Flank pain only during sleep/upon waking

[SJMCRAE]

Every morning I wake in excrutiating pain in the lower back (kidney area) that radiates to the front of stomach.  This pain is so severe that it wakes me up and makes it difficult to take a deep breath.  I feared it was kidney's and had a battery of tests done, along with MRI's that showed nothing.  Dr. thinks it could be muscle related.  The pain seems to arise after 5-6 hours of sleep.  At first it seemed that the pain was immediately relieved once I voided of a morning, now it seems that as soon as I stand I get relief, which makes me think maybe it could be nerve compression?  The pain wakes me from sleep and gives me anxiety in the evenings before bedtime due to the fact that I know I will wake in horrible pain.  This has been going on for the last 9 years after the birth of my daughter and has progressivley gotten worse.  The doctors are stumped as to what this can be and has referred me to a chiro and recommended a nerve block. If anyone has any ideas, please advise.  Thanks!

[Greyfort]

Wow, this topic is 7 years old, but I'm afraid that I now have to join the ranks.  It started 3 or 4 months ago and has been extremely frustrating.  I'm usually one who falls asleep very quickly, sleeps right through the night and wakes up about 7 hours later, having had a good night's sleep.  Now I'm afraid to go to bed and I'm not getting enough sleep.  That is really getting to me.

I have to steel myself for getting up in the morning.  I know it's going to hurt.  It leaves me almost in tears at the thought of having to move.  I just want to stay up all the time, because it doesn't bother me during the day-time.

I've had one doctor visit, where they did a urine and blood test.  I haven't had the results yet.  I've had kidney stones in the past, so I know that it feels like it's in that area.  But the pain feels like it's more at the surface.  By that, I mean that it seems to be above the ribs where the muscles and fibrous tissues are, rather than being deeper inside the abdomen.

I kept changing around my bed, which is only about a year old.  I added a latex pad, then a memory foam pad, and then a gel memory foam pad.  Then I started taking pads away, and then switching them around.  I realized that it's not the bed, so I might as well just use the configuration which is most comfortable for me.

I hate that I don't want to go to bed anymore, because sleep used to be so comforting.  It's not anymore.  My Dad has had surgeries for spinal stenosis and they have left him almost unable to walk, so I hope that never gets suggested for me.

I just don't get it.  It's only on my right side, but man, getting up in the mornings is an awful experience.  By the way, I'm 55 and I'm very overweight, but I've never had back troubles before.  But after reading these replies, it seems to happen to people of all weights and ages.  Why is it only on one side and why is it only when I'm sleeping?  It doesn't bother me once I've been up for a while, although if the doctor pokes in that area, it's really tender.

This is so frustrating.

[VeeGal]

Hello friends, I hope this helps.  I was on a mercury poisoning support group forum and there was a person that said he had that flank pain, he said it all went away when he had his dental amalgam/silver fillings removed and refilled with composite.  He had a test done to see if he had mercury or any other heavy metal poisoning.  Turned out he had high levels of mercury.  He also did chelation therapy after the fillings were removed which helped a lot with loads of other mercury poisoning symptoms.  So I'm not sure if this was the sole cause of his flank pain but it wouldn't hurt to get tested for heavy metal poisoning.  It's a very common problem due to amalgam fillings, the environment and eating tainted fish/meats.  
I too have this issue and am having all of my fillings removed in 2 months time, I will keep you posted on how my pain is after the fillings have been removed.

[pumpkinpie78]

