Abdominal pain associated with gastroenteritis... why does it come in fresh waves whenever I change my position/roll over in bed?

Five days is a very long time for a classic stomach bug.

Perhaps you need an MD. to double-check your diagnosis.

As to the positional agony, I daren’t guess anything.

Here are some causes (including gastroenteritis) of pain in the lower left hand quadrant.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/261701-causes-of-pain-in-the-left-lower-quadrant/

At the very least, keep yourself well-hydratred.

Do you have someone there to keep an eye on you?

Are you throwing up or just having a bowel movement? I am assuming you have a bowel movement and feel better, but I hate to assume. Is the pain on one side? Do you have diarhea? There aren’t enough details in your description to even begin to guess, and it would be a guess of course. So many days of bad pain warrants a doctor’s visit I think. Stomach flu usually passes in a day or two. More than 3 and it is likely you might need antibiotics, or it could be something else like appendicitic, diverticulitis, could be many many things. It also could be muscle cramps since you talk about position being such a big deal.

I didn’t want to be too graphic. Yes… I have diarrhea… And I feel better for a period. During the day probably an hour to an hour and a half. The real issue is at night when it’s every half hour or in bad patches, 15 minutes.

The diarrhea has actually gotten worse as of very early this morning… Though not the pain.

I did see a doctor at an urgent care clinic on Thursday… I am seriously considering a trip to the emergency room.

my fiance, incidentally, suggested something rather horrifying. Maybe I forgot to or poorly washed my hands after handling our pet bearded dragon and I managed to contract salmonella. I don’t think they tested me for that on Thursday.

@poofandmook It does sound like it very possibly could be an infection <ducking out of the way of @gailcalled‘s swing> Probably a stool culture is in order, or your doctor might just go ahead and prescribe antibiotics. Do you have a regular GP you can see? That’s what I would do. Unless you think you are in crisis, then of course go to the ER.

If you develop a fever go to the ER. If your pain is on your right side, go to the ER. If you bleed into the toilet, go to the ER.

My regular doctor is quite far and I wouldn’t be able to get an appt for a few days.

Eek, I hope you get an answer and feel better soon!

When I’m having pain with intestinal distress, sometimes the pain moves around when I move, too. I’ve always assumed there are pockets of gas in there, and that’s what’s shifting around when I change position – dragging the pain to a new spot. (Think of an air bubble rising to the top of a glass of liquid.)

Campylobacter tends to last 5 days but can hang around for10 days and is very common associated with undercooked chicken, and unpasturised dairy. Its easy to treat with ABs but will go of its own accord as well, keep hydrated and hope you get better soon.

@Arewethereyet – I had campylobacter when I was in my early 20s. I have never been so sick or miserable in my life – and I’m in my late 40s now. I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been without antibiotics, nor how much longer it would have taken me to regain my strength (it was at least 6 weeks before I was close to normal).

I’d be disappointed if they didn’t test for salmonella, @poofandmook; can you give them a call and ask what they tested for? Even if it’s not a 24-hour clinic, there should be someone on-call. With most electronic medical records (EMR) systems, they can log-in remotely and check your labs.

As for the pain shifts, I always figured like @augustlan that its just a shift due to gravity and motion causing the contents to shift. After my hysterectomy, I had issues that I figured were from my guts repositioning themselves, so I very slowly and carefully moved into different positions to help untangle things.

@poofandmook I forgot to ask if you recently took antibiotics, and if this started during the course of taking them?

I agree with @hearkat that if it is camplyobacter take the drugs. I hate taking meds, but I know people who were extremely sick with it, and who did not cure on their own after being sick weeks. Some people fight it off better than others. You say you don’t know if they tested for salmonella, did they take a stool sample or not? I’m assuming not since it was just an urgent care visit. They just decided you did not have appendicitis or a gall bladder attack and sent you home is my guess.

You could call/page your GP and ask him what to do. Maybe he will set you up for a stool sample at a lab near you where you can just turn it in on Monday. Or, he might call you in a script for something like cipro. I’m pretty sure cipro covers camplybacter and salmonella and a few others.

You need to see a doctor.

@Rarebear The OP saw a doctor. Can he page the urgent care and they can set up a test for him?

My roommate from grad school got that from drinking water straight from a well in Mexico. A visit to the doctor worked wonders.

Needs to go back to the doctor.

@poofandmook Did you go again to a doctor? How are you feeling?

I didn’t. I just don’t know if I have the energy.

Last night I felt a little nauseous so I filled the script I was given for promethazine. I tried to stay at least half sitting up to sleep and I barely had any pain and went hours without diarrhea.

But then at some point early this morning while walking to the bathroom, the smell of my fiance’s dinner that night got to me and I vomited 3–4 times, pretty quickly. Most of it was dry heaving. Practically ran back to the bedroom’s familiar air, popped a pill, and slept.

Still most of the day, almost no pain or diarrhea. But I have had short bursts of nausea.

@poofandmook – Sorry that you had to spend your birthday being miserable. Call the clinic first thing tomorrow and see what they have done and what they advise you to do next. I hope you get an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment soon!

@poofandmook This is going on too long. Promethazine is just a nausea drug I think. That is a not a treatment for you, that is just to try and alleviate symptoms, which in this case being prescribed alone is a mistake. Look all over fluther and I often don’t advise running to the doctor, but now it is time for you. The first doctor did not diagnose you, he decided you had nothing dire, assumed it would pass in a day, because you saw him when you had only been sick a couple days and assumed if you stayed sick you would go to another doctor. Doctors tend to not think like patients from what I can tell. They don’t realize how patients are reluctant to go a second time to the doctor. Believe me, I am one of those patients. You need to either call urgent care and say you are still sick, and see if they will do something for you over the phone (which they won’t most likely, but sometimes doctors surprise me) or go to another doctor.

Is there any chance you are pregnant? In any case, please do go back to the doc. We’re worried about you. <3

I’m a lot better today. One bout of diarrhea, no pain, no nausea. Just some soreness from being sick for days, and an incredible amount of exhaustion.

Good. Thanks for the update.

Glad you’re feeling better, @poofandmook! Here’s hoping you’re on the mend.

I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever feel human again… Lol. Right now I Feel like that one zombie in all the Walking Dead ads… With the long blonde hair crawling on the grass lol

I’m a lizard lover and it def sounds like Salmonella poison. My bearded dragons and iguanas both carry this and I have gotten salmonella poisoning as a result with similar symptoms.