Confusing lower abdomen pain

[Deronda77]

Can anyone advise if they've experienced anything similar?

I had mildish IBS mainly C from age 15-39. In my teens when it was particularly bad I used to get a constant tender / cramping pain low in my abdomen that would increase before a bm. Once in my 20s ibs symptoms were intermittent but not that particular pain. In my thirties I developed a sudden severe twisting / pinching right sided pain before passing gas. As I have IBS you can imagine that's a lot of times a day. I couldn't even stand straight when it happened. Had lots of tests but it was eventually got under control with prozac (coincidentally) and been taking it ever since.

Then when I was 38 had sudden development of severe lactose intolerance that initially caused me to pass blood (no doctors couldn't figure it out either) and they presto had severe IBS d. Had colonoscopy and gastroscopy (also had heartburn / indigestion since 30 and on ppi's since 35). Nothing wrong. Done all the usual diets, medication, healing blah blah but getting all dairy out of diet seemed to stabilise it somewhat. Then last year had another gastroscopy as had developed gastritis and in effort to treat that tried to stop bread and then reintroduce it and from roughly then on flipped to more predominant c and about a few days of d. Then about once a month I will get severe cramping that starts near belly button, slowly works it's way through gut over about 4/5 hours (even there when I wake up from sleep) until finally start passing gas ( it stops at the start) and then for about 3 days after have that same teenage lower ( really low) abdomen pain and tenderness. Can even feel it in my bum when I sit down. Feels like something is bruised inside and slowly heals again. Had calprotein test, under GI for both gastritis and IBS now. They are bemused and have referred me for food intolerance as have such a limited diet. Today no cramping just moved straight to tender stomach / pain in bum.

If of any use also have cin 1 and messed up periods and had a year of cervix biopsies / examinations. Last gyn ultrasound 18 months ago. Get anxiety and have severely stressful and had traumatizing life. I'm 42. My questions (got there in the end):

Anyone else get days of tender stomach that they can feel up bum when they sit? Had searing painful right side gas pain? Gerd and IBS? Episode of bleeding after severe vomiting and diarrhoea from lactose intolerance? Develop sudden intolerance to foods? Have IBS that changes every bloody decade? Have a digestive system that confounds doctors? Gets so fed up with this s**t?

Obviously cause of anxiety (all health based surprise suprise) I always think cancer. Even had health anxiety cbt which again surprisingly didn't work. Any clue what my bowels are doing this time?

Love and lots of cuddles to all fellow sufferers xx

[BabsyWabsy]

Hi Deronda, I don't know if this is something you could explore, but recently I have been reading a lot about some emerging science which attributes a lot of this type of illness to your microbiota and it makes a lot of sense to me. Basically, the bugs in your gut are running the show. They eat what you eat. Research suggest that if you specifically eat to support your good gut bacteria, it helps them to crowd out the rogue ones that can cause problems. There is a book published in 2017 called 'Be Good to Your Gut' by Eve Kalinik who is a practicing nutritionist in UK. She explains this idea in simple terms, along with suggestions of how you can improve things.

A more scientific read on this topic is '10% Human' by Alanna Collen who is very well qualified. This is quite a technical read, which doesn't suit everyone. She is American but her written English is good, probably because she studied for her two PhD's in UK, not like some of the overblown American writing you often see. Often, you have to do your own research as most GPs haven't a clue about this or any other gut related topic. I do hope you find some relief.

[nomoreibsc in reply to BabsyWabsy]

Good advice. Thanks

[nomoreibsc]

Hi Deronda, Really feel your pain. It's such a hard journey. Sometimes you feel like you have the IBS under control then out of nowhere it flares up ten times as bad...Makes you feel crazy especially when tests come back clear. Hang in there. I too have that right side pain and pain in the bottom of my spine. Can be so painful. Also have an increasing level of food intolerances and GERD. Finally diagnosed with slow moving transit so on resolor and movicol which helps. Was on cosmocol but that made things worse as it had an ingredient that set off the IBS. Hoping for a positive resolution for you real soon.

[Stuart24]

Hello, I've got a drawer full of medicines and pro-biotics that I have taken over the years, and do you know what I take now? None of them. After 27 years of suffering with bloating and IBS-D I have found that the long term solution that actually works is all about vitamins and fasting - and both are equally important.

This is based on some excellent publications, and also just observing how healthy people live. First, go to the doctors and get yourself checked for intestinal infections, and whatever other tests they want to do, you can be a carrier of some bugs and only suffer occasional flare-ups. But, if you are all clear then the first thing to sort out is your vitamins and the timing of your eating (fasting periods). An incident of food poisoning or infection can start you on a cycle that you need to make a really concerted effort to break out of. IBS causes vitamin deficiencies which are very difficult to overcome in most people’s diets, especially because you are probably eating selectively to manage your symptoms. Your vitamin levels affect the health of your guts, and the health of your guts affects your vitamin absorption, so it is a vicious circle that you have to break. Get some really good, expensive, multi-vitamins (ideally constituted for your age) and take them without fail every day before your breakfast. Do not get the ones with high calcium and magnesium initially as certainly in large doses these minerals can mess you up as they consume your stomach acid, and you should get enough of these minerals from your diet. If you are on low FODMAPs, go for all lactose free dairy products to boost your calcium. At the same time, sort out your fasting periods straight away. Your small intestine should be practically sterile, and your stomach acid along with bowel cleaning during fasting (called MMC) will usually do this. You need to fast for this to be effective, and by that I mean, ABSOLUTELY NO eating in between meals, only water, or tea with saccharin. Imagine that you never washed your dinner plates and just kept putting food on them all the time!, they would be filthy. You need to give your small intestine plenty of time free of food for cleaning. God didn't design us to have cupboards full of rich foods permanently available day and night. Your stomach will sort itself out when you have got control of your small intestine (although if you've got gastritis you'll need to finish a course of omeprazole first), and then your large intestine will improve later as nutrients are more efficiently absorbed from your small intestine. Eat a good breakfast at say 7am or what suits you and then a good lunch at 12 o'clock - absolutely no food in between. After lunch, no food again for at least 5 hours, and eat well again for your evening meal because it has got to get you through the night. No supper or snacks, no food or milk at all until breakfast the next day. In general, do not eat fried or roasted starches, i.e. crisps, chips, roast veg or fried rice. The high temperature that gives the lovely crispy bits, makes complex polymers that are very difficult to digest, they feed the bacteria and make you ill. Starches should only be boiled, and this is enough. You will feel hunger in the fasting periods, but you must not respond to it - only with water and drinks - not fizzy drinks or milk. Importantly, when you are feeling better, do not resort to your old ways, you are still recovering, and you need to make a life-style change to have this level of discipline in your eating and continue with it. Start doing some exercise if you don’t already, as this will also help with your gut motility. Your intestines take time to fully recover, it takes a few weeks at least, and you need to persevere. You then need to maintain a healthy and consistent way of eating and always keep the vitamins topped up all the time to prevent you from relapsing. There is a lot of support for L-glutamine to help with nutrition specifically for your intestinal lining, this means buying 500g of the bodybuilder powder type and having a couple of tea-spoons of this a day, one before breakfast and one just before you go to bed, and you can have this in a light cordial drink. A lot of this was taken from this GENIUS paper below, but it does fit exactly with what I have experienced, and for the first time I really feel in control of something that has been a burden for years, but is not longer. Good luck.

Treatment and Management of SIBO — Taking a Dietary Approach Can Control Intestinal Fermentation and Inflammation

By Aglaée Jacob, MS, RD

Today’s Dietitian

December 2012, Vol. 14 No. 12 P. 16