On-going abdominal pain with no associated symptoms
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hello,
I'm a 32 year old male, in good shape. Since January 2021 I've had this dull ache in my stomach. It feels like my stomach is distended. It is a general pain (i.e. not localised) that sits just at the belly button level and radiates out from there. It feels a little like when you have a stomach bug maybe, like there is a knot in my belly. It gets worse after physical activity.
I have completely healthy bowel and urine movements, no diarrhoea, no constipation. No problem starting or stopping, no blood in my stool or urine. My diet is healthy, but diet/eating seems to have absolutely no impact on this pain. Whether I eat a little or lot, whether I eat healthy or junk food, bland or spicy the pain remains the same.
It is worst if I am sitting in a chair, it is more comfortable if I am standing or lying down. Nothing I do seems to have an impact on the pain, except that if I do anything physical it worsens it.
I might also add that this pain is coupled with a low level ache in my testicles. At first I approached these pains from the urology angle. I have seen a urologist and he performed a varicocelectomy as that was the only physical abnormality. It has made no difference. I'm now trying to attack this from the abdominal point of view (appointment with gastroenterologist in the coming weeks).
If I'm honest it sort of feels like there is something in there that is pushing on other stuff. If I was to discover that I had a tumour growing in there, or a swollen organ that was pushing on another organ, that wouldn't surprise me at all, that is sort of what it feels like. It might also explain the testicular pain, if something was pushing down onto my pelvic areas. However, what is strange is that there are no accompanying symptoms of the gut.
I'd be really appreciative to hear any comments or ideas about this? It is stopping me leading a normal life, I had to give up cycling (and all exercise tbh) which I loved, but more than that it stops me going out and enjoying myself, as it is hard to have fun when you are perpetual discomfort.
Thanks
Dan
1 like, 8 replies
Marina_Dee daniel66921
Posted
Has anyone examined you for an inguinal hernia?
daniel66921 Marina_Dee
Posted
Hi Marina, yes several times. Also the pain is too general I think for that, I'd at least expect some increase in pain around the site of the hernia. Thanks for the suggestion though 😃
daniel66921 Marina_Dee
Posted
Hi Marina, yes several times. Also the pain is too general I think for that, I'd at least expect some increase in pain around the site of the hernia. Thanks for the suggestion though 😃
Marina_Dee daniel66921
Posted
Just re read your initial post and see that you love cycling. Possibly a trapped nerve in back or groin? or irritation of Pudendal nerve. Have you had a CT scan?
daniel66921 Marina_Dee
Posted
Hi - this is a really interesting suggestion, thank you for mentioning this.
I've looked it up and it is difficult to assess from reading about if what I'm experiencing could be a trapped Pudendal nerve, however there is definitely some overlap. My discomfort is very much mainly felt in the abdomen, where a trapped Pudendal seems to cause more genital/ groin pain. However, definitely something I will look more into.
I have not had any scans/tests yet, my appointment with a gastroenterologist is in two days. I'll mention this and see what he says.
daniel66921
Posted
Just thought I'd post a quick update
Saw a gastroenterologist in London today. He was pretty bemused by it. He's organised blood tests and a CT scan, and today I had an ultrasound which showed all normal.
Like you suggested, he said if we find absolutely nothing, the next thing to start thinking about is - is this a nerve issue. He mentioned hyper-sensitivity.
I'm seeing my urologist on Dec 3rd so will follow up on the Pudendal nerve with him.
Thanks!
ginaWolf daniel66921
Posted
hi Daniel66921 just checking in to see if you have any news from your doctor....
daniel66921 ginaWolf
Posted
Hi Ginawolf, thanks for checking in!
Yes, all my tests came back completely normal. The only thing of note was that I have extremely high levels of vitamin B12 in my system (must be all the fish, I don't eat meat).
The pain has actually improved greatly in the last few weeks. My gastroenterologist said given that everything was normal in the scans, he was pretty sure this would have a muscular-skeletal source.
I saw my urologist for a post-operative check-in a few days before getting my test results back from my gastroenterologist. He also thought it likely that enduring pain would be either nerves (as you mentioned) or muscular-skeletal. Given the recent improvement over time, he suggested waiting another 2 months to see how am I am. If I still have issues then we will investigate, but he mentioned doing pelvic floor physical therapy (given I have perineum discomfort). . From my research, this does seem to have quite a good track record in helping with undiagnosed pelvic and abdominal pain. Indeed, I imagine because PFPT helps alleviate trapped nerves in the pelvis.
I told all of this to my gastroenterologist and he basically agreed completely. Given the recent improvement I've seen, I'm happy to take their advise and give this more time to see if it settles on its own after my surgery in Oct.
So that's where I am. I hope to see further improvements over the next few months. I'm actually feeling really positive about this at the moment, which is a great change because I've felt really down about basically all of 2021.
If anything changes I'll let you know!
Thanks
Dan