Severe pain, told to “forget about it”

[Glitterballofdreams]

I’ve been experiencing pain in my abdomen for two months, it’s increasingly gotten worse. I saw my GP on 3 separate occasions, had blood tests and was referred for an ultrasound.
Last week the pain was so severe I went to A&E, I was kept in for two days and had an ultrasound & blood tests. Doctors couldn’t find anything wrong and discharged me with painkillers.
i attended the ward twice more in agony, had a CT scan and two more loads of blood tests. All of which were clear, yet I am still in severe pain. Alongside this I have become very dizzy and have blacked out twice (I am anaemic and I fear all the bloods they took have made this worse).
I visited my GP again today as I cannot function with the pain and dizziness, I am bedridden and am having to have family members help me look after my children. My GP told me today to forget about the pain and it will go away.

i am so upset, and fed up. I know that it is very reassuring that the scans showed nothing, yet why am I still in so much pain?!

has anyone had any experience of abdo pain that went away?

Hope the scan goes well. Have they looked into slipping rib?

Slipping rib syndrome happens when one of your lower ribs partially dislocates, slipping in and out of place and sometimes trapping the nerve beneath it. It can cause intense episodes of pain that may spread or be hard to pin down

Really hope you get to the bottom of this soon! If it is gallstone pain then you need tramadol at least. I know from experience, it's awful. How long ago did you have a baby? My gallstones started playing up when my twins were 8 weeks old. It can happen after pregnancy sometimes I was told x

As you’ve already had a CT scan, can you not ask them to change it to an MRI?

Amitryptiline is an old fashioned anti depressant, very effective for pain at night. I take 10mg. So don't worry about taking it.

Really hope you get answers! It does sound very gallbladder-y, by the time mine was taken out I was in constant pain and it also hurt to touch that area, wearing my selt belt was painful. I always thought gallbladder pain was just attacks, but for me it was constant, and it was my gallbladder as it all resolved when taken out.

Glad at least 1 GP is taking you seriously. Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of it.

On a side note, take a look at hazel wallace on social media. You might find her helpful. She was an NHS doctor but she now works with helping women with this sort of thing. Women’s health is so poorly understood.

OP I’m so sorry to read your update that you are still in so much pain. Do you have the funds at all to see a private GP for a second opinion? I’ve known a couple of people pay to go private and they get (sadly) taken a lot more seriously and more specific tests recommended. Any recommendations you could take back to your own GP and ask for referrals.

Hi @Glitterballofdreams I’ve only just seen this thread. I’ve read all your posts (but not the whole thread). Is the pain still under your right rib? This is possibly completely wrong, but has anyone suggested Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) or Axial SpA?

I had many, many years of lots of scans/tests coming back clear, but it was because they were looking more at organs, etc. due to where the pain was. An MRI eventually led to this diagnosis and it made so much sense.

My pain is mainly under my right rib and in the middle of my back (but mainly the right side). If you think it could be this, ask for a referral to a rheumatologist. I’ll link to another thread I’m on in case it’s helpful.

Just to add to what I’ve said above - I’d definitely push for an MRI. It was only after the MRI that it showed what was happening in my body.

Hi @Glitterballofdreams - I feel like I could have written your post two years ago. I had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder and my symptoms pain/symptoms disappeared. About 6 months later I started getting pain in my right side, right under my ribcage that radiated to my back. I panicked! I was adamant it was to do with my surgery, because the pain was so similar to that of my gallbladder attacks.

My symptoms were:

• pain in right ribcage (throbbing/burning/sharp pains)
• pain that radiated through to my back
• the feeling of something being stuck/wedged under my ribcage
• acid feeling in my tummy
• nausea
• dizzyness

I had every scan/test under the sun. My anxiety was at the highest I've ever experienced, because I was adamant I would be like this for the rest of my life. Nobody could tell me what was wrong with me.

I was on a gluten free diet, because specialists even though that could be the problem.

My Dad suggested I went to see his friend who was an osteopath. I thought he was nuts, because what could an osteopath do for me? this was to do with my gallbladder removal..... so I thought/was led to believe.

The osteopath made me do some stretches etc and knew straight away what was wrong with me... he was able to pinpoint all the areas I felt pain. He said it was muscle damage from a combination of poor posture (office job) and recovering from abdominal surgery while having a young baby on my hip. My back was out of alignment.

Anyways, he gave me some stretches and a massage routine (tennis ball rolled up and down by back) and my pain was gone within two weeks. I still get a tightness now, but as long as I keep on top of my stretches I'm fine.

It does sound very similar. My dizziness was due to neck tension, which stemmed from the muscles in my back.

The acid feeling in my tummy was also due to the tight muscle!

Are your ribs sore to touch? do you feel a sense of pulling/stretching when you stretch the area out? if so, it might very much be the same.

