Adhesions cause discomfort

April 16, 2012 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I am in my 40s and have had two c-sections. When I had my tubes tied, I was found to have a cyst the size of a grapefruit attached to my right ovary. I then had surgery (because a large incision was needed) to remove the cyst and the ovary. I also have had the Novasure procedure because of severe cramping during menstruation.

I continue to have cramping and have had abdominal ultrasounds, vaginal ultrasounds, a CT scan, and multiple trips to the emergency room. The final diagnosis was scar tissue. The ER doctor told me that he believes that the scar tissue has wrapped itself around my female organs and when I ovulate, it pulls and causes the pain. He said without doing exploratory surgery, he can’t be sure but surgery hasn’t been recommended because apparently, I produce scar tissue really well.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: ,

Teen needs diagnosis for abdominal pain

December 10, 2011 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: My 15-year-old daughter has always been very active in sports. Starting last year when she has done strenuous exercise such as running or playing basketball, she gets an extreme pain in her lower left abdomen. The pain is so bad she cannot continue to play. After she rests for approximately 10 minutes, the pain goes away but will return as soon as she starts exercising again. She has had two ultrasounds and has had exams from our family doctor, an OB-GYN and a surgeon. None of them has been able to make a diagnosis. We are not even sure where to go next. This is very frustrating to my daughter because she enjoys sports but is now unable to participate.

DEAR READER: If a family physician, OB-GYN and surgeon have been unable to make a diagnosis, I don’t know if I can offer much additional advice but I will try.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: , ,

Teen experiences persistent pain and vomiting

January 1, 2011 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I have been ill for quite some time, and no one seems able to help me. It’s frustrating that I go to all these specialists and they will give me answers like “I couldn’t find anything, therefore you’re fine and should go to school.” I am 18 now, but when I was 13, I had my gallbladder removed because it was functioning at 13 percent. I have been ill ever since. Also, when I was 5, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I have a chromic problem of vomiting almost daily and, on bad days, several times a day. As of last spring, I have had a terrible pain that accompanies the illness and is enough to cripple me.

My doctors are at a loss and are now guessing at what it is. One doctor diagnosed me with GERD, another with IBS, and a third told me there was nothing wrong me with. I have been put on all sorts of medications, and nothing works or even helps with the symptoms.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: , , , ,

PADS may be cause of chronic abdominal pain

December 28, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: Like the 15-year-old described in the letter you published, my 14-year-old daughter suffered with chronic abdominal pain and nausea for nearly a year. We took her to three gastroenterologists, subjected her to every test known to man, and ended up having her gallbladder removed — an unnecessary surgery, as it turned out. The doctors speculated that she had one of the many gastro disorders you mentioned, but when none was identified and none of the dozen or so drugs they tried worked, they basically gave up on us.

Finally, one wonderful doctor referred us to a specialist at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, La. He is a pioneer and specialist in pain-associated disability syndrome, or PADS. It is essentially a disability in which the brain creates a mountain out of a molehill, making a little pain or digestive distress into something much worse.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: , , ,

Chronic abdominal pain revisited

December 22, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: In your article about abdominal pain, I think you might have missed a likely possibility: gallbladder disease.

I suffered from this for years, and no doctor took me seriously because I didn’t have gallstones. When I finally had my gallbladder removed, I didn’t have any more pain. Estrogen is known to irritate the gallbladder, and a 15-year-old has considerable estrogen in her body.

DEAR READER: Gallbladder disease is another cause of abdominal pain. The pain is typically on the upper right side of the abdomen and may worsen after eating, especially fatty foods. Nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite may also be present.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: , ,

Food allergies linked to abdominal pain

December 22, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: Your article about the undiagnosed stomach problems sounded exactly like my niece. She suffered for several years until she saw an allergist, who found that she had many food allergies. As long as she avoids those foods, she is pain-free.

DEAR READER: I received three other letters similar to yours. Two of those also mentioned H. Pylori, along with the food allergies and sensitivities.

H. Pylori is a common type of bacteria thought to be present in about half of the world’s population. Most people do not exhibit symptoms, nor do they experience any complications; however, for others, it can lead to potentially serious problems.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column Tagged With: , , ,

Celiac disease may cause abdominal pain

December 14, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: This is in regard to your article about the 15-year-old with chronic abdominal pain. Why didn’t you think of celiac disease? My granddaughter was diagnosed at age 6 after developing severe abdominal pain. She managed her celiac and is doing very well on a gluten-free diet.

DEAR READER: Your letter is just one of many I have received about this young girl’s problem.

Celiac disease (also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue and gluten-sensitive enteropathy) is a digestive disorder. These people cannot tolerate the protein gluten, which is found in wheat, rye and barley. These grains are present in many foods, even some nonfood items, such as vitamins and medications.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Surgery may be best for teen with Crohn’s

December 12, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: My 19-year-old grandson was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease two years ago. At that time, he was a 234-pound linebacker entering his senior year of high school. Now he is a 174-pound 19-year-old struggling with life in general and would easily pass for 40. He has practically missed two years of his life due to extreme pain, which resulted in hospital trips and everything else associated with this condition.

He has taken every medication I can imagine, including Humira injections into his stomach. At present, he is taking hyoscyamine and Apriso plus pain medication when it gets too severe. He has a colonoscopy every year. When he has one of these “attacks,” the pain is so severe that he gets in a fetal position and can barely walk. He has been to the hospital at least 15 times in the past two years. He recently went twice in one week and before that, in just a three-month span, he went seven times.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: , , , ,

15-year-old suffers chronic pain

November 12, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: My 15-year-old daughter has been suffering from chronic abdominal pain for about a year. She has had multiple blood tests to rule out diabetes, Crohn’s disease, ulcers and a host of other possibilities. She has also had a barium X-ray and an upper endoscopy. The only result has been that she does have mild damage to her esophagus from acid reflux, along with some minor isolated areas of swelling in her stomach lining. She’s otherwise healthy, physically fit and an excellent student with many friends.

Her only complaint is the nonstop abdominal pain. She’s currently taking 300 milligrams of gabapentin three times a day and 20 milligrams of omeprazole twice a day. She says the only difference she notices is that when the pain is really bad, the gabapentin gets her back to base quickly, but she doesn’t get any better.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column Tagged With: , ,

Is catheter the culprit?

June 29, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I had gynecology surgery in December 2009 because I was having heavy menstrual cycles. An ultrasound showed a buildup of the uterine lining, so my gynecologist performed a D&C and a colposcopy, and biopsied a few spots. All the results were normal.

After the surgery, I was able to urinate a few times a day but retained two pounds of fluid for two days. On the third day after the surgery, I was finally able to eliminate all of the retained fluid and I urinated every 20 minutes all day long. Since then, I have noticed that my urine stream is weak. It has been five months since the surgery, and lately, when my bladder is full in the morning, I am not able to empty it fast enough, and it causes pelvic pressure and pain and sometimes cramping until it slowly empties. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Column, Leading Letter Tagged With: , , ,
« Older Posts