belly button aching???

[moops]

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hey-

okay, i know this sounds wierd- but i thought i'd stick it up for diagnosis... unfortunately, many of the docs (2) i've seen regarding this seem fairly incompetent (yes, they do exist...incompetent docs that is... i'll take them for examples of what 'not' to become, as best I can help)... anyways...

so this happens like... MAYBE once every two/three weeks... i get this cramp-like pain in my stomach right under my bellybutton... it's a real sharp pain especially when i move or pee... (i'm a dude, by the way)... then, after a few minutes, it goes away.

the docs thought it was a stone, they did IVP's (this was a while back) and the results showed resemblence to a "recently passed stone"...

any clues?

Thanks... I would appreciate any input from docs/doc-wannabe's, etc. 🙂 advice is always helpful

 

[moops]

oh...also..if i poke my belly button (funny picture, i know) it's kinda tender sometimes, but not sure if it's on the outside or in *shrug*

k..that's it 🙂 hope i'm not annoying anyone

 

[shamthis]

hernia

and i cant even gett in too medikal skool

 

[moops]

Originally posted by shamthis
hernia

and i cant even gett in too medikal skool

dude- you know what? i suggested that to the docs themselves... i was like... i think it's an umbilical hernia.. they were like.. yeah, you have a little of one, you're athletic... it's prob not waht's causing your pain...

guess that was bs... thanks for the input 🙂

appreciated

 

[MD'05]

There is an embryological remnant of the umbilical artery / vein in that area that becomes a "ligament". I'll have to check Moore's since I suck at remembering anatomy - or anything else medical for that matter. I know exactly what you are talking about when you put your finger in your umbilicus and feel that vague "ticklish" feeling "down below". Ok this is starting to sound pornographic.

I have encountered one or two patients that have had their umbilicus "removed" as a result of umbilical hernia surgery. But these patients were over 40 yo with gigantic, protruding abdomens. If you have a large belly, this might be the problem or if you are fit and a weight-lifter you might have torn something loose.

If you have an "outie" this may be a sign of a weak umbilicus in the first place.

Bottom line - get a new doctor if you are not satisfied with your care.

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by MD'05
There is an embryological remnant of the umbilical artery / vein in that area that becomes a "ligament". I'll have to check Moore's since I suck at remembering anatomy - or anything else medical for that matter. I know exactly what you are talking about when you put your finger in your umbilicus and feel that vague "ticklish" feeling "down below". Ok this is starting to sound pornographic.

Are you hinting at a patent urachus?

moops, you know people who doctor shop and claim their physician/surgeons are incompetent are usually hypochondriacs, seriously.

Be careful when you go to the next doc. Telling him/her what you have posted here may make him think less of your pain.

You really should stay with one doc. A lot of things are found by trial and error. If you go to a different doc, the whole process must start over again.

 

[womansurg]

Actually, if you do indeed have an umbilical hernia, it should be fixed. Even a small one.

One reason why sugeons repair hernias is because they can cause pain and discomfort. But actually, the main reason that we fix them is to prevent complications. Intra-abdominal contents - fat and, more importantly, bowel - can become entrapped through the defect. In the case of fat, this just causes a lot of pain which usually brings people in to their local ED. In the case of bowel, however, this can be far more serious. If bowel is trapped and cannot be manipulated back in, we call that 'incarcerated', and that would be indication for an urgent surgery to reduce it and repair the defect. If the bowel remains trapped and swells to the degree that blood flow becomes impaired, it can die, and we call this 'strangulated' bowel. That would result in major abdominal surgery with resection of the dead bowel, and possibly even creation of an ostomy (bowel to the abdominal wall so that you poop in a bag) if there has been significant fecal contamination and inflammation. People can die from these complications, as well.

Some surgeons feel that the smaller hernias are actually more likely to result in such complications than larger ones, because the bowel is more likely to remain trapped in a smaller defect.

Your bowel has different innervation than does your skin. Visceral pain, pain in your bowel, is always perceived as being periumbilical - at the belly button. That is why appendicitis always starts out as being a periumbilical pain. When the inflammation extends outside of the bowel and begins to affect the adjacent peritoneum, that is when people feel the pain in their right lower quadrant. So, the classic presentation for appendicitis is someone who comes in saying that the noticed an 'upset stomach' and had some pain in the middle of their belly. They went to bed, got up in the morning still sick, but now the pain is in the lower right abdomen. So, it's possible that the funny crampy pain at your belly button was due to a bit of entrapped fat or bowel, which came out on its own.

 

[MD'05]

Originally posted by Geek Medic
Are you hinting at a patent urachus?

Yes, that's it! Except in this case I was thinking more of an obliterated urachus - the middle umbilical ligament. I would imagine that with a patent urachus, moops would have sprung a leak by now.

I would imagine that poking the umbilicus would pull at the MUL and give moops pain.

Oh well ... enough of my 2nd year lack of medical knowledge. Why is it that the further I get into this process, the more that I realize I have a very long way to go before I can actually perform patient care? And I used to think this doctor stuff was so easy!

 

[QHamp]

If someone had a bladder infection, where would that hurt?

 

[womansurg]

Originally posted by QHamp
If someone had a bladder infection, where would that hurt?

In the suprapubic region, above the pubis. And it would burn to pee.

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by MD'05
Oh well ... enough of my 2nd year lack of medical knowledge. Why is it that the further I get into this process, the more that I realize I have a very long way to go before I can actually perform patient care? And I used to think this doctor stuff was so easy!

And when you get to your third and fourth years, you'll realize just how much you have forgot... at least that's my case.

It amazes me how much I've learned over the past few years, but it also saddens me at how much I've lost over the past few years. Too bad we can't retain 100% of what we learned during school.