'undiagnosable' abdominal pain.

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Hi there,

I've had right severe abdominal pain, just below my rib line, It's a constant pain and i've experienced it for about 4 months now. At first I didn't really pay attention to it, it then became too painful to ignore at all. I would find myself waking up at night, or having to sit/lay down at work clutching my side. One day at work it became so painful I collapsed, and began having heart palpitations, after calling an ambulance I was sat inside it for 30 minutes or so hooked up to an ecg, my heart beat averaged about 125. I've seen about 10 doctors, 4 of my local GP's, and had 3 trips to AnE. The palpitations proceeded the severe pain a total of 3 times so far, It'd feel as if something in my right side had almost burst and spread across my body becoming numb and having severe chest pain - and I honestly thought I was having a heart attack because of the pain and the feeling of my heart pumping through my chest.

I guess the best thing will be to answer every question they've asked me..

I'm a healthy 19 year old male, I've eaten healthy, exercised often, i'm 10 stone 8, and i'm 5ft 8. I am not a drug user, although I am partial to the occasional binge drink (Like most teenagers).

I do not lift heavy objects, I work in a bar and don't lift any barrels/trays of glasses. I have been a smoker for a year now, and have been cutting down since the pain started, although giving it up entirely is quite hard as i'm finding it the only thing that has relaxed me. I've had no blood in my urine/feces/vomit. I have only vomited once during the 4 months. I do not have a temperature, I do not have a fever, the pain is not increased when pressure is applied. It is not relieved by warm/cold packs etc. The doctors are adamant I do not have appendicitis, i've had 3 ultrasounds which show no stones in my kidneys or galbladder and everything is as of normal size.

When I was admitted into AnE and asked to spend 2 more nights in the hospital I became so bad I had to have someone to hold me up while I walk, I couldn't sit up due to the pain and I would be so tired that I couldn't get out of bed. They had asked me to stay because of one blood test that showed my liver functions spiking high (I think it was billirubin? - and no I had not had a heavy night of drinking or anything the night before It was taken) They released me because they said being an outpatient would be faster (Which, it isn't, as the specialist i've been referred to will not be able to see me until december, when it's september now.)

Through all the doctors i've seen, i've stuck with one who has been incredibley helpful throughout this all, although completely clueless to what is going on with me.

Whilst in the hospital I've had a doctor tell nurses to stop giving me any pain killers because Im probably just a drug addict, and other doctors tell me it's complete anxiety, and others take one look at me and say it's a mucle inflammation under my rib.

It's got to the point where I can't work, my relationships are suffering incredibly because I can hardly do anything. I Can't drink without having incredibly bad hang overs which last for days or throwing up after the first couple of pints, some days I will wake up and sit on the floor because it's too painful to lie down or stand up. My relationship with my partner is suffering, as it is most of the time too painful to be intimate. This is ruining my life, and all the doctors are telling me 'come back if it gets worse, but there's nothing wrong with you'.

But as I said, 3 ultra sounds, 2 x-rays, 15 blood tests (Including one for hepatitus).

And nothing except one liver function spike, the once. My blood sugars are normal, there's nothing abnormal in my urine.

What i've told every doctor i've seen;

I've had severe right abdominal pain. Just below my rib. So severe I can not walk etc. I've had constipation for 4 months a long with the pain, which every now and then seems to just disappear. It seems to become more severe every other week, and on 3 occasions so painful I have collapsed and either thought I was having a heart attack or my appendix had burst due to the pain.

Please, any help is incredibly appreciated, I just want my life back!

Thank you, Alex.

8 likes, 127 replies

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  • Posted

    Alex-you are not crazy!  My son's gastro surgeon told him, "...I held every one of your organs in my hands and they are perfect..." and then suggested he seek a pain management doctor (mental). WELL, I may have good news to report!  My uncle also has suffered from this, had his gall bladder removed, and then thought it was over!  It wasn't...until he had a Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).  He had this last week and he is pain free!  It's a very specialized procedure with an endoscopy and they go in and basically cleans the "sludge" out of the bile ducts, and in some cases put a stint in there to enlarge them.  They also saw small stones in the duct.  Apparently you do not want to go to the doc who does one of these a month, but rather the doc who does four a day (there is a doc in SF, and I will get his name).  I feel like I want to shout this from the mountiantops because my son has lived with this dibilitating pain (ambulance rides to emergency, had to quit school, work).  I'll be pursuing getting my son to this SF doc.  Hopefully this helps some of you out there!!!
    • Posted

      Did the ERCP help relieve your son's pain? My husband, who never takes even Tylenol, is BEGGING for pain meds because he is in so much pain!! Has been in the hospital for weeks and the various specialists, who have done every test under the sun on him and all have come back COMPLETELY NORMAL, can find nothing wrong with him!! He's afraid he will lose his job!

