What a stinky day.

tara g

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So I got to work at 7am, and suddenly had this horrible pain in my right side. I figured it'd go away - sometimes I get a pain for a little while (hour or so), and it disappears.

Not today. I spent my 8+ hours at work with this stabbing pain in the center of my right side. If I pushed on it, it hurt. If I bent down, it hurt. If I moved a certain way, oh jeez. I was sort of limping around because at some points I couldn't stand straight. At 11am Rob had suggested I leave and go to the doctor, but I didn't have any other symptoms so I decided to tough it out at work until I hit my 8 for the day.

After I left, I went to the Doctor's Care about a mile or two from where I work - they wouldn't look up my insurance (left my card in my other wallet), and wouldn't accept it if I got my policy number from my job. They wanted the card. Without it, the office visit would be $95 + whatever tests and Xrays they took. I said forget it, I'd drive back to Summerville, get my insurance card, and go to the one there.

Got there and waited over an hour! There were only 2 other people in the waiting room!!!! I never have luck going there ... when Rob had lyme disease, we were there for 3.5 hours total - waited in the waiting room for 2 of those. Finally, they charged me $25 for the office visit (thank you, health insurance, for shaving $70 off that). Spent MORE time waiting in the exam room.

They ended up prodding me, pushing on me, stretching my legs around ... then had me pee in a cup. THEN they decided to take some blood. Now, I'm not afraid of needles... I have 14 piercings and 5 tattoos ... I've never donated blood (don't weigh enough), but I've had blood taken for tests 3 or 4 times now - no problem. This girl stabbed the SIDE of my elbow looking for a vein! You could obviously see there WASN'T one there. Then she stuck the needle in FURTHER. Ok, that hurt. Then she's like "oh you don't have veins..." (What? EVERYONE has veins..) She went to the next arm and about jammed that needle in there ... and twisted. Well, she got blood that time. And I bled more on that cotton ball than I ever have before. It's got a nasty purple bruise around it now too.

They said it didn't seem like appendicitis because 1. it's higher up than a normal appendix; 2. the white blood count was normal; 3. I dont have fever, nausea, etc. They took Xrays to see if it was a kidney stone. Nope - nothing there either. They decided to treat it as early stages of a UTI - but so far it is nothing like the last time I had one. That time, my back and neck ached so bad, I had chills, and it was a sudden onset of pain and hurt to pee. I dont have any of that right now, just a horrible stabbing pain in my side! They put me on antibiotics for the UTI just in case, and told me if anything gets worse, to go to the ER (Great).

I havent done anything to strain it yesterday or today. I have NO idea what my deal is! It seems like a muscle strain to me though, only because of how it hurts so much when I move certain ways, bending over, straightening out, touching/pressing on it, etc.

*Sigh* On top of it, we were supposed to meet with our homebuilders tonight to talk about the porch, and a carport, and finish pricing/spec'ing out our house. But the meeting was at 6pm, I didn't leave Doctor's Care until 7! And poor Rob was stuck in North Charleston (25 miles away) waiting for me - since we carpool to/from work - until 7:30pm.

So poo! I just needed to vent about my crappy day so far, and this insane sharp, unknown pain coming from my right side! Maybe a nice hot shower will be relaxing.
 

kluchetta

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Aw, that's horrible! It's bad enough feeling bad without the doctors making it WORSE!!! I had a really bad pain there once, more in the front middle right, and it was an ulcer.
 

skyecat0117

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Sorry to hear about your day. This whole week seems to not be going well for lots of people. C'mon Friday you're only 2 days away.
 

natalie_ca

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Back when I was a teenager I was getting excrutiating lower right side pain. I had tests for Appendicitis more times than I care to think about. There were times I would be doubled over in a fetal position because of the pain.

Now obviously you don't walk around with accute appendicitis for 4 years without it busting and killing you!


When I was 19 I moved up to the northern part of Manitoba, and about a year or so after that I had one of those "appendix attacks" and was taken to the hospital. I told the doctor there that I had so many tests for appendicitis over the years because of this pain.

The first thing he did was take a lower back xray.

Turns out that I have a mild form of spina bifoda, called oculata. It's a benign form of the birth defect. For the majority of people with spina bifida occulta it is a minor fault involving one vertebra in the lower back and is of no real consequence for the person or their children.

However, for a small number of people, like myself, the fault is more extensive. Either the split in the spine is bigger, or may involve two or more vertebrae. For me it involves the last 4 vertebrae in my spine. There may be visible signs on the skin such as a mole or birthmark, a dimple (I have that) or a hole, or a patch of hair. This type of spina bifida occulta is significant and the defect can be passed on to the person's children in a more severe form of the defect.

I was told back when I learned about this that I needed to have back surgery to put in rods or something into my back, or I would end up in a wheelchair by the time I'm 40 years old. The success of surgery at that time was 50-50. 50% chance that I would keep walking, and 50% that I would paralyzed after the surgery!! I didn't like the odds, so I opted out!
I'm now 46 and while my health isn't the greatest, it's totally unrelated to my back, and I'm no where near ready to be in a wheelchair


So ask for a back xray to rule out problems with your spine.
 
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tara g

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Hmm, I did have a neck and back Xray when I went to the chiropractor a few months ago (had bad neck pain for awhile - turns out my neck is straight, not curved like it should be). They also took a lower stomach Xray that showed my back today (not sure if anything would show up since it was taken from the front?)

