<p>S1 woke up around 3 am with severe pain in the lower back (above the waist but below the center) and abdomen. It was diffuse rather than sharp and he felt some nausea (although he never vomited). I tried rubbing his back, didn’t help. Then I had him lie in different positions. After lying on his back with his knees bent for a while, the pain lessened and then went away. But it came back later, then went away for good. He’s fine today.</p>
<p>Any ideas on what could have caused this? I went online while this was going on, and the serious possibilities include appendicitis and obstruction or twisting of intestines. I gather that appendix pain does not come and go, so that’s not what it was. Other possibilities are food poisoning. He was out to eat with his friends last night, had ziti at the local pizza place. It’s hard to see how that could have made him sick. He’s a vegetarian so it would have been only pasta, red sauce, cheese. Around 11, he also had some fish (cod, purchased at Whole Foods yesterday afternoon and cooked in the evening, baked with bottled teriyaki sauce) and a smoothie that I made for him. I am obsessive about washing food. I scrub oranges and grapefruit before cutting into them or peeling them. I wash all leafy vegetables in my big salad spinner, first with water and vegetable wash, then twice with plain water, then two more times to dry. I’m very careful about cutting boards and knives (sanitized in dishwasher after each use). I don’t think that he got it from anything from our kitchen, but maybe I’m wrong. I had a small part of the smoothie and was fine, but no one else ate the fish, I’d also made steak for the meat-eaters.</p>
<p>Could be muscular. Could be a slight bowel obstruction, although from my son’s experience with those, they are extremely painful. If it doesn’t recur, just forget it; if it does, he should see a doc. </p>
<p>I’m not a doctor, but I’ve experienced many of these symptoms. Lower back pain could be a muscle spasm, and bending the knees to stretch it out might (I’m guessing) have caused it to relax a bit. I also suppose that pain might have caused the nausea. It would be easy to find out if S had done any lifting, fallen off a skateboard, etc. that might have wrenched a back muscle. Ice (not heat) would be the first line of treatment here.</p>
<p>Alternatively, stomach-acid issues can present as back pain as well as abdominal pain. My own experience is that the pain is usually higher, though. I have experienced bowel issues (food poisoning typically gets there as quick as it can) but never with concomitant back pain. Anyway, if this comes up again, you might try an antacid or Pepto Bismol to see what effect it has.</p>
<p>Yes, I will call his doctor, of course, if it happens again. Do you think a muscular pain could occupy such a large area? Wouldn’t it be one particular muscle?</p>
<p>I’m not sure, Kajon - it didn’t occur to me to take his temperature. But I think I would have felt it if he had had one. </p>
<p>Thank you for the information, WasatchWriter. I did ask him whether he had fallen, etc., and he hadn’t. I guess indigestion might be an issue, but he has a very strong stomach. He haunts the Mexican stores around here to get bottles of hot sauce that he consumes in quantity. I don’t think he has had any recently, though. </p>
<p>Muscle strain or spasm can wreak havoc with one’s back. A true story:</p>
<p>When I was 29, I had open heart surgery to repair a congenital defect in my heart. They cut open my chest pretty significantly (nowadays they do smaller cuts and use robots and what-not) and it resulted in my holding myself very tensely for weeks on end. Finally one night in bed I had such excruciating pain in my back that my husband took me to the emergency room. We thought I must be having some terrible side-effect from the surgery. I was in so much pain I could barely move, and while in the ER I threw up.</p>
<p>Turns out it was muscle spasms in my back from holding myself so tensely for all those weeks. </p>
<p>Every once in a blue moon I start to get spasms again but I just stretch my back out for a few minutes and I’m fine.</p>
<p>I guess it’s not an ovarian cyst…I had one of those and it hurt front and back, and you could only make either one feel better not both.</p>
<p>I agree to try an antacid the next time, but if it doesn’t have any effect he should see a Dr. Hopefully your insurance covers an urgent care type of place so that he could be seen quickly without having to go an e/r. </p>
<p>I keep reminding my sons, who are old enough to take themselves to Dr, that they have to go to urgent care for stitches and the like and only go to ER for real emergencies. Our deductible applies to ER, but not to Urgent Care.</p>
<p>That’s an amazing story, VeryHappy! S2 does complain frequently that his back hurts, so maybe it was a muscular issue. I work with him sometimes on stretching exercises; I’ll have to do this regularly. </p>
<p>I did think of going to the ER, njfootballmom, in the wee hours when there weren’t any alternatives and I was so worried. I agree that an urgent care place would be much better. It’s best to avoid the ER if it isn’t really needed.</p>
<p>It sounds possibly too low on the back to fit the classic, but given the vegetarian angle, I’d keep alert for other symptoms that could be gall-bladder related. </p>
<p>Also, a classic appendicitis sign is the pain relief from lying on your back with your right knee raised and leg drawn up. </p>
<p>Would suggest that you check with his doctor tomorrow even if he is pain free. If it occurs before that, bring him to the ER. It could be so many things, kidney stone,appendicts, constipation, etc. </p>
<p>Sounds like it could be kidney stones. As someone who has had them many times, the pain does come and go. It is intense (worse than labor!) and is often accompanied by nausea. </p>
<p>I was going to say kidney stones as well. Have had them 3 times. A couple other posters have mentioned them and the fact that the pain can be intense, then disappear. It can come and go. It’s possible that he HAD a stone and even passed it already. It sounds obvious, but making sure he’s staying hydrated is really important. Ask him if he drinks plenty of water…</p>
<p>If it’s relatively easy to get to his doc, I would say to go. Tests for infection, kidney stones etc. are very simple and may give some clues. I tried to ignore recurrent abdominal pain “it’s not really bad enough to be appendicitis” - and I am a surgeon myself. I ended up with a perforated appendix. </p>
<p>intparent, I had my first at 20. It was the only one that I had to have surgically removed but I’ve had a stone probably around 15 times since then. No fun.</p>
<p>Had he taken any ibuprofin that evening? Or any other aspirin based medication? I have had symptoms like that if I take it on an empty stomach. Pain in my back and stomach accompanied by nausea. It is gastritis. Since the last time I had it happen, I am very careful to take ibuprofin with food.</p>