Lower right quadrant discomfort

[Wayne]

I am a 55-year-old male, 5' 11" and 200 lb. Symptoms started about 5 years ago. The main symptoms are burning and a dull ache in the lower right quadrant of my abdomen. The tests done include a CT scan, upper GI, Brarium enema - all negative. Blood tests are normal. The symptoms are becoming worse and now include some nausea. Sitting and lying down increase the discomfort, while standing decreases them. Food seems to worsen the symptoms, but no particular food makes them worse than anoter. At night, lying on the left side relieves the symptoms as does massage. There is no blood in stools. What could the be? Could appendicitis cause these symptoms for such a long time? Cound it be a hernia? What about cancer?

[ismaelgarza]

A related discussion, the answers are is here was started.

[ismaelgarza]

A related discussion, there is help was started.

[LVRUMPOINT]

A related discussion, pain in right ribs that radiates down and into back was started.

[Michelle]

I am inclined to ask if this pain in the lower right quadrant is primarily more towards the front or the rear. I have the exact same symptoms and I am presently undiagnosed. However my pain and discomfort is more towards the back near my kidneys.

[Kath]

I have Hepatitis C and I have your symptoms also

[tammie318]

A related discussion, sore back in the morning and more was started.

[Harry M]

Hi everyone....

25 yo healthy male with all these symptoms for the last few months and all the same tests and treatments.  My heart goes out to all of you for dealing with these pains...I know how miserable they can make us especially when we've been "perfectly" healthy for most of our lives with little family history of disease.

My symptoms include:
pain in the right side around the ribs occassionally radiating to the stomach and back, extreme nausea with lots of stomach rumbling and movement, elevated and variable liver enzyme levels, diarrhea and occassional blood in the stool, gas, bloated and full feelings after eating, low grade fever at times, sweating and chills, dizziness, and fatigue

Some tests I've already had:
EGD, US, CT scan, ERCP and I've been on antibiotics, antacids, & antidepressants but nothing has worked so far.

For now, the doc is stuck on gallstones, and a HIDA scan to test gallbladder function followed by removal will probably be the next step for me.  I've heard a lot of horror stories about this not working and causing more problems, does anyone have any success stories they can tell me about cholecystectomy?

I'm also particulary interested in some comments about this being a potentially neurological problem.  Has anyone ever heard of or felt like they may have what's called "RLS," or restless leg syndrome?  It's a little understood neurological disorder that tends to keep you up and night and gives an uncomfortable restless feeling particularly in your legs.  Makes you feel like you need to move or kick something and can sometimes cause symptoms similar to the shaking associated with parkinsons.  I never knew what it was but have always had it and noticed some increased recurrence throughout these abdominal pains I've been having.....just a thought.

Good luck to all and please update your stories if anything improves or is understood...

[Brightonjo]

Hello everyone...

I too feel soooooo much better, knowing that I'm not alone with this and it's only been 8 weeks for me and my heart goes out to all of you who have been suffering a long time.  I have a suspected possible distal right ureterovesical junction calculus (kidney stone) however it's questionable and I am waiting more information from other tests ect., I believe it started with a flue infection, I know exactly when, which left me with a bladder infection which in turn left me with a lower right quadrant discomfort which appears to be getting worse with frequent bouts of stabbing, shooting poisenous pain reaching from my pelvis right up to my liver. My doctor thinks its the passing of the stones. I too had a CAT scan and it was noted I had a possible hemangioma of the liver 1cm in diameter along with a ovarian cyst and fibroids.  At this time I know I am free of infection in the utinary tract as I am taking currently cipro antibiotic. What I'd like to ascertain from people suffering similarly with lower right quadrant discomfort, have it left them with a strong odour from their underarm persperation which normally would suggest infection going on.  I read above somebody was taking a very strong antibiotic with success and relief from their symptons even though they didn't have any infection, so I will definitly enquire with my heathcare provider about this medicine. I believe it was nevaquin?? (see above) Good luck to you all in your strive to find cures and relief to your symptons.  As a footnote to this, when I see a doctor now, I always follow up the consultation with a letter/fax (hopefully email one day) just outlining the saliant points, it gives me focus, clarification and helps me to get my thoughts down on paper, hoping it points the doctor to look at my case more diligently and sympathetically, keeping him/her on tract of my case. I would definitly recommend this approach. Knowing that I am not alone now will help me to come to terms with this condition and just get on with my life the best I can.  Email me if you have any extra information or you think I could be of any help to you at ***@****.  Good luck!!  PS  Does anybody know how you set up these post-a-comment forms on the internet.  They're great!!  Again, Please email me...