I'm starting to think it might be a UTI that started in a different place than last time. They told me my urine sample was the color of a dehydrated person (and I admit, I'm TERRIBLE when it comes to drinking enough water. I usually drink soda, or not much of anything). The last time I had a UTI was from drinking three 20oz bottles of Mt. Dew one morning - afternoon on a SC-FL-SC roadtrip. The pain felt like it moved a little bit, but is still in the center section of my right side also. I took the first antibiotic (different than the last time).

If it doesnt get better, I will definitely keep in mind to get a back Xray and see what that shows. I've had slight, hour-long pains like this before, but this one is a lot more severe and a heck of a lot longer!! (Going on 15 hours now - boy it was a LONG day!)

And then to top it off, I think I managed to hurt myself enough at work - went too far forward working in my ventilation hood, and smacked my head on the sash door; then hit my "funny bone" on the hotblock in that hood! I asked if the excuse "I'm a hazard to myself and therefore a hazard to others, can I go?" would work
But in all reality, I can leave work whenever without problem.

*Fingers crossed tomorrow things start feeling better* Cant wait til Friday, then Saturday when I can just relax all day!
 

strange_wings

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What did you eat yesterday and earlier today? Anything that had moderate to high fat content or very high in fiber?

My neck doesn't curve how it should either, I have kyphosis in it... along with scoliosis in my mid and lower back (luckily not too curvy of an S). From what I've read, kyphosis in the back is bad. Not sure about how bad it is to have in the neck, but I wouldn't let a chiro play around with that area if I were you.
 

luvmy2cats

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Originally Posted by kluchetta

Aw, that's horrible! It's bad enough feeling bad without the doctors making it WORSE!!! I had a really bad pain there once, more in the front middle right, and it was an ulcer.
Yeah I was thinking ulcer. Or an extreme case of gas.
 

strange_wings

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If it's up high and on the right the more likely suspect is the gallbladder - hence why I asked what was eaten. Fatty foods will set off an attack, so will a lodged stone.

Nothing will show up on tests unless they're looking for a gallbladder problem. An ultrasound can be used to detect stones and polyps.
 
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tara g

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Honestly, I ate next to nothing that day (until dinner). Around 10am I had 3 peanut butter and chocolate wafer bar things from the vending machine at work. I had NO appetite that day until dinner (had a salad for dinner).

This morning I woke up and felt great. Until I moved or stretched. Got out of bed and the pain came back, but nowhere near as bad. It was a sort of dull pain. Then at work, I got out of my car and thought someone stabbed me in the side just like yesterday! It hurt like that for an hour or so, then subsided again to a dull pain.

Since then, it's been on and off - sometimes it'll feel like another stab, sometimes I dont feel it unless I move a certain way. If I bend down it still hurts a bit, but it hasnt hurt anywhere near as bad as it did all day yesterday. Hurts to laugh, also. Hmmph, and we're a funny crew at work - so I end up hurting quite a bit when we start saying funny things!

I'm trying to get myself to drink more water. I had a glass this morning in the car, but havent since. It's hard sometimes though, because I cant have food or drink in the lab (for obvious reasons!).
 

worriedmommy

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Does your insurance cover for you to go to a chiropractor? I have had something like that at it was a pinched nerve. The Chiropractor was able to help get it "unpinched". I pray you feel better and figure out what is wrong.
 

psjauntie

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I have had similiar pains and it was a ovairian syst that had erupted by itself. Although if the pain is higher than when your apendix is this might not be the problem. Did they do an ultrasound, it's the only way they have ever been able to say if that was what happened. Hope you get to feeling better soon.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by psjauntie

I have had similiar pains and it was a ovairian syst that had erupted by itself. Although if the pain is higher than when your apendix is this might not be the problem. Did they do an ultrasound, it's the only way they have ever been able to say if that was what happened. Hope you get to feeling better soon.
Another good point. Either way an ultrasound would be a very good idea if this pain persists.

As for the salad, I was warned to be careful with raw veggies as that could cause problems with my gallbladder. When I had what was suspected to be a stone lodged I went over a week without eating because of pain... So skipping a couple meals won't necessarily stop it if that's the source of the problem.
 

kluchetta

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My hubby had a lot of chest pain last winter (it was more central) but it was intracostral chondritis (inflammation of the cartilidge between the ribs). It can be quite painful, and hard to pin down with a diagnosis. (In his case, he had to stop shoveling snow, so he bought a snowblower.
)
 
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tara g

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Originally Posted by Worriedmommy

Does your insurance cover for you to go to a chiropractor? I have had something like that at it was a pinched nerve. The Chiropractor was able to help get it "unpinched". I pray you feel better and figure out what is wrong.

I do believe my insurance covers going to the chiropractor, but most places want me to go back 2-3 times a week for 6-8 weeks ... and I can't leave work all the time to go there - these places seem to have crazy hours (maybe 2-3 hours in the morning, 2 hours off in the afternoon, then 1 hour after their lunch; random days off, etc). I will be keeping it in mind to go there as well if it doesn't go away completely when I'm off the antibiotics the Dr gave me (too bad no painkiller was included!).

They told me if the pain got worse, to get a CATSCAN in the ER and they would be able to tell more than the little Doctors Care place could. So far it's gotten a little better (which is definitely nicer than getting worse).
 
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