Chronic Left Flank Pain

Hey everyone! My name is NikkiMay, and my fiance has been having some serious issues getting help with his constant pain issues. What started out being diagnosed as a 7mm Kidney Stone, turned into a chronic pain issue. He has chronic, moderate to severe pain in his left side, covering his back, side, groin,and sometimes penetrates down to the inner thigh, or reproductive organs. He managed to pass the 7mm kidney stone at home, mind you it was right after an ER visit where he was drugged up pretty good to help with the massive amounts of pain, this was last Feb (2012) After being told the stone was being sent away, and that his pain should now start to diminish over the next week, we weren't told of any results from the lab on the stone, and the pain never went away. After constant CT Scans, MRIs, Urine/Blood Tests, and X-Rays, nothing was diagnosed. He was told by 3 different doctors over 6 months that he has a  kidney stone in his left kidney ( size given by doctors varied by doctor ) or that nothing was wrong other than trace amounts of blood in the urine sample. The trace amount of blood in the urine was told to us for 3-4 constant urine tests, and again, no one seemed concerned. Constantly being given pain meds, and told to go home has become very discouraging. Even though we live in Canada, currently he doesn't have a family doctor, making it difficult to get tests done or referrals to specialist. Finally after numerous visits to the ER a doctor finally gave us a referral to a urologist. I think it was partly because they are about to flag my fiance as a pill popper.  The Urologist did an Xray, and a CT, and scheduled a Lithotripsy. When we finally went to the Lithrotripsy procedure, we were told the stone was only 2mm which is too small to allow them to see it during the procedure,. We were sent home, with no procedure and an appointment to follow up with the urologist. After the follow up, the Doctor stated that the CT Scan they did was one for diagnostics, and whatever was causing his pain was not urological, and sent us on our way once again. We can't keep going on like this, the constant pain is consistently getting in the way of my fiances life, and becoming very frustrating and troubling. Is there anyone that may have kidney stones, and other flank pain that may not be related to each other? OR a similiar situation that was met with results?! He is a 31 year old, smoker and coffee drinker. Also had his Gall Bladder removed 2 years ago. I really hope that there is someone within this forum that may have some opinions, ideas, thoughts, advice, or personal experience with this type of thing! Please feel free to ask questions as well, I'll answer just about anything providing I feel it would help us!

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi!
Well, classically the left flank pain in due to a stone in the urinary system. If the stone is too small and does not block any urine flow channels then it is unlikely to cause pain. The only other possibility which I can think of is infection of kidney or pyelonephritis and clots in renal blood vessels (discovered through dopplar studies).
If your fiancé is a smoker and coffee drinker then left flank pain may be due to chest symptoms like pleurisy or due to gastric causes such as acidity and gastric ulcer (aggravated further by pain killers). I suggest he takes omeprazole empty stomach in the morning and antacid gels after major meals and tapers down his intake of coffee and tobacco (read smoking). Drinking cold milk and taking a bland diet for some days may help.
In my opinion you should discuss all these factors with his treating doctors. Maybe one of these could be the cause of his pain. Take care!

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi!
Well, classically the left flank pain in due to a stone in the urinary system. If the stone is too small and does not block any urine flow channels then it is unlikely to cause pain. The only other possibility which I can think of is infection of kidney or pyelonephritis and clots in renal blood vessels (discovered through dopplar studies).
If your fiancé is a smoker and coffee drinker then left flank pain may be due to chest symptoms like pleurisy or due to gastric causes such as acidity and gastric ulcer (aggravated further by pain killers). I suggest he takes omeprazole empty stomach in the morning and antacid gels after major meals and tapers down his intake of coffee and tobacco (read smoking). Drinking cold milk and taking a bland diet for some days may help.
In my opinion you should discuss all these factors with his treating doctors. Maybe one of these could be the cause of his pain. Take care!

[NikkiMay]

Thank you so much for responding!!

He was told approx. a month ago that there is a kidney stone in his left kidney approx. 2mm in size, which we can't see that being the cause for constant pain. Our Urologist said the CT shows nothing urological, would a CT not show any clots?

I wondered if it may be an infection ( pyelonephritis) but I thought that the urologist would have caught that, mind you I don't recall him doing blood or urine analysis.

I am curious about this cold milk and bland diet though? Any more info you have on that would be great.

We are going to be working on quitting smoking the both of us, and our coffee intake has been cut back, as I don't want to start showing any problem either!

Thank you for more possibilities to talk to the doctor about! This is greatly appreciated!