Question for Dr. Hive - right side pain

[Wheres Toto]

I can't believe I'm actually posting a question like this but Google is scary and I can't get to a doctor until next week.  :tongue_smilie:

 

I've been getting a sharp, stabbing pain in my lower right side periodically for the past two weeks.  It's basically right at the top of my pelvic bone.   It seems to come and go randomly, doesn't seem associated with eating certain foods, or any kind of movement.   I went to my GP last week and they sent me to hospital where I had a CT scan.  It's not appendix, diverticulitis, gall bladder, there's no inflammation, etc.  I have a 2.8 cm ovarian cyst but I've had that for years, and it's not particularly large so I doubt that's the culprit (plus my ovulation pain is a few inches lower than this pain).

 

Any thoughts?  I have a call in to my gyn to see if the cyst has shown any growth or is likely to be the problem and I'll be seeing a GI doctor next week, but I'd like to go in armed with as much info as possible.

 

 

[nd293]

I'm predicting it's going to be one of those weird pains that is never diagnosed, goes away eventually, then pops up again periodically...

 

That describes my 'right side pain'. It is a little higher than yours, almost under my lower ribs. I had an ultrasound and a series of other tests about 6 years ago. Nothing was diagnosed. At times the pain was take your breath away, keep you awake at night bad, but it lessened after a couple of months then disappeared. It reappears year or two and can last on and off for a month or so. I actually had it a few days ago, but haven't had it since.

 

That's no help, really, I'm just reassuring you that consistent pain isn't always something serious. One thing I noticed when I Googled was how many people were reporting similar undiagnosed 'right side' pain in various positions. It's really odd.

[Wheres Toto]

I'm predicting it's going to be one of those weird pains that is never diagnosed, goes away eventually, then pops up again periodically...

 

That describes my 'right side pain'. It is a little higher than yours, almost under my lower ribs. I had an ultrasound and a series of other tests about 6 years ago. Nothing was diagnosed. At times the pain was take your breath away, keep you awake at night bad, but it lessened after a couple of months then disappeared. It reappears year or two and can last on and off for a month or so. I actually had it a few days ago, but haven't had it since.

 

That's no help, really, I'm just reassuring you that consistent pain isn't always something serious. One thing I noticed when I Googled was how many people were reporting similar undiagnosed 'right side' pain in various positions. It's really odd.

 

That's kind of what I'm afraid of.  I'm ready to try diet modifications and just waiting it out, but dh is pushing for me to go to the doctor(s).  I just have visions of paying a bunch of money for appointments and tests to find out nothing and have it go away on its own.

[Kassia]

I've also had pain in my right side for years.  I had some testing done and nothing was found.  When I get it, it goes deep into my right side and spreads to my hip.  Sometimes it lasts a few hours and then it's gone.  So weird.  I know it started before I was pregnant with my youngest and she's almost 14 so it's been a long time.

 

[nd293]

It was my 'right side pain' which lead to my overall medical 'wait and see' policy. Which works until it fails catastrophically, I suppose. But in the last decade I've checked out the following after a decent waiting period (1-2 months): heart palpitations, a lump on the tendon in my index finger, the right side pain, a very swollen vein under my tongue and a 'freckle' on my face which expanded and became raised (checked that one out immediately!). Guess what? After tests which either didn't find anything or found nothing obvious or found something that couldn't really be fixed easily, all went away on their own. After I waited and then paid for the tests. It's so frustrating! I see the doctor about once every 18 months, always for something weird like this.

 

Incidentally, after an initial appointment about heart palpitations I did some reading and added magnesium supplements - that seemed to take away both the heart palpitations and some other weird random symptoms I was having. I'm currently viewing magnesium as a sort of cheap wonder drug - it helps with cramps, so might be worth a try if your pain is digestion or muscle related. I saw improvements within a week.

[KatieJ]

A friend of mine experienced this for several years. Eventually she had a kidney stone episode.

So sorry.

[zoobie]

I had bad pain where scar tissue developed after a c-section. My uterus was basically fused to my abdominal wall. It usually hurt after walking a good bit or anything using abdominal muscles or during certain times in my cycle.

[Meriwether]

I have this, too. But I have issues and could easily be having phantom pain.

[JFSinIL]

Like zoobie, my first thoughts are adhesion/scar tissue from an earlier procedure. Been there, done that - major pain.

[Wheres Toto]

I did have two c-sections so scar tissue is a possibility.  Would they see that on a CT scan?

 

Since the CT scan basically eliminated anything serious or urgent, I really just want to wait and see.  I hate going to the doctor, especially a new doctor.  But every time the pain hits, dh pushes me to call, and I don't really have an argument against it.  Unfortunately telling him the ladies on my homeschool forum thinks it will go away on it's own won't convince him.  :lol:   So, unless it stops completely in the next day, I'm going to end up calling tomorrow.

 

Thank you for the feedback.  I think I may tell the doctor I want to take a wait and see approach unless he has some idea what it might be.

[Pawz4me]

I had persistent URQ pain for years. Pretty much right under my bottom rib. An initial ultrasound revealed a gallbladder polyp, which the doc said needed to be followed regularly for awhile to make sure it was behaving itself. So I had another one six months later and then yearly for four or five years. The only other thing that ever showed up was something on my liver that was said to be "like a blood blister and nothing to worry about."

 

I do have a slightly low functioning gallbladder, but I never really could correlate the pain to that (i.e., it didn't always occur after I'd eaten something fatty).

 

The c-section scar tissue thing is interesting. I've had two c-sections.

 

Interestingly, since I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism last summer and started on medication I've barely had a twinge of pain, and that was only one time that I remember.

