I am a 35 year old white female who as a child was treated for scoliosis. I wore a Milwalkee brace till my hips fused over and I was done growing. I do not know the degree of my curve but I do know that it is an “S” curve. I never experienced any pain as a young person, maybe just a little bit uncomforatable. Recently my back has been hurting and I have been experience right abdominal pain between the rib cage and the hip, it is so painful at times it is hard to function. This pain can last an hour to 12 hours… I have tried OTC aleve, ibeuprofen, and tylenol, the best thing so far is a heating pad but none of these help eleviate the pain. I also have polycystic ovarian syndrome, but my obgyn did a ultrasound and that does not seem to be the problem with the abdominal pain. People have suggested to me that maybe it is something with the bowels, but I don’t seem to have a problem having a bm and all that seems to be normal…. HELP! any suggestions
You appear to be suffering from abdominal pain that may or may not be related to your scoliosis and/or your polycystic ovaries. You have already undergone and ultrasound which was negative. At this point, a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis is indicated to evaluate for any anatomic or pathologic cause of abdominal pain.
Your symptoms are too vague to narrow the differential, but patients with severe scoliosis often develop back pain at some point in their life. Surgery is warranted in those patients who fail medical management and have unrelenting pain primarily due to the scoliosis. Therefore, if your CT is negative, you should be evaluated by a spine specialist to determine if the scoliosis is causing your pain and if surgery is indicated in your case.
