Wife w/Crohn's Experiencing Pain on Opposite Side, Stomach Bug? Scar tissue? something else??

My wife has had UC/Crohn's since she was 15 (currently 31). In December 2009 she had surgery to take care of a fistula and abcess after struggling with it for a few months prior. The surgeon could not resect her at the time due to inflammation. After the surgery we found doctors in Mount Sinai in NYC with more experience in dealing with Crohn's. She was put on Humira and Cipro along with Immuran and 5 months later  she had the resection. Ever since she has been on Humira and Cipro, the normal everyday symptoms she has dealt with e.g. cramps, loose and frequent stool have thankfully been non-existent.

A few weeks ago she began to have some pain on her right side in her pelvic region, very dissimilar to anything she has experienced before. Her UC and Crohn's have all been on her left side. The discomfort was not constant and worsened when she did ab exercises. We went to see her OBGYN to make sure it was not a cyst or anything else. An ultrasound confirmed it was not. A few days later when the pain began to affect her work, we went to the ER for some more tests. Nothing was found except. We then went to see her GI in NYC and after an examination said it was most likely related to a stomach bug as her discomfort was not consistent and if it were related to a flare up it would get progressively worse or at least be consistent and she would also be experiencing other symptoms.

Has anyone experienced something similar with a stomach bug? Could it be some scar tissue (she had a drain post op on this side)? Would scar tissue show up on a catscan or ultrasound? The discomfort pales in comparison to all she has been through and her life is not overtly affected by it, but I was hoping to get some more clarity as to what it might be so that I can better help her.  Thanks for your help.

Hey Spanky, welcome to the forum.

There are plenty of reasons your wife could be having pain and it sounds like you guys have done a good job eliminating the scariest ones.

Aside from the physical exam, did your wife's GI do any bloodwork to check how she's doing on her meds? How often does she have bloodwork done? She should be checked pretty regularly for blood count, inflammatory markers, kidney and liver function. If those are all normal then it seems likely her pain is not due to a flare of her Crohn's Disease.

I had right-sided pain for a few years that was very annoying. It came and went, never got above a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10, and really started to tick me off. I complained repeatedly to my GI. He finally ordered a series of gallbladder tests: abdominal u/s followed by a HIDA scan. Neither of these found anything wrong with my gallbladder, so we checked that off the list. Then I had an abdominal CT with contrast, to make sure that I wasn't having a stricture in the colon or small bowel. Nothing was seen, but it was also true that my colon was completely full of stool. The radiologist report noted that!

Well my GI decided that I probably was having this pain because of constipation. I had been complaining all along that my bowels are really slow, and we finally agreed to try a mild laxative. So that's what I did and it has really worked out alright. I take 1/4 dose of miralax every other day or so, and my right side no longer hurts.

I wish you and your wife the best.

Thanks kazbern, my wife gets bloodwork a few times a year and everything has been normal for the last two years. We're guessing the bloodwork from two weeks ago was also normal as we are told the GI only follows up if he sees something worrisome. She has had some bouts of infrequent bowel movements in the recent past followed by a "dumping" out as she calls it. I'll check with her and keep an eye to see if the pain coincides with less frequent bowel movements.