RLQ Pain and associated issues

Posted , 3 users are following.

-Personal info: I am a male american in my late 20s, 6ft 130lbs generally healthy, thin but not “fit.” No regular medications, or drug use, and no known pre-existing issues before this problem. I first noticed the symptoms in March of 2019, they started seemingly overnight but without any obvious trigger, and have been continuous since. My sensation of the pain has not seemed to get “more painful” over the year, but it does seem to have become more frequent, going from sometimes being able to be unaware of it in the beginning, to now being constantly aware of it.

-Symptoms: The pain location is always localized to what I’m referring to as the “lower right abdomen.” Meaning it is always within the area below and to my right of the belly button. Sometimes it feels more broad like the pressure of a small balloon inflating in the area, other times it feels like a very distinct point I could specifically poke, however when I do try to “poke the point of the pain” I cant seem to touch anything that triggers it to get any worse or feel exactly where it’s coming from. So I'm more just pointing to where the pain is somewhere there internally. The problem itself is definitely something internal, it always presents on the lower right of the abdomen and varies in intensity but without any predictability, one pain is very precise, sharper, and lower (like a finger length above the right leg and groin) while the other is more of a constant broad pressure to the right of the belly button. In both cases it always feels very specific like if I could reach in there and touch exactly where it is, but yet when I apply pressure I cant seem to feel any physical difference, or trigger it to be worse. Sometimes it feels like a small weight or ball is inside, or if I stretched in just the right way it would somehow release this pressure, while the sharper pain has no obvious feeling of how it could be soothed. But I often find myself absent minded rubbing and pressing my hand against my lower right abdomen, (apparently even enough so that someone who didn't know commented on it and asked if I had something going on.) The pain is a constant low level “tightness” with frequent pricks of a sharper more specific pain not unlike getting constantly pinched or poked except internally.

-Around the same time I started noticing this physical pain I also started noticing some differences in my stool, often it is thin in diameter and slightly lighter in color, or not loose like diarrhea but also not formed into a “log,” though it is consistently inconsistent and seemingly unpredictable, and I cannot find a pattern or relation to how it changes based on what I eat. Every once in a while it seems normal, but then goes back to being weird in some way shortly after. (I actually kept track of what I was eating and it did not seem to matter what I ate within my normal diet at the time. Then about six months ago I drastically changed my diet to be much more (but not fully) vegetarian, and contain much less processed foods (but again not zero,) and again even with that drastic change, it did not make any noticeable difference to this problem.)

-Tying these things together (maybe) I am also always hearing and feeling clicking and gurgling sensations again only coming from that very localized lower right abdomen area, however those sensations seem to have no effect on how bad the pain is. These sensations are not unlike maybe what you might feel when you have diarrhea or during digestion, except they are more pronounced and occur all throughout the day and don't seem to be tied to how the stool presents or proximity to a meal. Again I became aware of this being a regular thing at the same time as everything else, and I would say it causes an abnormal discomfort and is tiring to have always happening, and definitely doesn't seem “normal.” When I am laying down and press my hand where the pain is I can sometimes feel what can only be described as a bulge physically move through that area. And in the lower area I often feel a bubbling or popping, and have become much more outwardly gassy than I was previously. However it should be noted that passing gas or stool does not make the pain better, or really seem to change it at all. My curiosity obviously wonders if this pain and pressure I started to feel is in someway related to or causing these other gastrointestinal issues, since I became aware of them at the same time, but not knowing much about medical stuff I understand it could be different things just coincidentally all occurring in the same small area.

-So now for what I have already done about it. I went to my GP doctor to get it checked in April 2019 after it had not gone away on its own in a month. He did a physical exam, blood test, and other basic diagnostics which revealed nothing. I lived with it for a couple more months and went back to this doctor in June 2019, he again did some basic physical examinations which again didn’t determine anything, so suggested a CT scan, which I also completed in June 2019, the GP doctor responded that he saw nothing on the scans when he received them from the imagery place. So I continued to deal with it, but finally went back a third time in November 2019 to see if anything else could be suggested. This time he referred me to a gastroenterologist, however at this point I was just about to move cities, so I never went to that GI doctor, and then the covid started so I tried not to go in to doctors unnecessarily, and actually have yet to even set up a new GP in my new location. (Also due to the current work situation I am also uninsured, but I know in the long term my health is more important to get sorted than waiting for when I have stable benefits. But I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m posting here to see if there is anything obvious to check for first rather than just being automatically ran through a bunch of unnecessary/expensive tests.)

-Being that it's been a year and a half and I’m still here, I guess it must not be terrible lol, but at the same time something is clearly not right and it has me in constant nagging discomfort, not debilitating but still being constantly aware of something clearly not being 100% is draining over time. All in all there seems to be something wrong that is causing me broad discomfort and pain disrupting quality of life, that just is somewhere inside the lower right of the abdomen. And I would really appreciate any ideas. Thank you in advance!

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Edited

    hi! I'm so sorry you're going through all that. if it help, i am also experiencing the same. i have stomach gurgling/rumbling. my stool also is very inconsistent and unusual in shape, although it mostly comes out watery. it's been causing me so much worry and I'm still yet to go to a GI specialist. if you can, it would probably be a good thing to do... i myself even want to go consult a gastroenterologist but financial problems forbid me to do so.

    and may i just add, you sound cool and laid-back, not too worried at all with everything that's happening with your body. i wish i had that kind of attitude lol. hoping the best for us! would you be

  • Edited

    hi Faky p, i am experiencing exactly the same issues as you are. constant achy feeling in lower right abdomen and also very gassy. my stomach gurgles alot more than it ever has before and is causing me constant worry. i have had it for 4 of the last 5 weeks. my doctors ran some blood tests which all came back fine and they brushed me off saying im too young (33) for it to be anything serious. however im constantly worried about bowel cancer even though i haven't had blood in stools.

    have your symptoms subsided yet or did you find out what was causing them?

    steven

    • Posted

      steven

      Unfortunately my symptoms have not subsided and have actually became even more intrusive into my daily life. I have started seeing a different GP since posting and he has again recommended me to a colonoscopy, however that procedure has not been done yet because there is a shortage of doctors that can do the procedure in my area and me being further down on the wait list due to my age and the fact my situation has been ongoing for so long, the doctor did not feel it was urgent since in his words "anything that urgent would have also got a lot worse in the span of 2 years."

      I've also started having some other unrelated health issues too so really hoping at least some of them can get sorted out or at least diagnosed soon. It's definitely not fun feeling like your body is betraying you while you're still in your twenties after being generally healthy for the first part of life.

    • Posted

      I'm sorry to hear that you're still experiencing this. I'm also still experiencing them two weeks later. I am getting referred to a gastroentologist in the next two weeks and i'm pretty sure they will say its just ibs. I have relaxed about it though and it seems to be making a difference to my outlook on this and i have been able to put it into perspective. i did a private FIT test that came back negative which i think has helped put my mind at ease.

      I wish you all the best with your other health issue and i hope that we both get this bowel issue resolved or at least diagnosed.

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