Hi everyone. I haven't been able to find much info about LC and am curious if anyone experienced symptoms similar to mine prior to their diagnosis.
About a year ago, I started experiencing persistent diffuse right-sided abdominal pain (both LRQ and below the right rib cage which sometimes extended to flank or back), a lot of nausea, weight loss, fatigue and extensive food intolerances. In June 2012, I had an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. UE showed hiatal hernia and mild gastritis. According to GI doc, colonoscopy showed microscopic cellular changes that - in the context of complaints of chronic watery diarrhea - would warrant a diagnosis of lymphocytic colitis. However, I have not had chronic watery diarrhea. In fact, I was diagnosed with IBS - Constipation when I was 16.
More recently, my bowels have become more unpredictable and my bowel movements more varied. Over the past 9 months I've had about 10 episodes of sudden violent diarrhea, almost all occurring in the middle of the night. I'll be awakened by severe right sided abdominal pain, then I'll literally feel like a "pop" in my right abdomen and then it's a race to get to the bathroom. It's insane. But other than that, no diarrhea. So the doctor said we're going to put these results on the back burner for now unless and until my symptoms change. He said the results of the biopsy may indicate that I *will* develop LC at some point, but there's no way to know.
I still get intermittent right-sided abdominal pain that I'm perplexed about. Doc thought it might be my gallbladder, but HIDA scan was normal as have been blood tests for liver, pancreas, spleen, kidneys etc. Over the past couple of days I've had this dull pain (sometimes burning) in my upper/mid right abdomen again (also felt in various spots along my back) and I'm wondering if it's my colon? I've been gluten and soy free for a year, limit my dairy to a bit of jarlsberg or goat cheese, and eat mostly organic, so my diet is pretty decent (though there's still room for improvement). I also walk for 60-90 mins/day and try to do yoga regularly which definitely helps. My brother thinks my healthy lifestyle is the reason I don't have watery diarrhea. But I'm also under a ton of stress and my hiatal hernia has been causing me severe GERD out of the blue, so who knows.
I will also mention that in conjunction with these GI issues, I also developed some unexplained joint swelling (manubriosternal and sternoclavicular joints - appeared to be cartilage inflammation, as well as one episode of swollen index finger joints). Was concerned there might be something autoimmune going on (Rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis in the family), and I've read LC is thought to possibly be autoimmune, so I was wondering if the co-occurrence of these symptoms might be related. All bloodwork for autoimmune and Lyme have been normal to-date.
Anyway, I guess I'm wondering whether anyone with LC experiences right-sided abdominal/back pain, and whether anyone with LC DOESN'T have watery diarrhea?
Thanks!
About a year ago, I started experiencing persistent diffuse right-sided abdominal pain (both LRQ and below the right rib cage which sometimes extended to flank or back), a lot of nausea, weight loss, fatigue and extensive food intolerances. In June 2012, I had an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. UE showed hiatal hernia and mild gastritis. According to GI doc, colonoscopy showed microscopic cellular changes that - in the context of complaints of chronic watery diarrhea - would warrant a diagnosis of lymphocytic colitis. However, I have not had chronic watery diarrhea. In fact, I was diagnosed with IBS - Constipation when I was 16.
More recently, my bowels have become more unpredictable and my bowel movements more varied. Over the past 9 months I've had about 10 episodes of sudden violent diarrhea, almost all occurring in the middle of the night. I'll be awakened by severe right sided abdominal pain, then I'll literally feel like a "pop" in my right abdomen and then it's a race to get to the bathroom. It's insane. But other than that, no diarrhea. So the doctor said we're going to put these results on the back burner for now unless and until my symptoms change. He said the results of the biopsy may indicate that I *will* develop LC at some point, but there's no way to know.
I still get intermittent right-sided abdominal pain that I'm perplexed about. Doc thought it might be my gallbladder, but HIDA scan was normal as have been blood tests for liver, pancreas, spleen, kidneys etc. Over the past couple of days I've had this dull pain (sometimes burning) in my upper/mid right abdomen again (also felt in various spots along my back) and I'm wondering if it's my colon? I've been gluten and soy free for a year, limit my dairy to a bit of jarlsberg or goat cheese, and eat mostly organic, so my diet is pretty decent (though there's still room for improvement). I also walk for 60-90 mins/day and try to do yoga regularly which definitely helps. My brother thinks my healthy lifestyle is the reason I don't have watery diarrhea. But I'm also under a ton of stress and my hiatal hernia has been causing me severe GERD out of the blue, so who knows.
I will also mention that in conjunction with these GI issues, I also developed some unexplained joint swelling (manubriosternal and sternoclavicular joints - appeared to be cartilage inflammation, as well as one episode of swollen index finger joints). Was concerned there might be something autoimmune going on (Rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis in the family), and I've read LC is thought to possibly be autoimmune, so I was wondering if the co-occurrence of these symptoms might be related. All bloodwork for autoimmune and Lyme have been normal to-date.
Anyway, I guess I'm wondering whether anyone with LC experiences right-sided abdominal/back pain, and whether anyone with LC DOESN'T have watery diarrhea?
Thanks!