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Thread: Advice regarding side pains/aches

  1. #1

    Advice regarding side pains/aches

    Hello,
    I've suffered from health anxiety for some time now and, compared to how I was a year or so ago, I am in a much better place. I've learnt that Dr Google is the worst doctor out there, that anxiety can cause more or less any physical/mental bodily sensation (in times of extreme stress, my eyesight has even gotten worse; that was freaky!) and that the best way to manage HA is with a calm mind, regular body movement and healthy diet. I lost at least 12 months of my life panicking from bowel cancer after I self-diagnosed myself from a funny looking stool back in November 2018. I'm more or less over this fear now, I think. If I did have bowel cancer, I would almost certainly know about it by now! Numerous doctor visits, blood and faeces tests revealed IBS. All that said, there is something that has bothered for around 18 months now, and it is a persistant, dull ache in my right side.

    The pain or ache itself is difficult to describe. It's somewhere between an ache and a squeeze and I can't pinpoint the location. It's sort of focused around where my ribs are on my right flank, and can radiate up or down slightly. Find the space between your ribs and hips; it often feels like it's there as well. Twisting, poking or prodding doesn't really hurt any extra, but there have been times when I stretch in a particular way and I get a sharp, lasting, sore muscle type pain. Some days are worse than others. Some days the "squeeze" sensation makes me feel nauseus, but I've never come close to vomiting. Other days it's a minor, barely noticable irritation. But it's always there in some form. I've seen a doctor and they say it must be muscular; nothing else can cause this type of thing. Because this started around the time I diagnosed myself with bowel cancer, I've inextricably linked the two. This muscle pain must be caused by a growing tumour in my body. Or perhaps it's kidney cancer, or something else outrageous.

    Does this sound familiar to anybody? I've recently moved countries and I want to see another doctor and maybe a physio to get to the bottom of this. Can poor posture, health anxiety or something benign cause something to last this long?

    Very grateful for any help and kind regards.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    162

    Re: Advice regarding side pains/aches

    Not much to offer other than to say I think I have something which sounds very similar. The pain is not consistent. Sometimes I'm aware of it if I turn over in bed. Sometimes it's more in my back. Seems to move around a bit but is mainly on the right side. I'm sure mine started after a friend suggested Pancreatic cancer starts with a stitch like feeling in the side........

  3. #3

    Re: Advice regarding side pains/aches

    Quote Originally Posted by Nicole0134 View Post
    Not much to offer other than to say I think I have something which sounds very similar. The pain is not consistent. Sometimes I'm aware of it if I turn over in bed. Sometimes it's more in my back. Seems to move around a bit but is mainly on the right side. I'm sure mine started after a friend suggested Pancreatic cancer starts with a stitch like feeling in the side........
    Great... just what I wanted to hear. I suppose the good news is, I've had this feeling so long now that if it were pancreatic cancer, I would probably have died by now. Have you seen a doctor about it?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    162

    Re: Advice regarding side pains/aches

    Oh no! I didn't want to worry you! I was just demonstrating how ridiculous HA is. If I talk to someone else with pins and needles....I'll get that next and be convinced I have MS! I've read in the news about a poor actor who's died of colon cancer ....so I think maybe it's that. And so it goes on. It's just the nature of the beast that is health anxiety.

    I did have a gnawing pain in my right side a few years ago tbh....Saw a doctor multiple times, ended up having a CT scan. Nothing found. Pain went away. This pain is similar. But moves around all over the place. And can sometimes be sharp. And then nothing. I suspect it's muscular.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    109

    Re: Advice regarding side pains/aches

    I am having a really bad time with this exact thing too. The OP said they had linked it to BC....I have linked mine to a benign tumour I had removed from my adrenal gland on the other side of my torso. Almost certain the sensation is nothing like the pain I felt or in the same spot the original problem was (not that I remember where the pain was anyway!!!). I know the adrenal gland isn’t in this spot because I googled it...yet I’ve still been convinced for days(and still feel) like I have a real problem. I keep reading that anxiety causes all sorts of physical sensations. I hope so. I’ve also read a few posts that say aches and pains to the side and under the rib cage are common. I hope that’s true too.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    162

    Re: Advice regarding side pains/aches

    Hi all, I too have this right side abdominal pain, affecting right flank, running across tummy just above hip and also at times comes as lower right back pain. In fact I could have written almost the exact same post as the start of this thread. All of my pain is on my right side and it all started in September.

    I have seen a doctor who examined tummy and abdomen and could not feel anything and it did not hurt particularly when she pressed. I have had clear bloods back and the pain I thought had started to ease a little although it never went. I think maybe I have just been reassured by bloods and so I was less focussed on it? However the last 3 days it has been back with avengence! Yesterday mostly my lower back hurt but today definitely hip and right abdomen towards belly button. It varies from dull ache, prickly skin, shooting twinges but is always there. I feel like I want to keep rubbing it.

    I am coping pretty well for me, but today I decided that I am probably avoiding dealing with it by telling myself I will give it a few more weeks in case muscular but today with it getting worse not better I decided to face it properly and called dr to get appt to find next step (presumably a scan), I did this only to find after psyching myself up that the surgery was closed for training. Will have to try again tomorrow.

    In the meantime I have found your posts whilst looking for posts on muscle pain as part of me thinks it is that, but I also think it is weird that it seemed to be getting better but has got worse again. It has also been ongoing now for almost 2 months! Can I ask how you are all doing. Do you still have this pain and did you find the underlying cause?

    Thanks
    Love flump xx
    Last edited by flumpkin; 19-11-20 at 00:49.

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