[chrissy19]

I also have lower abdominal pain and it goes around to my back and down my right leg it comes and goes severe and sometimes just an annoying nagging dull ache.  I also have headaches sometimes and I also have abnormal paps yet the last one came back normal I don't know what's wrong with me I am on effexor for anxiety and I have gas pains and diffrent bowel problems and it is driving me crazy I wish his would just go away. And how come the doctors can't find out what my problem is?

[chrissy19]

I also have lower abdominal pain and it goes around to my back and down my right leg it comes and goes severe and sometimes just an annoying nagging dull ache.  I also have headaches sometimes and I also have abnormal paps yet the last one came back normal I don't know what's wrong with me I am on effexor for anxiety and I have gas pains and diffrent bowel problems and it is driving me crazy I wish his would just go away. And how come the doctors can't find out what my problem is?

[chrissy19]

I also have lower abdominal pain and it goes around to my back and down my right leg it comes and goes severe and sometimes just an annoying nagging dull ache.  I also have headaches sometimes and I also have abnormal paps yet the last one came back normal I don't know what's wrong with me I am on effexor for anxiety and I have gas pains and diffrent bowel problems and it is driving me crazy I wish his would just go away. And how come the doctors can't find out what my problem is?

[Shelly J]

you mentioned when you excluded wheat in your diet you felt better  from someone who has suffered many yrs with stomach problems and get a different answer from every dr i see i started  gathering info on my own  There is a stomach ailment known as Celiac disease and it has to do with glutton found in wheat products some people cant digest it properly and it damages the intestines (casing pain and bowel problems ) I am not a doctor and cant answer you questions exactly but if i were you i'd look into the celiac disease Based on your own statements about the wheat, it couldnt hurt looking into

[ShadowLin]

I am having an annoying pain or ache on my lower right side from under ribs down  accross from belly button. The ache feels like a heaviness that wakes me up at night. I am constantly aware of it all of the time. I have a hard time turning over and have awakened sweating and uncomfortable. My left side feels heavy and knotted up at night. The pain is tolerable but nagging. I had my gall bladder removed 2 1/2 years ago.  I had some tests last week. Anyone having this same sensation constantly?.. One other thing... after some tests I burp all evening...but I can eat what I want and feel no nausea.
THanks Linda

[Kelly B]

This is truly disconcerting that there are so many of you who are undiagnosed and recieving no relief!  My husband has had these same symptoms as well as diarhhea and vomiting and has been through all of the tests, CT, sonogram, Hep, Liver panel, Colonoscopy and he even had his gall bladder removed!!  My friend told me about a person she knew who had Celiac Sprue.  I had never heard of it but it also produces these symptoms.  It is basically a gluten intolerance that causes your small intestine to shut down and not be able to absorb any nutrients.  It causes malnutrition, severe vitamin deficiencies, osteoperosis and can cause damage to your gastro intestinal tract.  Some of the symptoms include abdominal pain, diarhhea, vomiting, floating stools (due to the inability to absorb fat), weight loss (or gain) bloating or abdominal distension and joint pain.  It is often misdiagnosed as Crohn's, IBS or not diagnosed at all!
Ask your GI doctor to do a celiac test.  Be aware that many of the blood tests for this come back negative so you really need a biopsy of the small intestine. Check it out on www.celiac.com.  If you are diagnosed with this, you will need to avoid eating gluten and it could take 2-6 months on this diet to get relief.  I hope all of you get relief sometime soon!

[normie]

I have been reading, with great interest, all the comments by the sufferers of quadrant pain, IBS, etc., I had my gallbladder removed 1 year ago, and since that time, have been suffering with chronic diarrhea, as well as, abdominal pain across the top of my abdomen under the rib cages. I am also experiencing a great amount of stomach "rumbling", accompanied by pain which is not very severe, but annoying and uncomfortable. I sometimes vomit bile. I have contractions under the right rib cage before each "rumble" and all the doctors' I have consulted say it is not unusual to have chronic diarrhea after gallbladder surgery. That, of course, is no comfort to me. I have had many tests taken and was told that it is nothing serious, but to me, serious or not, I would rather not have the discomfort. I have read numerous comments from you people, but wonder why none of you have mentioned the 'rumbling' in your stomach...just curious. Am I the only person that has this?? If any of you readers of this site, can relate, please do so, so I can feel as if I am not alone.  Oh, by the way, I am 70 years old and this all started after the gallbladder surgery. Prior to that, I was in excellent health.  Thanks for listening..

