[magoo]

I'm a 26 yr old female, been sick almost a year and a half now. Started having severe diarhea attacks when I ate fatty foods which got progressively worse within months. Diagnosed with an inflammed gallbladder in Jan and had it removed. Since then I have such intense right side pain and unable to eat solid foods. Been to many docs who tell me I have sphincter of oddi, but then when the ERCP failed to confirm this I was told I have IBS and need to see a shrink. I am so ill, it's almost impossible to work. I've been thru pain mgmt with nerve blocks, chiropracter, and tried narcotics but cannot get rid of this right side pain. All I can stomach is liquid food, and sometimes that is even intolerable. Thank god for Ensure.I will never accept this to be ibs and continue trying to find a doc who will listen to me but in the meantime I'm trying to find out if anyone out there with IBS the d type, for I am never, ever constipated has had this severe right side pain that starts in the ribs and radiates to the back up into the shoulder blade. It's with me 24-7, but gets worse with eating. It's hard to imagine that gallbladder surgery would cause this, I just need to find a doc to listen to me.

 

[Guest]

Magoo,Welcome to the board, I hope you will get the help you need.......------------------LET'S ALL PRAY FOR A CURE TO THIS IBS SOON!BETTIE

 

[maggiew]

You don't say what kind of doctors you have seen, or what tests you have done. The shoulder/back pain is probably referred pain. (they SAY you can't really feel pain in most organs, it is referred to other parts of your body, which is why it is VERY important to explain ALL pains to the doc.) It sounds like you COULD be having gall bladder, liver, pancreas, or ulcer problems, or it could be something to skeletal (back problems, etc) Hard to say, and we can't really suggest things to you unless we know what has already been done. IBS certainly can be D all the time, I never have C. It also can include right side pain, as I have, but usually is lower gut rather than upper, which is what it sounds like you have. Personally I CAN eat whatever I want, I just get worse with my triggers, but you should not be having THAT much trouble with food. Let us know more. Maggie, sitting CLOSE to the throne today with the preps..... YUCH!------------------Praying with Bettie for a cure for this NASTY IBS!

 

[magoo]

Sorry, tried not to be too detailed. I had a bunch of test: ERCP,cat scan, ultrasound, colonoscopy, uppergi, upper endoscopy, stomach emptying - which was positive. Had an MRI of the back, no skeletal problems. I don't have trigger foods, everything bothers me. I've had iv treatment at hospitals and stay on ensure. Blood test do show that I'm iron and B12 deficient. Gastro docs keep me hanging while I get worse. They have me on Actigal and Levbid. My surgeon and 3 gastro docs say I have Sphincter of Oddi, but a doc at University of Penn says I might have IBS. It just doesn't seem that IBS would cause the RUQ pain. Thanks for listening.

 

[maggiew]

Ok, MOST of us DO have a sphincter of oddi. It is a sphincter that opens to allow bile into the gall bladder from the liver, then shuts really tight to make sure it does not back up into the liver when you have eaten something fatty and the gall bladder contracts to squirt bile into the digestive tract. You may have meant to say that there was a defect in the sphincter. Can you clarify this? What sis the docs suggest to treat this problem? ------------------Praying with Bettie for a cure for this NASTY IBS!

 

[JeanG]

Welcome to the Board, Magoo. It sounds like you really have a lot to deal with. What suggestions have the docs come up with to help you deal with this? Jean------------------"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." Babe Ruth. And I'm also Praying with Bettie for a cure for this NASTY IBS! Jean

 

[britta]

You sure have had enough tests! But since you say everything causes you to have diarrhea, have you tried allergy testing or digestive enzyems? I found out that I had an intolerance to wheat (like celiac disease only that test came back negative). I too got very ill every time I ate anything.I had a slight reaction to wheat in my allergy tests and have cut out all bread and really feel better. I still have bouts but they are related to either a very stressful situation or trigger foods. I also do an over the counter digestive enzyme with meals which saves me from the 'I ate way too much and am going to explode' feeling. (even though I eat very small meals)I know exactly how you feel not wanting to believe the 'just IBS' diagnosis, crohns runs wild in my family and I am still sure that one day, I will get that diagnosis too.

 

[Guest]

Hi, I was really ill around July and August.. I had pain and spasms and D.. I could not eat any solid food and I was on ensure and Nubasics for a month and a half... I had another colonoscopy because I thought for sure that I had something worse than IBS... My doctor started my on Elavil plus which is an antidepressant, helps you sleep and pain reliver... My gastro doctor told me that they put people on Elavil with chronic pain and it helps.. it may not work for you but it has changed my life in a big way.. I am now eating everything, have no pain and feel alot better... I know this is the Elavil as I tried to go off of it and the stomach pain returned.. I hope that you find something that works for you... keep after your doctor... that's what I had to do.. you can email me if you have any questions...

 

[Guest]

did you have gallstones when you gallbladder was removed and did you have regular surgery or was it lapriscopic surgery. If it waslapriscopic you are only in the hospital for one day. I had lapriscopic. Well after it was removed I had gallbladder attacks which I should not have had because I had no gallbladder. They sound like the same thing you are having, My pain was in the same place yours seems to be located. Well come to find out if you have it done lapriscopicly you take the chance of some gallstones falling into the duct.If that be the case you may have to have that treated. However my pain comes and goes it is not constant. So I have chose to live with it because i will get anattack maybe once ayear or so. I could never live with that pain constantly. This may not be your problem but you never know.

 

[Guest]

Dear Magoo, I am new to the BB but when I read your post, I can sympathize so much with you. I haven't suffered nearly as long as you have so I can't imagine your frustrations. I started having classic gallbladder pain the last week in July....it even started after a high fat meal. However, I had all the gallbladder tests done and they were all normal. This continued on into September, always constant but sometimes better than other times.....pain under my right rib cage radiating around the side to the back and also going straight through to my back under the right shoulder blade. Mid September I had a CAT scan of the abdomen and was in so much pain during the scan I was sure it would show what was causing all the pain but it was normal.The next night I had a sudden onset of severe right lower abdominal pain that was not relieved even after taking 3 Percocet in 3 hours so I was admitted to the hospital the next day. I have vasculitis of the skin so this complicated everything because the doctors thought the vasculitis had attacked my GI system and put me on high dose IV steroids and I was also on IV PCA Demerol which only brought the pain down to a tolerable level. The entire right side of my abdomen was so tender that I couldn't tolerate them touching it. After no improvement in 10 days, I was transferred to Duke and stayed for 5 days. The only thing they found from all the tests was that I have diverticulosis which I already knew and they also found that I had diverticulosis of the duodenum and ileum which is unusual but still no diverticulitis. (I thought it was interesting that my pain was mostly where the duodenum and ileum was located) After all the IV steroids, they didn't want to do anything invasive at that time.They did figure out a combination of pain pills to keep my pain under control so I could come home. Gradually, I weaned myself off the narcotics and that is when the severe diarrhea started. The narcotics had evidently masked it while in the hospital. I finally had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy in November which only revealed reddened areas in my entire colon and my stomach. The biopsies showed gastritis of my stomach and inflammation in my colon. I wonder what it would have showed in September (2 months earlier).Anyway, after that, my doctor diagnosed IBS and I'm so glad to find this BB to be able to verbalize my frustrations to other people that will understand. Thank you for listening and keep in touch as to how you are doing.------------------Tina56