Unidentified abdominal pain

Have the same problem ——Gaul bladder taken out —no change. (nothing wrong with GB)
Nothing visible on ultrasound or MRI. Trigger point injections give me some 80%
relief for 4 to 6 months.

Hi I am a 24 year old female I have been having upper right and left abdominal on and off consistently since Aug 2021. The pain is sharp/ crampy like. I have also lost 30 lbs so far since then without a major appetite change. Ive already had my gallbladder out in 2015. So far MRI, CTA, colonoscopy, endoscopy have all came back normal. I had a duplex ultrasound done which showed narrowing in a couple of the arteries in my abdomen but the CTA and MRI didn’t show anything. Recently I’ve been experiencing extreme fatigue even though I feel like I have been sleeping good. The doctors still have no idea what is causing my symptoms.

@amm97 - A 30 lbs weight loss is significant, no appetite change- do you eat the same amount of food and type of food?
Do you know if the Duplex ultrasound showed a significant narrowing of a couple of arteries? Do you know which arteries are involved?
Even though the CTA and MRI didn’t show any abnormalities I’m still not convinced that all is well.
Did they explain MALS to you? It’s Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome. It’s rare, but we are quite a few here on Connect that have been treated for it.
There is a ligament that originates in the diaphragm- median arcuate ligament- that can compress the celiac artery in the intestinal blood supply. This means that the intestines don’t get enough blood flow for digestion- also causing severe pain when this happens.
Maybe you can ask for a review of that testing or even repeat the CTA. A vascular surgeon would know.

I might be eating a smaller amount at meal times but still the same food. The duplex ultrasound sound narrowing of the celiac and sma. I’ve actually researched MALS quite a bit and I think this is still a possibility even though the CTA doesn’t show it. A vascular surgeon told me that the CTA doesn’t show it and that he doesn’t think it’s MALS. The surgeon said that the ultrasound isn’t reliable because it’s “operator dependent”. But the research I’ve done said that the duplex ultrasound may replace the CTA someday.

@amm97 - Your research is correct! The duplex ultrasound has replaced CTA in many places.
At my last follow up at the university medical center where I had my MALS surgery, I was told they are changing to duplex ultrasound for my next follow up. This happened quite a while ago.
Maybe you could look for a university medical center that are skilled in evaluating MALS?

That is probably going to be my next step.

There are some similarities between our stories . Do these areas hurt all of the time for you. Mine is below the xiphoid process, down the middle to lower pelvic. And hurt at a pain level 6 to 8.5 all of the time.

There is nothing worse than chronic pain hurting this bad. Have you worked with a big hospital pain management department. What you probably have is abdominal nerve pain. They can try various injections. It’s tough, my mind can’t handle two years of this pain, it’s hard hard hard to keep pushing on.

Hi I am a 24 year old female I have been having upper right and left abdominal on and off consistently since Aug 2021. I have also lost 30 lbs so far since then without a major appetite change. So far MRI, CTA, colonoscopy, endoscopy have all came back normal. I had a duplex ultrasound done which showed narrowing in a couple of the arteries in my abdomen but the CTA and MRI didn’t show anything. What do I do next.

I might be eating a smaller amount at meal times but still the same food. The duplex ultrasound sound narrowing of the celiac and sma. I’ve actually researched MALS quite a bit and I think this is still a possibility even though the CTA doesn’t show it. A vascular surgeon told me that the CTA doesn’t show it and that he doesn’t think it’s MALS. The surgeon said that the ultrasound isn’t reliable because it’s “operator dependent”. But the research I’ve done said that the duplex ultrasound may replace the CTA someday.

Hi! Hopefully your CT scan had pictures taken on inspiration and expiration, otherwise they would not be able to see the “hook” that causes mals. My doctor had me do the ct and duplex ultrasound for comparison. I hope you find answers.