Stomach pain help!

velvetmoose9 said:If this is what I think it is, our resident forum lady might not be sticking around here anytime soon... 🕺

What are you suspicious of? To me, it looks like she might have some kind of (pseudo) bowel obstruction, though I've no clue what would trigger it... or maybe it's megacolon. 🤷

velvetmoose9 said:If things are playing out the way I suspect they are, our fellow forum member might be stepping away from the community for a while... 🕺

I've been trying to send a private message, but for some reason, it just won't go through. 🤷

Well, thanks to everyone for the assist.

Hey, I’ve got a question for you guys. I’ve been dealing with this constant pain in my lower right abdomen since last year—it went away for a few months, but now it’s been back and hitting me hard for five months straight. I’ve gone through a massive gauntlet of tests, but I still have zero answers. I’ve done multiple abdominal ultrasounds, pelvic exams, a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, seen surgeons, had two separate MRIs of my abdomen and pelvis, and basically lost enough blood for a transfusion with all the lab work they've run. I am honestly obsessed with the idea that it might be chronic appendicitis. My most recent scan was a high-res 3T MRI specifically focusing on the ileocecal region, and they found absolutely nothing. Would chronic appendicitis actually show up on an MRI or those ultrasounds? My blood work and inflammatory markers all come back totally normal. My surgeon keeps insisting that "chronic appendicitis" isn't even a real thing. I’m at my wit's end. The pain radiates around my hip and groin, right there in that lower right quadrant. My hip X-ray was fine, and the MRI on my sacroiliac joint came back clear too.

Best,

Hey, I’ve got a question for you guys. I’ve been dealing with this constant pain in my lower right abdomen since May of last year, though there was a brief break for a few months. Now, it’s been continuous for about five months straight. I’ve gone through an absolute gauntlet of tests, but I still don't have a diagnosis. I've done several ultrasounds, gynecological exams, a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, saw a surgeon, had two different MRIs of my abdomen and pelvis, and countless blood draws. Honestly, I'm obsessed with the idea that it might be chronic appendicitis. My most recent scan was a high-res 3T MRI focusing specifically on the ileocecal region, and they found absolutely nothing. Would chronic appendicitis actually show up on an MRI or all those ultrasounds? My blood work and inflammatory markers come back totally normal. My surgeon keeps insisting that "chronic appendicitis" isn't even a thing. I'm at a total loss here. The pain hits near my hip and goes down into my groin—that specific lower right area. My hip X-ray was fine, and the MRI of my sacroiliac joint came back clear too...

Best,

You should probably try digging into some specific terms on Google: hernias in women or an occult inguinal hernia.

This article might actually be useful for you: https://pelvicpainrehab.com/female-p...e-pelvic-pain/

velvetmoose9 said:If things play out the way I suspect they will, our friend here might be stepping away from the forum for quite a while. 🕺

lonefalcon41 said:What are you suspecting? To me, it looks like there might be some kind of (pseudo)bowel obstruction, though I'm not quite sure what the underlying cause could be... or perhaps it's megacolon. 🤷

I’m going to take a guess... maybe something like a rhythm?

The abdomen is such a massive, unpredictable territory when you're dealing with this stuff. Honestly, guessing is a thankless game, so I’m going to hold off on making any definitive calls here since we don't have the actual imaging results or the full clinical picture yet.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that our friend @Lola Velvet checks back in soon with some much better news.
Dachau actually has a pretty solid hospital there.

velvetmoose9 said:The abdomen is basically a massive, unpredictable landscape for anyone working in this field. Speculating is a thankless job because without actual lab results or a full clinical picture presented here, I’m not going to sit here and make any definitive calls.

I'm just crossing my fingers that our friend @Lola Velvet posts an update soon letting us know things are finally looking up.
Dachau actually has a pretty solid hospital.

Sorry to jump in like this, but I'd really appreciate some insight on my situation—specifically, what do you all think about chronic appendicitis?

Thanks 🙂

Chloe Garcia10 said:Hey, I’ve got a question. I've been dealing with this pain in my lower right abdomen since May of last year, with just a few months of breaks here and there. Now it's been five months straight. I have gone through an absolute gauntlet of tests, but still no diagnosis. I've done several abdominal UZV scans, pelvic exams, a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, seen surgeons, had two different MRIs of my abdomen and pelvis, and countless blood draws... I'm totally fixated on the idea of chronic appendicitis. My most recent scan was a high-res 3T MRI specifically looking at the ileocecal region, and they found nothing. Would chronic appendicitis actually show up on an MRI or all those UZV scans? My blood work looks fine, inflammatory markers are normal... The surgeon thinks chronic appendicitis isn't even a thing. I’m honestly at a loss. The pain hits near my hip and groin, that whole lower right area. Hip X-rays came back clear, and the MRI of my sacroiliac joint was okay too...

