Abdominal Pain

I have been having intense abdominal pain (upper abdomen, lots on the right that goes around my back and some down the left) with bloating, diarrhea off and on, sometimes stools are chalky and some nausea.  I'm not having fever that I'm aware of.  

Fifteen years ago, after 10 years of ulcerative colitis, my bowel perforated and I had my large colon removed.  A year later I had a J-pouch surgery where they created a new rectum out of my small bowel and attached it to my anal muscles.  It has been a very successful surgery.  

With these new symptoms my GP insists there is something wrong with my J-pouch.  First he put me on heavy antibiotics in case it was infection in it.  No improvement.  Just getting worse.  He did a CT.  It noted a small ovarian cyst, fluid in my uterus and made no mention of my gallbladder.  This was over a month ago before it got real bad.  I asked about Lupus involvement and he is ignoring it.

I then went for a gynaecological ultrasound 2.5 weeks ago.  It only looked at those areas and noted that the cyst was shrinking.  Good news but pain is getting worse.

I went back to GP this past week with the increased pain I wondered if it could be my gallbladder.  I am also getting bad gas.  He is saying unlikely and mentioned he would arrange for me to go back to my surgeon who did my intestinal surgery to check out that area.  I begged for another ultrasound to view my gallbladder and am set for that on Tuesday.  

I keep reading about the possibility of vasculitis and inflammation of the abdominal lining with Lupus and am really concerned that that is what is happening.  My pain does not feel like the issues I had back when I had ulcerative colitis.  I'm thinking of calling my rheumatologist on Monday and hoping I can talk to him.  I am at my wit's end that my GP refuses to consider Lupus and I'm still not hearing about getting into the surgeon.  I'm so scared that something really bad is going on in there.  Has anyone experienced this?

[karajo]

Hi Trudie,
Sorry to hear that you are going through all of this.  The pale stools are a definite sign of bile obstruction.  I had severe upper quadrant pain, penetrating to the back, along with severe nausea.  They did an ultrasound and couldn't see anything wrong.  After 4 weeks of the dr. scratching his head, he ordered a HIDA scan.  This revealed my gallbladder was not functioning.  

Please ask for them to do a HIDA scan.  When they injected the "fatty meal" into my IV, I got so sick, I thought I was going to pass out.  I asked for a wet rag, but it didn't help.  

I can't prove this, but I think the lupus may have caused this problem in the first place.  

Praying for you Trudie,
Keep me posted. Kara