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

[bulko24]

i have the same pain right lower abdomen pain through my testicle..i am 23 but no test yet..i have diarrhea for 4 days then my stool got so hard after that i have pain in my hip..sometimes my right leg got numb.....if this is appendicitis i can't play basketball, run or walk...any idea??plz help me..i am afraid on surgery if neccessary..=(

[memyselfni_06]

WOW! I am completely blown away right now. I am so very shocked at the amount of people that share the same problem as I. I am a 34 year old female. I first noticed this pain around age 27. I was working for a Press company that required me to use my arms all day. Pulling them from over my head to about waist level in order to steam press pants. When I went to the doctor they tested me for gall bladder failure. To which the tests came back as normal. The pain seemed to diminish on its own. Then 3 years ago I became interested in working out. I began working out on the core ball. All was well. Seeing great results I then tried the bender ball. For those of you that don't know it's a very flexible ball about the size of a soccer ball. The very moment I began using it I noticed the famous pain in my side again. I immediately stopped working out, thinking maybe I had pulled a muscle. But it never went away. For the last 3 years the pain has been continuous...it rarely lets up. When I wake in the morning I feel the most relief. But it usually starts up again within 15 minutes or so of being awake.I have been to the ER several times. They always suggest gall bladder. The test has been done again two more times and is normal. I went to the ER in another state to which they suggested ulcerative colitis. However I have no insurance and could not afford the test. Upon another ER visit they referred me to another surgeon who refused to believe it was my liver, gall bladder or pancreas. He wouldn't even discuss doing the exploratory surgery on me *quoting it was expensive and I had no insurance. He said I had torn rib cartilage....costochondritis. I got a second opinion from his colleague and he agreed with his friend! I was laid off my job because they said I could not lift anything heavy for 2-3 months. Well, it has been 7 months now and I'm still in pain!!! I found a doctor a month ago that donates his time *for free*. He spent an hour with me...and I didn't have to pay him a dime...funny. The other doctors charge hundreds of dollars and your lucky to see them 10 minutes...they rush you out. He suggested a pancreas problem. But because I have no insurance and am on unemployment so I can't afford the tests. There are many similarities between my case and all of yours. I have always been a binge drinker on the weekends. I quit drinking about a year ago. Still no relief. I love coffee and drink a lot of it daily, I love spicy food and I could have possibly injured myself...so which one could it be...or all of the above. I have twitching in my side along with the pain and sometimes feel like I'm being stabbed. I am belching way more than normal. This pain mainly resides on my right side at my ribs...the pain can radiate around to my back and toward my belly button. All I know is I am terrified and very depressed. I pray to God every night that he will let me wake with the morning sun....I'm so scared.

[Mr_PC]

Just curious if anyone with these symptoms has a shortened iliopsoas on the affect side.  It is very simple to identify.  I have provided a youtube link below for the test.  Or you can simply google "Thomas Test."  Let me know if the hip is excessively flexed.  Feel better.

Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PLXyShrNDc

[bkecskemeti]

Thanks for the link. In my case, no sign at all of shortened iliopsoas. Interestingly, one of the doctors I visited insisted on a diagnosis of shortened iliopsoas (despite I told I do not feel any stretch in the Thomas test) and prescribed manual theraphy and "iliopsoas release", which was extremely painful, and did not help at all :(

[Pejj]

Any updates on the situation?? I am going to request a urine test and abdominal ultra sound for similar pains in right groin area, pubic area, lower and upper abs and sides.
Weird strange pains, nothing too harsh but still worrisome.  Also I notice a slight burning sensation after peeing and maybe after ejaculation sometimes so I thought maybe it's related.  There is one spot on my lower right abdomen area which is tender when I press it a little.
I feel your pain, both of you and it's important to me to know what the source of the problem is.
Anything new with you guys?

[prosncons72]

Mostly for the men:
Sports hernias can cause the lower ab, groin pulling or spasms. They are hard to diagnose as there is usually no buldge unless the membrane tear enlarges enough for the intestine to come through.
For everyone else, microtear in the ab muscle...it is frustrating.

[rockwilda]

I am 24 year old male and started having groin/testicle pain on a daily basis last February. First I went to my Doctor for the STD check and UTI test...both clean. The doctor also performed a physical exam in which he felt a tenderness in my Epididymis. He prescribed 30 days of antibiotics which pretty much did nothing. The pain did seem to slow down but I am still not sure if it was just me ignoring it since my tests came back clean. Over the summer the pain got worse and it began to slowly rise toward my abdomen. Now as i said before I'm 24 and until recently I lived on my own and did not cook. So the past few years I have lived on alcohol, fast food, spicy food, cigarettes and coffee (large amounts) on a daily basis.  This is why I did not go to the Doc and complain about stomach pain. The fact that I have no health insurance is another reason I did not go back. Since the fall the pain has gotten extremely worse. The pain starts when I wake up with a throbbing in my testicles, upper/inner things, and groin. It also feels like theres something trying to rip its way out of my lower abdomen. As the day goes on the pain seems to travel higher, up into my rib cage, all around my torso and my lower back into my tailbone. By the evening it feels like Andre the Giant has had me in a bear hug for most of the day. I also move my bowels 3-4 times a day, sometimes 3 of the 4 are before noon. (thats without all the junk food beer and coffee too)  Sometimes randomly during the day I get a stinging pain in my urethra (feels like the cotton swab during the STD check) that is without urination or ejaculation. I went back to the Doc...more Epididymis antibiotics....no results and more pain. I switched doctors in October and my new one performed another physical exam to check for hernias or any type of lumps, a urine test and a blood test of my intestinal area...clean again. I just had an abdominal/pelvic CT getting the results tomorrow. It seems that the past month the pain stays on one side of my body at a time. Some days its from my left testicle straight up the whole left side of my body almost to my nipple. Other days its the same on my right side from top to bottom. I drive a truck most of the day and that increases the pain in my groin and testicles...also coming home and sitting on the couch the rest of the night makes it worse. I do exercise a few days a week although that does not bother my groin, it increases the pain in my torso. I know self diagnosis is not good but I have been doing a lot of reading the past couple weeks because I do not have insurance or the money for all the testing needed right now and it seems many men have had a dozen tests and no results. Seems like CPPS matches all of my symptoms except the pain during ejaculation and urination. I have also a lot more gas, belching, farting, terrible acid reflux, and heartburn. Like i said I ignored it for so long because of my unhealthy lifestyle and diet but after all the research theres no way its just from that. I have not had a prostate exam but I am thinking if the CT results dont show anything Urologist is the next step...any advice would be helpful!