I have experienced abdominal pain for about five years.

I am a healthy nineteen-year-old female with a normal bmi. I have no great familial risk of any known conditions or diseases, except for a mild hip contortion that seems to affect women in my family. I exercise fairly often (about twice a week), eat very healthy meals in healthy quantities - I am currently choosing to pursue the keto diet for greater mental acuity, and have been for over two months - and generally have a healthy lifestyle.

The pain begins as a dull, cramp-like ache in the lower right side of my abdomen, originating at a point directly above and almost underneath my right hip-bone. The pain spreads upwards along the side of my body until it reaches my ribcage and changes character, becoming sharper and impeding the depth of my breathing. This lasts anywhere from five minutes to half an hour.

The episodes of pain seem to happen most often either from half an hour to two hours after a meal or while I am sleeping, usually waking me up. Additionally, when I exercise vigorously and my breathing becomes labored, it almost always brings on a bout of pain of the most severe degree, and I am left unable to exercise for the rest of the day. I find I am able to exercise for longer if I hold my core very strong, but it only staves it off; eventually, the pain will come. Sometimes, the pain will appear out of nowhere at a typically pain-free time, but that is rare. The rest of the time, I either have a very low level of discomfort and tension in the area or none at all.

The pain started when I was on the swim team during my sophomore year of high school. I thought at first, given the fact that it appeared with exercise, that I had pulled a muscle, and I spent months going to the chiropractor. When that did nothing, I went to my school's sports injury person, who tested a my abdominal, back, and leg muscles and concluded that there was nothing wrong with them.

My mother suggested I get an ultrasound to look at my appendix, but they were unable to locate the pesky organ, referring me instead to a CT scan. The CT scan yielded no results of consequence but that I was mildly constipated. The doctor suggested that may have been the cause for my pain and sent me home with a bill of clean health. I spent the next year wondering if I was a hypochondriac.

During this time, I experienced anxiety and fell into deep depression, eventually being hospitalized for it. I have heard that gastrointestinal issues and mental health have a close link, so I figured I would include that information; though I have always been susceptible to anxiety and mild depression, it had never been this bad. I was given SSRIs and got my life back on track, but the pain persisted.

I decided to get a colonoscopy about half a year ago. They found a few polyps but nothing else - not even inflammation. The pain persisted even while I was cleaning my bowels in preparation for the procedure, proving the last doctor wrong - it was not, in fact, constipation that was giving me my ailment.

I have exhausted all other options, and, as a poor college student, now turn to the internet, where I hope a doctor might give my case more attention than a mere passing glance. I am so frustrated with the system. I would go back to the GI that performed the colonoscopy - he seemed to at least to want to get to the bottom of this - but my resources are limited. Help!

Thank you for your consideration.