Gall Bladder Problems

[HopeSprings]

Just curious because I've noticed over the years many people have had gall bladder surgery. I had gall bladder pain (under right ribs) on and off in my 20's for a few years and eventually attacks which felt like heart attacks. Turned out I had multiple gall stones and I then had my gall bladder removed. Just wondering how common (or not) it is for us.

[hholmes13]

I had mine removed when I was 20. The pain started when I was 17 and I had every test done and nothing showed up. After years of barely being able to eat, my mom and I asked the surgeon to take out my gallbladder because I had all of the common symptoms. When they took it out, it was covered in scar tissue. The surgery made a huge difference for me!

[AussieOI]

GallBladder surgery is extremely common. I had mine removed last year. Now that a lot of my friends are in their late 30's and 40's I know quite a few people who have had theirs removed.

[HopeSprings]

Aussie, yeah, you have a point - I don't know how common it is in the general population. Just noticed a lot of us here have had issues with it and at a young age. I was in my mid 20's.

I added an age question to see if this makes any difference. In order to add your age, you'd have to delete your original vote and vote again. Sorry!

[tinkerbella]

It's out and thought my bladder would never wake up after surgery. Had to go home with the cath in for a few days. Then my bowels decided not to work and I ended up right back in the hospital, till they could get them working again. I was in the worst pain ever after. : (

[gackedo]

I started having gall bladder pain in my mid 20's. An ultrasound showed no gall stones but a HIDA scan showed that my gall bladder was non-functioning (was not excreting bile) so I had my gall bladder removed. That was the beginning a long history of abdominal pain associated with elevated liver function tests. I was diagnosed with sphincter of oddi dysfunction and over the next three decades had five ERCPs and three sphincterotomies.

I also have bad GERD. I had a pH study that showed I refluxed over 100 times in one day. I also have detrusor sphincter dysenergy resulting in urinary retention. It seemed to me that it was no coincidence that these sphincters were all under the control of the autonomic nervous system.

When I first got diagnosed with POTS I tried on convince my doctor that these sphincter issues were all related to my dysautonomia. It was a hard sell but after 6 years he agrees with me that they are all related. In fact, when I started to have more sphincter of oddi pain he started me on Mestinon and it helped a great deal.

[azmusiclover]

I didn't have mine out until my early 30s, but I had issues in my teens. You could add a poll question of when issues started?

[AussieOI]

There is an old saying that most GB patients are fair, fat and forty !

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/20/the_odd_body_gallstones/

[HopeSprings]

musiclover - Just choose the age when symptoms started then. If you were having GB symptoms and were later diagnosed, I would assume problem began when symptoms started. If I add another question, people are going to have delete and re-vote again I believe. Ah! It's so hard to design a perfect poll!

Aussie - we seem to not be the typical GB patients.

12 of us so far and most were very young and I'll bet most were not fat (I wasn't for sure). I don't know if it means anything, but it's an interesting observation I think.

[misstraci]

I was 24 when it was removed but the issues lingered and couldn't be detected for years. I had constant nausea throughout high school and test after test after test (sounds familiar to where i am now) revealed nothing. In the end, it was my gallbladder not functioning (squeezing as it was explained to me). I have a hiatal hernia and paptic ulcer (not caused by hpylori) as well as delayed gastric emptying.

[Aimes]

My gallbladder problems started this last year after having my second baby. I was 26 and slightly overweight. I know it's common to have gallbladder problems after pregnancies though. During pregnancy your body releases hormones which relax the tissues in your body, allowing you to grow with the baby. These same hormones can cause your gallbladder to relax and stop contracting. My gallbladder was completely filled with tiny stones and was inflamed. The doctor wonders if my gallbladder was never fully functioning to begin with and pregnancy magnified the problem. Who knows! All I know is that it caused my most recent flare! Ugh!

[Ash]

Most of my life I have had symptoms of gallbladder but it wasn't until last December when I was admitted to the hospital they looked at it as a possibility and it actually took 2 different hospitals and 12 days before they decided to take it out..the doctors kept looking for other issues, and since there where no gallstones, I was young and not over weight they dismissed it. It wasn't until they did the HIDA scan until they saw that it was barely functioning. The surgeon said my gallbladder was covered in scar tissue and has probably not been functioning right my entire life. However, it wasn't until after surgery that I started having bad PoTS symptoms and got a diagnosis. And as a side note I haven't noticed much difference in my stomach issues but per my cardio doctor that is due to PoTS, I was also diagnosis with a hiatal hernia in the hospital and the doctor said I could have it fixed if I wanted but didn't see any reason to do it..oh the big difference I have noticed is weight loss since having the GB out, Although I eat a healthy diet, it seems like I have to eat more healthy fat foods (i.e. peanut butter, nuts) now to keep my weight at 117-120 when I was admitted to the hospital I weighted 159 and although I wasn't "technically" overweight, I was unable to loose any weight despite trying, while 2 months ago I weighted in at 114.

[azmusiclover]

LOL, there is no such thing as a perfect poll! I put when I had surgery (30s), but I had symptoms since high school. It ****** because I had been symptom free until my gall bladder had to come out. Within 6 months of that, I was in bed, sick, down 30 pounds (and I did not have 30 pounds to lose) and in a horrible POTS flare. I am trying really hard to pull out of it now. It's better than it was, but it's still not where I'd like it to be. I may be fair, but I'm certainly not fat or forty.

[puppylove]

I'm getting a HIDA scan tomorrow to check my gallbladder. It's sounds simple but long. Is there anything POTS wise that might be a problem?

[robert elrod]

I had the hida scan the gallbladder appeared healthy but once they started the injection of the drug I started having the strong pain. This was before my dx. After removal, pain was still there and my other symptoms intensefied. Not sure if related or i was just headed down this road either way. That is when I finally had to throw my hajds up in the air and take a extended medical leave.

[Agreeky]

I was supposed to have a HIDA scan but upon seeing a second GI he was really against it. He told me half the people that get it removed do not really need to. It is something doctors do when all else fails. Not sure if that holds true to anybody here? I ended up not doing the scan based on his opinion.

[TCP]

I had problems with my gallbladder and a stone was found at teh same time the AN and PN triggered. I'm having serious problems now so may have to have it removed.