unsureness of burning and aching.

[toworried]

I had this wierd pain and burning sensation in my lower abdomen and went through to my lower back and ended up burning and aching more in my lower back....i have a high tolerence for pain but when this started it was very noticeable and made me think something bad was happening to me at that moment.  It went away after a minute or two so i just disregarded it....It happened again today so I started worrying about it.  It is an aweful burn ache type feeling and it makes me feel a bit nauseous. i really have no idea what it could be....I wonder if it is my kidneys or my stomach or my back, but it's a feeling i've never had before and is really painful....more burning than ache I think...I can't really explain it.   It's only happened twice in three days..could you help me to figure out where it might be coming from and what could be causing it...I really don't want to go to the doctor for just these pains and burns.

Thanks

[toworried]

I just heard something about redbull that might be the source of my problem....when the pain happens it is most definantly more painful in my back..I didn't mention before because I thought it had nothing to do with this but now it might....  my lower back has been so achy in the past couple of weeks....i just sourced the pain to my chair at work but it's been a little more painful than achy in the past few weeks....someone told me about redbull today, and it very well could be my problem.  I started drinking redbull 2 to 3 times a day about three weeks ago.  someone told me that there is something in there called taurine that is very bad for your kidneys.  I have drink redbull 5 times a week 3 times a day....could it be causing something to be slowly happening to my kidneys?  The guy that told me this is a big health freak and said that everytime you drink one can of redbull it ups your chances tremendously of kidney failure...

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Difficult to say without evaluation.

Lower abdominal pain can be due to irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, diverticulitis, or non-GI causes like a herniated disk or a genitourinary cause.

I would start with imaging, possibly with a CT scan.  If the colon is suspected, a colonoscopy can be performed.

To evaluate for non-GI causes, I would consider a urinalysis as well as an ultrasound of the kidneys.

These options can be discussed with your personal physician.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin, M.D.
www.kevinmd.com