disease (negative test) and multiple sclerosis.

  • Apr 2018. Slight swollen in same site of pain. This is unusual and I am worried about what is causing it. But all doctors and a gastroenterologist dismiss that as IBS and colon spasms. I do not believe them. I do a MRI for that part of abdomen, everything is fine. Frustated by not finding the root of the pain and swollen, I did also a chest x ray: also nothing usual.

  • May 2018. At this time, I suspect the culprit may be the stomach or colon (as others exams ruled out other organs in that area of the pain). I asked many of these doctors if it could be a hernia, all said no.

  • Jun 2018 I managed to get a gastro referred me into the waiting list for a colonoscopy and gastroendoscopy. He said probably IBS and the swelling is caused by air.

  • Nov 2018: colonoscopy shows that colon is fine. Endoscopy reveals a paraesophageal hernia!