16 year old... Constant pain.

Hi, this is my first time posting on this website though ive been following it for a while. I'm 16 years old and will soon be a senior in high school... Yeah i know im kinda young. I was diagnosed by my second GI (the first didn't help at all) in early fall of last year. Since then my GI has given me countless numbers of different medications to try because of my continuous going in and out of pain in my upper abdomin. I hear thats a little strange, for the pain to be in my upper abdomin, but i'm not sure. I don't have too many issues bathroom wise, just a lot of pain and gas.
Four days ago, i woke up with extreme pain in my upper abdomin and lower hip, i went to my OB GYN and they did an ultrasound, finding a cyst on one of my ovaries. But they also thought they saw what was heavy inflammation(not surprising i suppose) or something wrong with my appendix. They sent what they found to my GI and he has schedualled me for two scoping procedurs in TWO weeks. Its been 4 days now and i can hardly stand, sit, or lay down even without wanting to scream out from pain. Its the worst experience and it's never been this constant before.
Is something seriously wrong or is this normal sometimes? Right now im taking 4 different meds for crohns, and pain meds every 6 hours.
Im scared and I don't know whether something is seriously wrong or whether this is just something that happens with crohns. It's okay if no one knows. But i thought id try.

Welcome Courtneylynn
Sorry you are in so much pain right now. What meds are you on? It may be they are not working well enough to control your crohn's which is why your GI wants to do scopes to see what is going on.
If your pain is really bad make sure you are letting your parents know although nobody ever really wants to go sometimes a trip to the emergency room is in order.
My son will be 14 next month and he has been on the floor curled into a ball crying before we were able to get his Crohn's under control. They could also call the GI and explain how much pain you are in and possible get the scopes moved up.
Sometimes a heating pad can help and give some comfort. I'm sure some others who are much more knowledgable will be along soon to offer advice. Hope you feel better soon and please keep us updated on how things go

Hi Courtneylynn and :welcome:

Is the area around your appendix, the ileocaecal region, where your disease has always been located?

I have two children with Crohn's and that is where their disease located. My daughter, before diagnosis, always had pain in her upper abdomen and nowhere else and yet her Crohn's is in her ileum so it is possible to not have disease where you are feeling the pain. Without overwhelming you it is also possible that EIM's (Extra Intestinal Manifestations) can come into play here too, so what that means is the inflammation in your bowel can cause other areas outside of the bowel to become inflamed too. In my daughter's case it was her pancreas and I do believe that is what caused a lot of her upper abdominal pain.

if your disease is not controlled, and yours sounds as if it isn't, you can develop complications and those complications can cause the type of symptoms you are describing. That level of pain and the effect it is having on you is not normal and you really need to have it checked out now. As Jm has said, a trip to the ER sounds like it is in order.

I don't wish to alarm you and this may not be the case with you but both of my children have had episodes of the type of pain you are describing and each time it has happened they have needed to be hospitalised for complications. It is far better to err to caution and have it checked out.

Ensure you have bloods done that check your white cell count (that will show infection) and your ESR & CRP (they are inflammatory markers).

I hope you are checked out soon and have some solid answers and relief from the pain you are experiencing. Good luck and let us know know how you get on!

Dusty. xxx

Courtney,

I agree, it is best to go to the ER and get things checked right away. No one knows what is causing such extreme pain without looking. Is is after you use the toilet that is it hurts? do you have any bleeding?

Hi Courtneylynn,
Just wondering if you are still having the same pain?
The pain you are describing is similar to the pain I had when my appendix was taken out. Mind you it was over 20 years ago, but I remember the pain starting upper middle abdomen then moving to the lower right abdominal quadrant (kinda above the hip like you say). Is your pain on the right side now? If so I would get it checked out just to be sure!
All the best!

smallfry said:

Hi Courtneylynn,
Just wondering if you are still having the same pain?
The pain you are describing is similar to the pain I had when my appendix was taken out. Mind you it was over 20 years ago, but I remember the pain starting upper middle abdomen then moving to the lower right abdominal quadrant (kinda above the hip like you say). Is your pain on the right side now? If so I would get it checked out just to be sure!
All the best!

Click to expand...

I've had similar pain when obstructed. In fact, the first time it happened, the ER doc said, after CT scan," Well, surprised me, I thought we'd be taking out your appendix, but you've got a small bowel obstruction!"

While it doesn't seem to be uncommon to have some pain with IBD, if it's got you to the point where you can't act normally due to the pain, a trip to the ER is definitely on order. You really need to get it checked out. Worst case, they find nothing but can administer some IV pain medication to get the pain under control. That alone can make a huge difference, and then it can be controlled by medications or other means.

Thanks so much for the advice, I haven't gone to the ER yet but my GI has prescribed me heavy pain meds. I'm taking Asacol, some anti-spasms and some anti-acids, and another one i'm unsure of the name at the moment. The new pain medicine helps i think, but even then the pain still seems to come through. Its always worse standing or walking around. I'm hoping the GI will figure something out because I'm calling them today.. And I start a new job next week :/. I don't want this to affect that but if I can't hardly stand it might.
(Btw thanks for all the concerns!)

And no, no bleeding in the bathroom or anything like that. And I don't have any vomiting or fever that supposidly is supposed to come with appendicisitis. Just a lot and a lot of pain.