Is lower flank pain possible with Crohn's?

[Jimmy James]

My GI says no. I have right and left lower flank pain (the "love handle" area.) This is my longest and most common pain associated with my flare ups. And I've seen many other people online with Crohn's reporting pain in these areas. It wraps around to my lower rights and left back too.

Here's the kicker. I had 2 feet of small intestine removed in May. Both my GI and my surgeon dismissed my recurrence of flank pain, saying it couldn't be related to Crohn's at all, especially because the diseased bowel was removed and there was no affected area to cause the symptoms I was reporting. They also dismissed my anemia, saying that because the bad section was removed, my anemia would get better soon and told me to stop taking iron supplements.

Six weeks later I got my blood tested by an independent clinic. My iron had dropped 20 points! This was supposed to be impossible so soon after surgery.

Have any of you experienced flank pain with Crohn's? Why am I so anemic already if this is supposed to not be possible? I'm feeling very frustrated.

 

[nogutsnoglory]

I'd urge you to get a second opinion because you can absolutely get left sided pain with crohns and it can be in your colon. Crohn's can affect anywhere from mouth to anus, it's irresponsible for them to suggest it can only be in one spot on the right and that after you have resection that it can't resurface in another spot.

 

[Khaley]

I had such bad pelvic pain before my resection I literally couldn't walk. My surgeon was expecting to find adhesions or something to explain it but he just found the strictures. He told me that visceral pain is unlike the pain you'd have in, say, your arm, where you can exactly pinpoint it. Oftentimes with organs you will have more of a general pain that is not necessarily in the location of your problem. I agree with nogutsnoglory. Please get a second opinion.

 

[David]

Based upon what you've described, I'd ask to be seen by a Nephrologist who is familiar with the potential extraintestinal manifestations of Crohn's disease.