Desperate! Please help me figure out these symptoms!

[Allearia]

For quite a while I have had symptoms of abdominal pain at night, only at night. On both sides, currently worse on the left side. The pain is kind of front and back both a little below my ribs. I have thought it might be kidney related. It stops pretty quickly if I sit up, also if I avoid laying on my left side to sleep but the right is getting worse now. I take advil before going to sleep, and wake up around 3 or 4 in the morning with pain.

 

I have been to the general practitioner who ran blood tests and I had a pelvic and abdominal ultrasound and everything came back normal. They have referred me to a GI specialist, so I need to make that appointment. I already have over $2K in bills for the previous tests and doctor visits (I have a very high deductible insurance) and am just hoping someone has some ideas that I can ask the doctor about to help focus and figure out the problem.

 

I really hate posting this info on a message board but there are a lot of knowledgeable people on this board and I thought I would try it. I just have a fear of thousands of more $$$$ in tests and no more information or solution.

 

Thanks!

[neveryoumindthere]

What is your diet like? and does the pain also include bloating/gassiness at all?

 

I'm asking because I tested through a lab called enterolab.com on my own and found out that I had celiac/gluten sensitivity. The pain was really bad and mostly it was in the evenings, after meals.

Also you mentoined you avoid lying on yoru left, as far as I understand, lying on your right IS better for digestion so I wonder if that's playing a part.

 

Just some ideas. Hope you figure it out soon. I had YEARS of health issues and went to several docs, no one helped until I did my own research and finally shelled out the money for a naturopath and it was worth EVERY cent and in the long run way cheaper than all the trips to the other docs.

 

Hope you're feeling better soon!

[Kathleen in VA]

It could be your gallbladder. I went to a GI specialist for similar pain so he ordered a bunch of tests for gallbladder problems. I had an ultrasound which turned up nothing and a nuclear test of some kind that turned up nothing as well. When I went back to him, he ordered a CT scan and announced that it would be the test that would really determine if it was my gallbladder that was the problem. I asked him, why in the world, if the CT scan was the best determiner of the problem, he hadn't ordered it in the first place??? He said the other tests were less invasive so he started with them.

 

All that to say, if you don't want to pay for a whole lot of tests, ask if you can have the CT Scan done first.:) Just a suggestion.

 

Btw, I was so annoyed about the whole thing I never had the CT scan done and never went back to the GI doctor. The pain cleared up on its own.

[Allearia]

Thanks, I really appreciate the ideas! My diet right now is not the best so I defintely need to work on that even while I look at other reasons for my symptoms. Any other ideas??? :bigear:

[Mommyof4ks]

I wonder about the gallbladder also. My grandmother just had hers removed after thinking she was having a heart attack. The doc said that gallbladder symptoms mimic alot of different conditions.

[Allearia]

That is a possibility with the gall bladder. My mom had hers removed in her early twenties which she said is very young. I also just read that pain around the right shoulder blade can be a symptom, and a couple of weeks ago I had about an hour of excruciating pain there for no apparent reason that I connected to the other problem. But I do have pain on both sides. I'll have to research that some more...