Extreme left side adominal pain

[dowtown]

Im a 33 year old that was hit suddenly with a year and a half ago with pain and pressure in my abdomen, along with changes in bowel habits. Went to the doctor and said i needed my gallbladder removed. So in Aug 2009 I had the gallbladder removed.  Things seemed to get a little better after surgery but now for the past 4 to 5 months my lower left side of abdomen has extreme pressure, tender to touch, severe muscle spasms in colon area, extreme constipation and diarehea. My guts feel like they are bout to explode at times. I have an appointment with a gi doctor this week.  All my symptoms point to colon cancer and think there were other underlying problems when my gallbladder was identified as the problem. The pain and pressure i have in the abdomen is constant and never goes away.  Would like opinions on this matter and maybe a little hope. Im scared s**tless.

[Alleycat129]

Look up bile dumping and see if you have those symptoms. It happened to me post gallbladder removal...ran for the bathroom within 20 min of eating. Good luck.

[mammo]

Polyps after 50 are very common and this is why everyone starts getting scoped at 50. You could have several benign things going on, so it's good that you are seeing a GI doc to get right to the problem.  I know you don't want or need to hear about smoking from me...but, I have a 40 year old nephew who smokes excessively and is dying of lung cancer. It's time to really think about your lifestyle and how it will impact you in the future.  My husband is a Marine and ran everyday and always lifted weights....very healthy.  Now he can barely walk to the car due to smoking which he quit 25 years ago.
Once you stop, your lungs immediately begin to repair themselves, but your cardiovascular damage is forever. Take care.

[dowtown]

Thanx for the response. When i went to doctor the originally the main pain that i was having was on my left side and a little on the right along with diarrhea. My doctor ordered for me to have some blood work, an ultrasound, and either a ct scan or mri. The test results showed that i had some gallstones so my doctor referred me to a surgeon. My surgeon told me there was alot of sludge and couple of stones in my gallbladder and def needed to come out. The surgeon also said he did some exploratory surgery also because of my complaint of my left side and found nothing. He made a couple extra laprascopic incisions in order to do this. I having a little rectal bleeding at times but believe it is a result of having diarrhea constantly  since my surgery. Sometimes my bm's are pure stomach bile nothing else. Basically my condition has gotten worse since the surgery and really cant tell if my problems are due from the surgery or something that could have been missed from the original complaint of having pain on the left side. Lately i battle bouts of severe diarrhea at times and then a couple days later i will battle with severe constipation. No early signs of early colon cancer in family just some polyps in uncles and father who are in their 50's. Alcohol really tends to make my problem alot worse along with my horrible diet and heavy chain smoking probably are not helping the problem either. Thanx.

[mammo]

Hi.  Did your doctor have any tests done to determine that your gallbladder was bad?  Gallbladder pain is felt high and on the right side of the stomach area, and into the back.  Are you having any rectal bleeding?  IBS can cause your symptoms, you could have a partial blockage, there are many things it could be, so don't assume the worst.  Is there a history of people developing colon cancer at a young age in your family? You are very young to have colon cancer, unless it runs in the family.  I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's rare.  What makes you think there were underlying problems related to this before your gallbladder was removed?  Sorry for all the questions, but would like to know more and give you some peace of mind.