I have been living with chronic, debilitating pain for three years now without a diagnosis. Pain was mostly centralized in my left flank for over a year. I would experience frequent muscle cramps and spasms in my side, abdomen, and lower back. The pain and spasms are generally triggered by movement.
After a year and a half of dealing with this pain on my left side, the same symptoms began happening on the right side of my body while completely disappearing from my left. Since then, my pain has alternated between left and right. The pain is absolutely unbearable. Some days I cannot even walk without triggering intense flank spasms and abdominal cramps. The pain has even woken me up from my sleep on numerous occasions.
Some other symptoms that I frequently experience are night sweats, irritable bowel symptoms (such as the inability to have a solid bowel movement, loose "fluffy" stool, and also constipation), pain in the middle of my back, burning sensation between my shoulder blades, stuff neck, on and off sciatic nerve pain, dull ache in groin, and my newest symptom is a pulsing/throbbing pain in my lower right abdomen next to my belly button.
A history of my medical testing includes dozens of X-rays performed within the last three years. Orthopedist found no clear suggestion of a bulging or slipped disc to be present. Back when my pain was consistently on my left over the course of a year and a half I had three CT scans done. It was determined that I had kidney stones in my left kidney and that my pain was being caused when I was passing them, outside of that no abnormalities were found in my scans. I have seen two urologists since the discovery of these stones and was dismissed by both. They claimed my symptoms are not consistent with kidney stone pain. I pursued the help of a GI doctor and had some blood work ran. Due to my gastro-related issues and a high CRP count on my lab work, the GI felt it was possible that I had and IBD such as Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis. A colonoscopy was performed but no abnormalities were found. I pursued a urinary analysis to check for possible upper UTI or kidney infection and the results came back negative.
I am 26yrs old, 215lbs, and 6'0, but have been dealing with this condition since I was 23. I smoke about 1/3 a pack a day of menthol cigarettes, and have about 2-4 alcoholic beverages a night. I have had an ibuprofen abuse problem ever since high school to dull my sciatic nerve pain so I could play sports. For the last 7-8yrs I have taken upwards of 1,600mg of ibuprofen 4-7 days a week depending on the severity of my pain. Once I became of legal age to drink, I began consuming alcohol while still taking high amounts of ibuprofen. I feel I should mention my ibuprofen abuse in case it helps aid in a proper diagnosis.
This condition has completely invaded my life. I have been out of work on medical leave for over three months now. I am completely bed ridden some days, being unable to move without having intense and terrible flank spasms. It has put me in the ER three times in the last three years because the pain was so unbearable. I am unable to play sports, or do simple tasks like walk or run. Subtle movements like stepping in and out of the tub, getting in and out of the car, or even turning around to wipe my rear after using the restroom can all trigger excruciating muscle spasms in my flank, abdomen, and back. I sometimes even experience this pain while having sex. I've seen so many specialists and had so many tests ran without any conclusive findings to help with a diagnosis. It has completely taken over my life. Anyone have any ideas?