In a big rut over abdominal and back pain that’s getting worse

[jojo2316]

Well all in all it sounds good? Anything major with your lungs would’ve shown up on the X-ray.... when do you get your Ct?
Xx

[Hypomania]

Got results today and X-ray was fine but bloods showed high ESR at 35 (inflammatory marker), all other levels fine including blood sugar. My back and shoulder are hurting so much and I’m convinced my eyes are slightly yellow in the corners. I didn’t mention that to dr though as thought jaundice would show in bloods.

Jaundice does show up in blood work. You would have an elevated bilirubin level. Without an elevated bilirubin level on your blood test, it's impossible to be jaundiced.

[behappy]

A lot of people have a little yellow on the extremities of their eyes so that is normal. I was convinced I had jaundice because of pancreas and that was not true. You would know if you have jaundice.

[Aussie11]

Thanks for the replies. I will stop checking my eyes!

Had the CT scan of chest today, so my dr should have result from that and updated bloods tomorrow. I’m not due to speak to her until next Wednesday so I’ll be nervous seeing if she calls tomorrow but equally on edge if she doesn’t as just want to know!

I also have my endoscopy tomorrow although I’ve been slightly less concerned about that but we will see. It’s the suspected lung pleurisy thing and the raised ESR which is stressing me out the most right now.

Anyone had high ESR and low CRP before and it been just inflammatory or something minor??

[jojo2316]

I think I have. I have a feeling the doctor explained one goes up and down quickly and the other one slowly, and that it wasn’t too much of a concern.... but I am wracking my brain!
What has your doctor said to you about it?

[Aussie11]

The doctor said something similar about one going up slower etc. but I was too stressed to take it in!

I'm in such a state that I'd love to go back to my Dr tomorrow to tell her how anxious I am about this, but I've got my endoscopy so I need to just get that over and done with first. I just feel so detached from my husband and my young son and want to feel normal again.

[jojo2316]

Believe me, I know JUST how you are feeling. Life on pause, detached etc etc. It’s awful but it WILL pass.
So I have a feeling that raised Esr but low crp is actually less worrying- because if there is a sinister “long term” cause of inflammation then both are raised. Again my medical knowledge is sketchy but I think that’s what the dr told me when I had it.... (I was panicking of course!!)
Perhaps you should go back to your dr and tell her how anxious you are. She should know that. And one more thing. Chest CT scans are VERY sensitive- it is not uncommon for them to show nodules and benign inflammatory changes (I know from bitter experience, hahah); so don’t do what I did and fly into a tail spin if little things like that show up....
Good luck today.
Xxx

[Aussie11]

Thank you JoJo for the encouraging reply!

Had my endoscopy today and although I need to wait for the biopsy results, the specialist saw me briefly afterwards and said all looked ok and I can see from report that there was nothing wrong that he could see. So that's the stomach area hopefully ruled out in all of this. Specialist also accessed my chest CT result from yesterday as I told him that I'd had that done (it was in same hospital the endoscopy was in). I was pretty sleepy when he was talking to me afterwards, but he said something like the chest CT didn't have anything to worry about. I'll get the official result on that from my GP next week, along with the most up to date blood tests which re-tested ESR, CRP and also autoimmune markers. Hopefully that's the lungs/chest area ruled out as well.

The back pain is getting worse unfortunately but if I've got something inflammatory going on I guess it will be.

Also I've still got the toe thing going on (toes turned white this week and are fairly constantly like that since), very random and not sure if that's linked to the inflammation thing.

Will wait until next week to see what Dr suggests next! Now to get through the weekend without worrying and constantly linking everything back to the pancreas (or some other thing that has got into my spine!!)

[jojo2316]

I think that all sounds very good! It is so unlikely to be your pancreas. Anyway, and ask your dr if this is right, I expect some of the pancreas can be seen in a chest CT (since it sits right up against it...) But talk to your dr again about your worries - hopefully she can do something to make it better.

[Aussie11]

I went back to my doctor on the weekend as I was able to get in to see her and have been going mad with anxiety over this. She confirmed the chest CT was all fine (I forgot to ask her whether pancreas would show on that), and also my ESR marker is back down to 7 which hopefully is a good sign (although I'm not sure whether it really means there's nothing bad going on, but it did make me feel better!)

She referred me on to a General Physician, some senior consultant who is apparently very good at getting to the bottom of things. She said that she isn't sure what is going on but is sure it's going to be something autoimmune/inflammatory. This makes sense from the perspective that I seem to have similar 'flare ups' every couple of years, however I still don't understand why it would present itself in such a particular area in my left side, ribs/back etc. and not just be all over my body. Fortunately I am able to get in to see this consultant tomorrow morning. I'm going to just put it all out there as to what I'm concerned about, figure it doesn't matter if he thinks I'm a bit mad.

I've been talking to my mum and my husband about it, but neither of them can understand that when I'm in one of these states I can't just snap out of it. Mum says that I need to focus on other things and just see if things get worse before panicking, but unfortunately my mind doesn't work like that. I need to get the reassurance I need and then I can work on reducing the anxiety and move on. I can often go about 2 years without having a rut like this, but have only ever got out of it by getting the reassurance I need first.