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Right mid abdominal and Back Pain
Hello, I'm a 47 year old female that has had right mid abdominal and back pain for almost five months now, that started when I had COVID. It started with a dull back pain and then eventually radiated to abdomen and now it is in both locations. It is always present at some level, but is worse after eating and after light exercise. I do feel full quicker than normal after eating too and am tired often. I don't generally get nauseous (but occasionally do a little after light exercise), don't have constipation or diarrhea, and am not losing weight. My pain ranges from 1 to 6 and is mostly dull and achy, but occasionally get quick sharp pains. I have had every test I can think of, CT (2 of them), outer and vaginal ultrasounds, HIDA scan, endoscopy (with biopsy for celiac), colonoscopy, several repeating blood tests, test for catecholamines (my dad has a malignant metastasized pheochromocytoma), and probably more I can't remember. All came back normal. I've been taking prilosec and pepsid both at direction of my Dr. and at times it seems to help a little, but then it doesn't. There doesn't seem to be a pattern with a specific type of food that I eat. I've read everything on the internet that I possibly can and my symptoms just don't fit perfectly into any particular cause/category but it seems like many people have similar symptoms. Any suggestions would be helpful. I can't get the Dr's to respond to my messages anymore and it takes months to get more Dr. Appts.
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G-d forbid, but have you checked out pancreatic cancer?
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1 ReactionBy some chance have you taken a course of antibiotics prior to your symptom onset? If so, what class or name?
Hello @nmgirl, welcome to Connect. How frustrating it must be not having a diagnosis to cover what and why. It sounds like you and your doctor's have been diligent in ruling out possible cause. You mentioned having had COVID about 5 months ago and first noticing your symptoms. Have you researched COVID Long-haul and how the central nervous system can be stirred up and confused essentially causing neurological mis-fires?
Here are Post-COVID/COVID Recovery conversations featuring a plethora of different discussions on related symptoms -
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/post-covid-recovery-covid-19/
Have any of your doctor's discussed COVID long haul with you? Do you feel confident in what your doctor's have done for you so far test-wise, or is getting a second opinion a thought?
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1 ReactionHi, thank you so much for the information, I will take a look. My doctor has not discussed this with me although I did mention to them it started when I had COVID. It is very frustrating as I know it is for everyone seeking answers here. It is impacting my daily life and really want to get a diagnosis so I can get rid of this daily pain. Thanks again!
P.S. I am not confident my doctor has done everything or given it enough time and thought, and have been considering getting a second opinion.
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1 ReactionHave you researched Abdominal Cutaneous nerve entrapment ACNES? RESEARCH on Google and watch Mayo video.
Yes actually, a few years ago before the pandemic I had a lower right sharp abdominal pain that hurt only after exercise (I was running 1/2 marathons then) that I think was ACNES. My doctor couldn’t figure that one out either, but what I had before fit ACNES. I never went to specialist for injections because pandemic started and then I stopped running. I still have that pain sometimes when I exercise but haven’t had it much at all because I’ve been busy with a new business in last year and totally slacked on exercise. I am out of shape and need to get healthier. But this pain is totally different place and type of pain than I had before, and gets worse after eating. But who knows, maybe it has migrated to different spot and is manifesting differently. I’ll have to relook at ACNES to see if it is ever associated with eating. If I ever get another appointment with my Dr (or another one) I will discuss that with them. Thank you so much for your response!
Hi, my Dr hasn’t mentioned it. I’m not sure though honestly if the tests that I’ve had would find that or not. I’ve had some blood tests and CT scans, but is there another specific test that could help with finding that? Thanks!
Hi, no I haven’t taken any antibiotics in a long time and my Dr hasn’t suggested taking any lately. Thank you for the reply!!
@nmgirl I'm curious have you gotten to the bottom of this? I'm going through something very similar and after a year of tears I've made no progress. Right flank pain that is both in the abdomen and lower back. I've had HIDA, 4 CTs (2 with contrast), kidney biopsy, cystoscopy, colonoscopy, endoscopy, eg, ultrasound, lumbar MRI, and thoracic MRI. Our cases are a little different since my pain comes from physical movement (example standing for longer than 5 minutes) but other than that it seems like everything else is the same.
So far we have ruled out nutcracker syndrome, celiac, other rare kidney disorders, myofascia pain is about to be ruled out, Lupus, and basically anything organ related. Much like someone else posted I've been curious if it may have something to do with Long Covid but I started getting symptoms 15 months after I had COVID.