Happy new year and a few questions

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a blessed new year and that 2007 will be a year of good health and fortune.

Well, I made it to my parents for holiday.  Surprisingly enough, while I was there, my stomach pain lessened.  I started using pro-biotics, but it give me terrible gas which then results in severe cramping.

I made an appointment with my Gastro doc and will be seeing him in 2 weeks.  I am getting this constant dull aching in my lower abdomen.  It's more prominent on the lower right side, but sometimes on the left too.  I had a colonoscopy in Jan 2006 and my Gastro doc diagnosed me with IBS.  I also did loads of bloodwork, and my liver tests were a bit abnormal.  My doc said it could have been all the medication I took and all the anti-biotics.  (I was initially diagnosed with prostatitis, but my Gastro doc does not think so.)  Well, last year I was on almost 6 rounds of antibiotics.  Two of whom I was allergic to and a pennicillin which gave me terrible stomach pain.

I've recently noted that I get a lot of pain in the ascending part of my colon and it's sensitive to touch too.  It will even pain under my rib cage going to my shoulder.  So I will be asking my Gastro doc if this is IBS or something else.  Could it be a possibility that this is indeed IBS?.. Is constant lower abdominal pain (dull ache) normal with IBS?  My gastro doc refuses to do another colonoscopy or any other tests and I will be asking him what to do next.  If I cannot get anything out of him, I guess I will have to go to another doc.  At this stage I'm using sleeping pills and sedatives just to get to sleep at night and ease the tension.  But I have a tendency to abuse them and don't want to go that route again.  I've also started Lexapro (Cipralex in our country) to see if it will not help with the pain.  My doc said if the lexapro does not do the trick, we must try amytripelene (sp?).

Well, good wishes for your 2007 and I will keep you guys posted on what my doc said.

Love

Eugene

Post Edited (ejcmet) : 1/2/2007 2:19:49 AM (GMT-7)

You also need a hida scan to check your gall bladder function, as an ultrasound can't determine funcationality at all. My gall bladder was chronically inflamed--which does not show up on an ultrasound. The pain under the right rib and up into the right shoulder is a really big sign. You can get gas there too, but a bad GB is the first thing to suspect.

Also, it took three hida scans to find my bad gall bladder; I ended up living with it for 5 years. I think my problem was that my gall bladder didn't stay inflamed all the time and would function normally for months, before refusing to function for months. I had to take the hida scans when I could get home from college, not when I was actually having an attack, so I think that's why it didn't show up as being bad the first two times around. My advice is to get the hida scan done while you are having problems, if your problems tend to come and go.

Also, did someone check your appendix? That can cause lower right-hand pain and tenderness, which could radiate upwards. Having that rupture is a very bad thing; my dad's did and it took him MONTHS to recover from it.