Aa
liver pain, weight loss, spasms,weakness.
I have really been through it. This has been going on for a good while now. The Doc has found I have a fatty liver. There were cysts and lesions that disappeared which i'm grateful for. He is wanting to write this off as anxiety and muscle spasms. Here's the thing ;I am losing tons of weight. The pain happens at night and am waking up to the pain making this a hard pill to swallow as just anxiety. I have been near tears with how persistent this has become. He has run bloodwork on the liver and other things including the white blood cell count and everything has turned out to be ok. Someone on here mentioned bartonella or a bug bite and checked that out as well as gall bladder issues. Everything is good. A recent visit to a G.I. that the Doc suggested I go to discovered a hiatal hernia in the top of my stomach. There is alot of pain from that. That is fine. It's just this not knowing and him merely saying "I think it's this or that accounting for the liver pain" without truly ever getting out of the dark with this. Could the hiatal hernia be responsible for this pain? I'm just desperate, fighting tooth and nail with trying to get to the bottom of this just to find a solution. Please somebody anybody have any thoughts, suggestions or advice? Thank you all for reading this and than any/all replies in advance.
You're welcome! I'm glad your doctor ran the cancer markers- that definitely helped me feel better when a doctor did that for me. Yeah, the same doctor discovered I had costochondritis in that area- right hand side lower rib area- after ruling out the more serious things.
After a doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound with my upper right abdominal pain and two liver lesions were seen, I had a HIDA scan done because another doctor sometimes things are missed on an ultrasound. My gall bladder emptying was quite slow and I had a third doctor (referenced in my first paragraph) order an MRCP- a special kind of MRI that looks specifically at the duct work of the liver, gallbladder and pancreas. It came out fine- no blockages.
Gas usually is not serious, though it can be painful, sometimes extremely so, and simethicone (OTC) can come in handy. I've had a colonoscopy and they see nothing of consequence up there. I do have irritable bowel syndrome- was diagnosed as a teenager with that, which can cause a lot of gas. I used to get gas stuck at a sharp turn one doctor told me in my GI tract. That's the one who had me first taking simethicone. In more recent years, besides in the upper right quadrant, toward the middle getting pain, sometimes even sharp bursts of pain, I also have gotten very strong pains in my flank. I believe these pains in my side are gas and not kidney pain. (Of course, if you were to have the symptoms of a urinary tract infection or if you were noticing blood in your urine, you'd want to get your kidney checked out.)
Doing the knee chest or lying on one side and bring a knee up to try to expel the gas sometimes works. Trying to rub the area hurting to move the air pocket can sometimes help too. Avoiding gassy foods like beans, cabbage, etc. or at least taking bean-o or something like that with it might help. And if you are lactose intolerant, getting lactose free milk would be beneficial in regards to a flatulence/irritable bowel issue. And of course, trying to stay regular and not constipated.
With the hiatal hernia, the doctor felt it was large enough to cause you symptoms? If so, did they suggest treatment for it?
After a doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound with my upper right abdominal pain and two liver lesions were seen, I had a HIDA scan done because another doctor sometimes things are missed on an ultrasound. My gall bladder emptying was quite slow and I had a third doctor (referenced in my first paragraph) order an MRCP- a special kind of MRI that looks specifically at the duct work of the liver, gallbladder and pancreas. It came out fine- no blockages.
Gas usually is not serious, though it can be painful, sometimes extremely so, and simethicone (OTC) can come in handy. I've had a colonoscopy and they see nothing of consequence up there. I do have irritable bowel syndrome- was diagnosed as a teenager with that, which can cause a lot of gas. I used to get gas stuck at a sharp turn one doctor told me in my GI tract. That's the one who had me first taking simethicone. In more recent years, besides in the upper right quadrant, toward the middle getting pain, sometimes even sharp bursts of pain, I also have gotten very strong pains in my flank. I believe these pains in my side are gas and not kidney pain. (Of course, if you were to have the symptoms of a urinary tract infection or if you were noticing blood in your urine, you'd want to get your kidney checked out.)
Doing the knee chest or lying on one side and bring a knee up to try to expel the gas sometimes works. Trying to rub the area hurting to move the air pocket can sometimes help too. Avoiding gassy foods like beans, cabbage, etc. or at least taking bean-o or something like that with it might help. And if you are lactose intolerant, getting lactose free milk would be beneficial in regards to a flatulence/irritable bowel issue. And of course, trying to stay regular and not constipated.
With the hiatal hernia, the doctor felt it was large enough to cause you symptoms? If so, did they suggest treatment for it?
Yes, my mom is better after her surgery. They took the gallbladder out in the same surgery as it had been causing her pain for a while.
Just under the ribs on the right and under the liver is the gallbladder. I know you had a CT scan, but did you have a HIDA scan? If the gallbladder is infected or failing, it won't necessarily show stones in a scan. A HIDA scan measures gallbladder performance, and it if it is too low, they usually take it out. There is some argument for treating for an infection first, but it seems that surgeons usually recommend surgery.
I just read an article about how sugar causes a fatty liver. You might find it interesting. Just Google "UCSF sugar poison" and you'll find articles to read and a link to a YouTube video of the professor's lecture on this.