Best,

Man, you've certainly been through the ringer with all those tests...

The thing is, there's a massive hole in the history here—we don't know what you do for a living, if you sit a certain way, if you play sports, any old injuries, or even what was happening in the days leading up to the pain starting. We need to know the vibe of the pain, what makes it flare up (is it movement, posture, food?), and what actually gives you relief...
Honestly, you can't make any real moves toward treatment or further testing without a thorough physical exam first.

Sometimes in medicine, you really have to strip everything back and start from square one.
And quite often, you just have to watch and wait; some conditions are incredibly elusive and don't always show themselves—there are periods where a condition is detectable and then it just vanishes from the radar...

Chronic appendicitis—man, that's such a headache for surgeons. Some schools of thought say it doesn't exist, others have tossed the idea out, and then they bring it right back, and pathologists all have their own conflicting takes on it...
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) is another one of those "mystical" things that can be a total nightmare to pin down.

You definitely need more follow-ups, and it might be best to go back to basics—which means a deep dive into your medical history and a full clinical assessment (not just checking your abdomen, but looking at your musculoskeletal system and other areas that could be feeding into this same story...).

Thanks for getting back to me!

The pain first started hitting me last year around May. At first, it was concentrated in my upper right abdomen, right around the ribs, but then it migrated down to the lower right side. Lately, the sensation has shifted—now it’s mostly hitting my hip area and my back. It feels like a constant burning sensation. I wouldn't say I get cramps, but it definitely flares up whenever I change positions. I work a desk job and my posture is honestly trash, which probably doesn't help because an MRI of my lumbar spine showed some bulging discs and a small hernia. Right when this all kicked off, I actually rushed to the ER because I was terrified it was appendicitis, but all my inflammatory markers came back totally normal, and I still don't have any of that localized tenderness you get with appendicitis when they press on your stomach. The pain is pretty much constant, though I did have a window of maybe a month or two where things felt fine. It isn't triggered by anything I eat, either. I've been through the ringer trying to figure this out—I've seen two surgeons, two GI docs, and a gynecologist. I've also had about three or four abdominal ultrasounds and color Doppler scans, plus an MRI of my abdomen and pelvis with contrast over at Radiochirurgija.
I've actually had two C-sections before—one about 15 years ago and the other 12 years ago.
I don't even know what else there is to highlight at this point. I’m basically living at the lab, constantly getting blood drawn just to keep an eye on my white blood cell count and CRP levels. On top of that, I’ve been obsessively checking my temperature—doing both axillary and rectal readings—just to make sure there isn't a discrepancy of more than one degree.
I’m already a massive anxiety wreck and constantly terrified of getting sick—I’m even on antidepressants just to cope—but this whole situation is driving me absolutely insane. I am freaking out about this appendix issue, to the point where I’m actually scared to go on vacation. I’ve got a trip planned to a coastal island this summer, and right now, the thought of being there is stressing me out big time. The surgeon, the radiologist, and the GI specialist I’ve talked to have all told me that it isn't chronic appendicitis. Some people swear that "chronic appendicitis" isn't even a real medical thing, while others think what I'm dealing with is just repeated bouts of acute appendicitis that happen to settle down on their own. Their logic is that if it were truly chronic, the pain wouldn't just vanish like this.
My X-ray shows the hip socket is looking pretty clean—just a bit of acetabular overcoverage there. As for the MRI on my sacroiliac joint? All clear.
My colonoscopy results came back totally fine, except for one thing—I’ve got a dolichocolon.
Even the doctors are basically just guessing at this point when it comes to what’s causing the pain. They floated the idea of IBS, but honestly, I’m not convinced that’s actually what's going on. Maybe some adhesions? My surgeon already went in to check if there was a tumor or anything like that, but nope—nothing there.
Do you think chronic appendicitis would actually show up on any of these radiology scans if the inflammatory markers are elevated? I mean, if everything else looks okay but the labs are high, is it worth pushing for a laparoscopy just to get a clear look at what's actually going on inside the abdomen?

Thanks!!

velvetmoose9 said:I’ve been digging through this thing forever... seriously, I've searched everywhere.

Look, there’s zero actual data here for a proper medical history. You haven't mentioned what you do for a living, if your job involves sitting around or being on your feet, whether you play sports, or if you've had any old injuries. We don't even know what happened right before the pain started—like, did it hit you after a day, two days, or three? What does the pain actually feel like? Does moving, sitting a certain way, or even what you eat make it worse? And more importantly, what actually makes it feel better? Give us something to work with.
Look, you can't skip the basics. A full physical exam is absolutely non-negotiable if you want to make any real decisions about what diagnostic tests to run or how to handle treatment moving forward. You need the whole picture first.

Sometimes in medicine, you just have to go back to basics.
You really have to stay on top of things and keep a constant eye on them. Some illnesses or conditions just aren't easy to "catch" all the time. There are going to be periods where a condition shows up clearly, and then other times when it's basically invisible. You can't just assume because you don't feel it right now that it's gone.

