Chronic Abdominal Pain

Posted by lz5b00 @lz5b00, Mar 21, 2012

I have had acute abdominal pain since April 2011 and it has escalated over the months.. The pain begins early morning, remains unrelenting and escalates throughout the day. It is sharp at times and gnawing most of the time. It radiates down from my sternum and to the lower left of my abdomen. My family doctor nor GI specialists cannot find the cause. I have had CT scans, ultrasound, video capsule endoscopy, colonoscopy, blood tests, push endoscope, H pylori tests, ova stool test for parasites and MRI, to name a few. EVERY test result has been returned as "unremarkable"--no cause found. I am currently taking Paxil 25mg, Nexium and Oxycodein for the pain. Nothing has helped me determine the source of this pain. I am reaching out to this community to see is anyone has a similar experience.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.

Hi @dennisjustin, welcome to Connect! I moved your post into this thread called "Chronic Abdominal Pain" in the Digestive Health group, where members are discussing chronic abdominal pain.
Having to watch your son be in so much pain over the past 20 years, and finding no answers, must be awful.
I’m tagging @mamacita and @astaingegerdm as they can provide some support for you as you help your son through this and continue to search for answers.
Was there anything your son did differently when the pain disappeared or was it random and could only be attributed to the intense pain?

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@ethanmcconkey

Hi @dennisjustin, welcome to Connect! I moved your post into this thread called "Chronic Abdominal Pain" in the Digestive Health group, where members are discussing chronic abdominal pain.
Having to watch your son be in so much pain over the past 20 years, and finding no answers, must be awful.
I’m tagging @mamacita and @astaingegerdm as they can provide some support for you as you help your son through this and continue to search for answers.
Was there anything your son did differently when the pain disappeared or was it random and could only be attributed to the intense pain?

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Totally random. He said that he knew it was something different. Thank you so much for answering.

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My daughter began having health issues 2 years ago. A seizure started our journey which led to test and a neurologist a few more seizures than turned to migraines mixed with fainting a few times. Diagnosed with migraines put on topomax has seemed to decrease migraines and no seizure activity in a year. Migraines bad enough but than a year ago she had extreme lower right abdominal pain, took her to ER they advised after ultrasound a cyst burst lots of fluid causing pain lasted 1 week. A year later she again began lower right pain. ER ultrasound clear X-ray showed constipation so given enema and miralax protocol which gave no relief. Pain has now been 7 months it’s constant never goes away and she has lost 10lbs in a year and doesn’t seem to be able to gain weight even though she has an appetite and has increased calories/fat. My daughter has had a total clean out;ultrasound shows no cyst or fluid;upper and lower endoscopy came back with EOE but nothing else. Medicine for EOE provides no relief; MRI with contrast just done came back unremarkable. I’m at a loss what can this be and how to help my daughter any thoughts or suggestions would be very appreciated

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Hi at @reliefforchild welcome to Connect. You may have noticed I moved your post to this thread on Chronic abdominal pain so you can learn about what has caused other peoples chronic abdominal pain and what has worked to treat it.

It must be so scary for you and your daughter that a reason for her pain is not being found.

Hoping that members like @mamacita @carolel @matt2134 @astaingegerdm and @sacrifice2121 will have some thoughts for you.

You mentioned that your daughter was having migraines prior to the abdominal pain. Is she still having them? Also, have you been able to find anything that betters or worsens the abdominal pain (food, drinks, standing/sitting)?

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@ethanmcconkey

Hi at @reliefforchild welcome to Connect. You may have noticed I moved your post to this thread on Chronic abdominal pain so you can learn about what has caused other peoples chronic abdominal pain and what has worked to treat it.

It must be so scary for you and your daughter that a reason for her pain is not being found.

Hoping that members like @mamacita @carolel @matt2134 @astaingegerdm and @sacrifice2121 will have some thoughts for you.

You mentioned that your daughter was having migraines prior to the abdominal pain. Is she still having them? Also, have you been able to find anything that betters or worsens the abdominal pain (food, drinks, standing/sitting)?

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Hi, yes she still has migraines, topomax has decreased them she has on average 2 a month. As far as her abdominal pain nothing seems to alleviate the pain and it has no rhyme or reason as to severity.

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@reliefforchild

Hi, yes she still has migraines, topomax has decreased them she has on average 2 a month. As far as her abdominal pain nothing seems to alleviate the pain and it has no rhyme or reason as to severity.

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@reliefforchild
I don’t know how old your daughter is, but weightloss is worrisome.
Has she been tested for celiac disease? Gluten intolerance. She seems to have had sufficient imaging of the abdomen. Celiac disease is not that uncommon and can appear with many different symptoms. We don’t know if they looked for this with upper and lower endoscopy.

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@astaingegerdm

@reliefforchild
I don’t know how old your daughter is, but weightloss is worrisome.
Has she been tested for celiac disease? Gluten intolerance. She seems to have had sufficient imaging of the abdomen. Celiac disease is not that uncommon and can appear with many different symptoms. We don’t know if they looked for this with upper and lower endoscopy.

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They did test her for celiac during endoscopy it came back negative only tested positive for EOE.
My daughter is 13

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Help! I have pain in upper left abdomen and sometimes in the upper center area as well. Its gnawing and escalates as the day progressed. Sometimes its accompanied by nausea, vomiting and watery diahrria, but not always. I have bloating as well. Symptoms often ease up at night when I go to bed. I have no gall bladder and upper and lower endoscopy have revealed nothing. I've not noticed any difference with particular foods. Tried elimination diets. This started 3 months ago. I am 40. Thanks in advance for any advice.

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@nrg33

Help! I have pain in upper left abdomen and sometimes in the upper center area as well. Its gnawing and escalates as the day progressed. Sometimes its accompanied by nausea, vomiting and watery diahrria, but not always. I have bloating as well. Symptoms often ease up at night when I go to bed. I have no gall bladder and upper and lower endoscopy have revealed nothing. I've not noticed any difference with particular foods. Tried elimination diets. This started 3 months ago. I am 40. Thanks in advance for any advice.

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@nrg33 Started 3 months ago... Did you take any antibiotics in the 3 months prior?

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@nrg33

Help! I have pain in upper left abdomen and sometimes in the upper center area as well. Its gnawing and escalates as the day progressed. Sometimes its accompanied by nausea, vomiting and watery diahrria, but not always. I have bloating as well. Symptoms often ease up at night when I go to bed. I have no gall bladder and upper and lower endoscopy have revealed nothing. I've not noticed any difference with particular foods. Tried elimination diets. This started 3 months ago. I am 40. Thanks in advance for any advice.

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If you've had any abdominal surgeries you might consider looking for a well trained physical therapist in visceral modalities. Or even if you havent...I've had severe pain with any food, watery diarrhea up to 25 or 30 times a day, trapped gas, etc for almost three years following colon removal. Mayo clinic GI referred me for this therapy as well as PT with the Dolphin device for scar and tissue adhesions and they have saved my life. Bowel movents down to 5x day. Yay me!!

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