      Please tell me the ERCP helped!!

  • Posted

    Hello Alex,

    Did u ever find anything wrong with you? I have the same exact symptoms!Everyone thinks i'm exaggerating or lying. I have also had tests done and nothing. I started out with right abdominal pain. Then it spread to the rest of my tummy. Then i had chest pain. And today i got a weird rash all over my chest. I'm freaking out. Nobody knows how to help me. Im a very active person and i lately havent been able to keep up with my life. My grandma worked in healthcare. And she says i might have parasites. Those Dont show up on ultrasounds. But that doesnt explain the rest of my symptoms. Please help.

    • Posted

      Hi, im experiencing same symtoms as both of you! No one knows whats wrong! so many scans and tests but nothing. I am itchy all over yet no rash. Im in contatct with a excellent dr but he doesnt know how to help me. My pain is so painful and i have missed so much school. Doctors think im making it up but when they press on my upper stomach its sooo painful. Ive been in pain for about 7 weeks and yet still no solution!
  • Posted

    Hi, i was googling and i came across your story. I have been having on going stomach pains, thought it was adhesions (from my appendix opperation) I have had blood tests for litterally everything, CT scan, 2 ultrasounds and yet nothing ass been found. I have been seen by a gastroentoroligist, suggested stomach migraines but then said the pain wouldnt last 7 weeks like my pain is. My pain is in the upper section of my stomach and by my ribs (epigastric pain they called it) and it radiates to my shoulder blade and is excruciating when touched, but because nothing is showing on scans they think nothing is wrong yet i know something is wrong. I''m in secondary school doing my GCSE'S so its very important but i have missed so much school because i cant physically go in. 

    I was just wondering if they ever got to the cause of your pain??

     

  • Posted

    Hello, I want to share that I too am having the same exact pains and no DOCTOR seems to know either. It's a really ugly thing to hear and I too am being told to come back. Anyway except I have abdominal pain & i gave birth two months ago. This hadand have seen FOUR different doctors this has me sick NO ONE knows what the abdominal pain is.or the chest pain isJust ANXIETY. smh. I feel pain too and wamt it resolved. Did you ever get it handled or taken care of? I've been having BM issues as well as constipation. And it HURTS right lower abdomen.
  • Posted

    Okay so I am 13 and over the past two years I have had severe abdominal pains in the same spot and one night I woke up to a feeling were I couldn't breathe easily and I couldn't move without bringing any pain to my body. Myother rushed me to the hospital the took a bunch of tests to see if I could I have appendicitis issues but when they went in to take a cat scan they didn't find my apandicts anywhere in side of my body. They made me stay for weeks in the hospital as to the fact everything caused pain even to breathe and they keep looking I had four docotos take a test and non could find anything wrong with me but the fact I have no apendicts. Over the two years they still try to find what's wrong not obece have they and its been told that a theory they have is that the positions that are in the apendicts are in a wrong spit on my body and that I never was born with one and that that causes the pain the fact that it's slowly spreading through my blood. I don't know if you have the same thing I do but I hope as to this helped at least some to this day I still have doctors taking tests on me and everything.

    PS before I leave I know they sat exciersize helps bit in my case it does not

  • Posted

    Hello Hope this finds you feeling better, I relate to your pain I have had the same pain and symptons for 3 moths now all the test have come back fine, when I was in the hospital the doctors and nurses told me I was just looking for pain meds, I'm sick from the time I get up till the time to go to bed, Can't enjoy going to the movies with my partner, I have a one and a half yr old niece who is my life althrough I have the pain I sill go on and enjoy my time with her, I'm going to go see a hematolgist next week and see if its cancer he told me they only do certain test at the hospital but cancer doctors do other blood work and tests, so hope this helps us both, But don't ever give up y

    ou will find a doctor that really cares

  • Posted

    Hey Alex..i was wondering if you ever found the cause of your pain. I know this thread is a little old but i wanted to ask you if they ever looked at your pancreas, as i have all the same probs you describe and the drs told me i had pancreatitis with fluid surrounding it. But do not know the cause of fluid. Thought maybe you should look into that and was also hoping you found the problem as I've also been in pain for a while and completely understand how you feel. I've also been accused of drug addiction bc of this which is untrue. I do smoke marijuana but have been since i was about 12yrs old nd im now 35 so it doesn't really help with the pain. Hope all is well. If your still around I'd love to hear your okay! ☺
  • Posted

