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I've been suffering from lower left abdominal pain for over a month now and after finally convincing my GI to do the colonoscopy/EGD yesterday, nothing is revealed. Colon is fine, no polyps, no sign of cancer, some gastritis/inflammation in the stomach and an irregular Z-line for which my GI immediately prescribed daily medicine although I get heartburn so rarely. Ok, some inflammation but nothing in the lower abdomen at all, where I'm feeling the pain every day??!
Granted, I drank the horrible sodium chloride 2 nights ago, but my stomach is still growling and bubbling and moving all night long and others can hear it. There's also pressure and slight pain and still no one knows what's going on. I'm eating the low FODMAP diet on the elimination stage and STILL no relief and so tired. What is the next step? Has anyone else been through this? I just don't buy IBS or IBD as the final diagnosis but as the symptom of something else that's going on. I have to admit I'm a little sensitive about this because my mom passed away from diverticulosis that no one saw for months. She had a perforated colon that was slowly leaking into her system and blood test after test, and CT scan after scan didn't reveal anything... and she had stomach pain and a wound that wouldn't heal. Granted, my pain isn't nearly what she was going through but I know that tests and scans aren't always proof. The GI even said that he doubted my previous colonoscopy/EGD years ago where I was told I had scattered diverticulitis. So just because you didn't find it now, you doubt I had it then?!
Just very discouraged. Even my Vitamin B supplement bothers me I think. My memory is going so I used to take supplements for that (Alpha GPC) but I'm afraid of that too now. I can barely get up the energy to go to work let alone try to focus. If I'm expected to just "live with" the abdominal pain, I'm almost tempted to eat what I want anyway so at least I'm not eating berries and seeds and have some energy to do some work. My manager is very understanding but it's a relatively new job for me and I'm afraid my co-workers are thinking, "Why is she taking time off so soon after starting?" Every morning, it's a struggle to get out of bed and I can't sleep well at night either. And when I press on my lower abs, I feel pain in my right back. What sense does that make??!
Please neating anything with seeds , berrys have seeds and the reason I say this was because my sister in law went to a specialist and first thing he did was do away with food that has seeds such as bananas , yes bananas have seeds , no tomatoes , you get the idea and this took her problems right away . She has continued to cut out those foods and has done very well .
I would get a second opinion from another GI. Also it sounds like (understandably) you may have some anxiety over this which is probably not helping your other symptoms and might be contributing to your sleep issues, you might want to think about addressing that as well. Good luck.
Besides the pain, what are the two most bothering symptoms you have? Have you had stool tests for parasites, blood tests for H. pylori and for B vitamins and other nutrients? When did your symptoms started and can you think of any trigger?
Symptoms started late April, first with an extremely long menstrual cycle which led to an endometrial biopsy (negative), then first CT scan that revealed a kidney stone and inflammation in the small bowel. Constant pain and bloating on my left side which is why I thought it was ovarian to begin with since I have a history of cysts. First GI recommended a laxative and was supposed to call me to do a small bowel camera test but never did. Very cold manner and "you have IBD, live with it" attitude. Pain got worse. Next GI was better, but no stool tests (oddly) and I'm not sure if the blood test the GI administered included H. Pylori. He said my bloodwork prior to the CT scan I had 3 weeks ago was "fine" so there were no flags to accompany the lower left abdominal pain but the 2nd CT scan I had revealed nothing but an enlarged liver. That was never explained though I asked. The 2nd GI suspected diverticulitis but no sign of it according to the colonoscopy results yesterday. "Entire colon normal". Today the lower pain has moved upwards somewhat, still on the left side. He took biopsies of the areas with gastritis and the duodenum. The results of those biopsies won't be in for 14 days. Prior to the procedure yesterday, I never felt I was fully, um, eliminating. Seriously, I was considering buying that Squatty Potty that I've been laughing about since I heard of it.
As for recent trigger symptoms, I thought it was the Vitamin B complex vitamin but I haven't taken that today and the pain is moderate. The GI said to call him if my ab pain post-procedure is severe (EXCLUDING gas). Not sure if this is severe but it's certainly distracting. It only feels better if I sit down crunched over. Sitting up makes it worse. The biggest trigger I can recall from weeks ago was probiotics and probably overdoing it not realizing probiotics were in multiple things I was eating, from lactose-free kefir to the Super Greens I was putting in my smoothie to the actual probiotic pill I was taking. The bloat and pain was huge and didn't abate at all even when I really cleaned up my diet. For awhile I was taking prebiotics which I found out is a no-no on the low FODMAP diet. I've stopped all probiotics and digestive enzymes (which just caused constipation although I had no bloating). I bought Bromelain the other day but now I'm leery of using it. I'm trying to drink a lot of water today thinking perhaps this is the worst gas I've ever had but it's not dissipating. In fact the more water I drink, the worse the pain gets.
Should I request one of those SIBO tests at this point? The GI thought it may have been small intestine bacteria overgrowth but shouldn't all of the sodium chloride I drank have cleaned all of that out? PLUS I was on heavy-duty antibiotics 2 weeks ago after the CT scan since he suspected an infection to begin with. He prescribed the antibiotics (Cipro and Flagyl) with nothing to go on except my intense pain at the time. CT scan was clean... which led to the colonoscopy/EGD yesterday morning.
Just very frustrated. I'd be going to my third GI. I just can't stand these chains of digestive practices down here in Dallas. I'm not sure that I'm yet getting the attention I should because everyone's just running tests, sending me for scans, and telling me they see nothing. I need someone who thinks outside the box a bit.
I would wait to results of gastric/duodenal biopsies, except if something important happens, or some doctor thinks something else is needed.
IBD was my strongest thought during reading your post; you mentioned intestinal inflammation, after all. All symptoms fit: pain, bloating, gas and fatigue. Late menstruation could be also a symptom, but I can't exclude additional ovary problem. Ovary disorder probably wouldn't cause all GI symptoms, though...IBD can be limited to the small intestine, so both colonic and gastric/duodenal biopsies can be negative.
SIBO (with bloating) can be secondary to IBD, so in your place I wouldn't rush with this test or H. pylori as I suggested earlier.
If your stool is whitish/greasy, it can be from fat malabsorption. In this case, limiting fats would help with bloating. Low-FODMAP can help prevent bloating, especially low fructose and sorbitol.
Small intestinal lymphoma is another possibility. I suggest you to ask for a 2nd or 3rd opinion, for the start about the tests you've already had. Appropriate blood tests can also tell something about IBD and lymphoma.
Last edited by ehealthguy; 07-17-2014 at 02:21 PM..
I've been suffering from lower left abdominal pain for over a month now and after finally convincing my GI to do the colonoscopy/EGD yesterday, nothing is revealed. Colon is fine, no polyps, no sign of cancer, some gastritis/inflammation in the stomach and an irregular Z-line for which my GI immediately prescribed daily medicine although I get heartburn so rarely. Ok, some inflammation but nothing in the lower abdomen at all, where I'm feeling the pain every day??!
At last you don't have cancer!
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