A funny thing happened during my 18-mile run this past weekend. Somewhere around mile 8, I suddenly felt a sharp, lower abdominal pain that brought me to a dead halt.
I joked with my daughter that it must have been the Mexican food I had for lunch on Friday, but I was very careful to not have anything particularly spicy. This pain did not feel like gas, though. It was like a vice tightened around my lower abdomen, and every step was excruciatingly painful.
We were a good 3 1/2 miles from our cars, so we forged ahead. However, I was relegated to a snail's pace, trying to make it to our next main stop at least 1 1/2 miles up the trail. Well, so much for the remaining 9 miles.
Once admitted to ER, the attending physician had me hooked up to an IV, blood drawn and ordered a CT. The 3 possible issues she listed were a ruptured ovarian cyst (I said, okay, next), kidney stones (I said, nope, try again) or an abdominal issue (to which I said, I'll go with that one).
Well, the scan showed cysts on my right ovary, lymph nodes and liver; but she didn't think they were serious enough to cause concern; my white blood cell count was down, not unexpected, since I have lupus; and my body was colder than it should have been, odd, since she expected an elevated temperature.
The final diagnosis: mesenteric lymphadenitis, an inflammation of the mesenteric lymph nodes in the abdomen and that mimics appendicitis. Lymph adenitis is caused by a bacterial infection in lymph nodes. She said she sees this more often in teens.
OK, so my lymph node thinks I'm a teenager? Is that a good thing?
Here's what I could find about adenitis:
The Wikipedia definition
Mesenteric lymphadenitis, Mayo Clinic
Treatment (excerpt from MayoClinic.com)
Mild, uncomplicated cases of mesenteric lymphadenitis and those caused by a virus usually go away on their own within a few days or weeks. To help ease discomfort, over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers and fever reducers may help. Your doctor may prescribe antibiotics for a moderate to severe bacterial infection.
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UPDATE on my adenitis:
Last Friday (6/12), I had to have another CT scan done, as I was still feeling the lower abdominal pain, this time on my right side. Sure enough, the left side had improved (there was still a little elevated level of bacteria), but the right side is a problem.
Observation: between the high heat and humidity of Saturday's 13-mile run (we ended up walking the last half), I think conditions were ripe (no pun intended) for aggravating the adenitis. By mile 10, I felt that vice grip creeping up, again.
This time, my doctor is ordering a colonoscopy, because she saw something else in the CT scan, and said that all I can do now is rest. She also admitted that she's probably wasting her breath telling me to rest, since I'm nearly constantly in training. However, I'm happy to take a week off! My trainer is a bit concerned about that, but, I'm not. If I have to walk the marathon that's coming up in a couple of weeks, by golly, I will, LOL!
My research tells me that I have heat disease. Good grief!
June 16, 2009 - 7:31pmThis Comment
Alysia, while I'm very happy that it wasn't something more serious (I was afraid we were going to read that you had to stop running to have your appendix out!), I have to admit that I'd never heard of this before.
I'm glad you have young lymph nodes! (As long as you don't get mono next!) Did the doctor prescribe antibiotics or are you waiting for it to get better by itself? Are you feeling better yet? And did the running bring on the pain, or would it have flared that badly at that moment regardless of what you were doing?
May 28, 2009 - 8:13amThis Comment
I had never heard of adenitis before, either. I also learned that there are various types and that I have to be concerned about another type because of my exposure to tuberculosis as a child. Good grief!
The doctor said it just comes on suddenly and randomly. I'm just wondering if it could be connected to the stomach virus I had a couple of weeks back, who knows. But, running didn't bring on the attack.
Yes, I'm on a heavy-duty antibiotic, an acetaminophen based pain reliever and a compound containing morphine. I've not been taking my morning doses so that I can function during the day. I know - I'm not supposed to skip my antibiotics. I just had too many meetings scheduled and my meds make me feel a bit nauseous.
Thank you, I am feeling better, at least not feeling in the grip of a vice. But, there is still some, albeit bearable, pain. I've been trying to stretch and walk it out. Yesterday, I had a trigger point massage to try to work out the knots in my groin and leg muscles from all this (the tightening up during the attack was incredibly painful) and came home with the worst headache, LOL!
May 28, 2009 - 4:20pmThis Comment