Re: Normal Colonoscopy Not So Normal!?-Ginny-long

From: Christine M. Smith (smithy@maine.rr.com)
Sun Aug 8 13:13:14 1999


At Sun, 8 Aug 1999, Ginny King wrote: >
>Hey guys,
>
>I'm back from vacation and trying to catch up with everything that has
>been going on. I hope everyone is doing as well as can be expected.
>When I got home I had a letter from the GI that did the colonoscopy and
>had said everything was normal. Well not exactly a letter but the lab
>results and they showed a "mild chronic inflammation" of the bowel
>tissue in the left part of the colon. Interesting because my pain is in
>the right side and radiates to my back. I have to wonder how "mild"
>this would have been if they had not waited two months to do the test. I
>guess this would explain the bleeding that I have had but not the pain
>unless it is radiating. What I don't understand is they did not include
>any recommendation or diqagnosis from the GI and there is not follow up
>scheduled. What does chronic inflammation of the bowel mean, colitus or
>Chrohn's? I guess I'll try and get an answer from my PCP tomorrow when I
>see her. I think maybe I have two problems, the inflamation and the
>adhesions. Both the periodic infections that I have had and the
>adhesions started after I had a severe pelvic infection. Could they be
>related? Anyway. take care everyone, I missed hearing from you all last
>week. Ginny
>
>--
>Ginny King
>

Hi Ginny: Glad to hear you are back. I found both your posts very interesting, this one and the one in response to the one I wrote for you last week. I'm going to write my response in points so that I don't ramble everything all together.

1. You need to get an explanation from *someone* about what the mild inflammation is from. I guess your GI doc took biopsies when he was in there. That's interesting because mine did not, but then I didn't have bleeding, occult or otherwise. GI bleeding is never normal.

2. My gyn told me that almost all disorders of the pelvis refer pain to the right side of the pelvis. I don't think this means that you can never have left sided pain from a pelvic problem, just that you can't rely on right side pain totally being from a problem on the right side.This could possibly explain why your pain is mostly in your right side. In my case, all my major adhesions were on the left side, yet my pain was all on the right side. However, my sigmoid colon was pulled over and attached to the right pelvic wall, so someone might say that was causing my pain but I had absolutely no pain at all on the left side, yet I have attachments between the omentum, the sigmoid colon, and the abdominal wall on the left side. And now it is looking like none of these problems were the source of my pain!

3. My pain is on the right side and goes through to the back, as you describe yours doing. It was when this back pain appeared (just this past spring, before that it was strictly right lower quadrant pain) that my pcp ordered the lumbar MRI. It turns out that I have diffuse bulging of the discs between L1 and L2, and between L2 and L3. It is L1 that innervates the lower abdomen and groin. Is this a coincidence? The pain clinic doctor told me that bulging discs (which are not as bad as herniated discs) cause some people no pain at all, while causing other people a lot of pain. Sound familiar? Just like good old adhesions!

4. Since you also have other back pain that you described in your post, I don't think it would be unreasonable to look at your lower spine as a source of pelvic pain. There is no law that says you can't have more than one problem at a time (in other words maybe your intestinal problems are unrelated to the problem that is causing you right sided pain and back pain. ) Or they could all be tied together somehow. Since you already have back pain elsewhere, it doesn't seem too far fetched to think that you might have back pain in another location caused by a problem in the lumbar-sacral area. When I first had my pelvic/abdominal pain 2 years ago my gyn insisted it was most likely a gi or a back problem in a woman my age. The GI workup was negative but we never did anything with the back because I said I had a great back and I had no back pain. Another thing that comes to my mind is you saying you couldn't walk to your car. Someone with a back problem might have that problem. In fact, I know someone who collapsed from pain whenever she walked and was better lying down (mine is the opposite) They did every test on her, all negative, and they did find something on the MRI that would account for her pain. Who knows for sure if it really was the explanation. Bedrest helped her. Yes, I do have the problems you are describing with your arms and hands. I've had that for years. If I hold the phone the wrong way my left hand goes to sleep and sometimes my right hand tingles when I use my computer mouse. Carpal tunnel syndrome also causes hands to go numb during sleep. You might want to try sleeping with hand and wrist braces on. It really helped me.

5. I am feeling very good on the celebrex, yet I still have some pain in some areas which has remained the same in intensity. Does that mean that the pain that is gone (almost)(the right lower quadrant pain) was caused by inflammation? Why would pain in some areas go, but not pain in other areas? These are all questions I have to ask when I see my pcp the end of the month. Right now I am enjoying feeling halfway decent, although I know it is not the end of the problem.

Sorry this is so long, hope it helps!

Chris


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