I am a 35 year old male.  I am experiencing similar problems and I am surprise to see so many people with this issue and some who have had it for many years!  I have had it for about a month and a half now and I can't take it anymore.  Mine is in my left kidney area and it is worse upon waking or after a few hours of sleep.  Sometimes it is so bad it wakes me up in the middle of the night.  As the day progress, the pain goes away.  But it leaves me with an uneasy feeling throughout the day because I don't know what is wrong with me and sometimes I get anxiety and panic attacks when I start to worry too much. Prior to this almost a year ago, I woke up one morning and I felt like I was going to faint and die.  I went to the doctor and did some tests including blood tests and everything turned out normal.  But I was still feeling sick - fatigue, weakness, indigestion, anxiety/panic attacks.  A friend recommended a nutritionist.  I went to see a nutritionist and she told me to cut out the gluten, gmo, sugar and go organic.  I did that for the most part and got better.  I do cheat once in a while.  It seemed every time I introduced gluten into my diet, I would get worse and every time I cut it out, I would get better.  Without any clinical testing I came to the conclusion that I was gluten intolerant.  I am now completely gluten free.  All was fine until a month and a half ago, this pain in my kidney appeared.  What is going on??  Other symptoms I have - difficulty breathing sometimes (especially if I am having an anxiety or panic attack), sometimes the pain is very sharp but it would come and go within a second, I always feel thirsty, frequent urination, my stool don't look normal most of the time (according to Bristol Stool Chart).  

[ZaphodbB]

Wow,so amazed to find this forum.I am a 45 year old male and I have been suffering with the very symptoms mentioned above for over a year now. After 4-6 hours sleep I wake with severe pain in my lower left flank,this pain does not allow me to sit up .I roll out of bed and go and empty my bladder and the pain subsides,just standing eases the pain. After getting back into bed the pain tweaks every now and then and then dissipates.
I will read through the above scenarios and heed advice from those that know the discomfort and understand the frustration.

[Stankonyah]

What type of beds do you all have? I too have these symptoms and was wondering if it is related to my tempurpedic

[ffrr]

lol... okay, so I'm reading all these replies because I too have just started suffering with mid-lower back/side pain upon waking up each morning (and within five minutes of waking up and walking around the pain is gone 100%). For me it's only been five days... so using the logic I have learned from past experiences the answer given by jesselyon rings a bell with me.

A few years ago I suffered with an issue with an odd neck pain, which I sought medical advice for after putting up with it for three months with no change. Bottom line was I was stressed out and the pain was indeed a psychosomatic one, which is pain or feeling that is in your head (imaginary), but you feel it physically, and it often really hurts! I thought my doctor was being rude and crazy when he suggested I was 'stressed' somehow... but being a man of science and having a background in chemistry/biology I started reading up on my symptoms and related issues, and eventually ended up studying a little psychology for about three months in my own time. I honestly would not have said/thought I was stressed out, but I learned that stress comes in many forms and most of the time we do literally turn a blind eye to it and just carry on. That's when the problem starts, and the longer we leave it the worse it gets (5+ years in some peoples cases after reading here!!!), or in my case, now, the pain shifts from different areas around the body (often leaving me confused and with paranoid feelings of 'what's wrong with me now' lol)... I do have a stressful lifestyle, nothing bad, thankfully, but I really do have a lot on my plate if I really think about it...  whilst studying psychology my symptoms vanished completely within a matter of days once I started reading about coping strategies for psychosomatic symptoms. I changed a few lifestyle factors and added some extra curricular activities to my days and when ever I felt the neck pain I applied the rules I had set myself (coping strategies) and it genuinely eased the pain and then one day I thought to myself 'I have gone a whole day with no pain in my neck at all', and realised I had genuinely 'forgotten about the pain', which is often a stress form itself, constantly worrying about something in the back of you mind can eventually cause a psychosomatic response, which then often takes over without you having any control over it. By reprogramming your brain to forget or manage a particular stress factor you can often eliminate the pain process. (its a bit more technical than this but that is the gist of it, read up on CBT or cognitive behavior training).  After all pain is merely ones own perception of what to expect when we injure ourselves, which is why we all have different pain thresholds. Have you ever cut/bruised yourself and not seen it until later, and then you have felt pain?  

...as for this waking pain I can see it being a bit more of a challenge, as its something happening whilst I/we sleep, but the fact the issue dissolves withing a matter of minutes after standing up would indeed suggest it's not as serious as we may think. I would assume the theory of adding/removing factors from my lifestyle may be the solution.... but with stress, as I said, it may be something that is overlooked and can take time to figure out.

anyway this is a little more food for thought for anyone that may feel lost in looking for an answer... also, don't just carry on hoping that it might stop, you may genuinely have something serious underlying that may need real treatment... only consider what I have said after you seek professional advice!