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Can someone explain Crohn's pain?

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 1/18/2008 3:06 AM (GMT 0)
Hi there,
I have Crohn's in my ileum. It makes sense to me that my ileum would then hurt, but I don't understand why sometimes it seems to hurt throughout my entire intestines. I asked my doc who said it could be gas or spasms, but it feels sometimes like I swallowed a cactus plant that is working its way through my system. It just helps me if I can find some logic...sometimes my pain makes no sense to me. Also, sometimes it seems like I'm straining to have a bowel movement, but my stool is soft, yet I'm told that my colon is just fine. I don't get it! Thanks in advance for any insight!!
Posted 1/18/2008 3:18 AM (GMT 0)
I think its very hard to explain this one because its different for every person. I know commonly its the rights side that hurts depending where its at. However, I get a TON and yes I mean a TON of left sided pain sometimes even down in the pelvic area and I was told this is because of my Crohn's. I can't wait for some relief. I hope you find some answers soon I do also get it on the right side as well and what seems to be all over!

Best of luck,

Amanda

Posted 1/18/2008 5:46 AM (GMT 0)
My husband explains it as a gut ache throughout his entire abdomen accompanied by severe spasms and you can hear the gurgling in his intestines.  I have been with him many times and he becomes very pale and cold and sweaty.  If the pain is severe enough he becomes nauseated and weak all over and faint.  I have had him sprawled on the front entry steps in severe pain.
Hope this gives you some insight. :)

Posted 1/18/2008 5:51 AM (GMT 0)
There is something called referred pain, where you feel pain in places in addition to the place where the actual problem is occuring. Maybe that's the cause? I don't know why that happens but maybe it has something to do with nerves and pain receptors.
Posted 1/18/2008 5:51 AM (GMT 0)
We are so very different...in my entire 16 yrs I've rarely had abdominal pain (if at all) even when CD was affecting my TI, colon and rectom all at the same time, never really had stomach pain...my pain stems from my anus where I have perianal crohns skin tags and on occassion I had severe lower back pains with BM's during really bad flares (I've always been flaring to some degree in my entire time of having CD) but have had little to no issues with gut pains even during my cycle, when I do occassionally get cramps I know they are strictly period cramps and nothing more.

:)
Posted 1/18/2008 6:07 AM (GMT 0)
It is unfortunately very normal to experience diffuse abdominal pain with IBD. Most (not all) small bowel disease presents with epigastric (above the belly button) and umbilical (belly button area) pain, and terminal ileum disease frequently presents as lower-right-quadrant pain.

Abdominal pain is so complex because you have a gazillion nerve fibers from the autonomic nervous system innervating the gut and then somatic nerve fibers (a totally different system, but yet interrelated) innervating the muscles in there, and it becomes a real headache to think about. Then you get into the pelvic area and it's even more complicated. Ugh, it makes my brain spin just thinking about it.

But yes, it's normal, and those weird sensations that you have with a BM are also, unfortunately, normal (granted, Crohn's "normal" is not really "normal..." but you catch my drift). I'm sorry you're in pain!!!
Posted 1/18/2008 8:15 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the responses...it's not that the pain is so bad, I just wanted to understand what's going on. What a great forum....I can take my worries, post them on the computer, and someone out there makes them understandable! I love you folks! Hey, Sarita, how are you feeling?
Posted 1/18/2008 12:02 PM (GMT 0)
I have been lately having so much pain in my abdomen. When I eat, I get immediate gurgling & pain & cramps & bloating. No matter what I eat. I hope the prednisone makes it go away.

I also have been straining a lot lately, even with soft stool. I don't know how to make it better. I feel like I have to poo all the time, but nothing comes out. I don't even want to pee because sitting on the toilet makes me feel like I have to even more!

I have had a lot of pelvic pain this entire time, but lately though it has been the worst in the right lower pelvic area. I had an ultrasound in September & they found ovarian cysts, so I always thought that's what it was from.... even though the doc didn't think it would cause too much pain. So maybe it's Crohn's?
Posted 1/18/2008 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
Not sure if I can clearly explain the neural pathways of pain without going all "med student" on y'all, but if you are really interested I could try! LOL.

Huckleberrie, it depends on your definition of "pelvis." People call different areas different names. If you feel the bones that jut out forward in your lower abdomen (your "hip bone") and draw a line between the two most prominent points, pretty much any area below that line would be considered the pelvis. If you drew an imaginary line from the right point to your belly button, one third of the way up towards your belly button is called McBurney's point, which is where we palpate to check for a bad appendix...i.e., the end of your large intestine. Your ovaries are in pretty close proximity to that. So it's hard to tell sometimes if pain is originating from a pelvic organ or an abdominal organ.

If it's really bothering you, try to find a D.O. that specializes in neuromuscular medicine. They might be able to give you some treatments to help with the pelvic floor region and relieve your pain and help you poop more efficiently!
Posted 1/18/2008 2:53 PM (GMT 0)
P.S. Gumby, I'm a little frazzled but staying afloat. Not feeling too bad; the diarrhea lately has been a little more tolerable (4-8 times a day) so that is blissful.

I woke up this morning at 6:50, thinking I had my exam at 8...then in a flash of panic I realized the test started at 7! I literally sprinted to school and got there a couple minutes late but the lovely administrators just shooed me in. Goodness gracious, I'm so scatterbrained!
Posted 1/18/2008 4:57 PM (GMT 0)
Well, though most of my IBD has always been anal/Large Intestine, my CD pain usually feels just like Appendicitis. I have been rushed to an ER on 1 or two occasions in the past, before my IBD dx. I always have LRQ ab pain when in flare, regardless of where there is active disease. We all respond differently. Personally, I wish I reacted more like pb4! LOL
Pain is such a weird & unpredictable thing. But I do know my body is trying to tell me things are wrong.

Matthew
Posted 1/23/2008 12:14 AM (GMT 0)
I was diagnosed almost 2 years ago. I had pain that felt like an awful period all month long. My pain would shoot all over and sometimes feel like my appendix as well. Anything/everything I ate made me "go" until a month ago. I found a great doctor in Palo Alto, CA. He's amazing and calls me on a regular basis and checks up on me. I started seeing him in early July 2007 and have had nothing but positive outcomes with his supervision and prescriptions. I am on Entacort and Pentasa now. I was on Asacol and then Colazol but those seemed to make my pain worse. I truly believe they weren't helping. But from the day I started on Entacort and Pentasa I have felt so very much better. I can eat a meal and hang out and chat at the table instead of finish my last bite and run to the bathroom. I can also go out to a restaurant and eat now and not have to have my "pre-meal" and you know what I mean. No coffee, no caffeine and no spicy foods or dairy but I'm feeling pretty good considering the way I have felt for the past 2 years.
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