Flare up of severe abdo pain starting in the night .Not had this before Its usually when I wake up and not so bad!

[Luna64]

Hi Im new to this forum. I have woken with lower abdo pain the last 3 days at 3 am til.about midday ,the whole of of my abdomen is also sore .I have had ibs for almost a year following a virus?covid and alot of stress .It was improving with little flare ups but the last 3 days been in bed until lunchtime .I have had ct scans as had to go in to hospital end of last year with pain. My ibs always seems to give me pain first thing when I wake normally and a rush to the loo with loose stool.but only once a day.If I wake up with no pain and no rush to tje loo it's a really good day with nbm later in the day .The pain leaves me nauseous and feeling no energy I've also now been referred to the Chronic fatique clinic.Im so fed up of this .Has anyone got any tips for pain flare ups please? I take buscopan when bad.(notneeded it for 3 months) ,hot water bottle and paracetamol.Do Yoga poses help ? I think onions and tomatoes flare it but also stress which I had a lot of from my Dad 3 days ago threatening to walk out of his nursing home ,he has dementia .Thank you .

[Luisa22]

At a guess, probably the sudden stress about your Dad, and maybe things you shouldn't have eaten (?) have caused this bad flare up.

Do you have anyone you can talk to re: worries about your Dad?

They do want to walk...escape...go home...whatever. They are just not able to see the dangers they would be in if they did or rationally accept that they cannot manage at home, and need 24 hour care and support and to be in a safe place. Do you have help and advice from Social Workers, etc?

The love for your Dad, and the challenges and admin that is putting you under must be very painful in themselves. I do understand.

Just please don't even try onions, garlic, tomatoes, right now. Those are lovely but all MY worst enemies. At a later date maybe you can try returning them to your diet but maybe not right now?

If you've recently had constipation, are also running a fever, on top of the abdo pain, get advice from NHS 111. Just in case it might be appendicitis.

Fever and nausea can also be signs perhaps of an infection and can happen with diverticulitis.

So keep aware of that, check your temperature, and get help if you tick the boxes, don't feel any better, and nothing else is helping.

Paracetamol is pretty IBS friendly and usually easier on the gut than other painkillers. You've taken that but it doesn't seem to be helping?

But get advice and medical help if this doesn't go away or gets worse etc.

[CockeyMoor]

I am suffering a bad bout of this at the moment. It has been on and off most mornings for well over two years. My average waking time is 4am-5am. Sometimes it has been as early as 1.30am. If I get to 7am I have had a rare lie in.

I did have Covid in Dec 2021 so it does make me wonder although I didn’t have any gastric symptoms at the time.

I have had a nervous breakdown in 2015 and was very unwell until 2019 and had none of this pain so it all seems so strange now that I suffer terribly as soon as I feel stressed. I have been ultra stressed in the last two years with a Mum in law who had Dementia/Alzheimers ( now passed away) and then my Mum being attention seeking. So I think that I do seem now very susceptible to stress making my tummy pain worse.

Over the last year or so I am working out that I can’t eat Onions, Tomatoes, Sweetcorn and possibly too much Red Meat and Synthetic Supermarket bread and pastry.

I am interested in trigger foods at the moment so if anyone else has found a “ safe” diet please could you share.

I seem to be okay on fish and chicken. Non spicy food . So sad because I love chilli etc..

After a bowel movement I get a lot of relief from the bad pain but then the dull ache in my back and abdomen lasts several hours. I always believed I was constipated but my stool is loose but just hard to pass without a suppository and it is a one off event each morning so not diarrhoea either.

Paracetamol, a hot water bottle and taking things as easy as possible in a morning are my only relief. The pain can last until mid-day. I also feel very short tempered due to the lack of sleep which no-one understands.

Can I ask if you find that the pain comes on worse after passing urine in the night and I sometimes I get a mild fever with it so it does seem there is some sort of inflammation/ infection on and off.

If the pain gets sharp on my left lower abdomen I end up having to take antibiotics for Diverticulitis but then I wonder what harm I am doing to my gut flora.

It helps hearing about others because at the back of our minds we are worried about cancer yet all tests come back with no sign of anything sinister.

Hope you can find a solution soon. Good luck .

[xjrs]

Sorry to hear what you are going through.

I have some general advice about what to try for IBS to help you manage it more long term in a previous post of mine:

healthunlocked.com/theibsne...

[OldTimer74]

Well, I am suffering more of late and I have been very anxious and the more anxious you are the worse it gets. It tends to be a returning circle.