Hi,

Probable colon question here. A few weeks ago I had what seemed to be a sudden onset of middle and lower back pain. A week or so later I noticed that I have a slight swelling above and to the side of the iliac crest on my left side. Sort of in between the ribcage and hipbone, but closer to the hipbone. It almost feels like an inflamed muscle, but I'm not sure there is one there. There is no real pain with the swelling, but my colon in this area has been making some extra noise, and there is a sensation of heaviness around my left abdomen / left side generally. I have a history of food sensitivities (gluten, sugar, nightshades, oxalates, dairy) and auto-immune issues. Concurrent with discovering the swelling near the iliac I had to make a ten day road trip to a wedding and had some gluten and Sugar along the way, which I'm sure hasn't helped. I've also some severe bloating present.

Wondering if this is a problem of the descending colon? Or is it muscle inflammation around the iliac crest?

I am using the toilet fairly normally / regularly. No blood or anything unusual.

When I wake in the morning, the swelling seems to be less, but then returns with standing and drinking water and eating.

My eyes have been feeling dry and irritated lately.

Also---trying to remember everything---there is slight itch present around the area of swelling. The back pain is still present but moves around a lot. Middle to lower, sometimes on on side or the other and sometimes on both sides at the same time. I was thinking perhaps I have multiple things happening and my kidneys might be working hard. I've been taking magnesium oxide at night to sleep and maybe the kidneys aren't too fond of it.

Thanks for any help.