Pain in left side that causes extreme depression?

[SwankyFrankie]

TLDR: Has anyone else had any conditions that caused extreme pain in the left side, related to diet, that also caused bouts of deep depression and anxiety? I'm at the point where I can tell how low my mood will be by my pain level after eating, and voice versa. Help!

Hi all. I've got a pain in my left side that seems to be causing our effecting my depression and anxiety. The pain is right where my spleen is, a constant low ache, and after I eat I often get major attacks that include extreme pain and cramping and/or extreme fatigue. When I get the extreme pain my derision and anxiety skyrocket!

Honestly, I can deal with the pain, even at its worst, and how it is limiting my mobility, but when I have a bad attack of pain I become really depressed, anxious, hopeless, and nearly suicidal. My mind is just a never ending cycle of "man, living like this (all of my life, not just this pain) is really terrible and I hate it" followed by "nothing is ever going to change" and "if my life stays like this I know I'll become suicidal I just don't know when". I feel like what ever is causing the pain is causing the depression and not the other way around.

Some days I'll wake up with no or little pain and have these thoughts, and every time, as soon as I eat I get really bad pain. Other times I'm fine all day but after eating dinner I'll start to get really bad pain and soon after the depression hits. Certain foods cause more pain than others, generally, but some days it doesn't matter what I eat, I'm going to be in pain. On those days I have the worst depression, and anxiety about that depression. I first started getting slight pain when I would stand too soon after eating certain foods, but it would go away quickly with sitting rest. That was 3.5 years ago and now my pain is pretty constant and I have a slew of other symptoms.

I've been trying to work with my Dr to figure this out but all my blood work, two cat scans, and an ultrasound all came back normal. I definitely don't have Fatty liver, I don't seem to have pancreatitis, no metabolic disorders, all blood counts are normal. I am waiting on new tests for my a1c (after certain foods I get less pain but become extremely tired and have to lay down if not sleep for several hours), Hormone levels (I do have pcos but all my symptoms of that are the same), vitamin levels and thyroid function, just to be sure. All of that was normal in September and/or January, but I'm checking again.

The only clear connection I can see is that it is made worse by eating and it causes extreme anxiety and depression.

I do have long term issues with depression and anxiety, so I don't think figuring this out will just solve all my problems, but I've never been anything close to suicidal and it often just feels like an eventuality these days. It's quite disturbing. I've come to a new understanding of the strength, bravery, and will to live it must take to deal with suicidal thoughts on the regular. If that's you, damn, be proud of yourself. This is so hard.

[b1b1b1]

You should finish up the tests you are currently undergoing. After that you should see a gastroenterologist, who is more likely to be familiar with the type of problem you are experiencing.

[SwankyFrankie in reply to b1b1b1]

Yeah, that's the plan currently. My Dr will be calling with test results tomorrow and I'm waiting for the GI to call to set up an appointment. I'm just pretty desperate to stop or reduce the depression symptom. It's really really disturbing.