Is this pain related to IBS?
#94614 - 07/30/04 02:33 PM
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This is my first post, and it has nothing to do with eating, so I'm already breaking the rules, but I do not see a general 'IBS diagnosis' board so don't hurt me  .
I was diagnosed with IBS. Yesterday. This is after months of tests regarding terrible pain that occasionally flares up and takes over my abdomen. My best, though uneducated, guess was a hernia, since the trigger for this pain seems not to be food, but walking-type exercise.
In other words, when I walk or hike or stand or cut the grass, etc. for a 1/2 hour or so I am likely to have this pain flare up. When flared up, it is sensitive to the touch and concentrated mainly just to the right of my belly button. Pushing on my belly or clenching my stomach muscles "tweaks" this area (even when a flare up is not occurring.
I have had a CT scan, Endoscopy, Colonoscopy, a small bowel x ray regimin (mmmm, Barium), and an ultrasound. Everything is peachy. So the diagnosis by process of elimination, is IBS.
So I have spent hours yesterday and today researching IBS, which I knew nothing about. I found this website and bought "The First Year" IBS book at Borders, which I've now read a lot of. I am thoroughly convinced that I indeed have IBS-D.
What I'm struggling with is: is this indeed the cause of my pain. In general, when I think of pain associated with IBS-D I think of regular, diarrhea-based cramping pain, much lower than my belly-button. This is NOT that. It is indeed difficult to describe, but is more of a muscular-feeling inflammed sharper pain. Like I said before, I thought it was a hernia because it feels muscular. It is tender to the touch, and when flared up it hurts like HELL to clench my stomach muscles (such as one does in the bathroom). But CT scan say: no hernia.
So since I haven't associated this pain with my frequent diarrhea, nor with eating or not eating, and since it in no way feels like "cramps" associated with diarrhea, my first reaction to the diagnosis was anger and disbelief. However, reading Heather's story of unbelievable pain, I could be totally wrong, and IBS could be the complete answer.
The other thing that doesn't fit, or that I don't see described anywhere, is the fact that walking or hiking triggers this pain in me. If I sit around all day I do not get the pain. But I have gotten it at football games, on National park hikes, and just cutting the grass (and I have like... 3 blades of grass). I know that exercise and yoga are recommended treatments, but I am honestly scared to walk my dog for fear of an attack (not of diarrhea, but of sharp side pain).
I guess the third thing that doesn't seem to fit is that the pain is centered to the right side and most IBS website have specifically mentioned the left side.
Anyway, what do y'all think? Thanks.
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If not, did they do an ob/gyn workup? And did they specifically check your gallbladder?
Right side pain can be IBS, and for some people physical activity (though usually it has to be at least a little strenuous) can trigger symptoms.
You might try something like biofeedback or the IBS hypnosis program, which can really help manage pain, especially when you "expect" it to happen from situations or activities.
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Hello Pupalei! Welcome to the boards, I'm glad you found us!
I also get VERY SHARP pains just to the right of my naval. The difference is that I have C (constipation) not D. Most of my C happens in the right side of my colon, thus the terrible pains to the right of my naval. Have you had your gallbladder checked, probably since they performed a CT scan. The reason I ask is from what I hear, people with problems in their gallbladder, find that they have pain kind of in a line across their naval area.
Do you also have C or is it just D??
Hope you feel better soon.
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
Edited by BeckyT (07/30/04 02:58 PM)
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Hello Pupalei, Ive just been diagnosed with IBS about 2 months ago and have felt very fustrated with the whole process! I also had lots of tests done and they all kept coming back positive! (Yes its a nightmare when all you want is answers to why your getting this pain.) But the first book i read was "The First Year IBS" and now i know i'm not living with this on my own!!!!!! I'm off to Venezuela for my hols and we are All Inclusive i just hope my tummy can hold on to the food that they have over there. I've just got to be mega careful!!!!!!!!! 
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First, you did post on the right board for this matter. It is for anything related to IBS discussions.
Next, I am definitely not an expert when it comes to IBS, but I did find that before I started the IBS diet, I would get the same kind of pains. It would be so terrible that I could stand up. I also found when I got too hot that's the kind of pains of would get. Anything that raised my core temperature would make me have these pains.
In Heather's diet it is suggests that you do change your eating as well as eat 6 small meals a day rather than 3 large ones. So if you aren't doing either of these things then you won't see a change in the pain. Because when you gorge (3 meals a day) or starve yourself (not eating at all) it will lead to trouble either way.
The other thing is you may have IBS-C (Constipation). IBS is either C or D. If you don't have diarrhea you may be getting the pains from constipation.
