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At Mon, 7 Jun 1999, Christine M. Smith wrote:
>
>Hi Everyone:
>I'm going nuts. My pcp has suggested an MRI as the next step to search
>for the cause of the pain I continue to have.
>He finally did call me, was very caring, (so I guess I won't fire him
>yet :<) but admits he is stumped. My complaints do not correlate with
>my physical exam. When a doctor has said that to me in the past, it has
>always led to a dead end. At first he suggested CT Scan of the abdomen
>and pelvis and then decided on the MRI of the lumbar sacral spine
>instead.
>The everyday lower right side abdominal pain that I had two
>laparoscopies for continues. This is pain #1. Pain #2 is the symptoms
>of bowel obstruction which have subsided since I cut out all the extra
>fiber I had been eating. I read that some people never adjust to
>increase fiber (I did it for 6 months) and although the symptoms were
>suggestive of a partial bowel obstruction, there might not be any reason
>for such an obstruction other than the increase in fiber. (then there
>could be the adhesions causing it) This is the pain that occurs on both
>sides, and feels just like menstrual pain. (my gyn told me most
>menstrual pain is bowel pain).
>It is now pain #3 that is getting to me, combined with pain #1. I
>sometimes wake up early morning with severe (as in don't want to move an
>inch) lower right sided pain that is dramatically alleviated by a change
>in position. (although the area remains sore the acute pain is gone)
>This severe pain never happens in the daytime, nor does it ever happen
>on the left side of my abdomen. It happened a few times during the
>period I was having the laps (1 year) but has increased since March
>which just happens to be when I started a course in step aerobics. When
>I get out of bed I expect to have to hobble to the bathroom hunched over
>in pain but am surprised to find that I feel almost normal. a full
>bladder seems to make it worse, in fact a full bladder during the day is
>the closest I can come to duplicating the pain. My pcp says this relief
>by getting up and walking around is consistent with certain kinds of
>back problem. Am I getting muscle spasms? What does that feel like? Add
>to pain #1 and #3, pain #4-this is the pain I now feel on the lower
>right side of my back and into the buttock area. Of course my question
>is, is this connected to pain #1, the lower right side everyday pain? Or
>just a coincidence? Kind of odd that's everything is on the right side.
>It is possible that adhesions are involved in this, or it might be
>something entirely different. (and may have been all along) If the MRI
>gives no explanation I guess the next step will be drugs that affect
>perception of pain such as antidepressants.
>Does anyone have adhesion pain with strange patterns of occurence such
>as I have described above? It sounds as if everyone's pain from
>adhesions is more or less of a consistent nature. I'm afraid I'm
>barking up the wrong tree!
>I'm trying to post on the neurology MD forum but they are really backed
>up.
>Finally, has anyone had an MRI? What can I expect? They just called with
>my appt-next Monday at 9 PM!!! Weird? The daughter of a friend had one
>and she normally has no problems with things like this, found the MRI
>very, very difficult to tolerate. She said it took intense mental
>imagery to keep from panicking in the enclosed area. She advised
>pre-medication. Help!
>
>Chris S.