Herniated L5 disc, abdominal pain and GI issues

It has been a long road for me maybe not in terms of time scale but emotionally and constantly hitting dead ends, here's my story. Hopefully it may shed some light on other peoples issues, or I may find some similar stories.

I used to be able to do and eat anything. My issues started approximately 3 years ago. After having a failed pregnancy I went in for a D&C, approximately 2 weeks after this procedure I got a bout of gastro which seemed to last 2 weeks, it was horrendous! and then gradually from there I began to develop abdominal pain after eating that:

* started in my , middle upper abdomen(around the area of my diaphragm) and radiated through to my back at a similar level

*the onset of pain was around 20 minutes after eating, and accompanied by hours of tension, bloating and discomfort in my stomach

* laying flat on my back and massaging my stomach, or stretching, seemed to relieve these issues.

* the pain is/was always accompanied by flatus and grumbling stomach (very loud)

*and suffered bouts of horrible constipation.

*increasing weight and extreme difficulty in losing any lbs.

I would suffer these "attacks" at least 3-4 times per week and they varied in their intensity, until it got too much for me and I started my investigations about 18 months ago.

i have seen 5 different GP's, and been tested for everything

*celiac

*candida

*H.Pylori

*SIBO

*Stomach Acid levels

*Liver/Kidney/pancreas/Thyroid

*parasites/bacteria/infection

all tests reveal that on paper i am a picture of perfect health (insert major confusion and frustration)

then they say, "oh it sounds like your gallbladder"... although i never had any pain on my right side in the way that they described...

so i went for an abdominal CT which showed that I had 2 fairly large mobile gall stones "aha" they said "this is your problem, lets take out your gall bladder".... jump to July of this year, I had my cholesectomy and high hopes of pain resolution... (enter phase 2 of confusion and frustration) this did not/has not resolved my issue, in fact it has added episodes of heart burn, diarrhea and stomach upset to my symptom profile...

So off I went on my independent research again...

I started to track my symptoms and their resolutions, I found that

*there are no particular food triggers

*the pain is relieved by stretching

*my stomach pain is always accompanied by lower back pain (as well as middle back pain)

*I get a 'weird' tightening/numbness sensation down my left side(internally) like my intestines are compressed.

So i went back to the doctors and asked a different question...

"my stomach issues seem to be relieved by stretching, which makes me think that they have a muscular component/cause and since the pain is felt in my back, could I have something wrong with my back that is causing nerve compression leading to my symptoms?"

my doctor flat out told me "No, it wouldn't be that, here take antacids and see how you go"

I took the antacids, and well they did the opposite of what they were supposed to, i ended up having horrible heart burn and feeling extremely hungry . i took myself off them and went back to the doctor.

I asked her to investigate my back even though she doubted it being the cause. I had a full spinal CT. The results showed normal spinal formation except for the Lumbar spine, which showed arthritis and a herniated L5, which is the reason for my lower back pain and sciatica .

The nerve it compresses, is linked to the Large intestine (cue LIGHTBULB!!!) which causes problems with bowel motility, this in turn has a trickle through effect...

So while i wait for an appointment with the orthopedics unit to fix my herniation, i have been prescribed anti-inflammatories and have been stretching to strengthen my back... which has helped tremendously. I also have been very mindful of my posture while eating and this has made a huge impact on my comfort levels... if i slouch i end up paying for it...

I think I have a long road ahead for myself in terms of getting things back to "normal" and pain free, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel and it has taught me to QUESTION EVERYTHING even the Doctors, because You know your body better than anyone.