Appendix, Appendicitis, Gallbladder Disease Forum - Severe Abdomen Pain

To anyone that can help.

I am a 38 year old male who is at his breaking point. :roll: :oops: some quick background to get started: I have a history of allergies, asthma, and anxiety. Current medications other than what is mentioned later in this post include: allegra, nexium, and lorazepam. My job is with a major telecommunications company and I have a desk job where I sit at a computer all day. I have been suffering from "something" since december 2003 that I can trace back to when I went to cancun, mexico for christmas vacation. I was violently ill in cancun for approximately 36 hours. I vomited and had severe diarrhea which pasted within the 36 hours. Ever since, I have had intermittent problems with diarrhea and constipation causing me to miss days of work here and there for durations as long as 2 months in late summer 2004.

In the 2 months I was off in late summer 2004, the symptoms I had started with constipation with severe cramping, nausea, dizziness, and bloating. The constipation changed to irregular bowel movements altering between constipation and diarrhea. I saw 3 doctors during this period, my regular doctor, my gi doctor, and a gi specialist at the medical college of wisconsin. I had several blood tests, x-rays, ultra sounds, cat scans, a colonoscopy, and an mri of my abdomen. Blood tests revealed nothing. X-rays taken at different times showed constipation. Cat scans revealed nothing. Mri showed a fatty liver which I already new I had. Ultrasound detected pile sludge. Colonoscopy found nothing abnormal and biopsies taken during the colonoscopy were normal. They tried different medications. High doses of magnesium, citrucel, prochlorperazine, dicyclomine (which is a generic bentin I believe), levsin (regular dose). None of these seemed to ease the symptoms. My gi doctor tried lexapro which I had a severe reaction to.

I was seen by my regular doctor for the reaction to lexapro. She immediately discontinued the lexapro. I described the stools I was having and she suggested that I had picked up a "bug" from somewhere. Six weeks into this 2 month saga I was having, she started me on metronidazole (an antibiotic) for a five day period which was long enough until my appointment with the gi specialist at the medical college of wisconsin. This seemed to relieve the symptoms somewhat, but not all the way. Based on testing and family medical history, the gi specialist agreed with my regular doctor that I had picked up a "bug" that they could not detect. He called it the mexican x-mas gift that keeps on giving. He wanted me to take a sub-lingual levsin when I was having a bowel movement and continue with the antibiotics. Three days later, I saw my regular doctor again and she put me on a 10 day dose of metronidazole and added ofloxacin another antibiotic. At the end of the ten days I felt good enough to return to work. I was still having mild cramping which passed with time.

Ever since this bout with whatever I had, I experience mild upper left quadrant abdominal pain approximately 20 to 30 minutes prior to a bowel movement. With this pain, I become flush to the point of almost breaking out into a cold sweat, my heart starts to race, I feel light headed, and my mouth becomes dry. This feeling typically passes within five minutes or so but can be very discomforting at times.

This all leads up to my latest round of abdominal problems. In mid february 2005, I began having a pinching type of pain in my lower right quadrant of my abdomen. This pain was mainly in the morning but gradually became a problem throughout the day as time has passed. On 3-7-05, I began having persistent upper left quadrant abdominal pain. With this pain, I also became light headed, nauseated, disorientated (confused to the point of an out of body experience), my heart started to race, and I became flush. This feeling lasted approximately 15 minutes on 3-7-05 and 45 minutes on 03-08-05 (40 minutes longer and much more intense than what I had experienced with a bowel movement). The pain on 3-8-05 was so intense that I thought I was having a cardiac event (heart attack). I finished my tour at work and immediately went to my doctor. They ran an ekg and could find no heart related problem. The doctor thought it may be a strain of influenza and he stated that he had seen some cases come on like this. He gave me a respiratory antibiotic and skelaxin for muscle pain relief and sent me home. The next day (3-9-05), I wasn’t any better and wound up back at the doctors office on an emergency visit. She was a little more thorough with her examination. She started pressing on my colon track and I thought I was going to jump out of my skin. The pain was very very intense. She listened to the abdomen with her stethoscope and she stated that there has a high level of activity going on in my abdomen. She ordered blood work which showed high white blood cell counts and elevated readings consistent with an infection. She called it an inflammation of the bowel similar to diverticulitis. The doctor again treated this with antibiotics (metronidazole and ofloxacin). I saw a cardiologist who ordered an electrocardiogram (which I had on 3-31-05) and a stress test (which I had on 4-5-05) to rule out a heart function problem. I am awaiting the results of these tests. I also saw the gi specialist from the wisconsin medical college. She ordered an abdominal x-ray which came back normal. She has put me on paxil thinking that this may be induced by emotion, anxiety, or stress. My regular doctor thought it may be related to my gall bladder however, an abdominal ultrasound preformed on 03-14-05 came back completely normal with the exception of a fatty liver. The gall bladder also appeared normal with normal ducts and normal bile discharge flow. Blood work drawn on 03-14-05 also revealed that my high readings (from 3-9-05) had returned to normal levels after being on the antibiotics for 5 days. However the abdominal pain, dizziness, disorientation, and nausea still persist with the episodes of flushness, with increased heart rate, dry mouth and disorientation continues. My unusual bowel activity with increased frequency and diarrhea is making this situation intolerable.

On 3-30-05, I was seen by my regular doctor. I was so sick she advised me to go to the er (have my wife drive me or she would call an ambulance). At the er, they hydrated me with an iv, ran blood tests, and took more xrays. These tests again revealed nothing? They suggestested I see a surgeon and have him look into my gallbladder as a culprit. The surgeon has ordered a hyda-scan of my gall bladder. That is taking place tomorrow.

I have been out of work since 3-9-05. My pain and problems continue to the point were I cannot function. It hurts to sit up and it isn’t any better standing. Has any one experienced similar problems? Does anyone recommend any treatments that have worked to resolve these type of problems? Any suggestions at all? I am truly at a loss and it would appear that my doctors are also at the same point. Any help, any direct, any suggestions would be much appreciated.
:oops: :cry: :(

Severe Abdomen Pain - Lower Right Quad & Upper Left Quad