I'd recommend speaking to an Osteopath if you can.

Under NICE guidelines NHS has to provide care and treatment.
I would ask for a referral to Gynaecologists / women’s health specialists.

This is the other thread I’m on. I’m not the OP of this thread (and some people’s symptoms are different to what you have, but could be worth mentioning?). It could also be worth you contacting the NASS helpline that I link to in this thread? https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/general_health/5351788-ankylosing-spondylitis-anyone-have-it?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Sorry if I’m completely wrong, but I can really relate to your posts (and wish someone had thought of this for me, rather than many years of the wrong scans and tests).

I had a friend with similar symptoms & it turned out to be an unusual presentation of kidney stones. She said it was as bad as labour pain. They suspected everything from Gall bladder to bowel then all tests proved nothing. Eventually a brilliant young GP sent her for kidney stone investigations & he was right.

Just wondering with all the abdominal surgery if scarring might twisting your insides somehow. A friend had that recently, a year of in and out of A&E before they finally opened her up and saw the scarring around her intestine which caused it to twist. Fairly simple to cut free and I think they put a mesh in place. But it hasn’t showed up on any of the many scans and tests she had had.

Definitely a different, female GP

And please do make a complaint about your GP's 'forget about it' comment - this is absolutely typical of the way that women's pain has historically been dismissed, an issue which is finally getting some attention and will be on the radar of the practice management/NHS England/your Integrated Care board.

I say this partly because that's a shitty response at an individual level and s/he should be pulled up on it - but also because if more women make a noise about this kind of thing there's a chance of it (slowly) stopping, as with menopause.

Just to say that you can get biliary colic caused by your gallbladder without hard stones - mine was full of “sludge” but no solid kernels and still had to be removed asap.

Yes your GP is horrendous. I would specifically ask not to see that one ever again and I would complain to the practice about them, once you get an answer.

It's all too common to read on the Daily Fail about how someone was dismissed over and over again by their GP only to discover something awful, once actually properly diagnosed.

Good luck this morning OP and do so hope they find out what it is.

Good luck. I was told some stones don't show up on scans. It's really hard if the gp doesn't believe your in pain

This sounds exactly what my friend had, OP, and it was a twisted ovary. The doctors kept insisting it would be kidney stones but a scan of her ovaries showed the problem. She needed an operation and is absolutely fine now.

My friend has Endometriosis and hers showed up on MRI. I’d go back and ask them to send you for one of those. Hers really affects her too. She struggles so much with ways to control the pain to be able to go to work and look after her child. Her MRI showed that the endo is now in her uterine muscles, which is why she’s in so much pain. The ultrasound and CT didn’t show the extent of it.

Your GP is so out of order telling you to just forget the pain, as if it’s just that easy! I hope you get things sorted and are able to get the pain under control OP. Sending hugs. 🤗

I have to say incase it helps you I had pain on the lower right sort of waist height and it was constipation though I had no idea as I was not constipated as far as I could tell! But it was as there was a semi blocking effect I think - it was sorted with liquid senna taken on two or three consecutive evenings - after being really quite disregarded in A&E in the middle of the night since vitals blood and urine we’re ok so I didn’t appear ill
to them but the pain was awful. Since then I have discovered too much bread is a trigger for this pain though I am coeliac negative. I can tolerate a bit but not every day. So the diagnosis for me is IBS. Post menopause now but did have severe endometriosis which was never treated and if you think it might be that the please get a gynae referral as not only is it painful it can lead to complications. There are regional centres which might be better a diagnosing this.

Sending you a hug. That GP needs a kick up the arse.

Hoping you can see another GP. It's not normal to bleed like you do and for ig to cause amnesia. I too was fobbed off about periods every 2 weeks lasting a week and horribly heavy - female doctor no less! 10 years later I found out I had a prolapsed womb. Hysterctomy later frlt 10 years younger. The same female gp referred me eventually....

Pain all in lower abdomen to left though so not the same as yours but all the comments show how much women are discriminated against in healthcare. It's disgusting.

Good luck xxx

I think endo only gets diagnosed by laparoscopy so I'd push for that with your heavy periods. It can impact every organ, including bowel and cause a huge amount of pain. I've had two surgeries to zap endo on my bowel, it was only found because I'd a bursts ovarian cyst so had emergency surgery after years of pain. If your last ovarian scan was 2 years ago, another would be a good idea. Cysts can grow and twist in that time.

Abdo pain and dizziness. Has anyone checked your cortisol levels? It’s very rare but they’re symptoms of Addison’s disease and it is a medical emergency.

Just wanted to come back on and say when your GP dismisses you please ask them to write on their notes, no action taken. It’s serves as a record of their actions, they aren’t keen but you can ask for it to be added.