What causes sharp left sided abdominal pain?
Patient: Hi, I’ve been trying to get a diagnosis for what’s going on since November 2017. It started very suddenly on November 11th. It started as dull pain and discomfort on my left side and progressed to more of a sharp pain. I ended up going to the doctor after I had 3 instances where I passed gas and had completely clear, gel like discharge in my pants. One instance there was a circle of this gel stuff that was probably 5 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. By this point, my stool was completely liquid with mucus or fat init. When I went to my pcp, she thought it was cholitis. She put me on 2 antibiotics, took a stool sample, and referred me to a gastro. The stool sample came back clear.I saw the gastro after I was almost done with the antibiotics. They did a cat scan with contrast. I was told the results were clear. They then performed a colonoscopy, which came back clear as well as the biopsies taken from the colon being clear. At this point, the gastro told me it was ibs. I told him that I was having instances where there were noises in the left side of my abdomen as if someone where overturning a large bottle of water and the large bubbles were rushing up, which was followed by discomfort. I also told him that the issues weren’t accompanied by pain. He tested for celiac, which was negative, He was insistent that it was ibs and wouldn’t test for anything else.I went to another gastro for a 2nd opinion about a month and a half ago and she said she thought it was either post-colitis ibs or SIBO. Instead of waiting for a breath test, she put me on a 2 week round of extremely strong antibiotics. I went back 1 week after finishing the antibiotics due to continued discomfort, brief periods of pain, and mucus. She gave orders for blood tests to test my thyroid and an X-ray to look to see how full my colon is. This was almost 2 weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything.Yesterday morning, I woke up slightly nauseated (for the first time during all of this) and didn’t go to work. I started going to the bathroom frequently around 4:00pm or so. Every time it’s soft, but not liquid, with mucus/fat/bile. At around 9:00pm, I started having sharp pain in my left side. By 2am, it was so painful I almost couldn’t stand straight (I stayed in the living room instead of going to bed because I kept getting up). When I woke up today, it was still painful, but not debilitating, and I was in the bathroom all day again with the same results. As of about 10:00 tonight until now (130a), it’s horrible. Very sharp pain that is radiating to my back and down to my hip. It is almost bad enough that I feel like I should go to the ER, but I don’t even know what they would test for. If they tell me again that it’s just Ibs and they can’t do anything for me, I don’t know what I’ll do. It’s so painful right now and nothing is helping. Does anyone have any idea to what I should test for? I’m desperate. Doctor: Hello and welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.  These symptoms may indicate diverticulitis.For acute phase of the recurrent diverticulitis antibiotic therapy is required but once the acute phase settles down severe and drastic lifestyle modificatory changes have to be followed by the patient for many months to avoid recurrent attacks. So I'm sorry my dear but if you are sure its diverticulitis then broad spectrum antibiotic have to be taken for 5 to 7 days.I would suggest you take Clindamycin 600 mg once daily with Metronidazole 400 mg thrice daily for 5 days.They would cover both bacteria as well as protozoa, however, you would need a prescription for the same as antibiotics are not over the counter.Probiotic etc would help but if its diverticulitis then you have to take antibiotics.  Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.