I have a pain and swelling in the upper right abdomen?

Question

Had diverticulitis about 4 years ago. This pain and swelling has been occuring for about 2 years. Consulted my GP, which in turn had me visit an Internal Medicine doctor, Surgical doctor, Neurologist, and did a CT scan to no avail. Also went to a "pain doctor" and was given a pain medication. Has normal BM's. Pain seems to be getting worse.

Answer 1

are they sure it's not your gall bladder?  ask for an ultrasound

..

Answer 2

Concur with above authors, I'm guessing that your diverticulitis was most likely in your distal descending/sigmoid colon.  We don't see a whole lot of diverticulitis in the right upper quadrant.  I'd be most concerned about gallbladder pathology and/or hepatic pathology.  Strongly agree that Ultrasound should have been performed prior to CT.  If the ultrasound fails to reveal underlying pathology, I'd consider scintigraphic evaluation for chronic cholecystitis.

I'm just not convinced that the diverticulitis is related to your present symptoms.

Answer 3

If they can't figure it out, I'd be surprised if we could. Diverticulitis is usually in the lower abdomen. All I can think of in the upper right side would be either gall bladder or appendix. My appendix gave me pain in the whole upper abdomen.

Answer 4

Things in that neighborhood include the base of the lung; the liver, gallbladder, and biliary tree; a kidney; and a portion of the colon. Less likely are small bowel and referred pain from the head of the pancreas.

I'd think somebody at least did a urinalysis at some point, and it would be a bit odd to have a CT before ultrasound if you still have a gallbladder, so I'm guessing your GP may be sending you to a gastroenterologist for colonoscopy soon.