Lower abdominal pain

[philh]

I have experienced several days of lower abdominal pain and discomfort.  the pain is hard to pinpoint but seems to be located in the lower right hand side of the abdomen radiating to the right testicle, the right hip and upper thigh.  the pain is intermittent, it is always present but ranges from severe to almost unnoticeable.  At its worst it is extremely painful. It is not aggravated by exercise and is not relieved by rest.  I have no diarrhoea or other symptoms. I have consulted my GP and have undertaken an ultrasound which eliminated hernia and found no other abnormalities. A urine test found no blood in the urine, my GP has not yet eliminated kidney stones.  The abdomen, testicle etc is is not tender to touch.  The latest episode of pain seemed to be located in the right hip/groin and since that episode the skin on my upper right thigh feels numb to the touch.  I have no other symptoms, my temperature is normal.  This has been going on for four days now.  I am to undergo a CT scan on abdomen/pelvis tomorrow.  I am a 55 year old male, I have had an appendectomy and a vasectomy.  I am in good health otherwise.  Do you have any ideas on what this could be.  i have every faith in my GP and the medical service in Canberra, but I must admit the skin numbness frightened me a bit and it will be at least 16 hours before I see my GP again

[sunrise292]

A related discussion, wow i 2 suffer some of those symtems...right lower abdominal pain, ovary? herniated disc? what should i really do was started.

[rdsus]

On and off for the last five years I have been experiencing pain in my left testicle and abdomin. I have visited multiple GP's and Urologists, have had three ultrasounds. My aparent diagnosis is epiditimitis, which is an infection of the epiditimus and related to a prostate infection. It is possible for the pain to radiate to my lower left abdomin and my left hip.

It seems to reoccur when I increase intensity of an exercise routine including running, light weight lifting and even yoga stretching. It is very frustrating to me because I enjoy physical exercise for weight control and overall well being.

I was just put on a two week treatment with Cipro 1000 taken once a day. I hope that it works and will post my results in the near future.

[joZ]

Hi, my name is Joz and I am from UK. I am a male. I am 16 and I have no family members with cancer. Lately during the winter, I have been experiencing pains on my left side of the body. Specially the left testicle, my left arm and my left leg is partially numb and I have been getting pains. The pains mostly occur during the night time but during the day I only have minor pain in my left testicle. My groin also hurts. The pain seems to disappear and come back again and the pain makes it difficult to sleep. My testicle is also cold and my testicle is very sore when i came to examine it for lumps, my left side of my testicle has swelled up a bit but my right side is normal. Also when i was emamining my semen, I discovered that it appeared to be more runny than usual, also when squeeze my abdomen in, the pain goes away.
Can u please tell me what this might be? It surely cannot be cancer, I am only 16

[joZ]

Hi, my name is Joz and I am from UK. I am a male. I am 16 and I have no family members with cancer. Lately during the winter, I have been experiencing pains on my left side of the body. Specially the left testicle, my left arm and my left leg is partially numb and I have been getting pains. The pains mostly occur during the night time but during the day I only have minor pain in my left testicle. My groin also hurts. The pain seems to disappear and come back again and the pain makes it difficult to sleep. My testicle is also cold and my testicle is very sore when i came to examine it for lumps, my left side of my testicle has swelled up a bit but my right side is normal. Also when i was emamining my semen, I discovered that it appeared to be more runny than usual, also when squeeze my abdomen in, the pain goes away.
Can u please tell me what this might be? It surely cannot be cancer, I am only 16

[350z]

I too have been experiencing a good deal of pain in the groin area and left testicle.  Two months ago I saw the doctor for similar pains in the RIGHT testicle.  He assumed it was epiditimitus and prescribed an antibiotic.  After a couple weeks the pain dissapeared.  Fast forward 3 weeks and the pain was in the left testicle.  After 5+ weeks it is still there.  After some sleep it is about 50% better but by the evening it is very uncomfortable.  When playing darts and leaning over to pick them of the floor (sometimes they dont stick to the board), it is quite unpleasant feeling.

At first I figured it was a hernia... I hope not.  Could that be the case?  I guess I will find out today when I hit the gym

[KLR]

Hi! I've been having lower abdominal pain for a long time now. My grandpa died from colon cancer when he was young,  after my dad was born. About a year and a half ago I seen my family doctor about the pain. My mom had ovarian sists and when they checked me out and did an ultrasound they found a sist. I took birth control pills for that. When I was at the doctor they had me get blood work done because they thought I was anemic. The blood work confirmed that I was slightly anemic so I was directed by my doctor to eat more food with iron in it. The pain still seems to be there. I am constipated.....and I've only been able to have a bowel movement up to two times a week (sometimes once a week) for at least a year. When I went to get a second ultrasound done for the same abdominal pain the doctor said that I was too constipated for them to see anything. It is so painful and my periods are even more painful. I am bloated. What do you suspect this is? By the way I am 16 yrs old...