When I was diagnosed with IBS and my doctor threw me a pack of pills I decided to give Heather's diet a good try for one month before seeing what else was out there. That was a year and half a ago and I haven't left. You may want to try her diet...it may prove to be affective for you and solve your trouble.
Good luck, hope you can get it figured out.
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Lana_Marie
Proud Mommy to Bentley Taylor
Born May 12, 2004 9lbs, 3oz
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Sorry. Yes I am male. I'm 33 years old. The pains started about 6-8 months ago, though other symptoms (diarrhea, etc. started long ago).
To answer the other replies (wow, thanks for the quick responses), the ultrasound I had was specifically to check for gall stones and there were none. This surpirsed me because I had convinced myself that gall bladder was going to be the culprit.
I understand that there is a gall bladder "function" test, that is different and so will pursue that.
I am rarely if ever constipated, so I believe I have only the "D" type (which is enough, thank you )
So I guess I still have the question, when you all have pain, is it the crampy pain I would be familiar with as going with diarrhea (only a lot worse) or is this other sharper different pain likely IBS as well.
Also, Heather, you mention that exercise sometimes triggers the pain? I've not seen that anywhere else online or in the book. Do you have any references to examples? Is it rare? For me, it does NOT require strenuous exercise. Walking a mile or more even on flat surface does it to me. It has in the past few months become a consistant trigger.
Thanks again all.
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Hi Lana_Marie --
I saw your post after I posted my last reply. So you are saying that the pain I'm describing rings true to you as being related?
I am beginning the diet today. I went on a fresh grocery run this morning. Basically everything I've eaten and loved for 33 years will have to go to the dog (I'm kidding, I'm not going to give my Puppy IBS )
I bought Citrucel tablets, bananas, sour dough bread, chicken and fish, oatmeal, Crispix, and spaghetti. It's going to be really hard for this pizza and cheeseburger teenager-wannabe to change overnight, but I'm am going to do my best. I have a vacation starting tomorrow for a week, which is terrible timing, but it seems I can eat some Subway stuff (I'll be on the road the whole time  )
So anyway, I'm on the bandwagon, even if strict adherance is a week away.? I am, of course going to treat IBS as well as I can (I bought the book in hardcopy form to take on my trip with me).
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and it is a GI stimulant. For some IBS folks, exercise, especially if it's vigorous and jolting (like running), can bring on diarrhea if they're prone to that. And if they have pain with diarrhea, then the exercise can trigger that too. Yoga is usually a big exception to this.
As for non-vigorous movement, like just plain walking, triggering stand-alone pain and not diarrhea...well, that doesn't sound like IBS to me. It almost sounds like some type of isolated muscle issue, but I'm grasping at straws here.
Did you injure yourself at all in a way that could explain something like this? A back injury, or trunk injury, or something that could even radiate to your abdomen and cause a sharp muscle pain? Is the pain EVER connected to the diarrhea? If it's just this stand-alone symptom, and even gentle movement triggers it, it just doesn't quite fit the IBS bill. It may not even be something with your GI tract at all, but something like a pinched nerve or muscle/ligament injury that you're constantly aggravating because things are out of whack. And you might have this problem in addition to IBS, which is causing the GI symptoms like diarrhea.
Is this even a remote possibility? Oh - and did they rule out celiac?
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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I'm not sure why, but they seem to be the only soluble fiber supplement that just plain does not work at all for some people. I thought it was just me, or even my imagination, but then I started hearing this from others on the boards.
Citrucel powder is fine, any other SFS tablet is fine - just be aware of this, and maybe start with something else.
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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It's hard to say whether it is ever related. Everyday living does not seem to bring it on, but it has happened at 3 Broncos games, months apart. It happened at an Open house where I was on my feet for a long time. But most recently is happened on a National Park trip. The first day of the trip I walked 6 miles with a pretty good grade (Arches) and was fine though exhausted. The next day I'd say I walked less than a mile before the worst pain flare up I've ever had hit me like a ton of bricks. The next day a 2 mile flat hike started what I thought was going to be another bad one, but it faded before it got bad. The NEXT day (this story is almost over, promise) I took it as easy as I could, walking 2 miles, but slowly, on the flat rim of the Grand Canyon. I was in agony again.
The fist attacks were months apart, and mild enough that I just thought my pants were too tight (I'm overweight). I have acid reflux disease and take Prevacid daily, so my next guess was a side effect of that (I stopped long enough to rule that out, I believe). At one time I did believe that a bowel movement relieved the pain (thought I was constipated, which still may be true), but at that point *I* was drawing at straws. I only finally really made the connection with walking on this National Park trip.
