Long term lower ab pain / discomfort

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey Docs,

To give some background - i’m 22 years old, typically healthy (no background diseases that I know of), I eat relatively healthy (close to no junk food at all, though I don’t really eat fruits and vegetables. My typical day of eating involves 1 protein bar, ~500 grams of pasta with ~300 grams of lean ground beef, ~300 grams of baked chicken thighs + ~500 grams of baked potatoes, and potentially ~250 grams of cottage cheese and an apple depending on whether or not i’m trying to gain weight).

Around 2 years ago I started feeling some lower ab pain / discomfort that came and went, it didn’t have a particular pattern. Sometimes it would be discomfort in the entire lower ab region, sometimes it would be a second of slight sharp pain (not too painful but just enough that I feel discomfort), and this could happen at either side. I originally went to a doctor to check what it was since I thought it might have to do something with appendicitis, since my dad had his removed around my age, though I was told there was nothing wrong. I then went again to get checked up around a year ago, and again was told there wasn’t anything wrong, though I didn’t really have any exttensive checks done. There were large periods of time where I didn’t feel anything, though recently I feel that the frequency in which I feel this discomfort has risen (though the pain level is the same).

I don’t live in the US and we have free healthcare where i’m from, though it’s quite slow, and I was able to get an appointment with a gastroenterologist in a couple of months from now. I don’t know whether this is the right place to ask this question, as it’s probably better to see a doctor in person, though do you have any thoughts as to what could be going on, and whether there are any medical checks that I should try and get done before going to the gastroenterologist? Also, would it be best to try and get this checked as quickly as possible, possibly via private service if needed rather than waiting a couple of months via general healthcare that’s provided in my country, or would a couple months of waiting likely be fine given the situation I described?

Thanks in advance,

Nick.

2

The list of possible causes/contributors to abdominal pain is pretty enormous, so I’m not able to hazard any specific guesses as to what could be going on here via the forum. There’s a lot more information that would be needed to try to narrow things down, which is what would happen during an individual patient consultation; that said, further testing beyond this could involve something like basic blood & urine testing, CT scan of the abdomen & pelvis, and/or colonoscopy.

Given that this has been going on for 2 years without any major/catastrophic complications, it’s unlikely that you need to be seen urgently for this right now, although it sounds like private service is an option for you if you’d like to accelerate the evaluation.