 

I've always wondered if the pain was related to gas moving through the intestines, since where mine occurs is right were the colon turns and changes directions (can't remember if it's the ascending or descending colon).

[regentrude]

You said they ruled out that it is the gallbladder - but the only thing they could see on an imaging test would be gall stones, which are not the only cause of gall bladder related upper right quadrant abdominal pain. Have you had a HIDA scan? Low functioning gall bladder can cause intermittent or persistent pain; I had episodes on and off for a decade with normal ultrasounds and no stones, before a doctor thought to order a HIDA scan which revealed lack of gb function. Subsequent removal of the gall bladder took care of the issue.  

From your description, your pain is located a bit lower than would be typical for gb, but when you're at the doc, I'd ask in any case whether that is a possibility.

 

Is there no relation to movement or sitting at all? Is it worse when getting up after sitting for a long time? Pain near the hip bone can also be caused by bursitis, an inflammation of the bursa. Harmless, but annoying; can persist long times and eventually go away. There are exercises one can do to alleviate.

Edited July 10, 2016 by regentrude

[regentrude]

I had persistent URQ pain for years. Pretty much right under my bottom rib. An initial ultrasound revealed a gallbladder polyp, which the doc said needed to be followed regularly for awhile to make sure it was behaving itself. So I had another one six months later and then yearly for four or five years. The only other thing that ever showed up was something on my liver that was said to be "like a blood blister and nothing to worry about."

 

I do have a slightly low functioning gallbladder, but I never really could correlate the pain to that (i.e., it didn't always occur after I'd eaten something fatty).

 

My pain was due to low functioning gb and there was absolutely no correlation with eating. I had symptom free periods of several years between episodes - just mentioning this in case yours comes back and you need to investigate further.

[6packofun]

I've had this and now my 17yo dd does as well.  We've both had ultrasounds and found nothing.  Mine went away when I lost weight, but it periodically returns.  Dd is thin and eats pretty well, so I'm not sure it's diet-related.  The dr. was fairly sure she had endometriosis because her periods can be somewhat bad, but nothing was found and so dd is now on bc pills.  But I'm not confident it will actually help the PAIN, just her crummy periods.  Maybe.  (I kind of felt like it was a matter of ruling things out and then just sticking her on the pill to see if that helps, but I'm not thrilled with it as a solution.)

[trulycrabby]

I had surgery for lrq pain to rule out ovarian cancer about two months ago . They did find a cyst, polyps, scar tissue from previous surgery, and ascites from the scar tissue and cyst but thankfully no oc.

 

My advice is to write down every single symptom: weight gain or loss, constipation and/or diarrhea, feeling full quickly when eating, increased abdominal girth, pain during intercourse, low grade fever, swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath.

 

Scar tissue and endometriosis do not show up on CT or ultrasound.

 

A benign cyst can cause most of the symptoms I mentioned above; so can endometriosis.

[Wheres Toto]

You said they ruled out that it is the gallbladder - but the only thing they could see on an imaging test would be gall stones, which are not the only cause of gall bladder related upper right quadrant abdominal pain. Have you had a HIDA scan? Low functioning gall bladder can cause intermittent or persistent pain; I had episodes on and off for a decade with normal ultrasounds and no stones, before a doctor thought to order a HIDA scan which revealed lack of gb function. Subsequent removal of the gall bladder took care of the issue.  

From your description, your pain is located a bit lower than would be typical for gb, but when you're at the doc, I'd ask in any case whether that is a possibility.

 

Is there no relation to movement or sitting at all? Is it worse when getting up after sitting for a long time? Pain near the hip bone can also be caused by bursitis, an inflammation of the bursa. Harmless, but annoying; can persist long times and eventually go away. There are exercises one can do to alleviate.

 

I will definitely ask the doctor about gall bladder.  My mother suggested this as well, she had very atypical gallbladder problems for years.

If I sit hunched slightly it helps when the pain has hit.   The onset doesn't seem related to sitting or standing - it happened yesterday after walking around stores for hours when I got in the car to drive home, other times when I was sitting for a while and got up.    I am going to google bursitis - the pain is right at my hip bone.

 

 

 

I had surgery for lrq pain to rule out ovarian cancer about two months ago . They did find a cyst, polyps, scar tissue from previous surgery, and ascites from the scar tissue and cyst but thankfully no oc.

 

My advice is to write down every single symptom: weight gain or loss, constipation and/or diarrhea, feeling full quickly when eating, increased abdominal girth, pain during intercourse, low grade fever, swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath.

 

Scar tissue and endometriosis do not show up on CT or ultrasound.

 

A benign cyst can cause most of the symptoms I mentioned above; so can endometriosis.

 

I've had an ovarian cyst for a couple years now.  I've had multiple ultrasounds of the entire region (for super heavy bleeding but I'm at that age) and things have been good, although I am starting to hit the age when OC is more thought about. 

 

No weight changes - actually, the past few years no matter what I do my weight basically stays in the same 5 pound range. 

No constipation or diarrhea, some bloating at various times, no pain during intercourse, no fever/swollen nodes/shortness of breath

 

 

I'm tired from not sleeping well, but for the most part this damn pain is the only symptom.  Which seems to rule out just about every possibility.

[Kassia]

I had bad pain where scar tissue developed after a c-section. My uterus was basically fused to my abdominal wall. It usually hurt after walking a good bit or anything using abdominal muscles or during certain times in my cycle.

 

My doctor told me that my uterus is fused to my abdominal wall, but I haven't noticed any problems (my last c-section was almost 14 years ago).  I never heard of anyone else having that happen to.