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Crohn's-abdominal pain

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 6/2/2013 1:19 PM (GMT 0)
I was diagnosed with crohn's 2 1/2 years ago and have had a tough time achieving remission. I've been on every med out there and just completed a 60mg tapered round of prednisone with no relief. I have CONSTANT aching pain in my left upper abdomen that seems to be right behind the lowest rib. It never goes away, is worse if I twist my torso, and sometimes goes through to my back. I have had every study known to man (CT, EGD/Colonoscopy, pill cam, gastric emptying study) all tests came back normal yet the pain is still there and never let's up. Has anyone else experienced this type of pain and what was the cause?
Posted 6/2/2013 1:27 PM (GMT 0)
Hi and Welcome to HW, Have you seen a GP doctor about this
pain that you been having? They may have you go to a pain doctor
for help.
Posted 6/2/2013 1:30 PM (GMT 0)
I have been seeing my primary physician regularly and he is giving me medications for the pain. My concern is that the meds are covering up the pain not solving the problem.
Posted 6/2/2013 5:11 PM (GMT 0)
When you say all tests are normal, does that include Crohn's? Where is your Crohn's normally located?
Posted 6/2/2013 9:33 PM (GMT 0)
I have had that same pain. I thought it was due to an abscess in my sigmoid colon that I had back in October and November. But after the abscess healed, the pain was still there. I think it's from the inflammation in that area of my colon, in which I also have a stricture. It hasn't been bothering me too much lately but I do take a laxative every night to keep things loose and running smoothly. I guess it's helping by reducing some of the inflammation. I have been advised to have a colectomy but have not been able to get myself mentally ready for that yet. I hope some of this helps explain your problem. Good luck.
Posted 6/2/2013 10:44 PM (GMT 0)
Just thought I'd say, I've had severe pain under my left rib for over 12 months now. I was told when my crohns went into remission the pain would subside.... It's not as frequent now as it was but I also take pain medication when it is bad...

Would love to know if you find the cause :/

Also in regard to your comment about the pain pills just masking the problem. It is totally doing that! I was hospitalized twice last summer, it got to the point where I was on a morphine patch tramadol and oral morphine before the dr could even examine me, they sent me home with the morphine patches and as soon as I came off them the pain was still just as bad! I fear I've just learnt to live with the pain and take pills when I can't, it's a scary thought!

Post Edited (novice) : 6/2/2013 4:54:19 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/3/2013 4:15 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for all your responses! I still do not have an answer to the pain and am just taking medications for it. As for the tests being "normal" nothing showed up on the CT, gastric emptying study or pill cam. The EGD/colonoscopy showed very mild gastritis in my stomach. The colonoscopy I had 2 1/2 years ago showed significant inflammation throughout my colon and biopsies at that time confirmed Crohn's.
Posted 6/3/2013 4:53 PM (GMT 0)
I had chronic pain in the right upper quadrant and after a lot of studies it turned out to be from constipation. My bowel was full of stool when I had an abdominal CT - the last test of a series - and my GI recommended I use miralax to regularize my bowel movements. I did that for a while, and it helped, but even more helpful was adding psyllium to my diet. I started slow and now I take 3 psyllium capsules with breakfast every morning. Sometimes I still get "backed up" and the pain in my right side will return, but never as bad and never as long.
Posted 6/4/2013 12:33 PM (GMT 0)
I too am having same issues. I've had crohns for 23 years and didn't start having bad pain until about 3 years ago. Very frustrating. I am not constipated and it's still there. And it's on my left side as well and my colon is the most affected area when I bleed
Posted 6/4/2013 12:55 PM (GMT 0)
I would have been the last person to say I was constipated. To me, the word constipation implies hard stool, etc. etc. I never have hard stool. But I do have slow bowels. At the time I was having this pain, I'd go two or three days without a bowel movement, and then have a "catch up day."

If you look up the definition of "constipation," there are a list of things that people complain of that lead to this diagnosis. You don't have to have hard stool to be told you are constipated.
Posted 6/4/2013 2:20 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting kazbern. I will start a mitral ax regimen and see how it helps. Thank you for this info
Posted 6/4/2013 2:23 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry spellcheck changed my words. What I meant was miralax regimen and will get psyllium. Thankyou
Posted 6/4/2013 3:08 PM (GMT 0)
I hope it helps! I was very resistant to both miralax and psyllium. I actually used senekot first, because senna will force a bowel movement and I wanted to see how it would turn out. Senna gave me cramps but absolutely relieved the pain (and produced a terrific bm, LOL). Senna is one of those laxatives you're not supposed to use regularly, so after a month of taking a half dose every other day I quit and went to miralax.

Because I generally have soft stool I was very careful about my miralax dosing. It's a stool softener and lord knows I didn't want diarrhea. I played around with it for a while and ended up using about a 1/4 dose every morning for a few months. This worked pretty well but I didn't like the idea of swallowing a petrochemical product forever.

I'd been told on and off over the years to add fiber. I tried metamucil once early in my diagnosis and it gave me terrible pain. I was reluctant, but had been reading on the UC board about the miracles of psyllium. I'd been gluten-free for a while by this point and couldn't use the regular metamucil cookies anymore, but they also make a GF psyllium capsule so that's what I got. And it really does help a lot. It's a soluble fiber so I never had any pain from it - but I was careful about going slowly. The "recommended dose" on the bottle is 3 capsules twice daily, but I am doing well with 3 capsules only in the morning.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.
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