Severe Stomach Pain Every Couple Months

I have crohn's disease. Took 9 yrs to be diagnosed. Similar symptoms.

Ok, so I have read what everyone has written and i have had almost the same symptoms. I can not seem to find ANYWHERE on the web, symptoms that are exactly like mine. So here's my story.
I started getting these bad gnawing stomach aches that are right below my chest bone in between the bottom of my ribs. (kind of where there is an upside down V shape area) and the pain is also directly behind in the muscle tissue on both sides of my spine in my back. When i was 13 yrs old. I would get the stomach ache for 1-3 hours in the begining. I got them every 2-6 months. After getting them several times i was trying everything to try to make it go away. Well after trying all kinds of stuff, I learned that i could take a super hot bath and it would relax the pain away and it was gone until the next flare up. Well now Im 25 years old and through the years they lasted longer and longer to where now a week ago i had one that lasted an entire week. It is also constant when i get them. No breaks. Also the bath now only relieves my pain while im in the hot water. But as soon as i get out of the water, it comes right back. So the pain gets so severe that during that week of the last episode, I was in the bath for more than half of the time just to get some relief. I have been to the ER probably 5 times over the years and it has gotten to the point that when i tell them it is a re occuring thing, they almost act like they dont believe me. They have done blood work in the ER and found nothing and they tried giving me a bunch of what they called cocktail drinks with numbing chalky stuff only to make the pain worse. They perscribed me vicodin and it always works to take the pain away. But still no answers. So this last time i went to see my doctor about it and she ordered a CT scan that only showed a cyst on my overie. I know for a fact that there is no way that the cyst it what causes the pain. It has not even ruptsured yet either and i have also had 2 babies and my gyno would have found it before. I had the flare ups during both pregnancies and they did ultrasounds and never found the problem. So while i was at the doctors recently she also did a full blood test and found that my white blood cell account was elevated and also my blood sugar. My blood pressure was also high but the nurse said that was probably because i was in pain. The doc put me on levequin antibiotics for 10 days for the white blood cell elevation. She also sent me on my way hunched over in pain with nothing for it and just told me to take tylonol for the pain. I wanted to cry. They had to know i was in pain from the blood pressure highness but still did nothing. So after the CT scan results came back she said to go see a GI specialist. Which i am going to do but im so afraid they wont have any answers either. I cant live like this forever thats for sure!!! I need some help. I even mailed into the Doctors show for help. I have 5 kids that im raising and i cant afford to go down for a week everytime this happens to me. And if it went from 1-3 hrs to now 7 days, how long will it last in another 10 yrs??? I cant do this anymore. Im tired of these doctors not taking this more serious. I need help and i feel that they are denying me. Why does it get to be a doctors decision if you have to deal with that kind of pain or not. I know we are in a pill epidemic right now but what about the people like me that NEVER takes pills unless i absolutly need to. Its not fair!!! :O( Please help with some advice!!

ok, im actually glad that i have found people who are experiencing the same sort of thing that I am. almost every four months i get a severe pain in my side. it lasts for the day and a few days afterwards i am tired and slower and then nothing is wrong until the next time it happens. I have been told I have a high bilirubin count and have been diagnosed with gilberts syndrome but that doesnt explain the pain that happens. All of my tests have come back normal as well.
I have decided that i will start to keep a journal of my eating, sleeping, exercise and sickness to see if there is any reoccuring things that can help me to undertand what is wrong with me. I'm from australia, not sure where you are all from. but i hope that if we moniter our own problems then come to the doctors with our own research, someone will be able to find out what is wrong with us. good luck everyone

I have had many of these same problems that many of you described for the past 4 years. I have severe stomach pain that lasts about 12 hours. It occurs about every 2 months and starts off mild and gets worse and worse until i have persistant vommiting and unbearable pain. I also had back pain that went with it. In the days after the sickness i had a loss of appetite and stomach soreness. I went to many doctors who tried everything =many types of scans xrays indo scopes, stomach emptying tests, tested my gullbladder and pancrease and they foung nothing. I then went into the ER when i was having the sickness and they decided that it was swollen and needed taken out. Its only been out for a few days but i am hoping somehow this cures my sickness i will keep everyone posted if it works or not

Could be adhesions. There isn't any test that can see this scar tissue. I had 2 bowel obstructions in 7 years because of adhesions.
I had emergency surgery both times. It takes a few months before you're totally closed down from this. It's very serious and horribly painful. Usually vomiting along with severe abdominal pain.

