I am a 23 year old woman, and have had problems with my digestive and urinary systems for years. I was diagnosed with IBS in 2007, given Bentyl and Levsin and told to just deal with it. I never liked this diagnosis because I am extremely healthy, in a great happy marriage, have no anxiety symptoms, deal with stress well, and lead a very balanced life.
At first, my symptoms were manageable, but I definitely had some hard times- diarrhea out of no where, constipation, nausea, etc. It was all very sporadic and hard to predict and find a pattern. One thing I was able to connect was that while on my period my abdomen was very painful, crampy, diarrhea, gas, bloating, general malaise. Also, I have had urinary symptoms that began around the same time in my life. I will feel like I have a UTI, burning during urination, extreme pain upon emptying the bladder, etc. but the lab rarely reveals any bacteria in my urine. However, there is almost always blood present, so I was referred to a urologist and she diagnosed me with interstitial cystitis and put me on a drug called Prosed DS.
My digestive symptoms persist, painful urination varying in severity and also pain during intercourse. The pain during intercourse and severity of both bladder and bowel symptoms lead me to think that something gynecological was to blame for all this. So I started extended cycling (taking birth control constantly) to see if this would help and it really did. I had painful periods before and this was good relief. However, in the last six months I had my gallbladder out and it was found as very necrotic. After this surgery I felt worse, constant terrible diarrhea and crampy pain. That has kind of subsided and now I am noticing that I have diarrhea often in the mornings and have a great deal of pain afterwords. Even when my stool is not diarrhea-like, I still suffer after a bowel movement, which is a new symptom in the last 4-5 months. The pain is odd. Sometimes it is lower, like in the rectum area, and sometimes deeper inside on the lower left side of my abdomen (colon area). It is stabbing and sharp pain, but can also be a dull crampy pain. It lasts for a few hours. I also sometimes feel faint and flushed during this painful time. My gastroenterologist diagnosed me with Crohns, then decided it wasn't that after a second endoscopy. So now he doesn't know what is wrong and I think he is ignoring that my menstruation is very much a predictor of the severity of my symptoms and he pays no mind to the urological symptoms. Endometriosis has occurred in my family before, and I wonder if this might be endometriosis, or something else? I should also mention that I am a vegetarian and I eat a very healthy high fiber lots of fruits and veggies diet. I really need help, my doctor just doesn't listen to my whole story, he just wants to correct the immediate problem. This is a long story, but I wanted to include everything that might be relevant. I need a "big picture" answer, any help or guidance would be great. Thanks so much!