A few hours ago I was taking a bath getting ready for the family to go to the fair. At the end of my bath I started having cramping in my lower abdomen. It started out as acute but by time I got out of the bath I was heeled over in pain. It felt like labor pain going from my lower abdominal area all the way to my back. I found a bearable position and felt like I was dying if I tried moving from that position. I laid down for an hour and drank a ton of water and now I feel fine. A bit achy from the pain but it's not really crampy feeling anymore. My first thought was kidney stones. I've never had any but my mom and a few friends have and I remember them saying it felt like what I was going through. But I don't have pain when I urinate (both before and after this pain came about) and everywhere I look online says thats a sign. DH called the ER when I was laying down but of course they wont tell me anything, they just wanted me to go in and at that point the last thing I wanted to do was move. I just don't know what to think. But now Kaitlyn is sad because she really wants to go to the fair (the doodlebops are there tonight) and i'm wondering if i'll be fine to go or if this pain will come back. (Not like you girls can diagnose this for me or tell me what's wrong but I figured any advice is appreciated.)

By Annie2 on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 03:39 pm:

No advice for you but I hope you can attend the fair. Hope you stay feeling better

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 04:42 pm:

Advice - go to the ER. Do you really want to run the risk of being taken by ambulance from the fair if this pain returns?

By Texannie on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 05:53 pm:

can your dh take your daughter to the fair?
my sil gets kidney stones and they come on fairly quickly and act just like you described.

By Breann on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 05:53 pm:

Can you swing by the ER on the way to the fair? Could it have just been gas or something? I hope you get to make it to the fair for the doodlebops! Let us know if you find anything out.

By Breann on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 05:55 pm:

Also, how far is the ER from the fair? If the pain comes back at the fair, you could always leave if needed.

By Imamommyx4 on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 06:01 pm:

ER would be my suggestion. Could be kidney stones. Could be something else. I had similar symptoms--very severe abdominal cramping so bad I was pale and felt like I wanted to faint. I could have sworn I was delivering a baby even though I wasn't pregnant at the time. Finally labeled as irritable bowel syndrome and they gave me a couple of meds that relieved the cramping.

Hope you feel better.

By Kaye on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 07:04 pm:

Okay well, personally I would go to the fair and if I got worse, I would go to the er.

Dx..could be kidney stones, could be gall stones (the pain from both is the stone passing through the sphyncter), could be ovulation, could be appendicitis, could be gas, could be colon/ulcer issues in your gi trac.

If the pain resolved itself I would just be inclined to take a watch and see position and if it happens a second time I would get help.

By Luvn29 on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 07:09 pm:

Kaye, you sound just like me! If it passed, I'd go on with plans, and worry about it if it came on again. If it comes on as severe again, you need to try to go to the dr./er while you are having the pain. It's so difficult to accurately give details when the pain isn't there.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 08:21 pm:

How are you feeling now??

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 09:37 pm:

I would have told you to go to the ER, too! I hope you are feeling better. Ruptured ovarian cysts can cause lots of pain, too, or ruptured ectopic pregnancies, too.

By Hol on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 09:58 pm:

I know that ovulation can cause some funky symptoms. Occassionally, when I was younger and still had periods, I would get pains much like you described. Frequently, I would wake up with it and walk, bent over to the bathroom. It hurt to sit on the toilet, and I would often feel like I was going to faint, the pain was SO bad. I would take two Motrin and crawl back to bed and in about twenty to thirty minutes, the pain would subside. One time, the pain WAS so severe that I reached the bathroom door and passed out. I woke up on the floor and ended up with a concussion because I was home alone at the time and apparently hit my head on the door knob going down. The pain felt like severe cramping, like I needed to move my bowels, but I didn't.

Long story short, after the "black out" episode, my gyno did an exploratory laparoscopy. He even took pictures while inside my abdomen. It turned out that I had a vein that was very sensitive to estrogen. It would become engorged with blood when I was ovulating, much like a thrombus. The doctor took a picture of it for me. My circulatory system was very sensitive to hormonal fluctuations during my reproductive years. I would also get menstrual migraines and hemmorhoids. Even though I am all done wih all of that (thank the Lord), I have varicose veins in my legs.

Keep track of your cycle and see if that is it. Is this mid-cycle for you? The hot water of a bath could have caused the vein to dialate. It IS very painful when it happens.

I hope that you are feeling better now. I would go to the fair.

By Hol on Saturday, June 21, 2008 - 10:01 pm:

By the way, that particular syndrome is called a vaso-vagal episode.

By Boxzgrl on Sunday, June 22, 2008 - 01:07 am:

Thank you girls. We did end up going to the fair. I do have some faint discomfort and I think regardless of how I feel, i'm going to put in a call to my doctor Monday morning just to see what she thinks. I drank a TON of water today and tried to take it easy (as much as I could for walking around the fair, lol). The kids had a blast and i'm glad Kaitlyn was able to see the Doodlebops (I personally can't stand them but it's her choice...).

Once again, thanks for the suggestions. They are very much appreciated. I just wish I had an answer, hopefully I will come Monday. (And i'm hoping not ANY sooner if I can help it. I don't ever want to feel that pain again!)

By Karen~admin on Sunday, June 22, 2008 - 09:32 am:

My guess would have been ovarian cyst - BTDT and it can cause a lot of pain. Melissa, you should DEFINITELY get this checked out! Glad to hear you're feeling better, but don't take chances with your health.