YANMD: Weird migrating pain
June 25, 2019 7:09 AM   Subscribe

YANMD. For a long time (at least a year) I've had bouts of pain right under my right breast. It feels like something inside my body is twisting. The catch is, this only happens when I'm bending my body a certain way: in this case, while wiping after using the restroom. (I am female and plus-sized.) I did see my doctor about this issue, and she said it was just a weird musculo-skeletal thing. I accepted this, but just now, while doing the same action, I felt the exact same type of twisting pain -- except this time in the area of, roughly, my right ovary. I will be going back to the doctor next week, but in the meantime, what could this pain be, has anyone else experienced it, and why is it migrating!? I'm wondering if there are specific tests I should ask for. TIA.
posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I don't have an answer for you, but I have experienced something similar. Every so often, when bending over (like to pick up something off the floor), I get an excruciating "twisting" feeling in my left abdomen. I've wondered if it's some kind of hernia -- kind of feels like some of my innards are being pinched in a way they shouldn't be. But it's so intermittent that I've never gotten it checked out. I'll be curious to see if anyone has an explanation!
posted by libraryhead at 7:12 AM on June 25, 2019


That general area is where your gallbladder is, assuming it hasn't been removed. Checking your gallbladder just requires an ultrasound and no anesthesia.
posted by soelo at 7:51 AM on June 25, 2019


Have you had surgery or injuries in these places in the past? My mind went to adhesions.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 8:23 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]


This sounds just like my adhesions from endometriosis (and later, its associated surgeries) feel. Ever had any signs of endometriosis? I had this pain before having surgery and now just have it in different places.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:44 AM on June 25, 2019


I have what I assume is intercostal and abdominal muscle damage from rapid weight gain (or just bad luck, maybe) and they tend to spasm/seize *incredibly* painfully. You can actually see/feel the muscles tensing.

Most common location is around my right ribs from about an inch below my boob all the way around to the same point in the back, but it will "creep" around front and back, go all the way around to the left, occasionally down more toward my solar plexus. For a while I was getting them lower across my abdomen below the belly button sometimes shooting down toward my hip, close to where I think you were describing, and I had to be really careful about how I moved getting in and out of bed to not set it off, because it could take the longest 4-5 minutes of my life for it to pass. Toilets - specifically reaching to wipe - can be an issue, especially if they're a really different height from the ones I'm used to, and hooking a bra behind my back will do it sometimes.

Magnesium has helped tremendously - we added electrolyte drops to our daily routine for other reasons and these specific spasms settled way down, as did leg cramps and restless legs at night. I'm also slowly easing back into some basic yoga, I suspect that core strengthening will help me with all kinds of things including this. I tend to get a bad attack when I've been standing for a long time.

For the the usual reasons, the one attempt I've made to discuss with a doctor didn't go great. The doctor didn't think it was diastasis recti or hernia because of where the spasms were (and from what I've read I don't think it is either).
posted by Lyn Never at 12:11 PM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]


I have something very like this; my belief (unconfirmed) is that it is the result of a not-fully-resolved diastasis recti. I experience it when I bend over in certain ways and sometimes when twisting to reach things. It is painful, like a charley horse in my ribs.
posted by devinemissk at 5:42 PM on June 25, 2019


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