[ramlita]

I've been miserable for days now- I hope someone has some experience or ideas to share!
I just wrote a long, long description of the pain and my history with it, and some computer glitch shut down my window.

I'll see if this can be a short story:

This has happened twice before, appearing quickly, then disappearing just as quickly, never spanning more than two days or keeping me from normal activities.

This time, it's much worse. It's a constant aching pain very low on my right side, starting below my ribs at the midline or so, extending forward onto the side of my now 38-week belly. When the baby kicks that spot (often) the pain is so intense, I have to gasp or yell, and my whole uterus clamps down painfully, and stays clamped down for 10, 20 minutes at a time. It also clamps down when I walk.

Lying down is very painful, and turning over or getting up is even worse.
It started (this time) Saturday morning, and by that night it was dominating my thoughts and actions. I slept poorly. Sunday, I kept as still as possible, and it wasn't bad, until I went to bed and found that I couldn't bear to lie down for long, and the twinge/contraction cycle kept me sitting upright, sobbing and yelling, most of the night. Exhausted and miserable, I got into my backup OB's office Monday morning.
He tested my urine (no urinary system infection)
Did an ultrasound (no placenta issues)
Ordered a CBC w/diff (all normal)
Monitored the baby for 15 min (active and happy!)
Decided it's just a ligament thing.

He gave me a prescription painkiller, and I was able to nap yesterday. That was a great relief. With all of this uterine activity, I've been terrified that I'd go into labor feeling already exhausted and sore and miserable. I hate taking any meds for any reason. I took one more before bed, and got a reasonable night's sleep. The twinges are still bad this morning, and between the pain/exhaustion and this heat wave, I'm feeling awful.

Any ideas for me? I feel like I've been in labor for three days, with nothing to show for it.

ETA:
my BP has stayed normal all along, always nineties over sixties
I've never had protein in my urine
I eat well, and feel fine other than this pain and what it does to me

 

[melos]

Hi, Ramlah. Did the OB say your platelets are okay? That kind of pain can be from HELLP syndrome - it would be your liver.

I'm certainly no expert, but the ladies on the preeclampsia.org board may be able to help you.

 

[zjande]

This is just a far out possibility, but has your dr. ruled out appendicitis? My appendicitis pain was horrific, & was all on the right side (I wasn't pg).

Good luck to you, I hope you find an answer to your mystery pain!

 

[thismama]

I was thinking pre-eclampsia too. Has the doc tested for it?

This doesn't sound just like regular aches and pains... I hope you find an answer, and some comfort, soon.

 

[veggielover]

Could it be your gallbladder??? I hope not...I am 35 weeks pregnant with gallbladder probs myself, and it is NOT fun. Maybe try doing a search on Google for "biliary colic" (gallbladder attacks) and see if this description fits what your'e going through. If you think it might be gallbladder related- Hot baths really help relieve the discomfort (they have been my best friend!) as well as laying on your right side during the bath and just in general (to help bile drain properly so stone will move on it's own). Also, try doing pelvic rocks when the pain comes on, sometimes it helps to move the baby off the sensitive spot. Please feel free to pm me if you have questions or want to talk more about relief measures. I've been dealing with gallstones/attacks since BEFORE I got pregnant, and have made it this far with no surgery!! I'll try my best to help!

 

[veggielover]

Here's a link on biliary colic: http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH...9339/9545.html

 

[mgmsmommy]

I was also going to ask if it could be your gallbladder, I started having attack w/ mine during my last pg & didn't know what they were, until they finally got so bad I could barely move when my dd was 9 mos. old & they had to remove it. I agree greatly w/ very warm baths to help w/ pains.

I hope they can figure out the source of your pain & relieve it.

 

[ramlita]

Thanks for the responses!
It means so much to get support from people with real life experience!
I feel awful for anyone who's gone through this, but would love to hear about how to get it over with!

Jamie:
Thanks for the link!
Gallstones would make sense in terms of the way this pain can come and go, but I haven't had any of the other symptoms they describe.
Heat does feel good, but lying or even leaning toward my right is excruciating.

Where exactly do you feel the pain? Mine is pretty low, a few fingerwidths below the last rib.
Good for you for getting this far without surgery! How often do you get the pain? How were you originally diagnosed?

Thismama and melos:
I've been thinking about pre-e, too! I had meant to ask for a liver panel Monday, but was too out of it from the pain and exhaustion- then never got around to calling the doc today! I was so glad to be able to nap, the day just slipped by. I did carefully re-read the whole Pre-E sticky in this forum, and I have NONE of the other symptoms- just this danged pain. It was a good reminder, though, to never assume you're immune... I'll give more blood first thing in the morning. I like my liver healthy and happy.

My platelets were normal at my last test, which happened after my last attack with this pain, but I'll also confirm with them that they were normal this time, too.

zjande:
DH spent some time online for me Saturday night, looking into appendicitis- it scared the daylights out of us! That sounds horrible!
My doc says that the pain would start, and continue to get worse until I got treated (or passed out or whatever

) instead of disappearing and reappearing the way this has. Also, a white blood cell count was part of the blood test they did yesterday, and they said they'd call if they were out of the ordinary.
That was the other reason I was going to call- I like to be sure about these things, and not completely rely on strangers to do everything they're supposed to, when it comes to serious health questions...

