I'm a 39 year old male. 157 lbs. No smoking, no drinking.
I was diagnosed with GERD five months ago. The diagnosis came through an upper endoscopy and a barium swallow. The doctor mentioned that I had a sliding small hiatal hernia, quite a bit of reflux plus gastritis and duodenitis. The esophagus appeared normal and the test for H. Pylori was negative. I was put on Nexium.
About a month after the GERD diagnosis I developed a pain on my left flank. The pain is maybe 3 inches above my bottom rib but it is difficult to pinpoint an exact location with one finger. It sometimes moves from flank to the left center under ribs. The pain is always there and is not affected by movement, breathing, eating, or bowel movements. It seems to be a bit worse when lying down and it invariably wakes me up at night. The pain has been present for four months and it hasn't gotten any better or worse. There are some days that are better than others. The pain feels like a dull pulling pain inside my ribs.
I've had a series of tests including scan of the chest, scan of the abdomen, scan of the pancreas, scan of the pelvis, ultrasound of the liver, pancreas and gallbladder, extensive blood work, urine work, d-dimer, pancreatic enzymes, bone scan, colonoscopy, and small bowel series. Findings included C. Dificil for which I was successfully treated three months ago. Bone scan found small activity on the 7th and 8th spinal vertebrae. (unrelated?). Everything else was ok.
Have taken metronidazole, chlordiazepoxide/clinidium, dicyclomine,ibuprofen, sucralfate, methylprednisolone, and donnatal.
My doctor now wants me to go for an MRI of the abdomen. At this point I need more ideas than tests. Any comments are welcome.