IBS-C and left side pain. Help!

Hi guys,

Well I used to be predominantly IBS-D but in the past 6 months or so that has switched to IBS-C. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd rather have the D! Yes the attacks were painful but once I was cleaned out I felt great. With the C I feel discomfort for DAYS. I am taking a new probiotic called Align, and I'm also drinking tons of water and taking a fiber supplement. When I was first diagnosed with IBS I asked the gastro what the "lump" on the left side of my abdomen was, because I could feel it with my fingers. She told me that because I was so thin I was able to feel my colon when there was stool in it (that's what the lump was). It never caused any pain back then, but maybe that was because I never had stool in there for long.

Lately though I have periods where I don't have a movement for 5 or even 6 days. Occasionally it's as little as 2 or 3 days. I have been noticing I can feel my colon again as a lump on the left side of my abdomen...only instead of just being able to feel it with my fingers I can actually FEEL it in my abdomen...when I bend over or even if I'm just walking around it feels heavy...and I can just tell it's there. I hope that makes sense. Recently I suffered from a nasty UTI with blood in my urine and so after the antibiotics I had to go back to my PCP for a follow-up. When he was feeling around my abdomen he touched on that area and it HURT so badly I cried out. He asked if I had bowel problems (DUHHH) and told me that it felt like I had quite a bit of stool backed up in my colon. The problem is that since that day I have had pain there, on the lower left side. It feels heavy, I get shooting type pains there and if I touch it...ouch. After I go (or attempt to go) to the bathroom, it feels awful. It is not a crampy type feeling...I called my doctor to tell him and he told me to go see the gyno. He is thinking my abdominal pain is pelvic related, I think because of the UTI maybe? I don't know...no I'm doubting the fact that it's my colon...but that's what it feels like.

Can anyone else relate to this? Has anyone experienced it? Should I demand to get it checked out by my doc or see the gyno first...I couldn't get a gyno appt. till next week and I don't know if I should be waiting.

Any help is appreciated!

Hey Sarita,

Thanks. I actually did get in to the gyno today because the pain was getting worse; I wanted to get the pelvic out of the way so that if it wasn't related to the pelvis I could move forward on the colon pain possibility. Boy what an experience. I had the gyno tell me that the "lump" I was feeling that was causing me pain was an enlarged ovary. She rushes me off to get a pelvic ultrasound, which I had to wait 2 extra hours for, only to have the ultrasound tech tell me that she could see nothing abnormal with my left ovary. The tech asked me if the gyno had told me that my ovary was enlarged and when I said yes she said "You know your sigmoid colon runs right under there, so that may have been what she was feeling." Yeah...thanks...so who knows what is going on? The ultrasound results were supposed to be faxed to my gyno right away so I assumed she would call me to discuss them but she didn't. Toward the end of the afternoon I called her, but she never called back. Oh, I also had the US tech tell me that my bladder was inflamed...I suffered from a nasty UTI two weeks ago and have been complaining about bladder pain since, but my PCP told me nothing was wrong. GRRR...if it's not one thing, it's another!

So I will probably be seeing my gyno for a follow-up, my gastro and a urologist. Fun times! I really hope nothing is going on with my colon though, it makes me nervous.

You may want to get a colonic manometry to identify the part of the bowel...and possibly a 3d-virtual colonoscopy.