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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Severe abdo pain

11 replies

JusticeForBarb · 09/07/2019 19:09

Hi, I’m hoping someone has some ideas.. am 6+6 and have had the most horrendous lower abdo pain for nearly 2 weeks now. It comes and goes throughout the day and night, every few hours. I was seen in EPU and had an early scan, all fine and could see a heartbeat - midwife there said she couldn’t see anything obvious like ovarian cyst etc. Advised by a gynae doctor to keep taking painkillers and see how it goes. Went to a&e a few days ago as the pain was just unbearable and seemed to be getting more intense, feeling really hot, dizzy and faint with it. Had another ultrasound where they ruled out kidney stones and again could see baby’s heartbeat. Saw the same gynae doctor who thinks maybe I’m constipated 😒 and told to go home and take lactulose. Have done that, am going regularly and yet the pains are still so intense. I darent even leave the house in case I get the pain whilst I’m out. Nothing seems to relieve it - tried moving round, different position, heat pad etc. Lasts around 20 mins of agony and then dies down. Feeling mentally and physically really low today, I’m up every other hour in the night aswell and really don’t know how much more I can take 😥

OP posts:
Lougle · 09/07/2019 19:18

Tbh, it's probably round ligament pain. Really common in early pregnancy.

afternoontwee · 09/07/2019 19:22

Could be gas - I had some gas pains early on that felt like being stabbed, bad enough to wake me from a deep sleep!

JusticeForBarb · 09/07/2019 19:39

But every other hour/few hours, 24 hours a day for nearly 2 weeks?? 😰

OP posts:
Amibeingdaft81 · 09/07/2019 19:46

When did you have your scan?

JusticeForBarb · 09/07/2019 20:29

@Amibeingdaft81 yesterday and last week

OP posts:
Pearofwisdom · 09/07/2019 20:35

There is a chance it is gas. I had the same and had to drink peppermint tea after every meal for a week until I figured out bran flakes and a banana for breakfast stopped it. I also googled some pregnancy safe yoga poses for trapped wind which worked too. I was in tears with it, worse than Labour.

Em39ma · 09/07/2019 21:53

Did they check your gallbladder?
I could be gall stones.

JusticeForBarb · 10/07/2019 08:44

@Pearofwisdom I was up hourly last night, tried peppermint tea at about 3ish but didn’t seem to do anything. Tried a bit of downward dog aswell and it just didn’t seem to shift anything or give me any relief at all. At least if it did, I’d know it was trapped wind. I will keep up with your suggestions though, thank you.

@Em39ma they didn’t check but I think gallbladder pain is normally higher up?

OP posts:
Sabee · 10/07/2019 09:04

What kind of pain is it? Is it like an intense stitch type pain? Is it localised or spread out? Are you experiencing any other pain elsewhere or have any other health issues?

Sounds weird for ligament pain, that usually passes.

I have had very painful gas pain once when I needed to do a poo, I was immobilised and couldn’t walk in those few minutes, and weird as it sounds, it’s not unusual for gas to cause these type of pains - but again, it wouldn’t be happening over so many days, unless you are constipated.

Are you going regularly? Are your bowel movements normal? Is your poo healthy?
I was constipated once and I had severe back pain due to it, I could literally feel the pain moving down slowly all night until I went to the toilet in the morning.

Although the first thing I would do for constipation would be to drink loads and loads of water, in pregnancy you need a lot more than you realise, and being dehydrated can cause issues.

The only think I can suggest is to please keep going in if the pain is not going away - they’ve probably excluded ectopic, which is the only thing I can think of to be honest... have you had a test for urine infection?

In the meantime try to have a long soak in the bath with some bath salts, it will help with muscular and digestive issues, drink loads of water, have lots of ripe melon, kiwi and soluble fibre, just incase it’s digestive.

Hope you figure out what it is, hang in there
Flowers

JusticeForBarb · 10/07/2019 09:59

Hi @sabee, thanks for your reply.
Pain is left iliac fossa although a few times a day it’s more central or goes over to the right. It is like an intense stitch, I can’t sit/stand/lie down - have to just keep alternating til it passes. The pain also radiates down my left leg and a lot and into my lower back. It was definitely worse overnight last night and I wondered if lying flat was somehow making it worse?
EPU suggested codeine last week, which I took for a few days and then became constipated, so stopped taking it. This is why gynae Dr in a&e suggested lactulose - I took this Monday and yesterday morning and now have extremely loose, watery stool. I think the peppermint tea overnight must have aggravated my bowels as I wouldn’t think the lactulose would still be causing the diarrhoea this morning. I have always suffered with very ‘sensitive’ bowels but nothing ever diagnosed.
Ectopic has definitely been excluded.
Urine dip has shown a trace of blood, last week and on Monday, which they weren’t concerned about. Everything else completely clear.

Just feel a bit put out that no one is too bothered about getting to the bottom of it. Gynae reg was nice enough but as soon as I mentioned a few days of being constipated, he seemed to only focus on that - despite having had the pain for nearly 2 weeks previously. He was a bit patronising with a ‘you have to expect some discomfort with pregnancy’ - which I absolutely agree with, it is my first pregnancy but I don’t feel like it’s normal to be nearly passing out on a daily basis with pain?
I have got an appt this morning with a lovely GP reg so hoping she might have a miracle idea 🤷🏼‍♀️

OP posts:
Sabee · 10/07/2019 10:56

The pain in leg and lower back sounds like the piriformis muscle spasming (similar to sciatica)... I had sciatica early on in my pregnancy (not with abdomen pain though!!!).

However, I also have sensitive bowels and IBS - the associated digestive issues that I have (i get back ache and cramps when constipated) triggered the sciatic issue for some weird reason, and although I am well into recovery, sometimes still get twinges.

I did take codeine due to sciatica and as I already have bowel issues, it caused my bowels to go through hell - that episode i mentioned of the pain going down my back all night was codeine related - it gave me really severe constipation, and i'll never be taking that again!

If you do have a sensitive bowel, it could have become worse due to pregnancy - the hormones released in the first trimester really affected me. If you can, try to follow an IBS friendly diet (FODMAP).

Let us know if you get any answers, hope you are ok today x

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