Hey gents, this isn't the most pleasant of topics but I'm hoping there are a few good MDs on the forum or perhaps somebody who has experienced something similar and could help me figure out what the heck is wrong with me.
Over the past few years or so I've had about 5 episodes of acute flank pain on my right side (under the ribs).
A couple of times it came with a fever that broke by morning and then I had some lingering flank pain that eventually just subsided on its own.
2 things that seem to bring this on are alcohol (even just a drink or two) and overtraining (I train jiu jitsu and lift weight virtually full time although I try to approach my training more intelligently and moderately than I used to).
This never used to be the case. I've trained hard for the last 8 years, and I don't drink much these days but if a glass of wine has my flank aching something's wrong.
Until now I've kind of written this problem off but on Monday I had an especially gnarly attack and woke up in the middle of the night wracked with flank pain and a fever. I made it through the night and then said enough is enough and went to the hospital in the morning.
Previously these episodes didn't result in me getting sick but this time I got a gnarly fever (38.8C) for about 3 days before it broke, and a nice little upper respiratory tract infection to boot. I think that's incidental despite the doctor's insistence on an x-ray and presumptive antibiotic treatment for pneumonia which I refused and which turned out to be unnecessary, big surprise.
Blood and urine tests were generally fine except for a very high creatinine level and a low GFR. Ultrasounded the abdomen, both kidneys, prostate, everything unremarkable.
I thought it might have been Rhabdomyolosis but it was ruled out because urine was clear and yellow.
I've got an appointment with a nephrologist next week and in the meantime I ordered a few diagnostics.
- A PCR assay on a urine sample to check for any STIs (in particular I'm worried about mycoplasmas)
- Semen culture
I also did some standard tests (HIV, Syph, hep B). Funny story: the hospital emailed me the Hep B results and I saw the word POSITIVE and freaked the fuck out. Once I chilled enough to Google everything I realized that I was positive for the Hep B surface antibody which just means you've been immunized and you're immune and can't get it or transmit it (oh yeah, I had this vaccine when I was a kid, duh!)
Man, on a side note, reading about hepatitis B, it's a fucked up virus with some serious complications for your liver. Nothing to play with. And it can be sexually transmitted. One of many scary reasons (including mycoplasmas which most of you guys have probably never even heard of) that I've long since turned in my team Raw Dog membership card.
Anyway, the reason I ordered the PCR is because the only thing I can think of that could possibly be a confounding factor is that at one point I had a mycoplasma infection (M. Genitalium) which I treated with antibiotics but it could have survived or I could have been reinfected.
I scoured the literature and there doesn't seem to be any documented connection between mycoplasmas and this flank pain issue. So it's a bit of a shot in the dark. But I'm going all out to fix this once and for all. To say nothing of the fact that kidney disease is generally considered to be irreversible and I'm 32 years old. Fuck that.
So guys, perhaps you can tell I'm a bit perturbed (I'm still recovering and I've been a weird, delirious state since Monday and finally am getting back to myself). But this forum has always been a haven and golden resource so I thought it's worth a shot.
Any clues you can offer will be most appreciated.
Over the past few years or so I've had about 5 episodes of acute flank pain on my right side (under the ribs).
A couple of times it came with a fever that broke by morning and then I had some lingering flank pain that eventually just subsided on its own.
2 things that seem to bring this on are alcohol (even just a drink or two) and overtraining (I train jiu jitsu and lift weight virtually full time although I try to approach my training more intelligently and moderately than I used to).
This never used to be the case. I've trained hard for the last 8 years, and I don't drink much these days but if a glass of wine has my flank aching something's wrong.
Until now I've kind of written this problem off but on Monday I had an especially gnarly attack and woke up in the middle of the night wracked with flank pain and a fever. I made it through the night and then said enough is enough and went to the hospital in the morning.
Previously these episodes didn't result in me getting sick but this time I got a gnarly fever (38.8C) for about 3 days before it broke, and a nice little upper respiratory tract infection to boot. I think that's incidental despite the doctor's insistence on an x-ray and presumptive antibiotic treatment for pneumonia which I refused and which turned out to be unnecessary, big surprise.
Blood and urine tests were generally fine except for a very high creatinine level and a low GFR. Ultrasounded the abdomen, both kidneys, prostate, everything unremarkable.
I thought it might have been Rhabdomyolosis but it was ruled out because urine was clear and yellow.
I've got an appointment with a nephrologist next week and in the meantime I ordered a few diagnostics.
- A PCR assay on a urine sample to check for any STIs (in particular I'm worried about mycoplasmas)
- Semen culture
I also did some standard tests (HIV, Syph, hep B). Funny story: the hospital emailed me the Hep B results and I saw the word POSITIVE and freaked the fuck out. Once I chilled enough to Google everything I realized that I was positive for the Hep B surface antibody which just means you've been immunized and you're immune and can't get it or transmit it (oh yeah, I had this vaccine when I was a kid, duh!)
Man, on a side note, reading about hepatitis B, it's a fucked up virus with some serious complications for your liver. Nothing to play with. And it can be sexually transmitted. One of many scary reasons (including mycoplasmas which most of you guys have probably never even heard of) that I've long since turned in my team Raw Dog membership card.
Anyway, the reason I ordered the PCR is because the only thing I can think of that could possibly be a confounding factor is that at one point I had a mycoplasma infection (M. Genitalium) which I treated with antibiotics but it could have survived or I could have been reinfected.
I scoured the literature and there doesn't seem to be any documented connection between mycoplasmas and this flank pain issue. So it's a bit of a shot in the dark. But I'm going all out to fix this once and for all. To say nothing of the fact that kidney disease is generally considered to be irreversible and I'm 32 years old. Fuck that.
So guys, perhaps you can tell I'm a bit perturbed (I'm still recovering and I've been a weird, delirious state since Monday and finally am getting back to myself). But this forum has always been a haven and golden resource so I thought it's worth a shot.
Any clues you can offer will be most appreciated.