Right abdominal pain- I am spiralling.

[Lordofthewing]

Hi MN’ers,

im hoping someone can talk me down a bit tonight because im spiralling.

3weeks into December I woke up in the night with a fever (shivering, sweating then feeling cold), had diarrhoea with it. The fever went by morning but the diarrhoea lasted two days and then varied between that and constipation.

After about a week normal ish bowel movement returned. Then mid January I started to feel constipated but with bouts of diarrhoea and abdominal pain in right side abdomen, dull intermittent pain.
saw a paramedic prescriber end of january as I had saw what I was convinced was streak of blood - who gave me 2 weeks of laxido and buscopan. I felt ok for a week after that.

then the abdominal pain returned so I went and saw GP, who prescribed Fybogel and buscopan but suspects diverticulitis. Ordered bloods and colonoscopy. Bloods came back normal apart from vitD and still awaiting colonoscopy. Pain calmed down for about a week but since then the pain on the right side abdomen seems to be spreading further right sometimes and is not as dull as before and is happening frequently.

my mind is fearing the worse that this is some type of cancer as I feel like the right side of my abdomen is sticking out a bit. Has anyone ever had this and it not turn out to be something serious? I’m frightened.

Doesn't sound like anything really bad. More than likely IBS or Diverticulitis.. or polyps..
The colonoscopy will show any of this..
Mine was all three with same symptoms.. so obviously you get flare ups.

Thank you so much for replying @DisconnectedDrainpipe . May I ask (feel free to not answer as I appreciate that it is very personal), how are you managing your pain flare ups?

Gallstones?

Have you had an ultrasound ? Right side makes me think gallbladder/gallstones.

Appendix?

Hi @Wendy83 and @hellotomrw, thank you for your replies. It’s interesting you suggest this as nether of the medical staff I have seen suggested gallstones.i haven’t been offered an ultrasound but I’m so fed up I’m looking to book a private one.

. I have previously had gallstones (12 years ago) and this pain is very different. With the gallstones o ended up in A&e as the pain felt worse than labour. It was absolutely excruciating. But as with a lot of things I guess the pain feels different to each person.

this pain is not as intense and feels less “stabby”, than when I had gallstones. At the time I had them the hospital advised to watch and wait and future flare ups were manageable so they were never removed.

@sittingonabeach, thanks for the reply and worth investigating, I’m going to ring around tomorrow and see if I can book a private ultrasound somewhere and hope that it may shed light while I wait on the colonoscopy.

If you’ve had gallstones in the past and not had your gallbladder removed, you’ve probably still got gallstones, as they don’t tend to disappear and the only solution is gallbladder removal. Speaking as someone two weeks post op, the attacks got worse as time went on and often varied in pain intensity, caused vomiting, constipation and diarrhoea on different days and was just horrible pain. I’d go back to your GP and ask for an ultrasound to check that out for sure, as I ended up with pancreatitis a couple of months ago due to a stone making its way into a bile duct and getting stuck.

Hello @JBJ i am so sorry to hear about what you’ve gone through that sounds like such a tough ordeal. I hope you are recovering well now?

thank you for sharing your experience with me, particularly where you mention that the intensity of attacks increased gradually. It is useful to hear as for me there was no gradual build up in terms of pain with the gallstones, it came out of nowhere so suddenly following the birth of my first child.

Yes I’m recovering well, thank you.

The pain seems to be different for everyone. I’ve had attacks that lasted 8 hours, ones that lasted an hour and other times it was just a grumble that went away quickly. Definitely worth getting checked out as gallstones don’t resolve themselves.

Ok so my gallstone attacks sound like what you described yours were like, worse than labour. However, you can also get issues with your pancreas or sphincter of oddi which is more central pain thay are more like a gnawing pain (at least for me) than the gallbladder attacks. You need an ultrasound go to your gp and push for it especially with a history of gallstones.

I had terrible gallstones and never had a proper "attack", just almost constant gnawing pain where you're describing it. If you've had gallstones and still have your gallbladder, it's very likely gallstones. I got my gallbladder out and no issues since.

I had my gallbladder removed for gallstones and then 15 years later had a horrible gnawing pain in my right side and back, fever and vomiting. Turned out a stone had formed in my bile duct. Took a long time to diagnose (eventually had an MRI) and I was very, very ill in the meantime, but once it was removed I was feeling better fairly quickly.

FWIW, when I had gallstones I didn’t have the ‘stabbing’ pain at all. It was an unbearably intense burning pain. Gallbladder pain varies loads from patient to patient.

Hello. Sorry to hear about your tummy. I saw a reference to IBS. I suffer terribly with this and it's constant, although I am prescribed amatrypteline (sorry sp) for the pain, buscopan, Mebeverine, Laxido. I have severe swelling, particularly on the right hand side, which is, I believe, fairly common in IBS sufferers. I saw a dietician a few years ago, which I recommend, and she put me on a FodMap diet, a diet for IBS sufferers which is designed by Monash University in Australia.

I'm coeliac so it's pretty tricky, but I am able to avoid the foods that upset my intestines. I know within about an hour, however, if I haven't avoided them. They are generally foods that ferment, so for me it's things like onion, lentils, beans, etc. ... a nightmare if you like to pick up a ready meal!

I hope that the above is useful. It's worth bearing in mind.

I’m no stranger to bowel issues and am curious why your GP hasn’t asked for a FIT test. This could mostly allay any bowel cancer fears if it’s under a certain number. You’d still need the colonoscopy as they’ll still want to know what’s going on, but nice to have this bit of reassurance whilst you wait.

My DH has had diverticulitis for several years, your symptoms could be this. I had my gallbladder removed last August, my symptoms were mainly pain just right and about 1 inch below belly button, I also had lower back pain, but my bowels were normal.

Another possibility is Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), ie Crohns or Ulcerative Colitis. The colonoscopy will show this. A stool sample can also be tested to show if there is inflammation in the bowel. This helps distinguish IBD from things like IBS.

Hello all, thank you for the responses and sharing your experiences. I managed some sleep last night but woke up this morning to use the loo and TMI but there was a little blood when wiping which has just sent me feeling down again.

@AnotherSliceOfCakePlease I forgot to include this in my first post, but yes doc requested a fit test and the number was under 7 so negative, but (sorry, TMI) are still the odd occasions of blood when wiping such as this morning. Apologies for not including, think I was typing while my thoughts were running away with me.

To also add, the GP have sent a message saying I need to provide another stool sample ahead of the colonoscopy and I believe this is for what @Leahrosemary has suggested- to test for IBD and other conditions.

I think the reason I’m so fearful of it still being a possibility bowel cancer is because my relative passed away from that and it’s playing on my mind that this could still be a possibility.

thank you each of you your responses are helping me, could have done without this morning’s incident though. Have had a lovely cuddle this morning with my daughter and am trying really hard not to let my worries spoil the nice moments.

If you end up in A&E with a gall stone attack they put you on a waitlist to remove your gall bladder as they say you will likely have another attack. NICE guidelines is to remove gall bladder within a week of an attack although this rarely happens on nhs. Remind your gp about your gall bladder attack. Gall bladder pain can be different during different attacks depending on what’s going on with gall bladder.

I had polyps which means they used to do colonoscopies on me every few years routinely. The last time I spoke to a gastro he said they are switching to routine FIT tests on the nhs as they chances of cancer are so statistically minimal with a negative FIT test. Lots of things can cause bleeding when wiping. A friend with IBD bleeds as a symptom.

I get antibiotics if the Diverticulitis flares up.
Ibs l am on buscapan.
I had the polyps cut out during the colonoscopy.