Left Side

[Guest guest]

It's funny but I've never (never say never) had any pain on my left side.

Since the pancreas is located under the right rib, it made sense that my

pain was there...but I think it also sort of passes underneath the sternum?

And I know pain radiates. So, an organ can be on the right, but pain

radiates to the left. Boy I've had alot of creative input haven't I?

Robin R.

[Guest guest]

My pain usually starts in the middle and goes right up under my

sternum, then around to behind both of my shoulder blades, upper

back. I have had a couple of attacks where I thought it might be

kidney stones (tested negative for that) because the pain started

around my kidneys then went to the front and up my sternum..don't

think there is any real set of rules for how or where it originates,

although some doctors think there is.

Take appendicitis for example. The appendix are in the lower right

abdomen, but the pain starts on the far left of the lower abdomen

and moves over to the right eventually....Guess God did this to make

us smarter *laugh*

[Guest guest]

wrote:

> My pain usually starts in the middle and goes right up under

my sternum, then around to behind both of my shoulder blades,

upper back. I have had a couple of attacks where I thought it

might be kidney stones (tested negative for that) because the

pain started around my kidneys then went to the front and up my

sternum..don't think there is any real set of rules for how or

where it originates, although some doctors think there is.

>

Hi all,

My pain has always been slightly on the left side, located low by

my navel, then travels up the midline to the sternum, with

stronger pain that radiates to my back and left shoulder.

I had an ultrasound to check out the status of my pseudocysts

today that was very enlightening in many regards. For those who

remember, I've always had two pseudocysts since the onset of

my CP, one in the tail and one in the head. One was over 6 cm.

at onset and was partially drained by CT guided fine needle

aspiration two and a half years ago. During the following two

years, they had almost resolved by December of 2002. Then I

had a series of problems and the DKA in March, and it was

discovered that the two pseudocysts had more than tripled in

size. Follow up ct-scans and an MRCP were done at a new

hospital, and interpreted by a different radiologist - and suddenly

the new radiologist insisted that there was only ONE

pseudocyst.

This disagreement in the interpretation of my 11 previous

ct-scans has caused much mystery for months. I knew the

radiologist was wrong, but he was head of the department at this

hospital and insisted that even though the other pseudocyst may

have been there once, it was now gone. I disagreed, and my GI

was torn with indecision. Provided there were no serious

complications, we agreed to put it aside for two months and look

again now.

My GI has his own ultrasound facility. I don't know why he didn't

use this one for my earlier ultrasound, but today it was done in

his office. He was out on vacation and his radiology technician

met with me early this morning. She got some great pics of the

pseudocyst in the head and was getting ready to shut down

when I told her I had another one. I pointed with my finger to

where it is, since she hadn't gone within inches of it during her

travels with the wand. She mentioned that the recent radiology

reports only spoke of one, so I asked her to read back past the

reports dated prior to May 2003 and look at all the documentation

from 2001 to April 2003.

Once she did this, this woman was on a quest! She was

determined to clear up the matter, for once and for all. Guess

what.......of course....she found it! The other pseudocyst is STILL

THERE, buried in the tail! So she took some great pics of that

one, too, and was nice enough to tell me what the sizes of each

one was, and explain some features of the cysts. The one in the

tail has ruptured into itself, you could see the sludge along one

whole side. The larger one that was over 6 cm. has come down

now to 5.8. She gave me two wallet sized pictures of each of the

pseudocysts, " to take home and show all your friends " , she said.

HAHA....what a pleasant and sweet woman she was!

She also explained the positioning of my pancreas, which

makes my pain locations so much easier to understand. My

pancreas head is located at the base of my sternum, under my

stomach, just slightly to the right. Then it travels across the

midline twice in a backward " S " shape and the tail is located just

to the immediate left of my navel. She outlined it by traveling the

wand down my abdomen so I could see it on the screen. I told

her I thought it's postioning was more in the upper abdomen,

more of a horizonal right to left position across the midline like

we see in the pictures. And she said that many are that way, yet

everyone was different, (guess I sure am), and that when we

have gas or other organs push up against it, it can even move

around a little.

It was enlightening to learn all of this. I'm not having imaginary

vanishing pseudocysts and my pain is real. And the next time

someone complains of pain and a doctor tells them " it can't be

your pancreas " , because they say your pain is in the wrong place

to be in the pancreas....think of me and where mine is, and

remember, we're all different!

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments and advice are personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for professional medical consultation.

" What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters

compared to what lies within us. " - Ralph Waldo Emerson