Pain in lower abdomen for weeks

[sfgirl]

My crohn's pain usually happens in the lower right region because it's mainly my small intestine that's infected. However, I have been going through a lot of ups and downs (mostly downs) since my resection in June and now for the past couple of weeks I wake up in the middle of the night in terrible pain across the bottom of my abdomen from one side all the way to the other. I can barely move or even breathe it gets so bad. I have to alternate vicodin and tramadol to get it to calm down enough to get back to sleep. My GI has started me on new meds to help and and gave me the pain pills but I'm wondering if I can maybe do anything before bed to keep it from happening rather than waiting for it to happen and then doing something.

 

[Cross-stitch gal]

If you're in that much pain, I think I would have contacted your doctor by now. If not, I would have at least called the advice nurse or gone into the ER. Being in that much pain isn't good. I hope something can be done soon to make you more comfortable. Please keep us updated. Sending lots of hugs your way.

 

[sfgirl]

I'm trying very hard to avoid the er because I always end up with a Dr that knows nothing about Crohn's and so they blame everything I'm feeling on the Crohn's and never check anything else or they just call my GI (which I can do myself). I called the Dr office that's how I got the tramadol to alternate with the vicodin and my nurse said I just have to give the new meds time to work. (I started humira and 6mp 2 weeks ago today.) Thanks for the hugs and support I could definitely use a big hug.

 

[UnXmas]

I'm not sure if this will be suitable for you, but I take a very high dose of amitriptyline before I go to bed. It can work as a painkiller but it is also a very strong sedative at high doses. I have pain and discomfort I've not been able to treat directly, but the amitriptyline helps me sleep through most pain. Not very severe pain, though that may be a good thing as you should still wake up if something is really wrong.

Make sure you keep pushing your doctors to try to find the cause of the pain too. I know what you mean about ER doctors not helping. You'll need a doctor to prescribe amitriptyline, which some might be wary of, depending on what other meds you're taking as it can interact with other medications. Also some medical conditions make it dangerous to take amitriptyline, so if you have other health problems that may rule it out also. Amitriptyline can be very constipating, which is often a positive if you have Crohn's, but not suitable if you may have a blockage.

 

[sfgirl]

I've never heard of amitriptyline I will have to ask my doc about it. He's usually really good at giving me what I need to keep the pain down it's just then new pain won't let me sleep at night. He wants to do another colonoscopy to see if the active inflammation is spreading but it's still too soon since my resection was in June.