    This is all an old thread, but I am having the same Problem Below my ribs has a dull pain that goes into a stabbing pain all test have been negative even the Hida scan I have a Long history of people getting the gallbladders removed... But the second sugeon told me today I have Pleurisy But it dosent hurt to breath.. This is six months now of none stop pain..... I feel like the doctors think im trying to get pill..... I smoke a lot of canibis it helps way better.... but any way IDK what to do I sit at work laying at my desk feeling like im gonna die lol and no one knows whats going on.....
  • Posted

    Hi there, you are experiencing a very difficult time and its to be expected you feel anxious ++ but that does not mean your pain is not real and there isn't something underlying that has yet to be diagnosed. Have they done any testing on your Pancreas? Some of your symptoms sound very like an acute Pancreatic condition. You should have at the very least had your Lipase and Amylase levels checked within a short time of having the severe pain. If they are normal that does not mean your Pancreas isn't involved. The more Chronic state of Pancreatitis doesn't always raise your enzyme levels although that may be in a a later stage of the disease. If you have an elevated Lipase then by now you should be having at least a CT Scan WITH Contrast and possibly and Endoscopic Ultra sound. Often ordinary Ultra sounds do not show Acute Pancreatitis. PLEASE the next time you see a doctor for your pain ASK about having your Pancreatic Blood tests done and then go from there with other tests if anything is diagnosed. You say you have the odd Binge well its quite known that Acute Pancreatitis can be triggered by binge drinking. Hope this is helpful and remember no matter what some ignorant medical people may say, you are NOT making up your pain. All the best!
  • Posted

    Hi, Have you been food allergy tested recently?

     I (28 y/o f) have been struggling with with upper right abdominal pain under the ribs, sometimes stabbing pain, passed out on 2 occasions, but mostly aching pain,  nausea, rotating diarrhea/constipation, Headaches, and on and on. This went on for 3+ years. Multiple blood work ups, Abdominal exams, MRI's, CT's, Ultrasounds, Endoscopy, Laparoscopic exploratory surgery. No  answers. I went in for allergy testing as one of the last ditch efforts trying to find something. I reacted very strongly to a few things I was eating ALL the time, including things that were part of a LOW-FODMAPS/ Autioimmune/Paleo diet (which didn't help me by the way as there were things I was allergic to on this strict diet protocol). I had been allergy tested 5 years ago and these things were negative. I stopped eating those things immediately, and have had very little pain since (and only when I ate something I wasn't supposed to).

    I know it sounds far fetched but it really helped me.

  • Posted

    Hello All,

    I have had the same exact symptoms for 6+ years, with the difference that my symptoms are mostly on the left side, not all, but most.  I am a 56 year old male, and the symptoms all started after a trip to China.  After 3 years of all the same tests I had a Eastern European Dr. who found Yersinia Enterolitica in my feces.  He claimed this was a very damaging bacteria, (he never eats pork because of this bacteria) and I began taking antibiotics for a full year.  Sincce then I am clear of the bacteria, but my condition has remained the same, but it did not worsen. 

    I am now testing electrical stim for pain with mixed, results.  I am still pursuing this technology, and will comment if I have significant improvement.

    Like others; I have lost my job (of 28 years), and put a tremendous amount of pressure on my poor, but very supportive wife. 

    I see that the work with the ERCP had some positive results, but I don't see a follow up.

    I too wwould like my life back.

    Best to all.

  • Posted

    Hey Alex,

    Please excuse the pun, but I feel your pain. I'm 48 yrs old, but I've had numerous abdominal pain at different times throughout my life. But, back in Jan of 2014 I was in the hospital with an episode. All my test came back as normal as well along with a colonoscopy. They sent me home saying it's probably a bout of Irritable Bowel syndrome (IBS). In May of 2014 I was back in the hospital with the same type of pain. All test (negative) except they gave me a Hydascan this time & found out my gallbladder was only functioning at 4 percent. I have sarcoidosis and to a lot of Drs known as "The Mimic Disease". It's called this, because it can attack any organ and affects your immune system. I suggest you read up on this and maybe getting a Dr to see about it. It usually attacks the lungs & rarely fatal, but it's a frustrating disease, because it makes life difficult when you know your in pain, but nobody can find anything wrong.

  • Posted

    Hi Alex, I have been having same problem. please I would like to know if there has been any update on this issue? Have you still had this problem? If so how have you been able to manage to manage to live with it?

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