hey people it sounds alot like what happens to me. it all started when i was 18 had severe stomache cramps,puking, diahrrea at times, but overall this sharp pain and cramping in my abdominal area.had to go to the hospital for it..alot of times for it. had endoscope done, cat scans x ray ultra sounds but they couldnt find nothin but an ulcer in the lower area. they diagnosed it as IBS and when i have a flare up they say i have gastroenteritis n the only way they stop the pain is dilaudid n mprphine which make me just pass out and when i wake up the problems gone. i take prilosec daily which helps keep the acid down. but i cant eat without usign marijuana to create an appetie for me after that its all over. but i hate doin that n want to stop but i cant. want to know if anyone experiences the same

Hi-
Just like everyone on this thread I've been having chronic stomach attacks over the past year. I'm twenty years old and have had stomach issues since I was 14, always feeling bloated and having stomach aches. In the past year I've had stomach attacks every month and a half or so which start out as a sort of cramping in my lower back accompanied with a feeling of nausea on occasion. As time progresses the cramping moves to my stomach and gets worse and worse to the point that I have to take an extremely hot bath to get any type of comfort. As soon as I get out of the bath the horrible pain comes back instantly. I can't eat or drink anything during the attacks, and when I've tried to drink anything like ginger ale to calm my stomach, I end up throwing up. During some attacks I've thrown up more than 6 times. Sometimes I'm able to have a bowl movement which seems to ease the pain if only for a minute. The attacks last anywhere from 10-12 hours of just incapacitating, numbing pain, with nothing to ease it but time. I've been hospitalized three times, and not even the morphine helps ease the pain. I had a CAT scan the last time which showed nothing. I've had sonograms of my ovaries which have showed nothing. My gyno suggested endometriosis but later ruled that out. I get horrible horrible menstrual cramps when I being my cycle to the point that I sometimes pass out from the amount of pain (I have no idea if this is related to the stomach attacks or not) For my stomach attacks I went to a GI last June and got an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. My doctor finally came to the conclusion that I could have Celiac Disease which is something that doctors are just recently finding out about. It's basically a gluten intolerance, which can cause a ton of really horrible things in your body. I've been eating a gluten free diet since July and still have the attacks. At this point I have no clue what it could possibly be. Maybe some of you should talk to your doctor about Celiac Disease and see if that could be the case for you. I have friends that experienced stomach pains and that was what was causing it for them. It can be really hard to diagnose so it's a good idea to ask your doctor to add a DNA genetic test for the disease to the list when you get blood work taken. Hopefully that helps some of you. And if anyone has any more leads to what else these attacks could possibly be caused by please share!

Its your Gallbladder. I had the same problem, you may either pass the stone, or have sludge or infection. The Hospital kept giving me pain medicine vicodin- which helped but did not correct the problem. Then finanally, they removed Gallbladder, much better no pain.

I used to get severe abdominal pain (like someone punching just above the stomach and between the ribs, then twisting) every few months that would double me over and leave me breathless. I found hot water bottles, or a hot bath would help 'mask' the pain, but not stop it. I just had to ride it out. The pain lasted for up to 7 hours. I visited the Doc who sent me for a barium meal but nothing was found. These days I can help supress the problem so I get it less frequently - maybe once or twice a year. I've put it down to a family 'curse' or ailment.

I realised a few things that trigger it off..
1. Long hours of sleep: Back in the good old days when I was a student I would lay in bed for 10 hours. This was and still can
trigger the pain.
2. Stress: Everyone says 'stress is the cause'. In this case, I would agree. However, the pain would only occur when I'd been
stressed for a period of days e.g. working long hours, dealing with problems etc. It was only on the 'come-down' when the stress
was relieved that I would start getting symptoms and pain.
3. Getting drunk: Late nights and heavy drinking would occassionally set the pain off the next day.
4. Smoking: Possibly, although I could never put the pain down to smoking. Anyway I quit years ago and I still get the pain.

Signs that I was about to get a bout of pain:
1. Dull throb: The pain starts with a dull ache and breathlessness.
2. Ocassionally my pee is frothy like the head on a pint of beer.
3. Tightness within the chest.

Cures and preventions:
1. Excercise: I found that exercising a couple of times a week reduced the bouts I was getting. This could be due to the fact that I
was somehow relieving stress\anxiety. Ive found that if I spend long periods - say a few months without doing some exercising
then the bouts of pain start again.
2. Sleep: Try and get 8 hours of good sleep and spend no longer than 9 in bed. This has been a major influence in reducing the
bouts of pain.
3. A pint of strong beer: When I begin to feel an episode occuring, Ive found that 'downing' a stong beer like stella lessens the pain
and even stops it. I found this out by complete accident, but was amazed. I have to down the drink so I get the warm fuzzy
feeling in my belly. This is enough to quash the pain.
4. Try to not get too stressed about things and relax more.
5. Dont smoke.
6. Hot water bottles, Warm bath.