 

[gossamer]

Quote:

Thismama and melos: I've been thinking about pre-e, too! I had meant to ask for a liver panel Monday, but was too out of it from the pain and exhaustion- then never got around to calling the doc today! I was so glad to be able to nap, the day just slipped by. I did carefully re-read the whole Pre-E sticky in this forum, and I have NONE of the other symptoms- just this danged pain. It was a good reminder, though, to never assume you're immune... I'll give more blood first thing in the morning. I like my liver healthy and happy. My platelets were normal at my last test, which happened after my last attack with this pain, but I'll also confirm with them that they were normal this time, too

I just want to caution you to please get a liver panel done asap. I have a friend in my neonatal loss support group whose first symptom was liver pain and 5 hours later her baby had died and she was in the ICU in danger of losing her life. She had no symptoms of pre-eclampsia prior to her liver attack. Run, don't walk to your OB and demand a liver panel.
Gossamer

 

[Ravenmoon]

I had a very similar problem.Intense pain right under my ribs that kept me in pain for days.Come to find out i wasn't pooping enough( i only poohed small amounts and they were hard) and there was a blockage in my intestines.Which are very stretched out while pregnant so that is where the pain was.I took aloe and psyllium husks and cleared everything out and was fine after that.

 

[Maderella]

Hi there,

I think this thread may be of help to you http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ghlight=hernia

sounds like an umbilical hernia.

 

[zjande]

Oooh, I'm so glad your dh researched appendicitis for you. And I'm glad your signs aren't pointing to that! That would be a little, ahem, embarassing I guess to end up it just being that you really had to take a big POO like ravenmoon suggested, but hey, at least your horrible pain would be gone!!

:LOL

 

[ramlita]

:LOL Yeah, that would be embarassing, after all of my complaining!

But I've been having, um, very soft stools for the last few days, so that wouldn't seem to be it, either...

I went in and gave more blood for the liver panel this morning.

The pain is fading slowly. Right now it's the whole-body fatigue that getting me. Sunday night really kicked my butt.
I'm going out now to keep the acupuncture appointment I made last week when my back was sore... little did I know how simple my problems were then...
Then I'll get my DD back from my mom, and hopefully she'll be up for a nap with me:

 

[ramlita]

Update- (if only because I wish everyone would do updates when they start threads!

)

My backup OB called and went over all of my test results- everything completely normal! Though when I asked him if we had officially ruled out X,Y, and Z, (the list we've made on this thread) he admitted that we still can't be sure about the question of gallbladder issues, but said we'd have more luck checking that out after the baby is born.

The pain subsided quite gradually- the painkiller I took Monday and Tuesday helped me rest and break the pain cycle, then I saw my acupuncturist Wednesday, and she really helped the pain calm down, too. From her point of view, my pain could have simply come from a sort of overload of "damp heat" in my liver channel and my gallbladder channel, (which both pass right through the area where the pain was) created by pregnancy and the incredibly humid heatwave we had last week- and another weird minor health issue I won't go into.

So the heat wave broke, the soreness all over my body is fading finally, and I'm well rested! Bring on the baby!

Thanks for your help, everyone.

 

[koala3ers]

I AM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU FIND OUT

:

 

[ramlita]

Oh no!!

That was so miserable! How far along are you?
Have you ruled out everything on this thread?

HELLP syndrome, appendicitis, pre-eclampsia, gallbladder trouble, biliary colic, umbelical hernia, placental separation, liver failure... Have you read the Pre-eclampsia Watch Dog on the Loose thread, at the top of the pregnancy forum? It's so important to push to make sure your health care providers are taking you seriously.

One thing I left out on that list from this thread: bowel trouble. Which seems to be what my problem was.

I thought I had come back last year and updated again with the rest of the story:

Soon after that horrible attack which faded gradually, I started having that pain again. As with before, my BMs had been normal, if not slightly softer than usual, so it didn't seem like an obstruction or anything, but I realized that I had thought about trying some homeopathics and never got around to it.

So I took some Nux Vomica (30x, I think) and very soon after, had a substantial, very stinky BM and felt 100% better.

I sure hope you feel better soon! If you're not familiar with homeopathics, Nux Vomica is one of the most common, easy-to-find remedies. Any food coop or health food store should have it.
But please do rule out anything serious: many of the above issues can be life threatening.
Feel free to post any questions!

 

[ramlita]

koala3ers, how are you doing?
I've been wondering and worrying... please update when you get a chance.
Hope you're well.

 

[boscopup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramlita One thing I left out on that list from this thread: bowel trouble. Which seems to be what my problem was. I thought I had come back last year and updated again with the rest of the story:

Thanks for the info you posted! I've been getting this on rare occasions too, and last night was one of them. When I laid on my right side, I got that pain. I know mine is bowel issues because if I go pee or have a bm, or sometimes just pass gas, it usually feels better or completely goes away. Last night, it'd get a bit better after peeing, but I had to get up and hang out on my birth ball (passing gas occasionally

) to get things moving again before I could go back to bed. Ugh! Thankfully, I don't get this very often, but it is always in the right side where you described it.