[pippipup]

Hi Guys....I am a gal...and I have the same symptoms almost!
I had my first routine colonoscopy a few days ago and passed with flying colors....:0
But since yesterday....I have had lower right abdominal pain that radiates into my right thigh and both sides of by bottom.
The prep for the colonsc. was the worst as I am small and don't weigh much....yet was told I had to do exactly as my husband who is alot bigger than I am.  I am still experiencing loose stools from the prep and exam.  I did notice IF I lay on my left hip and tilt slightly up the pain goes away...almost or at least lessens.  I have experimented in different positions as I thought this might give the docs some ideas.  I have already called his office and was told IF it gets worse to call back or just come in.
I am 55 years young and have good health....except for having to have my uterus removed 10 years ago due to fibroid tumors.  That went well and I kept my ovaries and have only lately experienced possible menapausal symtoms.  I use an all natural low dose estrogen patch for this.  
I sense this might be a nerve thing too as the pain radiates into my bottom and hips so.  I guess it is possible I have an abrasion or slight injury to the right bottom of my intestines too.  I understand that these can heal themselves IF not too severe.
Any other gals out there have this?
Anyone have 3-4 days of pain after a colonoscopy?

[Eur]

Your symptoms are exactly the same as mine, they started approx one week ago when I bent down to remove a plug from an electrical socket, not that it's relevant but I mention it to show what a simple action I had taken to trigger this painful condition I am in. I felt a "click" in the lumbar region of my spine and a pain in the same area, in a few days the pain had spread to my right testicle but as you say it does seem to vary from hour to hour both in it's position and intensity,the front of my right thigh has subsequently become numb, not the underlying muscle but just the skin between the knee and the pelvis.
I suspected that the cause was a trapped nerve in the spinal region of the lower back and on looking in my copy of Grays Anatomy I discovered that there is a nerve called the Genito-Crural which arises from the first and second lumbar nerves.
The Genito-Crural divides into a genital and a crural branch.
The Genital Branch follows the spermatic cord down to the Cremaster muscle which controls the position of the testes as influenced by their temperature etc.
The Crural branch descends to and supplies the skin of the anterior aspect of the thigh as far as midway between the pelvis and the knee.
May be this is the wrong forum to discuss this problem as I am convinced that the cause is pressure on this nerve by some dislocation in the lumbar region of the spine, however it may be better to remain in this forum for the present.
I had my Xrays done yesterday  and I am seeing an orthapaedic specialist this afternoon.
Please tell us Philh, what progress you have made? I am intensly interested as to how the docs respond to your condition.
Best Regards
Painfully
Tom

[TheDodge]

Hey Philh,

I recently had the same EXACT set of symptoms that sustained over a five week period.  From my early twenties I have had periodic pain in my right lower abdomen (though NOTHING like these five weeks).  This time it was very pronounced and it radiated to my right testicle and up around my right hip muscles.  My abdomen did not appear to be sensitive to the touch or pressure.  I eventually had both a lower GI CT scan and Lower Bowel XRay both with barium.  My right thigh has also gone numb, slightly to the outside right front of the legand almost half wayup to the hip from the knee.

1.  It was and never has been appendicitis, as you and I both correctly found out.
2.  Both the CT and the Lower Bowel Scan Xray appeared negative for Crohn's disease (I could see the Terminal Ilium of the Small Intestine flex and bulge as it easily passed the barium liquid, and the walls of the Terminal Ilium were thin and flexible.) As this passed, I experienced zero pain.
3.  This baffled me, and the pain was getting worse, especially about 6 hours after meals.

What WAS effective for me:
a.  I took a teaspoon of Flaxseed Oil (could do another oil, but this was recommended to me) every afternoon for three or four days.
b.  I had been using a fat absorber moderately (1 small tablet per day before dinner) called Chitosol/Chitosan (ground up mollusk and seafood shells) to aid in lowering my fat absorption rate.  As soon as I ceased taking this on a hunch, the pain went away over the next two days, completely.

My thought, and of course this is different for everyone and does not mean that what I did will be applicable to your case, is that I might have had a sensitivity to the Chitosol that caused my Terminal Ilium (the pain had been definitely there a week before the Scans) to gain sensitivity, or that possibly the Chitosol/Chitosan had been accumulating in my Terminal Ilium and obstructing passage of the food through to the Large Intestine.

The pain has not returned at all.

Finally, I tied the numbness in my right thigh to my neck, by falling asleep reading one evening with my head propped up at too sharp an angle for sleeping.  I awoke with the incumbent neck pain, AND numbness in my right thigh.....which went away soon after getting up and stretching a bit.

[Kevin Pho, MD]

The most reasonable test would be the CT scan - it can determine whether there is any thickening of the colon that can be associated with inflammation.  A partial obstruction can also be considered given your prior history of surgery.  

If the CT is negative, other tests to consider would be a colonoscopy to evaluate any bowel abnormality that could be causing your pain.  

Another consideration would be an orthopedic abnormality that could be related to your hip - further imaging studies of the hip can also be considered.  

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Thanks,
Kevin, M.D.

[surgeon]

The cat scan has a good chance of helping to figure it out. In particular I'd want them to take care to look at the spine to see if there could be a nerve impingement problem.