r/ACNES

For the last couple of months I’ve been dealing with pretty bad bloating, trouble passing gas and a lot of abdominal tension. My stomach feels like it’s braced or flexed most of the time when I’m standing.

During an extremely stressful night about 2 months ago, the bloating got really bad and I suddenly developed a very specific sharp pain about 2 fingers below and to the left of my belly button. The painful area is tiny, probably less than 1 cm. The pain is not constant, but when it hits it can be extremely sharp and stabbing and sometimes almost unbearable.

It gets much worse with certain movements, standing and especially when I flex or tense my abs. When I lie down and fully relax, I usually don’t feel it. At first I thought there might be a tiny lump under the skin, but I’m honestly not even sure anymore. It could just be something I’m feeling through the abdominal wall or bowel underneath.
The first time this happened it lasted around a week. My bloating eventually improved and the pain disappeared with it. Now my bloating and difficulty passing gas have gotten significantly worse again and the exact same pain has come back, except this time it feels worse.

I’ve had an abdominal ultrasound and nothing abnormal was seen, although it was done while I was lying down, which is also the position where the pain and whatever I think I’m feeling there mostly disappear.

I’m still passing stool. My fiber intake is currently around 20g per day, which is lower than what I used to eat. I also burp fairly often and have some swallowing difficulty, so I’ve wondered whether I might be swallowing more air than normal and making the bloating worse.

I also have genetically confirmed CMT2A from an MFN2 mutation, so I’m wondering whether neuropathy, altered gut motility, abdominal muscle guarding or some type of abdominal wall nerve irritation could be involved.

One other thing I remembered is that around 7 months ago I did a few subcutaneous GHK-Cu injections into abdominal fat with a short 32G pen needle. I pinched the fat, injected slowly, released the pinch while the needle was still in, waited about 2 seconds and then removed it. I had some mild redness afterward but no major swelling, severe local pain, numbness or persistent symptoms. The current pain only appeared about 5 months later, so I’m not sure whether that’s relevant at all.

I’ve been reading about ACNES because the very small painful spot and the fact that flexing my abdominal muscles makes it much worse seem similar. I’ve also wondered about a muscle or fascial trigger point, a very small hidden hernia, or simply severe bowel distension irritating something in the abdominal wall.

Has anyone had something similar where severe bloating causes a tiny, extremely localized stabbing pain that gets much worse standing or flexing but mostly disappears when lying down? Especially interested if anyone has experience with ACNES or other abdominal wall nerve pain.