Is this IBS??

Hi.  I am hoping someone on here can help me.   I have been having pain for almost a year now.  Yes, a year!!  This past August I was diagnosed with Endometrosis after doing a lap and my doctor said she got all she could but may have left some endo.  Within a month my pain was the same before surgery and terrible, terrible.  My symptoms are LLQ pain only.  No fullness in belly, or pain in the stomach.  I do have some BM issues.   I do have some diarhea or loose stool but again not every day.  Along with my LLQ pain I have terrible groin pain also.  My pain does get a lot worse during my cycle but again it stays bad all the time.   If I were to tell you where it hurts, it is very localized close to the ovary area.  Oh, and I have tons of gas.  I don't have any cramping or anything like that.  Just tons of gas and the bm issues, and the localized llq pain that is horrible.  My actual stomach never hurts.

 

I am going to a gyn specialist on Wed. hoping to get some answers and I ran across all of this about IBS and wanted to get everyone's feel on it. I haven't had any medical treatment like Lupron due to my heart hx.  I am hoping and praying this doc can help me on Wed.  A year is long enough.   More than likely, I guess it could be the l ovary, I guess.   Thanks for your time.    

Hi Reesecup, sorry it's taken us a while to respond, weekends tend to be pretty slow.

LLQ pain can be caused by a lot of things, some hormonal, some gynecological, some gastroenterology-related. The only way they could tell if it's your bowel acting up is by doing a colonoscopy. They could check for diverticulitis, which can cause LLQ pain and bloating and other uncomfortable symptoms. I would go to your gyn appointment and ask about a GI referral. If the colonoscopy is clear, you could then rest easier that it's not diverticulitis or inflammatory bowel disease and tailor your treatment specifically for IBS or whatever gynecological issue may be going on. I must also say that endometriosis can definitely cause great pain and it's possible you are developing more adhesions, which could be causing the pain...

Oooh, if you've already got a diagnosis of diverticulitis in your hand, that's a pretty good idea that your pain is emanating from there...were you ever treated for that? One thing that might help is taking a good probiotic formula like VSL#3 or Culturelle or FloraQ or one of those other brands that have live, active, "good bacteria" in them to help maintain a good balance in your gut. You might ask your pharmacist or doctor about which brand to try. They have helped many people. I have been taking VSL#3 for one month. I have a history of severe (>10 episodes/day) chronic diarrhea that has been resistant to all treatments but amazingly enough, my bowels are starting to settle down with this probiotic. Let us know how your appointment goes!