posted
Okay, here's the deal (yes, am calling my docs tomorrow to pick their brains).
The last time I had undiagnosable abdominal pain (with extensive testing to find that everything IS in proper working order and I shouldn't BE in pain), we tried Lexapro to see if my serotonin levels were off (reasoning being that there are a TON of serotonin receptors in the intestines). By a week, the pain had abated to being controlled with ibuprofen. By two weeks, the pain had abated entirely and stayed that way.
I'm wondering, now that the mood stuff is under control, if anything either is inhibiting serotonin or keeping the levels at not enough--triggering the abdominal pain again.
I'm on...drumroll...
Ritalin LA 30mg qam (since November 03) Lamictal 100mg bid (since May 03) Gabitril 6mg qhs (since November 03)
other meds: Protonix 40mg qam (they think I had gastric reflux, been on it since..January 03) Minocin 100mg bid (since October 02)
Any ideas? I've been looking up the clinical pharmacology, but I might have to go digging for some textbooks to really figure it out.
posted
Did a cursory search on adverse effects with all your medication.
The ritalin, lamictal and gabitril can all cause abdominal pain.
I wouldn't expect you to suddenly get abd. pain after being on these meds as long as you have. However, sometimes your steady state level of actual drug in your system can fluctuate with many different things. Things like kidney function, liver function, alcohol, other drugs, food and a million other things.
On a positive note, there are no interactions between the meds your on.
Gonna ask you a bunch of questions now. If you don't want to answer, you don't have too. And if you'd rather answer by e-mail you can do that as well.
What kind of pain? Where is it? What fixes it? What makes it worse? Are you a menstruating? (I just realized I'm not even sure of your gender ) Have you ever had blood in your urine, stool or vomit? Have you been checked for endometriosis? Chrone's disease? Ulcerative colitis?
Hope I'm not prying to deep. Please don't be offended. I won't be offended if you don't feel like answering.
I'm gonna look a little deeper into those drugs and see if I can find anything else.
posted
If I felt squeamish about answering questions, I wouldn't have posted it.
quote:What kind of pain?
Sometimes localized (like Saturday morning and all day yesterday) and other times...everywhere..middle, sides, wherever.
quote:What fixes it?
Nothing, really. I know that narcotics do (the first go-round a year and some ago, we used vicodin for awhile but I really don't want to take narcotics AGAIN. I even refused morphine in the ER and never filled the darvocet script. Last time, after trying bentyl, valium, then nexium.
quote:What makes it worse?
Activity. Sometimes eating, sometimes not. It just stays mostly constant. Sometimes it gets acute, and that's when docs test for appendicitis..but is always, always negative.
quote:Are you a menstruating?
I'm a girl. And not anymore. Friday and Saturday yes (first recent episode), yesterday and today, no.
quote:Have you ever had blood in your urine, stool or vomit? Have you been checked for endometriosis? Chrone's disease? Ulcerative colitis?
No blood in urine, stool, or vomit (no vomiting at all). They did a pelvic ultrasound and a GI CT and negative for endo, chrone's, and ulcer tests were all negative. Gallbladder test was also negative. They said my CT and ultrasound show everything looking to be in fine working order.
posted
Well, thats about the limit of my expertise. Not being an MD or something like that.
Most people that we see come through the hospital with unexplained abdominal pain often have adhesions.
Adhesions are when part of one organ sticks to another organ or the abdominal wall. This can cause pain by moving or by generalized inflamation. Unfortun.... err, sadly, it is not easy to diagnose. Sometime requiring exploratory surgery . It often happens in people with a history of abdominal surgery. It can happen in those that havn't had surgery, it's just very rare.
When I asked if you were menstrating, I meant are you of age.
Narcotics are great pain meds because they will fix almost any pain. It works on your CNS level. Basically, after morphine, you can feel the pain. You just don't care.
With the references I have available, I'm not able to tell if your current meds effect serotonin levels. It may or may not have been studied.
If it keeps happening, I would keep bugging your doctor. You might ask if he/she checked for inflamation with a blood test. If it is present, you might consider trying a steroid and see if that works. At least that way you can narrow it down to simple inflamation. Won't tell you where it is, just that you have it(inflamation).
Wish I could be more help . I'm better at knowing what to do after the diagnosis is made.
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