Even after all the above, I still get the pain occassionally. Theres nothing I can do except wait for 6 - 7 hours. I wonder if its IBS or something similar?

Anyway good luck all - hope this helps you.

I have been having this problem since 2006. I was 17 years old when it 1st happen. Its this severe pain all in the middle of my stomach. It kept me up all night but I couldnt do anything. I felt horrible. My pain felt kind of like contractions. It starts out mild then as time progresses it gets worse and worse to where I dont want to do anything but lay down and Im constantly changing positions trying to ease the pain. The pain usually happens at night but sometimes it will happen during the day and will continue all throughout the night. It usually lasts anywhere from 12 to 16 hours and as soon as its the next day the pain just goes away like nothing was wrong. Towards the end of it I usually throw up because the pain is so severe. This pain happens once every 3 months. It use to happen every 4 to 6 months but now its happening more often. Last year I started developing more stomach problems. Somedays I would feel real sick with nasea, gas, bloating, constant burping, acid build, sometimes vomiting from all the trapped air or acid. I dont have health insurance but one day I got so sick I had to go to Urgent Care and they did blood test, x ray, and a urine test and didnt find anything so they gave me some acid reducers and thought it was Gastritis. I took the acid reducers for over 3 months and still had all of the symptoms and the stomach pains still came every few months. Since I started having other stomach symptoms along with my stomach pain I have been to 4 different doctors and on several different medicens and acid reducers. I have had blood test, an ultrasound for my gallbladder but they still havent figured out whats causing me to have all of these symptoms. I have been dignoised with irrital bowel syndrom but I dont think this is what I have because the medicen they gave me for it doesnt help and I have a lot more symptoms then just what IBS causes. Sometimes I do take acide reducers and if I go for long periods of time without eating I will fell sick from all the acid. So I try to eat as soon as I feel hungary but sometimes I still get sick regardless usually at night. Im deserperate to figure out whats wrong with me. Im tired of always feeling sick and worrying about when the severe pain is going to come back. I got reffered to a gastrologist but since I dont have health insurance its going to be a while until one of them accepts me because they want money and they dont think my symptoms are life threatening. Im still really young and this is affecting my life. Any advice is apprecated. I dont know if the severe pain and all of these other symptoms I sometimes get are related but since they all have to do with my stomach I still mention all of them. I hope the rest of you figure out a solution to this on going problem. Best of luck to all.

I have a two possible solutions for you guys. I have had recurring abdominal attacks every 1-2 months now. I'm in constant pain for anywhere from 6-24 hours. Got every test done- colonoscopy, endoscopy, MRI, Ultrasound, CT. Not gallbladder, not Chron's, not Appendix. I was out to dinner one night with a girlfriend and she had a similar story and said it was "Trapped Intestinal Gas" brought on by overgrowth of yeast in the intestine. She recommended a homeopathic treatment called, "Candistroy" to rid my body of the Candida yeast and allow the gas to flow more easily. I have not tried it yet, but I am about to.

I also went to a homeopathic doctor and he said that my bile duct was congested and I needed therapy (like accupressure treatment basically) where he pushes and stretches my bile duct to get it flowing correctly. He said it was causing the pain because bile is needed to complete digestion properly.

I hope that helps you guys. I am still SO FRUSTRATED about my recurring abdominal attacks. I don't know what to do either and if anyone has any luck or suggestions, please let's hear them!!!!!

I am so glad to have found this website. I have just gone through "another" horrible attack of crippling stomach pains and vomiting. My first attack started in 2002.I had my gallbladder removed along with a hysterectomy in 2000. My first attack lasted for 14 days. Like many of you I ended up in the emergency room. They told me I had the "stomach flu" and set me up with IV's to rehydrate my system. The next attack came 2 years later.The exact same symptoms...It starts with a bloated feeling and within 4-5 hours,you are doubled over in extreme pain and vomiting. I can only drink small sips of gatorade and even that I can not keep down longer than 30 minutes. My problem is this...These "attacks" are now coming every couple of months. I have had 3 bouts in the last 8 months. I have just gone through 4 horrible days of intense cramping and vomiting. I break out in a sweat,because the pain is so bad. My husband was begging me to go to the emergency room. I told him that I could not move,let alone walk to our truck and take a 5 mile drive. I was that sick...the thought of trying to do anything,other than just lie on the couch was out of the question. The extreme cramping has stopped "finally",although...when I take a breathe,the pain is still there. I still have no appetite and I am terrified to put any solid food (in my mouth) for fear the cramping will start up again.Like many of you,my doctor has not been helpful...Each time they "diagnose" it as stomach flu. I know it is something else,but can find no remedy or relief. I am terrified that I will have to endure these "attacks" for the rest of my life.

