Does anyone have gallbladder problems?

Mustangsally82 · 03-18-2006, 02:26 PM

I had a HIDA scan back in 2002 and my ejection fraction was 47%. My doc told me I"d probably have to have my gall bladder out eventually.

I've been having a lot of indigestion and gas pains lately, as well as the right sided pain just below my ribs. Sometimes it radiates to my back. This past week I felt bad three or four days out of the week, and it would start about 5 p.m. and last until I went to bed.

How do I know if it's something that needs an emergency room visit? I don't have a fever and I feel okay as long as I don't move too much, but I don't want to let it go until it's really serious.

I'm in class this semester and doing rotations at a hospital, so I guess that's a good thing in case I get into trouble

but I'm doing a summer program from May 15-July 14, and I don't think I"ll have time between my spring class (ends first week of may) and my summer program to schedule surgery.

I know nothing is more important than my health, but my summer program is very important to me too. If anyone has gone through this before I'd love to hear from you. I've heard that some people still have pain after surgery.

Mom2KassAutumn · 03-18-2006, 02:37 PM

I had gallbladder problems when I was pregnant with my first daughter back in 2002. It started about 3 to 4 months after I found out I was pregnant. I would have pains in my shoulder blades. It hurt so bad most of the time I was curled into a fetal position. I could never get my pain to stop unless I went to the bathroom or vomited (I know that is gross, but it is the truth). I visited the ER twice with pains and both times they told me that they couldn't do anything until I had given birth to my daughter. Even on the night I gave birth I had a gallbladder attack in the hospital. 6 weeks later after my doctor released me I had surgery on my gallbladder. I had it taken out. I'm soooo happy I did. I don't ever wanna go threw that pain again in my life. It hurt so bad. I stayed the night in the hospital over night. There are some people I know that I go home the same day. I wouldn't have been able to go home the same day. The recovery time was about a week to two weeks. My husband started having gallbladder pains after the birth of our second daughter in 2004. He had his gallbladder taken out too. He is definitely happy he also had the surgery.

TTC#3 · 03-18-2006, 03:45 PM

I started having major "indigestion" pains at about 8 1/2 months. They started out not so bad then became worse and radiated to my back. Dr. said not to worry. Well, they just got worse and worse. I gave birth naturally on Monday, Feb. 3 1997, went home wednesday morning, then on wednesday night we ran to the emergency room! I was screaming my head off. Friday, I had to have my gall bladder removed...

WWDC · 03-21-2006, 05:10 AM

I had my gallbladder out at age 23 - I really believe it had a lot to do with pcos and also weight loss.

Mustangsally82 · 03-22-2006, 01:29 AM

Thanks for the replies. I went to see my doctor today and I had a fever and a lot of pain. I'm having blood drawn tomorrow to see if my liver tests are high or if my white bloodcell count is up. I guess she will send me for surgery if those are positive for gallbladder infection.

I felt so bad today, I almost threw up several times, I just wished they would have admitted me and taken this darn thing out so I could feel better. Maybe tomorrow?

dreamingoftwins · 03-22-2006, 08:22 PM

i've had a good bit of digestion problems in general. i did notice they all happened when i was having problems with my period all started. i never would've connected it with pcos.

hope you got some answers sally.

annem84 · 03-23-2006, 12:30 AM

I did--but had it out on March 10th. Had the "flu" for 4 weeks and then a bilirubin check and an u/s indicated gallstones so had emergency surgery cause had a major attack on the 9th and was in the operating room by 9 A.M. on the 10th.

purplerose · 03-23-2006, 01:36 AM

I had my gallbladder removed when I was 20, after having two gallstone attacks. One was definitely more than enough.

Char24782 · 03-24-2006, 06:40 AM

Hi
I have been having terrible gas and indigestion pains and I get bad bouts of diarrhea. Not to be gross but the diarrhea is like a yellowish color and is kinda painful. I have had an ultrasound and they found no gallbladder stones. I really believe its my gallbladder still...can you have other gallbladder problems they cant see in an ultasound? I also get weird pains on my right side under my ribcage. And on the same side on my back under my shoulder blade...its kind of like an irritating pinching or a weird feeling. Please help....
When I was on the atkins diet I would eat mustard, mayo or pickles, anything with a lot of vinager and also when I would drink alcohol then I would get the weird diarrhea the next day. I'm so confused.

Charlotte

Mustangsally82 · 03-24-2006, 03:21 PM

Wow. I'm glad I'm not the only one, but it sucks that we all have so many digestive problems.

I do know that gallbladder pain can be caused by sludge, which is just thick bile, and very very small gallstones that can't be seen on us/ct/hida etc. Some gallstones aren't made from calcium, so they don't show up on scans either because they're not white colored. Soemtimes gallbladder pain can come from a non-functioning gallbladder, or a blockage in one of the ducts.

I went to see the gastro yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised at how thorough he was. I didn't expect to be asked to take off my shirt and pants, and I certainly wasn't expecting a rectal exam but he spent two hours with me and scheduled an upper endoscopy for the week after next. He put forward a lot of possibilities, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's, which I hope aren't really what's bothering me, but I think someone will finall figure this out, which will be great.

I'll keep y'all updated.

purplerose · 03-24-2006, 04:05 PM

Yup...if they diagnose you with gallstones, you should have an abdominal ultrasound to make sure you really do have them. They should show up on that. My doc ordered one when he diagnosed them, but I don't know if all docs would. My US was quite painful because they were shoving the probe thingy as far as they could into the fat rolls (another PCOS thing, ugh) over my gallbladder and since my gallbladder was swollen and inflamed...well, that wasn't pleasant. But it'd be worth having one done to prevent unnecessary surgery.

Charlotte--yes, you might still have something else wrong with your gallbladder other than stones. One of the things they did to diagnose mine was to try a few days of other digestive tract medicines like Nexium to see if they helped. If that had helped me, then they would have known that it wasn't my gallbladder. No medicine did anything to help my gallstone attacks. (I probably OD'd on Pepto, Tums, whatever I could get my hands on just trying to get some relief)

Char24782 · 03-27-2006, 07:27 AM

Thanks Everyone!!!

mix · 03-29-2006, 01:34 AM

i had my gallbladder removed when i was 25. it happened after i lost a lot of weight, about 80 lbs. i've heard that gallstones can be a result of cholesterol being chucked out into your system when you lose weight.

the only thing that would help the pains was to have a shot of brandy lol. in the end though, the pain got too much and i had the bugger taken out.

in the 6 weeks i waited for it to be removed (oh the joys of the british health service), i had some painful attacks, which came after eating anything fatty.

my advice would be to eat very bland and non-oily food. try to keep your bowels regular as constipation can really make things worse. get some good pain-killers.

Mustangsally82 · 03-29-2006, 01:43 AM

Thanks for the replies. I'm making it slowly until my endoscopy appointment, because my doctors want to rule out any GERD complications before proceeding. Which is good I guess, because I'd hate to have surgery to remove my gallbladder and then have it not be the cuase of the problem, but at the same time I'm kind of impatient to get this taken care of.

nine more days.

Wings · 03-29-2006, 01:47 AM

I had my gallbladder out back a little over a month ago. I had chronic inflamation of the gallbladder and multiple gallstones (even on about the size of a golf ball). Funny thing is, when I found out I had gallstones, it was from a result of ultrasounds I had looking for the PCOS. So, I guess some good things can come of the syndrome.

My surgery was easy, I went home the same day, and only have four tiny little scars -- so it was definitely worth it. I haven't had any pain since the removal!