pain in my right side around the time of my period

by Mrs Michelle Shaw
(England)

I am 40 years old.

I have suffered from pain in my right side of the stomach for 16 years, it occurs only around the time of my period when i am bloated.

I was sterilized in 1995 and the problems have gone from bad to worse. I have been under numerous consultants for Gynechology and i have had scans of all types and 4 laparoscopy's.

Each time they have come back clear and therefore i have been told it is not a gyne problem. Recently i have had an op whereby the area where i get pain is cauterized and the the nerves blocked, i had the procedure done 10 years ago and it worked leaving me pain free for 6 years however im 8 months post op this time and the symptoms have reoccurred already, only this time its not just on my period it is constant.

The level of pain varies and there is no consistency to it, sometimes its in the morning sometimes when I've eaten, sometime in the evening and other times even when im sat doing nothing.

I have been to the Dr and i was put on Hormone tablets to stop my periods, i was pain free for 1 month and did not have a period, hoewever, i then started bloating so badly that i actually looked pregnant so i have been taken off them, and back to square one.

I have a new Dr and he has suggested that it may have something to do with the bowel which has horrified me to think that no-one has ever suggested this to me in 16 years!

I have since had a period as i stopped the tablets but there was no pain for the first time as i was already very bloated and in pain and discomfort anyway.

I am at my wits end and anxious to know what is wrong with me. My appetite is ok some days better than others but when im very bloated i dont feel like eating and feel a bit sickly. The pain goes from the ovarie area up the right side of the stomach to the hip area then around the hip and in to my back.

IBS has also been mentioned to me in recent months. Please can you give any advice. Thank you.

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Dear Mrs Shaw,

I am truly and really sorry to learn about your situation. I can see that you feel frustrated by the seeming lack of clear cut diagnosis... or at least robust explanation for your abdominal pain over the years.

I must commend you for the detailed, yet only relevant medical history you have given here.

It does sound like you initially had endometrosis (the first part of your story does strongly sound like endometrosis). Ultrasound scan is not very good at picking up endometrosis, depending on the site it is in your abdomen. That is why you tend to have pain at the time of your period.

The pills you where given only helps to suppress it...that is probably why you responded while on the pills. Only if the side effects where tolerable for you. Even at that, scars do develop later, and this could explain the symptoms you are now having, which is rightly now thought to be bowel in origin.

After the surgery you had (plus the endometrosis itself), you seems to have developed abdominal adhesion. Please see at https://www.abdopain.com/abdominal-adhesion.html for further information on adhesion.

That is what, in my opinion, is causing the trouble at the moment.

Please see your GP and have a discussion along this line with him and see what he thinks.