flank pain..kidney? Bowels?

[rory]

I have had pain for over 12 months that comes and goes in my back, flank and side, its located around the lower ribs on the right hand side, ...all xray-ultrasound-and nuclear scans, colonoscopies-x3, blood tests, and urine tests show nothing of major interest.

Is this pain more likely bowel pain ? ....
can bowel discomfort mimmick kidney pain? ....
or is it a genuine case of kidney pain that just hasnt shown symptoms other than discomfort yet?.....

Im worried... nothing has helped so far....ive been on kidney cleanse diets and medication, and irritable bowel diets and medication prescribed by my doctor just incase it made a difference,..unfortunately the pain persists.

Basic movements hurt on some days... other times sharp pains and dull aches make me feel quite ill....
No-one in the medical world has any answers for me even after thouands of dollars worth or medical bills and a list of exhausted avenues........

The only confirmed symptom that persists is a raised white cell count that fluctuates and tends to follow bouts of pale skin, illness, pain and discomfort with no apparently obvious cause according to doctors and specialists.

So far i have been told.....Go Home ..dont worry about it.

Feel free to email me at ***@****

Thanks.

[KeatonB]

A related discussion, Kidney pain, left side.. Blood in stool.. was started.

[wishingyouwell]

i was wondering if you could look at my post on 2-6-03 and give me your opion .add to the symptoms what fills like  contractions in mid lower stomach the last time i felt that was prior to colon surgery my bowels were attached to my bladder and my colon had a kink in it my lower right side by the pelvic area is starting to hurt more often i had colon surgery sept 20th 2002 for duverticulitis disease they removed part of the colon ,appendixitand,and  removed my bowel off of my bladder. also fills like the area on the right side is hard all the time i am worried because they are needing to do brain surgery on left temporal lobe for lesion and epilepsy and i have so much else to deal with quite frankly i don't know which part of my boddy to grab first when it comes to pain, i simply want to get everything fixed so my husband and i can start to live a normal life again. i am looking for answers so if you can help in that area it would be great .p.s are you actualy a surgeon or is it your nick name for the forum (just curious)god bless,wishing you well.

[wishingyouwell]

first and formost your health should never play second place   to your ball game.you should seek the advice of a gastro specialest you may have damaged your  stomach or other digestive organs from the eccessive binge drinking and yes drinking to heavily can play a roll in diarrhea and bleeding , but the red  flag is the blood in the stool and this needs the att.of a specialest and does not need to be guessed worked by you or a regular doctor.it could very well be something quite simple or could be something more serious,not to mention it may not have any thing at all to do with the drinking but  drinking could have played a roll if you were fine prior too.when you see the doc ask them if they can do a upper and lower scope to rule out any serious digestive probs or damage . i am not a doctor or any thing close, but i have  many digeswtive med probs. not to mention colon surgery and this is something you need to be serious about, and seek medical att.for asap. i do not know how young you are and i am not trying to scare you just simply want you to get the medical advice you need .god speed .wishing you well

[jimmers]

i have been expierencing diahrea on and off for quite some time but for the past two weeks it has been all the time and i have had blood in my stools each time i have gone to the bathroom which is 2-4 times a day. I have wanted to seek medical attention right away when i noticed blood two weeks ago but feared i would be told i would not beable to play the last two weeks of the basketball season.  Another concern of mine is if the blood in my dihrea stools has anythign to do with the fact that about 3 or 4 days before the blood and heavy dihrea started i had a ruff night in which i foolishly drank about 10 beers and procceded to drink almost an entire bottle of absolute vodka i passed out and went unconsious and was brought to the hospital in an ambulence i wonder if this incodent has anythign to do with the blood in my dihrea and why exactly do i have dihrea 2-4 times a day every day. any help will be greatly appreciated

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Hello - thanks for asking your question.

As you can imagine there are many causes that can cause right flank pain.  

Bleeding within the kidney can produce clots that lodge temporarily in the ureter. Thus, renal cell carcinoma rarely presents with renal colic. Pain due to an ectopic pregnancy can occasionally be mistaken for renal colic. The diagnosis is clarified with a pelvic ultrasound or hCG testing. Patients with an aortic aneurysm are rarely misdiagnosed as having renal colic. Acute intestinal obstruction may also present with colic.

If all the tests have come back negative (i.e. CT scans, ultrasound, endoscopies etc.), then you may want to consider irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel syndrome, or if you are female, gynocologic causes (i.e. endometriosis, ovarian cyst etc.).

Finally, I have recently done some research on rare, esoteric causes of abdominal pain that you may want to discuss with your personal physician.  This research can be found here:
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=163662

I strongly suggest follow up with your personal physician.

I stress that this answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Thanks,
Kevin, M.D.