stomach pain- both sharp and burning pain, lumpy areas in my abdomen

[Guest guest]

Hey guys,

After having a few very good days last week, I ended up puking my guts out and

in horrible pain Saturday night. I was admitted and got home Thursday

afternoon. I didn't see my GI doc at all, just my internal med doc. He told me

the x-ray done in the ER showed I had an ileus. On Tuesday morning, I was hit

with horrendous pain on both sides of my upper abdomen - kind of just under both

breasts, around the top of my rib cage. I also had some pain right in the

middle, just below my breasts, but the worse pain was about a fist sized area on

both the left and right sides. I'd had pain med only 30 minutes before it hit

and my typical under the right rib panc pain was down to about a 2. My doc

walked in just as I was having the pain episode. It was a 10+ and just sharp,

constant - same as my typical panc pain, only I've NEVER had pain in those areas

before. My doc said he was afraid the ileus was worse and that's what was

causing the pain. He ordered x-rays and told me if the ileus was worse they'd

have to do an NG tube. The pain lasted about an hour and then was totally gone.

On Wed. morning my doc told me the x-ray was fine - I assume that meant the

ileus was gone, but I didn't ask him. He told me that he'd let me go home on

Thursday if I was able to tolerate some solid food. Wednesday night I was hit

with the exact same pain as on Tues morning. I'd had pain med only 45 minutes

or so earlier and was just lying in the bed about to go to sleep. It was so

intense that breathing was very hard. I called and asked the nurse to come to

my room. She didn't have any ideas on what was causing the pain and asked me if

I wanted her to call my doc. I hated to have her do that because it was 10

p.m., but I knew I couldn't stand the pain for another 2 hours when I could have

more pain med. About 20 minutes later, the nurse came in and gave me another

dose of pain med. After about 15 more minutes, the pain was at least at a

tolerable level. Thankfully, I haven't had pain like that since Wed night, but

I have no idea what it could have been. Oh, when I was having the pain, my

abdomen (upper and lower) was distended. The right side of my upper abdomen was

visibly enlarged more than the left. Has anyone had episodes of this sort of

pain? Any ideas on what it might have been?

Now, for my next issue. I apologize for having to talk about bathroom issues,

but I can't take this much longer. Even before my latest hospital admission, I

have been having a lot of burning pain in areas of my abdomen when I try to have

a BM. If I strain just the tiniest little bit, it is almost unbearable.

Tonight it has been really bad. The worst burning pain is in between my ribs,

several inches above my navel. I also have the same burning pain, but not as

bad, in my lower left abdomen. The burning is just in a small area -about the

size of a quarter - and it is right where the incisional scar from my

hysterectomy ends. Leaning forward while I'm on the toilet did help the burning

in the area between my ribs a little. My hysterectomy was over 11 years ago and

it's only been the last couple of months that I have the burning pain at the end

of the incision. I sometimes have the pain even when I start to urinate. It's

like any type of pressure or tightening up of my abdomen causes burning pain

somewhere. I have had a lot of abdominal surgeries. 1983-tubal ligation, 1990

and 1991-two laparascopic surgeries to remove scar tissue around my right ovary,

1993-abdominal hysterectomy with appendectomy, 1998-gallbladder removed,

2001-left ovary and large cyst removed, 2001-gastric bypass, 2002-incisional

and inguinal hernia repaired in lower left abdomen, 2003-incisional hernia

repaired just above navel. I am wondering if I've maybe got scar tissue built

up in various places in my abdomen from my many abdominal surgeries.

Also, I am having this constant pain near my navel. Sometimes it hurts on the

right side of the navel, other times, it is above or below the navel. Today it

has been hurting on the left side of the navel. It is better now than it was

earlier, but it is still just a constant pain. It was at about a 7, but it's

now about a 4-5.

Another thing is that I have several 'lumpy' areas in my abdomen. When I am

having pain, the lumpy areas are more prominent. I first noticed the ones that

are near the bottom of my right rib around January 2003. My husband was very

concerned about them and told me to make I told the doctor about them. I had

had my port a cath put in around this time, so I had a re-check with the

surgeon. I told him about the areas and he said they are lipomas (fatty

tumors). He told me to keep a watch on them and that if they started causing me

problems, he would do surgery and remove them. He told me that the surgery

wouldn't be a bad one.

Sometime over the summer, I started having several painful and lumpy areas in my

abdomen. I went to the surgeon who did my last hernia repair in Aug 2003

because I thought maybe I had more hernias. He said he didn't feel any hernias

but ordered a ct scan. CT scan didn't reveal anything. He told me that some

people just have lumpy abdominal walls and that the lumps were probably just

that I have a lumpy abdominal wall. He couldn't offer any explanation for the

pain and burning of the lumpy areas. He also had no explanation as to why the

lumpy areas became more prominent when I am having panc flare-ups.

I am so frustrated. It is hard enough to deal with my typical panc pain. These

new pains are very hard to deal with. I keep trying to come up with some

logical reason for this new pain. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very

grateful.

I made an appt to see the surgeon that put in my port a cath since he's the one

that told me that the first lumps were lipomas and if they started giving me

trouble he would remove them. I see him on Wednesday. I'm also going to make

an appt to see the surgeon who did my gastric bypass. I'm supposed to see him

once a year for life anyway. I'm wondering if I might have some internal

hernias because in trying to research on the internet, I ran across info saying

that one of the possible complications from the roux-en-y gastric bypass is

internal hernias. The info I found said internal hernias can cause intestinal

blockage, which might explain the ileus I just had.

My sis got tickets for the University of Kentucky and University of Alabama

football game this weekend. My brother-in-law is from Kentucky and is a

University of Kentucky fan and my hubby is a huge University of Alabama fan. My

hubby, brother-in-law, and 8 year old nephew, , left to go to Kentucky

tonight. They'll spend the night with my brother-in-law's parents in Bowling

Green, KY, and then drive to Lexington, KY for the 12:30 p.m. game tomorrow. I

think the tickets are on the UK side, so my hubby may not make it out alive! UK

is known for having a great basketball team, but their football team has never

been that great, from what I've heard. I'm sure they'll have fun - just having

a guys outing. played on touch football league last year, but other

than that, he's never been to a football game.

So, I'm home alone til late Saturday evening. Well, I have my precious KayDee -

my spoiled rotten miniature dachshund. Well, I think the recliner is calling to

me. KayDee is so funny. She thinks she is a queen. She has been back to the

computer room several times whining at me. I got up to let her go out and she

just ran to the recliner and refused to budge. That's her way of telling me I

am supposed to get in the recliner and let her in my lap and snuggle under the

down throw. I guess she finally gave up and went to the recliner by herself

because I haven't heard a peep out of her in a while.

I'm sorry this is so long and totally focused on my latest ailments.

I do hope this finds everyone having better days. As you can imagine, I am

quite behind on my e-mails, but I'm trying to get caught up. I'm down to just

123 unread messages!

W

alabama