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Chronic Abdominal Pain/Distension/Tenderness with NO Constipation or Diarrhea, IBS?

Posted , 4 users are following.

brenden52537
brenden52537

Hi everyone, I would like to share some of my frustrations with my health and am hoping someone has any idea of what is wrong with me. I experience abdominal discomfort/distension/tenderness/bloating on a daily basis, and it has been this way for the past 10 months. When I wake up I feel pretty good, and it slowly gets worse throughout the day. Night time I feel the worst, and when I lie down it's uncomfortable but I've gotten somewhat used to it so falling asleep isn't a big issue. My bowel habits are quite regular and I almost never get constipation or diarrhea, maybe once in a while, but nothing out of the ordinary. I've been to my GP many times and tried different anti-spasmatic drugs which have hardly helped. It helped numb my stomach but that made it so that I couldn't tell AT ALL if I was hungry or not. So that was problematic because then I would end up feeling faint at times because of lack of food. I got tested for several things like celiac disease and H pylori bacteria and what not, and everything has come back normal. I finally got a referral to see a gasteroenterologist yesterday, however, I live in Canada and the wait times can be quite long for specialists, so I have to wait approximately 2-3 more months before I can see a specialist. This is frustrating as you can imagine. Anyways, I'm just wondering if it's possible to have IBS without any issues with bowel movements? My GP believes I have IBS even though the only symptoms I have are: fatigue, abdominal pain, and bloating. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks!

1 like, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • brenden52537
    brenden52537

    Posted

    I FORGOT TO MENTION: I have just started  a gluten free diet, that I will continue doing for a week-ish to see if that does anything, because throughout my life I have had bloating issues related to eating gluten, but never anything that occured 24/7 like the discomfort I have been feeling for the past 10 months.
  • brenden52537
    brenden52537

    Posted

    Another thing that concerns me is that bowel movements don't really relieve the pain. They make me feel a bit better only temporarilly then about 1 hour later the feeling returns to where it was. And it's not that PAINFUL, it's more just quite uncomfortable. On a pain scale I would give it a 2 out of 10 most of the time, and at night time, on a discomfort scale I would give that a 5-8 out of 10, and this varies. 
  • andrewparker
    andrewparker brenden52537

    Posted

    I suffer from similar symptoms i.e abdominal pain but fairly ordinary bowel movements.

    I started a thread about it here - https://patient.info/forums/discuss/ibs-chronic-abdominal-pain-but-no-constipation-or-diarrhoea-403103

    I've been on the Low FODMAP diet and have been avoiding gluten and wheat for nearly a week now and the results have been fantastic. Pain has been reduced considerably to the point where it's not noticeable the majority of the time.

    • brenden52537
      brenden52537 andrewparker

      Posted

      Thanks for the info! I will let you know how the gluten-free diet goes. It's day 2 and I still feel the same but I know I need to give it time. I will also follow the low FODMAP diet because it turns out I don't really eat any of those foods that you need to avoid anyways, other than beans and onions. I'll cut those out as well and see what happens.
  • fuck_you
    fuck_you brenden52537

    Posted

    Hi

    I can relate to what your saying about being bloated, distension and tenderness, I have always  had an element of being bloated, but about 6 weeks ago, I started to feel nauseas, lethargic and distension from the bottom of my rib cage, I went to the docs who prescribed peppermint tablets and fibergel, so i just took these but it absolutely made no difference. I cut out crisps and biscuits from my diet and also cut out milk for a few days and this made no difference. I have always excercised and do a lot of swimming and Im generally in good shape. But I will remain to cut out the crisps etc, just due to the fact, I dont really need them, its just a habit. After yet another couple of weeks I felt the distension getting worse, till I just felt so uncomfortable and feeling winded. I called the docs again yest, this time I saw a different doc, who asked me whether I have heart burn and I told him I did occassionally and I told him occassionally I get acid reflux. So this doc, came to the conclusion that it sounded like too much acid in the stomach, this is the reason for distension and the bloat  and tenderness that comes with it and has prescribed some stomach acid suppresent capsules, that I have to take for a month. I must be honest, the horrible winded feeling has left me, I still look bit bloated, but its early days. I had all the blood tests done before hand which came back normal. He did say to come back if no better, but to be honest, I feel quite a bit  better already. I am just taking one day at a time at the moment. 

    • j30542
      j30542 fuck_you

      Posted

      Hi Di; just read your post; please read up on fatty liver and bile; basically liver makes bile from cholesterol and this whizzes around the body and is re-aborbed in the bowel - In order to rectify bile issues  you can address cholesterol ; but taking some supplments which encourage the bile to be excreted; thus your liver makes new bile from teh fat/ cholesterol stored and which then reduces teh cholesterol floating around your body - improving bile quality (artichoke supplments give the gallbladder prompting to 'work'.. )...so by cleaning bile adn reducing your stomach acid this may aid towards healing. You may also want to read upon pysllium husks.. a secondary function of whch is to assist in bile issues.
    • fuck_you
      fuck_you j30542

      Posted

      Hi j30542

      Thanks for your advice, when I had the blood test done a couple of weeks ago, my cholesterol came back high, and everthing else came back normal. I did have my gallbladder removed a couple of years ago, no problems afterwards. Though I've always had the bloat. I am very intersted in what you say about the artichoke and pysllium husks, can this still be taken with no gallbladder would you think .

  • j30542
    j30542 brenden52537

    Posted

    He Brenden; IBS is a generic term; i don't like ti because it fails to identify the core issue. the fact that you ahve tenderness and bloating; but don't say which area the tenderness is in (just atop the bowel is the pancreas) and you don't say which quadrant of your abdomen). At a guess; IBS is used to help you address your diet.

    What hapens is the liver uses cholesterol to make bile (one of about 500 jobs); and the bile goes round your system in teh main (absorbed by the bowel). when the liver gets clogged; this can affect the gallbladder - and bacteria may enter your gallbladder and lots of other things; and then affect the pancreas ) . I am not worry mongering you may just have air  but whatever is the cause; generally where pain is involved and nothing is found; is a cellular issue ; ie cells harmed. First step is to address the inflammation by taking anti-inflammatories. Next step is to test if it is a bile/ acid related issue by taking one small teaspoon (or less) of sodium bicarbonate - if things ease up then it may be high cholesterol and acidic bile acid.. (belive you me that CAN cause your abdomen to become tender and bloated)  Too much tea and not enough veg and fruit jucies to feed cells ins'nt helpful.  Try juicing some veg for a week; and if possible read up on psylium husks for your bowel.. Hope this helps in some small way -but wihtout all the information it is hard to determine which part of your abdomen is causing the issue; and generally it is best to look at teh FIRST symptom you ever had; and start frm there..

    • j30542
      j30542

      Posted

      *oh forgot to mention; don't take bicarb wtih milk.. reduce milk for the day! as this has been known to cause to issues with the kidneys if taken longer term.. you would have to get to the GP to get a PPI. (protein inhibitor).. if my memory serves me correctly!
    • brenden52537
      brenden52537 j30542

      Posted

      Hi, the tenderness is felt all around my belly button area, the left and right side are a bit tender but not too much. It's sort of a numbness feeling when I push on my belly button area. I'm eating a gluten free low FODMAPs diet for a while to see what happens first. If that doesn't help then while I wait to see a specialist, I'll try the baking soda. I doubt it's high cholesterol because I am young and eat healthy foods, of which don't have much cholesterol in them. I'm not drinking milk or juice or anything like that because of the low FODMAPs diet. Thanks for the information!
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