Well I since I last posted I finally got insurance and was able to see a GI doctor. They did an upper endoscopy on my stomach and just said my stomach produces to much acid and he dignosed me with Acid Reflux and Gasteritis which is what I was always dignosed with but acid reducers never seemed to help me a whole lot. Then a few days later  they said that my test results came back and it showed that their was a possiblity that it could be up to 8 different things wrong so they tested me to see if I was allergic to gluten which it was negative. So then they did a Hida Scan on my gallbladder even though my ultrasound showed no gallstones. So I got the Hida scan and my doctor called and told me that my gallbladder doesnt function correctly and that I probably needed to get it removed. So in Feb I had my gallbladder removed. I was in horrible gas pain from the air they use during surgery. It hurt to sit, stand, breath, and talk and then I got sick the next day but after that I started getting better. Since surgery I have been doing better havent have the severe pain yet and hopefully I never will again. I think I still have an acid problem because if I wait to long to eat I usaully feel kind of sick and I still take acid reducers but as far as pain wise havent had it. I suffered with the severe pain for over 5 years when it really was my gallbladder even though they didnt think it was since my ultrasound was ok. So I would recommend if your having any kind of stomach pain get a Hida Scan and dont assume it cant be the gallbladder just because an ultrasound was fine.

Let me start out by saying I FOUND THE SOURCE OF MY RECURRING ABDOMINAL PAIN!! Like many of you, I would get severe pain in my stomach every 2 months or so.  Sometimes I would vomit, sometimes I would have fever.  The pain was sometimes in the middle of my stomach, but sometimes it would move to an all over, widespread pain.  It was AWFUL.  I saw ten doctors and did every test in the book - Ultrasounds, CT scans, Hida Scan (for gallbladder) MRI, Blood tests, and they all came back NORMAL.  I was suffering with these attacks for a bout a year when my cousin told me she had horrible stomach pain that lasted days and then would disappear for weeks or even months.  Her doctor thought it was pelvic inflammatory disease and did laproscopic surgery to diagnose. They found nothing, but he did remove her appendix because he said, "sometimes it helps." What do you know - she was CURED!  The appendix was sent to the lab and it was in fact, bad. So I decided to meet with a surgeon and have elective surgery to have my appendix out too (why not? I had tried everything else.)  This past Friday I went in for surgery and when I woke up, my husband was sitting next to me beaming - "Honey it was your appendix!!" Apparently the doctor knew just from looking at it that it was bad. It was inflamed and oozing pus.  I was so happy I cried.  I had no idea that you could have recurring appendicitis! It didn't even show up on my CT scans!  I'm so happy this is over, but so angry that none of my docs suggested this as the problem.  Many of them don't believe that your appendix can get inflamed and then go back to normal on it's own.  But my cousin and I are living proof!  I wanted to spread the word so that no one else goes through this.

If you have recurring abdominal pain, nausea, fever, and a high white cell count, there is a good chance your appendix is inflamed and you should get that thing taken out!  Don't let doctors tell you that it's DEFINITELY not your appendix.  They will tell you that, but thank goodness I didn't listen to them!

Hope you are all helped by this!

I've been reading all your posts since I found it searching online, hoping someone could really give some clues to what was happening to me. Like many of you, I've suffered from flank pain (right side, just under the ribcage) for like 6 years. I have done everything the doctors said, from simple bloodwork to tomography (countless sonograms and an MR to the biliary ducts in between). Initial bloodwork showed I had GGTP (45) and amilase (110) over the normal range (normal range in men: 5-24; 0-100, respectively). Physician said I might have a stone in the bile duct so I had an MR done. Nothing found. And a second round of bloodwork to test my liver function and liver and thyroid antibodies. Again, GGTP was around the first value (42) and ALT: 55, being the normal range between 0-40. Thyroid antibodies were found this time (antithyroglobulin 315 and anti tpo 54, normal ranges are: 0-115 and 0-35, respectively). But once again doctor said my gland could not be triggering my flank pain. So he asked: are you stressed, suffer from depression... That sort of stuff. I said yes. He then told me it could be psychosomatic illness and prescribed clonazepan 0.5 mg (this is the generic name) for a month, a pill an hour before bed. I have to say the pain must have come 2 weeks ago however until now it does not show up. I'm just praying this is my cure to this 6 year old suffering that lately became worse and more often. I've read psychosomatic illnesses can alter values in bloodwork like liver and thyroid values. Hope my story can help any of you. Sorry for my english. I'm not native