Upper Left Quadrant Pain - Endo?

[limagem]

I'm new to knowing about Endo, I think I've had it since my teens but I'm 41 and I just thought painful periods were normal! Over the last year I've had chronic gastro symptoms like bloating, nausea, constipation and pain under my left ribs. During the investigations for this a "chocolate cyst" was detected and I had my left ovary removed. I was symptom free for about a month then bam, pelvic pain and gastro discomfort and pain all came back.

That was the first time I linked pelvic pain and gastro pain together. I'm still under a gynae doctor and am due to have another appointment but in the last month or so the pain in my upper left quadrant is excruciating and gradually gets worse as the day goes on.

I've no idea if this is Endo or not? I will talk to the doctor about it of course but wanted to post in here for support in the meantime. I get to the point now that after dinner I can barely move and can't take a deep breath it hurts so much.

thanks all x

[Tiff22]

Hi, definitely look into endo. long story short, I’ve just spent two years having different gastro tests because of bloating, stomach issues, pelvic pain and pain on my left side mainly in the area you’ve described. Had a laparoscopy last Thursday and had endo adhesions removed from my bowel and left ovary.

I’ve spent the last two years arguing with doctors and advocating for myself. It can be a long and difficult process so make sure you look after yourself and reach out to your family and friends for support. Don’t doubt yourself, you know your own body.

❤️

[MyStar86]

The upper left side abdominal pain can also be caused by constipation, have you tried any medications/diet changes to alleviate the constipation? Have you spoken to your GP I know they are not that helpful but if you are really struggling in the short term before you see your gyne it might be worth it even just to help with one of your symptoms? Do you take any medication for the pain etc?xx

[Giulia12]

Hello,

I had these kind of symptoms. For me I connect them to my diet, the size of my portions, to how many meals I have during the day. I had my first symptoms after taking antibiotics. From there I had to be very careful to what I was eating.

First of all, when you have pain, bloating, gas, burping, it is better to have almost everything boiled, less veggies and fruits. Rice is your main ally, then you can eat potatoes as well. You want to eat toast, it is very important to have bread that is at least one day older. Stay away from any bread that has an unbaked middle. That becomes like a glue inside your stomach. If you can bake your own bread, even better, but always remember, that after you baked it, it needs to go in the fridge for at least one day. If you are still eating dairy, then eat cheese with no salt, a little yogurt. Eat smaller meals and more frequently during the day. You can eat soups, very good for your stomach. If still eating meat, it is better to go with beef and maybe, chicken. You want to keep with this for at least a week. Then you can reintroduce some of the food that you were eating previously but always with caution. The first crisis took a week to resolve and the second week I started to reintroduce slowly. Just take it baby steps. Watch your body and see how it reacts.

Tea is going to calm your system down: linden tea is the most beneficial for me. You will find it in health store or online.

[BloomingMarvellous]

Trying not to get too basic or complex here. Endo affects tissue, muscle and ligaments in terms of manuverability. It also creates stiff adhensions between organs and other body tissue. Muscle and tissue move relationally as well as locally . We know this all to well when say we hurt a little toe and all of a sudden your balance is drastically affected beyond the apparent reasonable scope of such a tiny part of ourselves should demand ! So when we breathe automatically the shoulders move, the diaphragm shifts and the pelvic floor rises up and down. It’s a whole body action. It happens automatically.

Where you get restricted movement with rigid , tight, inflamed or damaged tissue it alters the degree and freedom of easy movement and function elsewhere. Our bodies work to compensate around it as far as possible but eventually the degree of give gets beyond what the body can manage without creating change or symptoms across the body’s structure.

Endo is commonly found left groin area. If it’s in this area or the uterus region the uterine ligament which is three fingers width - strong because it needs to be !- can lean or pull to the side. This is especially the case with retroverted uterus’s . This pulls the whole of the pelvis and hip stabilising ligaments askew - the hip can drop on one side ( ever been told one leg is longer than the other ) cause torsion across the sacrum, tip or twist the hip forward on one side . The counter to this distortion is the opposite upper quadrant will twist to adjust to the lower misalignment. I like to think of it as a towel that you twist to wring out along its length. It’s this twisting across the muscles and fibres that can cause constriction and dysfunction of the gut, blood flow around the liver etc . In turn the digestion can be impaired. When stressed the body tightens more and over the cycle our muscles are more or less flexible with the shifting hormones. With endo the pain and the tissue dysfunction also creates tightness across the pelvic floor which itself causes the pair diaphragm to also tighten up. With this and the twisting you can get specific pain around the upper quadrant as well as constipation.

All that aside endo around the bowel, diaphragm and the liver can occur which does need to be ruled out albeit the last two are rarer.

Anything that increases tightening across the pelvic floor should be avoided. So you might find certain exercises aggravate the problem . Kegels and traditional gym core work are number one culprits here. Try looking to specific breathing exercises (again not traditional deep breathing!) to help get the pelvic floor more functional again. You could do worse than look at @corerecoverypt and hypopressive breathing to help out.