About two weeks ago a dull pain started suddenly in my lower back on the right side. It was just an uncomfortable pain, just enough to be noticed. I was nervous because my father has a history of kidney stones, I'm 24, and I'm on a medication (Topomax) that makes me likely to get them. However I did not have any blood in my urine, my back was not tender to touch, there was no pain urinating, and the pain was not getting any worse. The day after the pain started, it began spreading into my buttox and down my whole right leg. I was walking through the grocery store and there were times it felt like I had to drag my leg. That, thankfully only lasted that day. My right leg and buttox still hurt and ache off and on (especially at my knee, ankle, and lower thigh), but that "dead leg" feeling has subsided substantially.
I got an appointment with my family doctor about a week after it started and the conclusion was made that I had irritated a nerve in my back, possibly the sciatic. There were still no tender spots, no abdominal pain, no painful urination, no blood in the urine, etc. They had no explanation for why I had been nauseous for over a week other than my birth control or period may be due. That night I went home and started having upper abdominal pain on the right side. It would come and go, but the nausea would increase when it came. I had little appetite but was forcing myself to eat. Water seemed to be the only thing that would calm the nausea. Also, I was getting more intense pain in my lower back on the right side and also in my lower right abdomen. I had been perscribed naproxen sodium for my back pain, but that wasn't helping any of it. I suffered through the weekend and went back to the doctor on Monday.
This time they told me that it was possible that there was a problem with my gallbladder. The area where I was getting pain in my upper abdomen was a little tender, but it didn't really hurt when they pressed on it. I told them it hurt to press it when it was already hurting. They found a tender spot on my right side, which they said suggested I could have a kidney stone or a kidney infection, but that it was possible that it could be both or all three problems. They felt my leg pain was a separate issue. They scheduled me for an ultrasound at the end of the week and had me do a urinalysis. At this point, I was still not having the frequent or painful urination, blood in the urine, bladder pain, etc that they kept asking me about. They told me to go to the ER if my temp hit 100.5 or if I was in the worst pain of my life. My temp was at 99.9 when I got to the office, but I woke up displaying cold symptoms (headache, coughing, stuffy nose, fatigue), so they just sent me home.
Now, four days later, I am urinating a little more frequently, but I am also really pushing fluids. I am having occasional pain in my bladder area. I am now getting pain in my left side and back. The pain in general is getting a little worse and I'm getting chills but no significant fever. I got a call from the doctor today saying that the urinalysis came back clear. They didn't find anything and had no explanation for me as to why I am in so much pain. I don't know if a clear urinalysis means there could still be stones, but they didn't even ask me to come back in. They didn't say anything. I'm still having the ultrasound done tomorrow, but I don't know if they'll check my kidneys (it's an abdominal). Will stones show up in an ultrasound? I have a problem with complex ovarian cysts, but they've always been on the smaller side and only on my ovaries. I've considered just going to the emergency room, but the pain is bearable and I'm not running high fevers (my temp is either 97 or a lowgrade fever 99.9). I just don't know what to do.