[jje]

This is truely amazing. My story is more lengthy, but as seeing this board has at least let me know I am not the only one. 13 years ago I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. As time and many surgeries went by I am here. I had Nissen Fundoplication performed 1996 (wrap of the stomach around the esophagus) to eliminate constant refulx. 3 months later, my gallbladder decided to stop functioning. Removed. I continued to have problems, discovered that I have a slow emptying stomach, okay, I can avoid problems by avoiding certain foods. Approximately 2 years ago, started having pain in my right side. It started as a sharp pain which occaisionally came like a severe gripping and would go away. It was not frequent so I figured just another problem. It became more frequent so I went in a year ago. Had every test known to man performed, found nothing. Since I peripherial joint involvement as well as other things, it was norrowed to 3 choices. SLE (Lupus) RA or Crohns, I can live with that, however the reason for the three is that I fit some areas of each but all of none. My pain again kept cramping more and more frequent. Went in, again every test, now the result, surgery to see if it is scar tissue or hernia. Do I feel releived? No. and why? probably because I know that whatever is found, will be fixed and 6 months later I am back to square 1, fixing the result of what I have not the cause........................as I told the Dr. out of frustration either tell me what it is or name it after me.

I appreciate the time to let me vent, I will update the outcome and good luck to all.

[phil]

wow an eye opening experience drs. seem to not believe me when I tell them about the pain I have in the same areas,Have had all test due to the fact i do have hep c.,but dr. tells me you should not get pain from a liver.He just recently told me I also have ibs,and granuloma in my liver,Which I do not understand,And he does not know much about it, this is why I found this site today.
     I have fluid in my abdomen.bloating in my stomach,pain just below my right back rib cage,problems sleeping,pain gets worse when I sit,get pains in both feet on the bottom outside makes it hard to walk,constantly hungary,abdomen and stomach fill up and reside quite often,I am a recovering alcoholic and trying to find some answers, I do know that this is not in my head like some doctors seem to make me feeland will continue to find a reason why theses problems exist,and will let everyone know about any information I find.
    God bless you all and hope we can find a solution to this situation together.

[SBI]

For the past 4 years I have had similar symptoms of you all. What follows is only the result of much reading that I did, like most of you.
Pain in the right lower quadrant (RLQ) is also one of the symptoms of IBS (irritated bowel sindrome), specially when all your exams show up nothing wrong. The RLQ is where the cecum (usualy) is, wich in some cases also gets severely affected by the IBS. VERY RECENTLY (december 2000) a medical research article has pointed out for the first time the conection betwen IBS and bacterial infestation of the small intestine in near 80% of the IBS cases. The discovery was made using a lactulose breath test. Then, a treatment with several antibiotcs is discussed in that article. Those who, after the antibiotic, managed to erradicated the bacteria had their symptoms eliminated or reduced, and those who failed to eliminated the infestation of bacteria of the small intestine did not have their condition improved, says the article. The problem seems to be in the difficulty to diagnose such a bacteria infestation in the small intestine since it is not easy to reach the small intestine directly. The lactulose breath test itself is not very precise (16-60% precision). But, above all, the present difficulty that some of the bacterial infestation in the intestine brings is the huge amount of bacteria species that makes the intestinal flora: about 500 different species of bacteria. Some of them (like some of the 7 species of Clostridium) can not live in the presence of oxygen and therefore never show up in cultures (that can expose Salmonela for instance). Some of these bacteria may be unknown or even be a perfectly normal bacteria that may have been modified by incorrect use of antibiotics, long ago, and became agressive. The flora of a person is unique and very dynamical. It gets modified by particular feeding habits and even by stress. It seems to me that for all of us to be free from these symptoms in the short term, medical science will have to invest much more resources (financial and mental) in understanding them. The article below seems to be an excellent beginning (I did a combined treatment with 2 of the 4 antibiotics mentioned and my symptoms have reduced). The site for the article mentioned above is (American Journal of Gastroenterology - issue of December 2000):

www-east.elsevier.com/ajg/frames/thismnth.htm

The title of the article is:
"Eradication of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth Reduces Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome"

I sincerely hope that together, sharing also the good news, one shall be able to get out of this mess. All of us.

[Ann]

You should all check out information on Costochondritis.  Tenderness under the ribs can be caused by an inflammation of the cartilege around the ribs and this discomfort can cause pain and soreness all around.  Don't be taken in by the information that tells you it usually goes away in about 6 weeks - I have been in touch with people who have had it for years, off and on.  It's not life-threatening, and I can usually deal with it by taking Advil (3-3 times a day with meals) and using an ice pack.  It's definitely affected by stress but not related in any way to food as far as I can tell.  May be caused by a virus or an injury some time ago.  Mine is worst when I sit at my computer at work and I feel like my ribs are rubbing on my waist band - had my liver etc checked out and everything is fine - it's just really sore and tender.  If you press the area near your ribs and it feels tender and sore, talk to your doctor and check out information on the web. Good luck!

