This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Lately I have been having some pain in my lower abdomen area. Not sure if its my appendix or something else. It is kinda on my right side about three inches to the left of my navel and five inches below. I guess it could be a hernia, but it has been ongoing for about two weeks or so. I really only hurts when I bend over or when I start to stand from a seated position. Anyone have any ideas what else it could be? Thanks Shannon

sounds a bit low for gall bladder. i think appendicitis and constipation go hand in hand - i would've thought you would not have any constipation issues if you're taking the magnesium. if it does turn out to be the appendix, antibacterial stuff, anti-inflammatory stuff, then acidophilus would be some things i would look into before going under the knife :S

IF there was time of course

I haven't had any constipation , thanks to the magnesium, but I'm not very regular bout once every three four days between BM's maybe longer. Before the magnesium I had very bad constipation, extreme constipation to be excact. Think maybe this has something to do with it? Thanks shannon

PS seems like the only time i'm not in any real pain is when i'm kinda hunched over.

Shannon...
I say this as a wife to a typical guy,
"CALL YOUR DOCTOR, please!"
It's probably nothing, but it might be something.
My hubby walked around with a numb right arm and leg for 2 weeks before he called his doc and it was another month until the MRI.
Don't wait.
with fondness and concern,
AC

_________________
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
dual stents placed 5/09
CCSVI in MS

AC you sound just like my wife "call you your dr" I will later, just wondered if anyone had any ideas. Thanks shannon




I promise

hi arti that still sounds like a long time between poops. to me anyway. i checked wikipedia (very authoritative i know hehe) and it defines constipation (in part) as "less than 3 per week" which sounds like you i think!

how many mgs of mag are you up to per day, if i may ask?

one other thing arti, i recently went back to awesome pharmacist guy and asked him if he had any pearls of wisdom that could make his excellent magnesium suggestion get a hold even better (i told him that if i stopped taking it my symptoms came back right away). he said to match it with potassium because they go hand in hand. so i started reading up on potassium; here's one bit:

my magnesium results came back fine but apparently serum values are a pretty useless indicator, as it's mostly stored in tissue. which i can vouch for because i can feel when the magnesium arrives in my throat tissue, it "knocks" in a few little muscle spasms when it kicks in, and then with great relief, i stop breathing spit.

i had heard about the potassium to sodium ratio being important via some book my mom was reading a few months back. with some further investigation, it seems that our potassium:sodium is supposed to be 5:1 but is usually 1:2. if you end up with decreased potassium in your system then it looks like this:



on the frequency of hypokalemia:
http://www.ccspublishing.com/journals2a ... lemia2.htm

i have the full text pdf of the above with pretty pictures and all; if anyone is interested, PM me

prevalence in ms patients is not so easy to find, but i managed to get this - no abstract unfortunately:
http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/conten ... /39/8/530b
Multiple sclerosis and hypokalemic periodic paralysis in the same patient

and this, apparently hypokalemia and ms are not typically concurrent -
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/pr ... Doi=115155


and that is about the size of the literature to date on ms and hypokalemia!

however, corticosteroids can induce hypokalemia too:
http://www.drugs.com/ppa/methylprednisolone.html


so, i ran a search on nutritiondata for foods with highest potassium and lowest sodium. based on 100 g serving.
http://tinyurl.com/6d8zfo
the fruit category returned the highest number of results, and it looks good because many of the items actually have zero sodium. dates and bananas look like the winners. you have to put up with 1mg of sodium but you get the most potassium punch. too bad i can't stand either thing lol!

http://www.recipezaar.com/216254

JL
I'm only taking one 250 in the morning and the same in the evening.

I am not sure this has anything to do with my treatment but this is something I found about Rituxan. I have a feeling it is my appendix though.
http://www.rituxan.com/ra/patient/about/index.m
Stomach and bowel problems. Serious stomach and bowel problems have been seen when Rituxan has been used with anti-cancer medicines in some patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Call your doctor right away if you have any stomach area pain during treatment with Rituxan.

arti until you know whether this is a hernia or appendicitis it looks like it is time to back off the laxatives unfortunately - maybe try dropping back to dietary vs straight supplementation?

you can still try the dietary potassium angle to see if it helps those GI smooth muscles to smarten up.

i ran a dietary magnesium search (combined with lowest sodium) and again the fruit category is the winner. http://tinyurl.com/6mlsfo dates and prunes (big surprise) are coming up highest within that category, if you accept a little sodium... also grapefruit juice. based again on 100g serving.

when i remove the sodium filter, it's all about bran. i can't deal with cereal either lol. but has significantly more magnesium compared to the fruit. as in about 12x as much. awesome fibre too. banana date bran muffins?

good info there, ouch that could be something re: the rituxan hmm. it also mentions increased risk of infection... such as appendicitis perhaps?



anyway do get it checked out arti - i read where if an appendicitis patient STOPS hurting, it means it burst! i hope it's NOT appendicitis but if it is...

another tidbit:
http://www.medicinenet.com/appendicitis/article.htm


and one more...
http://www.merck.com/mmpe/lexicomp/rituximab.html


i don't know what is up with that question mark typo - if it was meant to be another digit or if they just meant 6 days.

The following information was determined based on post-market and clinical study data of Rituxan:
Reports of abdominal pain, bowel obstruction, and perforation, in some cases leading to death, have been observed in patients receiving Rituxan. The bulk of reports, including all deaths, have occurred in patients receiving Rituxan in combination with chemotherapy for the Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) indication.

A causal relationship connecting Rituxan and these events has not been established. In post-marketing reports of patients with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), the mean time to onset of symptoms was 6 days from the start of therapy (range 1 day to 77 days) for documented gastrointestinal perforation. Complaints of abdominal pain, particularly early in the course of treatment, should prompt a thorough diagnostic assessment and appropriate treatment.

Legal help for Rituxan users
If you or a loved one took Rituxan and you suffered Bowel Obstruction, Gastrointestinal Perforation or any other injury, contact $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, LLP for a free case ealuation. Call 1-######### (1-800-######## or fill out the short form to the right.

I chaged the name and tele #, but look at the spelling of evaluation, lawers, man I tell you. If you google "gastrointestinal bowel obstruction and perforation" They like one of the first sites to pop up.