Just under the ribs on the right and under the liver is the gallbladder. I know you had a CT scan, but did you have a HIDA scan? If the gallbladder is infected or failing, it won't necessarily show stones in a scan. A HIDA scan measures gallbladder performance, and it if it is too low, they usually take it out. There is some argument for treating for an infection first, but it seems that surgeons usually recommend surgery.
I just read an article about how sugar causes a fatty liver. You might find it interesting. Just Google "UCSF sugar poison" and you'll find articles to read and a link to a YouTube video of the professor's lecture on this.
Hey yeah, the pain is in the middle of my right and sometimes left side. It feels like a knife stabbing into my side. It is hard to describe and then when the pain dies down I noticed I have alot of spasms all over my whole body here and there. The pain in the side feels like it runs deep. Very strange and unsettling. It's right in the middle or right under my first rib. Thank you so much for your help it really means alot while dealing with this stuff. :)
Hey there, thank you very much on your reply. Hey, no he said he thinks it would be best just to leave it be. He said that surgery actually makes it worse? I hope your mother is doing ok...is she? I hate seeing others having to go through the same stuff. Oh wow, that is ironic you mention that. I've been thinking about that show the more and more i'm dealing with this. That is crazy about that gland in the pancreas being too tight and spasming. I don't think it was the whole bilary system but yes he ran a CT scan, and yep A G.I. performed an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. That is how he found out I had a hiatal hernia, diverticulosis and forgot to mention a fatty liver.
Hello there, thank you so much for replying! Thank you even more for the link. :):):):) That means alot. Yes, the doc has run markers, checked the liver function, I think he did a pretty thorough search. I'm at a loss of ideas and desperate for relief. Yes, I do suffer from extreme anxiety too and the doc claims this makes it more difficult to determine things. Oh wow, so it seems you have some similar problems. Yep, the pain at night during sleep sounds all too familiar. It does seem I have been burping alot more ever since being diagnosed with the hiatal hernia and I also have diverticulosis. Could this gas build up you are mentioning lead to anything serious? Thank you so much ,your reply means the world to me. Costochondritis? I'll ask him...thank you so much.
You are saying liver pain... can you describe the area of your body where you feel pain?
A hiatal hernia can indeed cause pain. Did your doctor say there was anything you could do about it? My mother needed surgery to correct hers.
I saw a "Mystery Diagnosis" show where chronic upper abdominal pain was eventually diagnosed as a gland in the pancreas being too tight and spasming. Has your whole biliary system been examined?
Perhaps you could ask for a referral to a GI doc at a major university or research hospital in your area. If your pain is becoming intolerable and your current doc has nothing to offer you, a referral is appropriate.
I saw a "Mystery Diagnosis" show where chronic upper abdominal pain was eventually diagnosed as a gland in the pancreas being too tight and spasming. Has your whole biliary system been examined?
Perhaps you could ask for a referral to a GI doc at a major university or research hospital in your area. If your pain is becoming intolerable and your current doc has nothing to offer you, a referral is appropriate.
How long did he follow up on the liver to make sure all the lesions were gone? Did he do ultrasounds periodically? Did he run cancer marker tests?
Since you are losing a lot of weight, provided you have not changed your eating habits to eating far less or are not having vomitting and diarrhea (which can be symptoms of pain in the case of two of those symptoms or symptoms of anxiety), did the doctor check your thyroid function- not just running a TSH, but free T 3 and free T 4 also? While the thyroid is actually in your throat so it would not cause the pain where you are describing, it does regulate metabolism and those with a hyperactive thyroid can tend to lose a lot of weight.
A large hiatal hernia can cause symptoms (see PM).
I find that I get pain in the upper right quadrant of my abdomen, yet my gallbladder was okay and the small lesions on my liver should not be causing that pain.
I learned that it is very common for gas to caught in the part of the colon (transverse) up there in the upper right quadrant and when I'm in bed is also when I tend to have pain act up in that region.
Also, I believe I've gotten costochondritis in the area of the lower rib cage on that same side. Probing with a couple of fingers (a doctor would be better at this than you or I perhaps), see if you can find an area that is particularly tender (this pain would happen not just at night). If you can, ask your doctor about costochondritis.
Since you are losing a lot of weight, provided you have not changed your eating habits to eating far less or are not having vomitting and diarrhea (which can be symptoms of pain in the case of two of those symptoms or symptoms of anxiety), did the doctor check your thyroid function- not just running a TSH, but free T 3 and free T 4 also? While the thyroid is actually in your throat so it would not cause the pain where you are describing, it does regulate metabolism and those with a hyperactive thyroid can tend to lose a lot of weight.
A large hiatal hernia can cause symptoms (see PM).
I find that I get pain in the upper right quadrant of my abdomen, yet my gallbladder was okay and the small lesions on my liver should not be causing that pain.
I learned that it is very common for gas to caught in the part of the colon (transverse) up there in the upper right quadrant and when I'm in bed is also when I tend to have pain act up in that region.
Also, I believe I've gotten costochondritis in the area of the lower rib cage on that same side. Probing with a couple of fingers (a doctor would be better at this than you or I perhaps), see if you can find an area that is particularly tender (this pain would happen not just at night). If you can, ask your doctor about costochondritis.
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