abdominal pain, no cause?

[jjm48]

hi, sorry this is so long!

i've had abdominal pain to the point of fainting and crying for about 6 years (i'm an otherwise perfectly healthy 21  year old now). at first i was told it was just being a woman, but when i was 19 it got to the point where i was unable to walk sometimes. eventually i was forced to go to the doctor who ordered some blood tests and an x-ray. they were normal, except for coeliac. i had a biopsy which confirmed coeliac, and i stopped eating gluten (assuming this would fix the pain, bloating and constipation). while the bloating and constipation stopped, the pain remained. about a year later i went to a obgyn who, because of a very strong family hx of endometriosis, performed a laparoscopy after normal ultrasound (which showed polycystic ovaries, but my BMI is 21 and i don't have excess hair, so not PCOS). the results showed almost no endometriosis, but adhesions which i think she removed (this was a few months ago)

however, i've still been having severe pain. apparently its IBS,  but i'm stress-free and tried some IBS support OTC medication, but it does nothing. i don't want to go back to a doctor because i feel like i've had soooo many different tests (four - blood test, xray, ultrasound, laparoscopy) and they all show i'm normal. i don't want to seem like a hypochondriac, and i try to ignore the pain but it will not go away, so i keep it to myself. also, i'm sure it's not related, but my arms and legs frequently go numb randomly (walking, lying down, no pressure on them - not like normal pins and needles), and sometimes i vomit for no reason (i've probably eaten something with gluten)

the pain is on my lower left almost exclusively, and it's quite low down. it's almost constant, and is worse some days than others. the only way i can think to describe it is as 'ovary pain', but i'm on oral contraceptives and haven't ovulated in 5 years, so it can't just be ovary pain, or pregnancy.but it's in between my belly-button and my side, and about in line with my hip bone.

could i subconsciously be a hypochondriac? is it IBS (even without constipation/diarrhea)? is there anything i can do to make the pain go away? a heat pack seems to help, but almost as soon as i take it off the pain comes back.

thankyou.

[patient915]

There is no such thing as "severe" celiac or "not severe celiac."  People can have different levels of problems depending on the where the biopsy was taken in the case of an endoscopy and people can react differently when they eat gluten but there is no system of grading the levels of severity.  Meaning, even trace amounts can make you sick.  I know a woman who is a doctor who also has celiac disease who won't share a toaster with someone who uses gluten because it affects her.  However, there is something called refractory celiac disease where the person doesn't respond to a gluten-free diet.  You might want to look into this.  I would recommend probiotics because they can help even if you haven't really been on antibiotics.  However, I would recommend against doing any sort of detox as these can make you much sicker.

[jjm48]

patient: i'm trying my best. at home certainly i am, and i always read labels and double-check in restaurants, but you can never be 100% when someone else is preparing your food. however my doctor did tell me it wasn't "severe" coeliac, whatever that means? would trace amounts still make me sick if it is only medium?

peanuts: i'm also vegetarian and, coupled with no gluten, i eat primarily vegetables. i've only been on antibiotics once (years ago), would i still need probiotics?

i'm afraid to take any medication or eat certain foods just in case it makes the pain any worse.

[Peanuts2]

Diet is of the upmost....try detoxing and going on an all natural food diet.  I know this is hard to do but you need to get balance back into your body....Probiotics will put back good flora and don't eat anything chemical.

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  Are you avoiding 100% of all wheat, barley, rye, and oats?  Are you reading every single label and making sure when you eat out you are 100% sure the food is gluten free?  It might be that you are still eating small amounts of gluten which are causing your problems.