THis is a recent development. A year ago I spent a month in Bournemouth UK for work and had to walk everywhere. I had horrible diarrhea (never got used to the food, and living in a hotel is hard anyway) but no pain at all. I think the first pain came after that trip at a football game.
As far as I know I have not had any injuries that would account for this.
One thing is interesting. From December thru February I was doing Bikram's Yoga regularly. This is a fairly strenuous yoga, and it never caused a flare up, but in the middle of that 3-month period I had a flare up at a football game (you have to walk far from your car, plus you stand and sit down often during the course of the game).
Sorry for the long post, but I've just got to figure this out.
Figures that the one soluable fiber product I chose would be the only one that doesn't work for everyone.
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Did you find this to be true for you? What Heather's results with the citrucel caplets was? That they didn't do anything? I have switched from citrucel clear mix to the tablets today, but then saw this post. Now I'm not sure...
Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks to all.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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I take a lot of them - enough to equal 12 - 14 grams of fiber per day. I just can't do the liquid (never tried Citrucel - I tried Acacia, Reliv...). It doesn't settle well in my tummy. This travels so well too. I am stable -- and doing very well. So it works for me. Fiber works so differently for different people though. (I know you hate that statement)
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I use a combo of both, but every time I take pills I feel like in my head that powder is better. Do the pills take longer to absorb or something? Seems like pills don't make me feel so bloated or something. I'm sure they obviously work though, right?
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Check the amount of Sf in your pills (and make sure they don't contain sweeteners!) - often the pills have very little in them compared to a normal dose of powder. This could explain why the powder makes you bloated...everytime you switch to powder you could be upping your dose (and doing this too fast can cause bloating).
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The thing about Heather's post that concerned me is that she named citrucel pills specifically. Not Fibercon pills, not metamucil, not equalactin. Just the Citrucel tablets.  She said all the other "pills" were okay.
And not only for her, but for other people too. So, in this case, I thought maybe it wasn't that everyone is different, but that it was something about the citrucel tablets themselves that don't work.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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I hate it that there isn't one way or one product that works univerally. Would make life so much easier!
Thanks for your reply. Glad they work for you. But I posted my concern about citrucel tablets in specific below Heather's. She specifically names Citrucel tablets as not working for her and many others and even suggested that it may be this product that doesn't work, not the specific person. So, that is why I was concerned.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Beth
#160326 - 03/14/05 07:34 AM
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Linz
Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 8242
Loc: England
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Heather said that the Citucel tablets don't work for some people so they're not a good one to start on. As you've been on Citrucel powder, you already know what effect SFSs have on you, so you'll be able to tell if the tablets don't work for you. Someone just starting on SFSs wouldn't be able to tell if they were working or not.
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Do you guys use these citrucel caplets? Any feedback? 
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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I take them three times a day. I just didn't like taking the Citrucel powder because I don't like drinking my fiber. I am taking the Citrucel tablets though. They don't have a lot of fiber in each pill - so you have to take a lot to get a lot of fiber -- but it also means it is pretty easy to gradually work up your dose.
I take 8 tablets 3 times per day. I now have two to three well formed bowel movements every day and no problems with gas or cramping unless I eat something bad. It works for me. However -- fiber is an individual thing - and I also take enzymes and a probiotic.
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Without fiber I was IBS-D and had no well formed BMs at all -- all of them were D. I also had severe D attacks nearly every day if not every day. The gas has mostly been helped by the probiotics -- and that took nearly a month - but it is now totally gone (FINALLY!!). However - I know the fiber is working and making a big difference. Diet, fiber, probiotics & enzymes. I would place them in that order.
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I'm wondering if your Dr.'s would be willing to do just one more test which often is clearer than a CT scan. That would be an MRI. They have Open MRI units for many who are claustrophobic or can sedate you as well. What we found in the medical field is that often things that don't show up on an X-Ray or CT scan do show up in an MRI. If nothing shows up in an MRI, I would try modifying your diet even more.
I don't walk my dog either if I feel the least symptomatic. I'm afraid that I'm going to get a block or 2 from home and have an that doubles me over. No one would be able to help me because my dog is not people friendly (loves dogs) and would be too protective to let anyone near me. I stay home until I feel safe.
Do you experience pain each time you walk or do any other form of exercise? I'm wondering if your system is sensitive to this and may require you to do less in smaller amounts of time. It's so hard to say. Trial and error.
I wish you luck. Heidi
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