Chronic appendicitis—man, that’s such a massive headache for surgeons. It’s one of those things where nobody can actually agree on what's going on. You’ve got certain medical schools that flat-out deny it exists, others have tossed the idea out the window entirely, and then suddenly they're right back to embracing it. Even pathologists are constantly split on whether it's a real thing or just noise. It's a mess.
PID is honestly just one of those things that feels borderline mystical, if you ask me.

Honestly, we really need to step back and look at this from the ground up. It’s all about getting back to basics—specifically, taking a damn good, thorough medical history and doing a proper clinical assessment. And I don't just mean poking around the abdomen; you have to look at the musculoskeletal system and any other relevant areas that tie into the whole picture. You can't just ignore the rest of the body and expect to find the root cause.

@Chloe Garcia10, looking at that top description where you mentioned the pain feels "burning," it really makes me think we should consider skin growths (maybe two SC lesions?), though I suppose postherpetic neuralgia is on the table too—even if it’s a bit of a long shot...

Maybe give the versatis patch a shot for a few days? That is, assuming there aren't any contraindications if you happen to be sensitive to lidocaine, obviously.

velvetmoose9 said:@Chloe Garcia10, based on that description above—specifically how the pain feels like it’s "burning"—it might be worth looking into adhesions (maybe two SCs) as well. That said, postherpetic neuralgia is also a possibility, though probably less likely...

I'm going to try using a versatis patch for a few days—assuming there aren't any contraindications regarding lidocaine sensitivity, obviously.

I went in for a breast ultrasound yesterday, so I asked the radiologist to take a quick look at my abdomen too.
They didn't see anything in the ileocecal area that would point toward appendicitis. As far as I know, you can't really spot adhesions on an ultrasound.
Regarding chronic appendicitis, the doctor thinks it would show up on an X-ray of the small bowel transit (basically checking if it's filling properly). Since I had that X-ray done back in May last year when the symptoms first started, I'll take the film from Holy Spirit over to him today.
Seriously, every single doctor has a different opinion and approach...
As for the versatis patch, I'm picking some up today.
I actually dealt with shingles on my stomach about 15 years ago during my first pregnancy.

Best, and thanks.

Chloe Garcia10 said:I went in for a breast ultrasound yesterday, and I ended up asking the radiologist to just take a quick look at my abdomen while they were at it.
They didn't see anything in the ileocecal area that would point toward appendicitis. I'm guessing adhesions aren't really something you can spot on an ultrasound anyway.
Regarding that whole chronic appendicitis theory, he thinks it might show up on an X-ray of the small bowel transit (basically seeing if things are moving through or getting backed up). Since I had that X-ray done back in May last year when these issues first kicked off, I’m going to take those images from Holy Spirit over to him today.
It’s wild how every single doctor seems to have their own totally different take on everything...
As for the versatis patch, I'm picking some up later today.
I actually dealt with shingles on my stomach about 15 years ago during my first pregnancy.

Best, thanks

Is it in the same area where you're feeling the pain right now?

If I remember correctly, they were right around my midsection, though maybe a little higher up than where it actually hurts.

I’ve got my CT colonography scheduled for Thursday, so maybe I’ll actually be able to back up my claims with some facts.

velvetmoose9 said:@Chloe Garcia10, that description above (the "burning" sensation) suggests you should also consider skin growths (like two SC) or even post-herpetic neuralgia—though that’s probably a long shot...

Maybe try using a versatis patch for a few days—assuming there aren't any contraindications regarding lidocaine sensitivity, obviously.

I went in for a CT colonography the day before yesterday.
The radiologist told me I have an unusually long intestine; my appendix is super long and positioned atypically (does that mean ventrally?) almost reaching down to my groin, but without any signs of inflammation. So, the pain can only be mechanical.
Does this mean I can finally stop worrying about appendicitis?!
My surgeon is on vacation right now, but he already suspected it wasn't the issue from the jump.
Here is the report:
Colonic haustra are appropriately distended with gas, with minimal contrast-marked intestinal contents in the lumen. Significant gas reflux is noted in the small bowel loops. The rectum shows normal morphology without suspicious lesions, though there is pronounced elongation of the sigmoid colon with multiple sharp angular bends, along with elongation of the transverse colon featuring a transverse ptosis in the middle third extending below the iliac crest line. No suspicious proliferative or stenosing lesions are found within the colonic loops, and the cecum is medially oriented, crossing the midline toward the left.
The appendix is gracile, positioned ventrally, and its tip is in contact with the anterior abdominal wall fascia. Surrounding fatty tissue is intact.
The valvula Bauchini appears normal.
What do you guys think of these results?

Best, and thanks..

So, is this thing actually fixed yet?
I'm dealing with the exact same issues as rapidranger36