[Brian on January 30, 2001]

I can appreciate all that I read. I have had ongoing problems of pain in my rt. lower quadrant accompanied by narrow of my stool. This started in Sept. 2000. I went to see a specialist and he ran the normal tests; urine, blood,plain abdominal xray, ultrasound, and ct scan. The only item they could find was the gallbladder. I had a stone of 1.25" in size. Now that I have recooped, I thought I would be cured. Now, 3 weeks later I have the same pain. I am going back to see my specialist again. I am starting to feel like many of you. I hope they can figure out what is going on this time. By the way. I had my appendix out 20 years ago, so I know that's not the problem. I will stay in touch.

[Cindy]

I feel somewhat better knowing that I am NOT alone!  I have had pain in the right side for over a year. (40 years old) I was diagnosed with mono last spring and thought my pain was due to that.  I've had severe fatigue, intermittent fevers, and just chronic pain on the right side.  I had a CT scan, upper and lower GI, and colonoscopy which all came out negative.  I'm thrilled that its not cancer or something horrible, but I am so sick of the doctors telling me there is nothing wrong!  I have pain in the right side every day! It goes from my lower ribs and it aches terribly.  I also feel a throbbing pain deep inside my right lower abdomen just below the aching rib cage. I also had abnormal urine tests with protein in the urine. The doctor said it was not a kidney inf. I had a kidney cat scan because they thought it was a kidney problem but that came out normal.I lost weight and had no energy .The kidney problem and severe fatigue and fevers finally went away after  I was prescribed LEVAQUIN. It is an amazing antibiotic.  The pain cannot be from excersizing because I had to give that up when I got so ill.  I just wonder if it is my liver.  The liver looked ok in the CT scan and the liver function test (enzymes) were ok but the bilirubin was elevated.  I wonder if it is a liver or gallblader problem.  I drink red wine with dinner but I am thin and eat mainly fruits, vegetables and whole grains! What is wrong?

[Teresa]

My 21 year old daughter just spent 4 months in a reputable teaching hospital for LRQ pain. Had 1 1/2 feet of small bowel removed because of adhesions from previous surgery. Had 1 foot removed 2 yrs ago. Has chronic pain and is not able to even tolerate eating. Has deep line catheter for IV nutrition. Docs have taken all pain meds away and have started her on Librax. Slows motility. Seems to help somewhat, has her functioning better. We have no clear answers.(no name) but, a direction! She has dealt with this pain since she is 8. They first thought Crohn's disease. Now they say no. They say it is just a dismotility disorder. She has had gallbladder and appendix removed. We are'nt concerned with answers anymore we just need the support of the medical community. They are great when she is in the hospital. But, out of site out of mind. I am grateful to have found this thread. I will check back and I will keep all of you in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for sharing you're stories with us. It's reassuring to know their are others who have similar problems. Kristy's Mom

[joel]

Vague, periodic, "burning" pain in lower right abdomen.  Accompanied by occasional irregularity in my bowel movements, bloating, occasional fatigue, weight loss, general malaise for past few months.  Totally worried about my liver, but my PCP said blood tests, X-ray, physical exam looked good...so I am stuck in lala-land.  I evidently have Gilbert's Syndrome so it is hard to get a good liver reading.  I even told him that I thought it was my liver, but he dismissed it and said come back in 6-8 weeks if it gets worse.  We all seem to be in the same undiagnosable situation.  Good luck...let you all know if situation resolves or changes.

[florence]

Wow, I thought I was alone.Went through all the tests,all negative, and 15 doctors.Went to a naturopathic doctor who used Electro Dermal Screening or electro acupuncture machine and found I had mercury toxicity in my body.A biological dentist also using his own machine tested each tooth and many of them registered 200 plus millevolts which is way above the average.Mercury came from 8 amalgam fillings(55% mercury plus other metals like nickle),10 crowns and one root canal.Besides the pain in the LRQ region, my GI tract is stressed from the mercury,terrible constipation--small pebble like very hard,dry.I'm having the amalgam fillings removed.Next Monday I will have the root canal tooth extracted.Read Dr George Meinig,retired dentist, book ROOT CANAL COVERUP EXPOSED.There's so much bacteria emitted from the root canal flowing into the blood stream into tissues and organs.Any way I'll find out if this mercury toxicity has caused the excruciating cutting pains for 2 years.