Abdominal pain that comes and goes (extremely painful at times)

[s.m.kelley]

I've been experiencing mostly sharp pains in my abdominal area which to me do not appear to be stomach or food related but I would not completely rule it out if somebody gave me reasons to think it could be after reading the things I have tried below. Sometimes I wake up with it and other mornings I don’t. It seems to come and go as it pleases.

I think I have narrowed the time period of when the pain started --- May of 2019. Maybe.

Something to do with my suprapubic catheter? I had one of these installed April 2018. It's been wonderful and life-changing because it has given me the ability to sit in the upright position and drain where I was unable to previously. Then again it may have nothing to do with it.

I had my last superpubic catheter change be silicone instead of latex (October 9, 2020). So after about a week the pain was near gone or completely gone for 29 days. It was awesome! I thought I was allergic to latex at that point. But it came back.

Something to do with bladder infections? I get bladder infections a few times a year and the last time was September 19, 2020 and started on the antibiotic Nitrofurantoin 100 mg aka Macrobid, one pill twice a day for 10 days and from the 23rd to the 28th there was very little abdominal pain.

Quick rundown of my injury. I’m a C 3-4 incomplete quadriplegic since 1998. I can't move below my shoulders but feel just about everywhere with mostly a dull sensation but this abdominal discomfort is quite sharp and anywhere between a 0 and 7 on the pain scale. When it gets to a six or seven I’m ready to go to the emergency room but I know there will be nothing they do there so I haven't.


I have had the following procedures with no findings of anything out of the ordinary.

ultrasound of my entire belly area

x-ray of my entire belly area

CT with contrast of my entire belly area

endoscopy & colonoscopy June 2020 colonoscopy and upper endoscopy which is not showing any abnormality to explain this pain

3 millimeter polyp rectal mucosa prolapsing polyp


I have tried

Somebody pushing around where the pain feels like it's coming from but there is no change whatsoever when pushed

10 ounces of celery juice every morning for 14 days

No dairy for a month: cheese, milk, every thing with dairy

No onions

Different forms of antacids: Tums & 14 days of Nexium

Different probiotics

I've tried Metamucil and Yakult

Bowel program every day for a week when I usually do it every other day



I can give a list of my regular medications if that would be helpful



I searched the Internet for possibilities causing pain and my doctor came back with answers to each below


Pain in the abdominal wall this is possible

Abdominal nerve entrapment we have not checked for this

A tear in the abdominal wall not that we know of

Abdominal infection not based on the CT scan of February 2020

Angina reduced blood flow to the heart we have not tested for your heart

Celiac disease we have not tested for this

Gallstones ultrasound and CT does not show gallstones

Gastritis upper endoscopy does not show gastritis

Reflux disease upper endoscopy does not show reflux disease

Inguinal Hernias: Probably not this we have not tested for this

Hiatal Hernias: Probably not this not seen on the CT scan

Peritonitis but based on the CT scan of February 2020

Ulcerative Colitis not based on colonoscopy done June 2020

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X-ray of after open August 2019

Distended loops of the small and large bowel

Moderate amount of stool retention

Dilated loops of bowel

So this is when I tried doing my bowel program every day



CT scan of abdomen February 2020

Bladder wall thickening suggestive of chronic cystitis

Gallbladder pancreas liver and kidney no lesion



Gallbladder ultrasound August 2019

Nothing to explain the abnormality and the pain

Distended gallbladder no gallstone

No bile duct dilatation

Spleen is normal




Thanks for taking a look and any advice is welcomed!

Sean Kelley

[gjnl]

Are you constipated or do you have regular and productive bowel evacuations?

Is you lower belly distended?

NL

[eks]

Have you been checked for H. pylori?

[s.m.kelley]

Have you been checked for H. pylori?

I have been checked but not with a breath test which I was now told to ask.

[s.m.kelley]

Are you constipated or do you have regular and productive bowel evacuations?

Is you lower belly distended?

NL

For the most part my bowel program is productive when done every other day but I am constipated from the 40 mg of oxycodone I take a day.

I have had distention in the past but it has not been bad as of late. Quite a few mornings I will lay on my side for 20 minutes and get a lot of gas out which helps in a way but not to get rid of this different abdominal pain.

[s.m.kelley]

I've been waiting for results from a urine analysis taking Friday and today I got a prescription for 500 mg of penicillin 3 times a day. Certain antibiotics have helped in the past with the abdominal pain.

I get several bladder infections a year. Three in the past two months! Macrobid (Nitrofurantoin) helped with the infection and the abdominal pain but when the urine was checked again I still had an infection but a different bacteria which was taken care of with Cipro which did not help with the abdominal pain.

I drink a gallon of water a day.

We have started to flush my superpubic catheter once a day this past week. We will see if that makes a difference. I don't get much sentiment coming out of my bladder so I did not want to flush and introduce a problem but I've got to give it a try.