Right side, lower abdominal pain, groin pain

[vnenov]

’m a 35 y/o male, 178cm and 155 lbs. I’ve been experiencing right sided abdominal pain for about 6 months now. The pain is under my right ribs. The pain radiates to my right side back as well. I’ve practiced weight lifting, swimming and karate for years. I'm completely unsure what caused it. It started as very minor pain, more like pressure. I’m fairly athletic and exercise 3-4 days per week, or used to… I haven’t been able to since I’ve had this side pain. The odd thing about the pain is that over few weeks it has gotten a lot worse, rather than getting better and since then stayed almost at the same pain level. This pain has stayed with me every single day for the last 7 months. It gets worse when I sit down. It’s not a sharp stabbing pain, it’s more of a severe ache. It feels like a warm/burning/almost tingly sensation on my right side. The pain goes over to the right side of my back, above my hip bone just below my ribs. It’s like my whole right torso is affected! Sometimes I feel the pain in my right testicle, which feels swollen and painful at the bottom of the right sac. I have a hard time sitting at my desk for work. Also, driving long distances is very uncomfortable and painful now. It feels like someone is poking me right below my right ribcage and I feel a lot of pressure and a pulling sensation on the right side of my back at times. My right oblique muscles are felt very tight on examination. When sneezing I feel a strong tingling in my right side. Sleeping on my right side doesn’t bother it at all, and when I wake up in the morning, the pain is pretty much gone! But of course within the first 10-15 minutes I start walking around a little bit and sitting down to eat my breakfast, it starts. It progresses throughout the day. (I have a desk job, and of course sitting makes it worse….) I can no longer exercise, all I can do is walk, and even that aggravates it sometimes. Food doesn’t seem to make any difference. What I eat doesn’t bother it. Nobody can figure out what I have. I’ve had many different types of blood tests, I’ve had a CT scan of my right side abdomen, a colonoscopy, an ultrasound of my right side, MRIs on my abdomen and thoracic spine and everything has shown up normal. I’ve been checked for kidney stones, gall stones, kidney problems, liver problems, gallbladder problems, hernia but so far, everything is normal! I did go to physical therapy for a couple of weeks, but it did not help, it only caused me more pain. Same thing with a chiropractor. I have also tried acupuncture and injury massage therapy with no luck. I think it is an abdominal muscle tear - sports hernia (athletic pubalgia), inguinal hernia or something urological (epididymitis, varicocele, prostatis, etc). It looks like some of the nerves are affected, because of the tingling sensation, but the spinal MRI did not reveal anything. Do you have any idea what this can be and how can be treated? What other diagnostic tests should I have?

Please, help if you can.

Vlad

[Dr Vinod]

The best thing about you is there is nothing in your scans and MRI, so you have not damaged anything.
Ergonimics at work is very important, please select the best chair for you and also keep moving and walking after you sit for some hours.
Massage and other things are a good idea but always go to a professional and take care of your back, do regular exercise and strengthen your back muscles which support your spine.
Take care

[bkecskemeti]

Ergonomics at work is indeed important, but unlikely to make a difference in such a case. Moving and walking around is good general advice, but again, not sure if it helps in such a chronic case. For me, nothing really helps except lying down and having a rest. And of course, after getting up it starts again.

[dallascowboy319]

I just read your complaint about right-sided abdominal pain under the ribs with accompanying testicular pain on the same side. You described my symptoms perfectly. It only bothers me while sitting for some length of time or perhaps while bending over to pick up an object from the floor (which results in a compression of my abdominal area).  This condition started in January of 2009 and continues to this day.

I am a very active 59 year old male in otherwise good health, however I was diagnosed with a common liver cyst after an abdominal ultrasound two years ago. Most liver cysts are asymptomatic and are usually discovered incidentally while looking for causes to other conditions.

I have been to my internist (abdominal ultrasound), to a gastroenterologist (CATscan, and colonoscopy) and to a urologist. All test results are normal and they have no idea what is causing my pain.

A close friend who had hip replacement surgery claims that her symptoms were similar to mine prior to her diagnosis of her hip joint  deterioration and that she has not experienced the problems since she had hip surgery. I am going to an orthopedist next to see what they can find, but I am frustrated by the continuing pain and lack of a clear diagnosis.

Please let me know if you find an answer to your symptoms and I will do the same.

dallascowboy319

[daveofderby]

I’m male, 38 and have very similar same symptoms and it's been going on for 7 months.  The doctors don't seem to know and I found it hard to find a reason as test were normal and I couldn't link it to what I was eating or doing.

I have now finally worked out that the pain gets bad when sitting too long in the same position (e.g. at a computer or driving) but it didn't always happen until I finish my journey (ie. move from sitting position) which is why I couldn't link it.

It reduced greatly over the summer and came back in Sept. I didn't drive much over the summer and wasn't at work.

I have found that if I stretch my torso by leaning back my abdomen muscles are pulled and it is painful, but after a few stretches much less overall pain for the rest of the day.
I am trying now to research the reason for this. It’s as if compressing my muscles for too long a period is perhaps building up something in the muscle to cause pain? A chemical imbalance of some sort?

[chris410]

im 22 y/o male who has the same exact syptoms. (right abdomen and right testiclular pressure. Its not pain, they just feel sensitive. I haven't had this problem until I started working a desk job in June, so I think theres a general consesus that staying in one place for too long causes this. I will start exercising and keep you posted.

[brian13]

39 y.o.male with similar symptoms. CT scans negative, although there is a stable 1.5cm liver hemangioma. No testicular pain, but some other tear-like symptoms in the right abdomen (I'm an active overage soccer player).

In addition to the right pain below rib cage, pain also bounces about hitting on kidneys, below sternum, and also higher on the rib cage. 90% of the discomfort is centered below right rib cage, though.

Recently I've developed belching/burping that might be related and point towards a GI cause. Any thoughts anyone?

[DeanWest]

I just came across your posts and am so happy I have.
I'm 39 year old male, that has had the EXACT symptoms for almost 7 months now. I have had test after test after test and still nothing has come up. I will be going for a colonoscopy in the New Year and am very nervous about it. It is one of the only tests left, and get very stressed at the prospect of colon cancer.
I will take all of your information with me to see my Doctor and hopefully the colonoscopy results will be as negative as the rest of the tests.
Once again, I thank you for your posts. It truly has helped.

Dean