Severe pain LRQ help please!!

[Dr_Husband]

Hello everyone! The following has become a very severe issue for my wife and i over the past 3 monthes and i hope that maybe someone here can approach this from a new angle because we keep coming up short on a firm conclusion. My wife is 27 years old with a diagnosed history of both endometriosis and ovarian cysts for which we have tried all hormonal treatments as well as 3 laporoscopies and a sucessful pregnancy. As a result of the endo and cysts she has always experienced severe pain during menstration which did lessen significantly after our daughter was born, this pain is typically very specific in her lower right quadrant and is usually best described as a stabbing pain. Roughly 3 months ago the pain returned only this seemed even more painful and ended with a trip to the ER where they found nothing. This prompted us to undergo a 4th laporoscopy which we expected to show endo growth but yielded nothing, the old scars were visible but no new growth was found except for a minimal amount on the bladder and a possible small spot of adenmyosis. We then went to a urologist for the bladder and did an x-ray which cleared us urologically. After a lengthy discussion with her obgyn in which i explained i did not feel this pain was a symptom of a gynecological issue we ordered a CT scan upper and lower which again yielded no answers with a conclusion of "everything looks good". With the pain only causing more disruption, as she can barely work and has had to withdraw from school, we opted for a surgical consult. Upon reviewing her symptoms and family history (cancers) we did the colonoscopy with the surgeon suspecting colon cancer, today this was done and showed a perfectly healthy colon with no signs of anything. Her symptoms include a pain in the lrq that steadily rates a 5 on the pain scale that can suddenly rise to a 10 which brings her to her knees instantly, this has also been accompanied by some constipation with anal bleeding (due to the constipation) and an occassional radiation of the pain into her hip (my wife birthed our daughter without the use of drugs and has said this stabbing pain can be worse than the pain of her contractions). I have been monitoring her symptoms for quite sometime and it does not seem to be related to the food or the times she eats the food. This pain comes on at any time including non-menstrual times and has only become more frequent recently. I can no longer accept that my wife has to remain in this screwed up state of constant pain as she can no longer attempt to function in an even remotely normal state. i would greatly appreciate any help or opinions and by those who have gone through anything similiar..   I have an ever-nagging feeling that this is some sort of chronic appendicitis which i know is a hotly debated topic, none of her doctors seem interested in this because the laporoscopy pics looked clean and the ct scan showed no inflammation but i have heard of women have the appendix removed although it seems fine and later in pathology they find severe internal infections. By the way i'm sorry i drug on so long just trying to translate all the info... thanks again in advance for any ideas   Sincerely Dr_Husband aka Shane

[Dr_Husband]

Well, tommorrow is monday and we have been referred to the cleveland clinic after all. i'll post what eventually comes of all this chaos as soon as we have definitive answers. I think they're going to perform yet another laporoscopy, much to my wife's dismay (she says she'll have  no belly button left lol) however i'm  going to try to convince the surgeon to remove her appendix should they not find anything else during the procedure.. Best of luck to all of you and your help and kind words are more valuable and appreciated than you know... thanks again, Dr_Husband

[sevenpetals26]

Love the name!!!  She is not the only one and alot of woman state that it goes away with pregnancy.  I do also know that birth control helps, but only the right one for the right person.  For my sister it was the depo...despite the weight gain the pain subsided.  I feel her pain and its not comfortable.  If you want kids then try birth control.  You can also ask her doc about putting her through menopause to relieve the pain if childrens a must...  it is reversable.  But at this point anything is worth a shot.  If not its best to opt for a histarectomy!!!

[Kisja]

I have a similar experience to relate to you and maybe it might be something to talk to your doctor about. I am a rare case in this disease though. I have been having similar problems with my menstrual cycle  and been told that its endemitriosis several times which it has been proven through laporoscomy that it is not I get cysts on my ovaries as well as severe pain in my uterus during menstrual cycles and ovulation. I recently went to see a doctor who diagnosed me as having adenomyosis and to my relief after 13 years of this pain he was right. It has all the symptoms on endemetriosis and can even be accompanied by endemetriosis. It can not be seen on ultrasounds or scans. The only treatment is the remouval of the uterus. Perhaps she has the same thing, it would be worth looking into at least.

[AnnieBrooke]

If she wants to have her appendix out and test the theory, it should not be too hard to arrange.  I think a non-inflamed appendix can even probably be removed laparoscopically.  It's not something she would miss, and it might help.  Talk to her general doc about this.  It might even be worthwhile to pay out of pocket to do it if her insurance won't cover it.  I had a chronic appendix problem and only when it finally got so bad that it ruptured and abscessed did they take any notice.  It would have been nice to get it taken care of before that.