Newly diagnosed; in a lot of fleeting pain on alternating sides...

[Asha2287]

As of two days ago I have been having very painful abdominal pain. I have IC and IBS, but I never know which it is. How do you tell? Is it both? On the first day of what I'm guessing is a flare I got home from work sat on the couch. bam! horrible clutching pain in my stomach. it's hard to even explain. It felt kind of like a horrible extended cramp in my entire stomach. I didn't even want to get off the couch. I normally cook, but my husband had to help me cook b/c I was hurting so bad. I have no meds yet. I have an rx for Elmiron, but haven't been approved for the patient assistance yet. Now my pain is on my right side stabbing pains, when I inhale deeply it makes it worse. It feels like something is "catching" when I try to breathe in. This happens frequently; it just switches sides. Also having pain dull pain near my belly button off and on. I almost always keep my pants unbuttoned under my shirt b/c my stomach hurts. Does this sound like a flare? I think I have has this for years b/c when I was in high school. That was about 5 yrs ago. In school I would get in trouble b/c students were only allowed a certain amount of bathroom passes per semester. I would get sent to the office numerous times b/c I would be going to the restroom too much. I thought it was just b/c I drank a lot and I never thought much about it. I just figured I was one of those people who went a lot. Classes were 1 1/2 hours long and I would go before and after each class and STILL have to go during the class. After that for the past 5 yrs I have been going to the doc for stomach and urinary pain and their was frequently blood in my urine, but rarely even an infection. The doctor would always guess that I had kidney stones, but I never did. I am so glad to finally know what is going on. I was so confused on why I was having painful intercourse, frequent urination, and the abdominal pain. We have been trying to figure out the pain for about a year.