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QUESTION:
I have had a pain in my lower left abdomen, and sometimes get a backache with
it. The pain is to the left of my naval about an inch and about a half inch to
an inch down. I've had this since January, and My Doctor first thought it
might be a strained muscle, he gave me some naprosyn and an antibiotic. The
Naprosyn Didn't help, so he did a urinalysis. The urinalysis came back that I
have a high level of glucose in my urine. He followed up with a
blood test to rule out diabetes, and the blood tests came back fine. Another
urinalysis still showed high levels of glucose that the Dr. could not explain,
he said maybe my body just stored it, and its now being released.
I went back in early February, still having the same symptoms, and pretty sure
it wasn't a pulled muscle. I also had added pains of cramping, and lose bowel
movements. I am belching a lot of Gas, and having a lot of intestinal gas.
During that time, I also had an anxiety attack. This occured only three times
so far, but within a one week period of time. I would lay in bed and start to
feel the pain. I would get very warm, my heart would start
racing, and then I would have to get up and have a bowel movement, I also had
the shakes. My Dr. gave me 10 Tabs of Xanax to take the edge off, because I
was so worried about what "MIGHT" be wrong. I only took about 4 of them. I
was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. My Doctor has had me on Prilosec
once a day for the past week, it does not seem to be doing anything for me. I
still have the pain in the lower left abdomen. It is not a
severe pain, just an annoying dull pain that sometimes goes away, and sometimes
is there, and sometimes its worse than others. Yesterday after being
constipated for two days, I was able to have a bowel movement, which started
out with bad stomach cramps. It was not quite diarrhea, but very soft. After
that, I had the pain on my left side, and have it on and off again today. I am
having a hard time sleeping at
night because I sometimes wake up feeling the pain, once again, its not bad,
just there.
Occasionally, my ribs get sore, as if they are bruised, or have been hit hard,
however, they have not been hit. My Dr. said the rib pain and the backache are
all symptoms of the I.B.S., however, I don't understand what my ribs and back
have to do with my bowels.
ANSWER:
Sounds like you're explaining the symptoms that forced me to check myself into
emergency when it happened at work about a year ago. In my case, passing some gas
would provide some relief and seemed to follow a few minutes after the attack. And
the reaction was located just under the sternum. I was diagnosed with IBS shortly
thereafter but wasn't convinced that that is what it was as I was very unfamiliar
with IBS. Instead I persued the possibility of it being panic attacks, as the
attack had many of the same symptoms. It also would pull on a couple of muscles
in my mid back or front left rib cage around the heart. Every time it would
happen, I would wonder if I was having a heart attack. Not an enviable position
to be in. After being diagnosed with IBS, I was prescribed Levbid at .375 ug.
1/2 twice daily. This served to rachet down the severity of the attacks, but in no
way eliminated them. On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being the one that made me check
myself in to emergency, the Levbid probably got me to a 7 at the worst attack. Not
terribly effective. I believe I have the IBS under control now and the attacks
have been gone for a couple of months as well as the back pain and any other side
symptoms. So I have to believe that what I was experiencing was in fact part of
the IBS problem as a stress test in August 1998 showed that my heart and
circulation are fine. Actually, very good. The difference in what you describe and
my symptoms is that Prilosec and/or an antacid provided temporary relief from many
of the other symptoms. But never really effected the pain in the sternum. As a
matter fact, when I was on Prilosec I felt very well, except for an occaisional
attack as you described. When I was taken off the Prilosec (which was for ulcers,
BTW) the next 2 days were pretty bad in that apparently there is a knee jerk
reaction in the gut that overproduces acid once it's allowed to. But that probably
won't affect you since the Prilosec isn't helping anyway. I also had an EGD to
look for ulcers and I inquired as to any other deformities or problems in the
esophogus and/or stomach (scaring, lesions, sores, etc) and was given an okey
dokey, all systems go, down to the small intestine.
What is working for me is being documented on a web site at:
http://www.webcom.com/greeting/ibs/ibs.html
and being discussed in the 'Here's a new one..' thread in this ng.
Not medical advice
There are many possible connections between back pain and celiac disease.
The most likely problem relates to osteoporosis and shortening of the
spinal column. Another possibility is the weakening of the back muscles
due to malnutrition and loss of muscle mass or calcium and magnesium
deficiency leading to weakness. Each of these can lead to poor posture
which further leads to pain. Osteomalacia (due to Vit D def) is a
specific type of bone problem that leads to weak bones.
Another cause of back pain is referred pain from the small intestine to
the back.
These are just some of the causes of back pain in association with celiac
disease.
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