Help - abdominal discomfort *UPDATED*

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About 10 days ago I got this strange feeling below my ribs on my left side. The feeling is constant but gets more and less noticeable at times. It is not painful but more of a feeling of being bloated or swollen that I can feel at both the front and back and it's slightly swollen when I touch. Others I have asked to feel it say they can't feel anything - I am overweight though so it may be that something is being masked by fat - and there is nothing to see. It is accompanied by mild to moderate nausea and lessened appetite. I saw a doctor a week ago who thought it seemed like a pulled muscle but it clearly isn't. I didn't tell her all my symptoms as the nausea etc hadn't become severe enough for me to notice it, I thought it was just anxiety flutters.

I can't get another appointment till next week and it's not severe enough to go to hospital so I've been looking it up online, trying to narrow it down based on my symptoms. I now have it down to:

a hernia
an ulcer
IBS
A dietary intolerance

Can anybody shed more light on this for me? I know you can't diagnose me officially and that I need to see a doctor but I'm going nuts worrying about it alone.

Last edited by TouchVanDerBoom on 25 Nov 2009, 8:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

I occasionally get a little pain in that area sans bloating, but it always goes away in a day or so.

I just read something that might indicate against IBS in your situation:

"Gas and bloating are common, but vomiting isn't, though it can occur due to nausea from the pain."
http://www.helpforibs.com/

Everything's more fun with a friend

Coming from someone with IBS, sure sounds in that neighborhood.
Wife, bubbybird on here, has abdominal hernia and says intestinal for sure, but what it is, is the question.

Colitis? It is in the neighborhood where the transverse colon runs.

At least its not appendicitis (hoping it isnt) . . . once its pain shows up, you HAVE TO GET IT TAKEN CARE OF IMMEDIATELY (surgery required).

Appendix is on the right side I believe.

Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome - (MALS) is a condition characterized by abdominal pain attributed to compression of the celiac artery and possibly the celiac ganglia by the median arcuate ligament.[1] The abdominal pain may be related to meals, may be accompanied by weight loss, and may be associated with an abdominal bruit heard by a clinician. It is also called celiac artery compression syndrome.

Gallbladder Stone or Gallbladder problem.
Kidney Stone may also be possible or kidney problem.

Diverticulitis - Diverticulitis is a common digestive disease particularly found in the large intestine. Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches (diverticula) on the outside of the colon. Diverticulitis results if one of these diverticula becomes inflamed.

The most common symptom of diverticulitis is abdominal pain. The most common sign is tenderness around the left side of the lower abdomen. If infection is the cause, then nausea, vomiting, feeling hot while having no fever, cramping, and constipation may occur as well. The severity of symptoms depends on the extent of the infection and complications. Diverticulitis worsens throughout the day, as it starts as small pains and slowly turns into vomiting and sharp pains.

My uncle had Diverticulitis. It wasn't painful at first either. Its good to check all around though.

Could just be IBS or something though. Good luck. I hope all goes well.

Let me just get this, because the way you describe it doesn't sound intestinal.

You said it is bellow your left rib. How far bellow?

What do you mean front and back?

How big an area does the pain occupy?

Thanks everyone! I've managed to get an appointment for tomorrow so hopefully soon I will have answers.

Directly beneath my left bottom rib. By front and back I mean the feeling of pressure sometimes is more exaggerated to the front of my body and sometimes to the back. It's not really pain so much as discomfort with occasional slight stabbing pains. The area it occupies is difficult to pinpoint...no bigger than my fist but it could be smaller. Not a big area at all. Any ideas?

I have Gastritis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastritis

I've been told to cut down on alcohol, tea, coffee and - ha - stress as they can all either cause or aggravate the condition. I only drink alcohol once a fortnight or so but I do put away a bottle of wine or even more when I get going - would that be enough to have caused it? I have started drinking more cups of tea lately but I drink mainly green, though I do have traditional tea as well. I can't have coffee, it doesn't agree with me and if I have more than a couple of cups a day for a while I start to get palpitations and eye twitches. The stress I cannot help as I suffer from anxiety.

Another thing that can cause it is excessive ibuprofen use. I had a pulled muscle a couple of months back and took the ibuprofen I was given in double doses and sometimes less than 4 hours apart. Only for like a week or two - does it mean prolonged like a few weeks or like months and months?

I was right to suspect an ulcer as gastritis is often accompanied by a peptic ulcer so I may be right yet. It doesn't matter though because the medication I have been given is for ulcers as well - Omeprazole.

Hope all goes well and you get better.

Wow - you just made a connection for me!

When you further described your symptoms, I suddenly recognized the mysterious stabbing abdominal pain that I have had intermittently for years. One doctor thought it was pleurisy (or some related condition) & treated me with an anti-inflammatory. My current doctor thought it was just a muscle spasm & advised me to stretch more often. Both treatments sort-of worked. Then I was diagnosed with gastritis (from a totally different set of symptoms) which was confirmed with an upper endoscopy - and put on Omeprazole (later changed to Pantoprazole)!

(And I haven't had the stabbing abdominal pain since.)

Dude! We are so the same person! Glad to have helped