Unexplicable Abdominal Pain

[bowtie85]

Hello,

My girlfriend of five years now has had off and on severe abdominal pain for the last 3 years or so.  She has described the pain to me as being towards the right side of her stomach near her belly button.  Heres the problem, we have been to the hospital 4 times, 2 general practice doctors, a urologist, and her gynecologist.  They have ruled out Endometriosis, and although they ran several other tests cannot find the cause for her pain.  The pain is pretty intermittent, some days it hurt others it doesnt. And seems to completely disappear  during her menstrual cycle.  Pain is worse during, and the day after sex.  Antibiotics, and anti spasmodic medications seem to alleviate the pain when she takes them in combination.  Thats what the latest doctor described, any ideas on this mystery illness?

[bowtie85]

I really don't know.  When it meant its hard to approach this issue with her, its because ultimately im the bad guy here.  She thinks the only reason I want to help her find an answer to this is because we cant have sex when shes in pain, which is totally understandable.  She cant stay sick, and I do want kids someday which may not be possible like you said if this persists.  Anyways, ive taken her to the urologist, they ran a test that sounds like what you are describing, she saw the nurse and talked very briefly to the doctor, had a few tests done and was told the problem was her gynos department.  When we go to the gynecologist, he tries to tell us we need to see a urologist even though we've already barked up that tree.  I just dont how out of all these doctors no one has told her anything, even about the laproscopy option to get this all fixed.  Unless shes leaving out information the few times i do get to chit chat with her.  Sorry for the long post, thanks again.

[Cherie762]

If she really thinks its related to bladder the go to an urologist, theres a in office test they can do, they give you one vicodin and one xanax, to calm you down and so it wont hurt, its called  a cystoscopy---they fill your bladder with  water, look inside with a camera and you can see the whole thing on a  moniter, who knows maybe she has cysts in her bladder, it happens.   Why is she so set against having a diagnositic laproscopy done ?? its a really safe and simple procedure.


She cant just keep takin meds to cover up the pain she needs to find the source of it and deal with it, does she want to comprimise her fertility ??

[bowtie85]

Kind of hard to talk to her about this. Shes so fed up with not getting answers from a doctor, and refuses to get a Laproscopy so i really dont know what to tell her.  The antibiotics were prescribed along with the antispasmodics because there was other clues pointing to a recurring UTI.  She said it hurts to pee sometimes, and the pain is more often than not associated with her bladder.  Been checked for STD's, and everything else we can think of.  Shes had ovarian cysts in the past, but keeps telling me whats going on now is bladder related since it comes with painful urination.  Sex complicates things, and it usually hurts quite a bit more the day after.  Could that be related in any way to her bladder problem she thinks it is?

[Cherie762]

antibiotics are only given for an infection, or a std....if she had either of these the doctor should have told her what it was.     By anti spasmodics I am assuming you mean a muscle relaxer.....this is strong stuff and would help most people with just about any kind of pain as we tend to tense up when we are hurting......Im not so sure they are correct that the ovarian cysts are un related,,, my ovaries where located higher than most womens,,,almost to the belly button level, most women are lower,,,everyones anatomy is different,,,also pain can radiate, meaning if her belly button is hurting it may not be the navel but something real close to it.....has her belly button popped out---have the doctors ruled out an umbelical hernia...  Im stilll leaning towards thinking she has something going on with ovaries.......the only way to know if some one has endometriosis is to see it....they are not being honest with you,,,,she should probably have whats called a diagnostic laproscopy......they put you to sleep make 3 very tiny insions,,,pump her belly up with gas, insert surgical lifting devices into the insions 1 and 2.  and in the 3rd they insert a tiny camera so to see exactly what is going on in the pelvis....when she wakes up if they dont remove all the gass she will be in a bit of pain it only take 3-5 days to recover from this,,,its a sure fire way to find out what is wrong.....try to find a dr who will do this for you...shes been hurting too long.......I know what its like cause I hurt for a whole year before I could get a doctor to help me and I work in the field of medicine.....

[bowtie85]

She has had both the ultrasounds and they ran whatever test to see about the endometriosis.  She has had ovarian cysts in the past, but that problem was said to be unrelated.  Really been scratching my head on this and trying to help her out but everything has been a dead end.  As far as the antibiotics and Anti Spasmodics, thats what was given to her by a doctor to see if it would alleviate whatever the problem was.  If she takes them together they help, the pain goes away. Dont know if this helps any, tried to answer all of your questions.  No prior surgeries, missed that one.  Thanks for the input, need any more information ill be happy to talk to her and come up with what i can.

[Cherie762]

how did they rule out endometriosis?? they would have to do a laproscopy to see,  has she had any prior abdominal surgeries? if yes she could have adhesions or scar tissue.It also sounds like it could possible be an ovarian cyst, because these often are very painful, and since you say the pain dissapears during menses, it sounds like what is called a "functional cyst"   this can be determined by a trans-vaginal ulta sound, Also an ovarian cyst usually hurts during sex, could become irritated enough to also cause pain the day after.....why was she on antibiotics,,,thats an important bit of info you left out.