Gallbaladder

[meandean]

Hi all,

Another new symptom..... I'm having pain just below and behind my rib cage along with right side abdominal pain and eveything I eat goes right through me.

Can gallbladder problems be causing this or could it be something else? Any ideas guys?

On a good note I had two great days, but then bent over to pick up a glass that I broke and felt like someone sucked all of my energy from me.

I enjoyed those two days......felt human again!

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks, Dean

[Sunfish]

i would definitely do a search on this at it has been discussed numerous times. myself and numerous others on the forum have had our gallbladders removed. for many of us it was for dysfunction/motility issues rather than for the more "typical" gallstones.

melissa

[bttrflyamby1981]

I'm having mine checked today, so I'll let you know.

I don't have any pain though, they are just trying to rule things out.

Amber

[meandean]

Sunfish,

You poor thing, after you suggested searching for GB on the forum I did and read about your GB surgery. What an terrible experience you had.

I am going to a new nero on Friday who is also an internist and I will tell him of all of my old & new symptoms of POTS. I haven't found a doctor who is actually treating me for POTS, my EP diagnoised me with it, but doesn't know how to treat it????? This whole thing is so crazy. Thanks for your input and advise.

Amby,

Let me know how your appt. goes

Thanks for the feed back!

[dawn]

I had problems with my gallbladder for over 20 years. They would not see stones on ultrasound. There is a test called I think hidascan where it tells if your gallbladder is functioning and to what extent.

I had a big gallbladder attack while shopping about 5 years ago. Then they found a large stone in the common bile duct. I had it removed by laproscope. Went home in the morning. I can't say it made much of difference as far as my POTS symptoms. I was hoping it would help the nausea.

Dawn

[Guest sonotech]

I had my gallbladder removed in october of 2004. I didn't realize this was a common problem for those with dysautonomia. I know the docs said I didn't fit the "typical" patient with gallbladder problems. Of course I was just diagnosed with POTS in Jan 2006, so I didn't have a diagnosis for my med problems back then.

[lthomas521]

Anyone with gallbladder disease should be tested for celiac disease, especially if vaguely defined digestive troubles seem to run in the family.

[AJVDK]

I had my gallbaladder removed in 98. I am still not sure if it was related, but I would keep after it if you think you are having problems!

[willows]

Hello, I had my gallbladder removed 17 years ago.

My symptoms didn't make sense to them at all as I had pain on the left side ( the gallbladders on the right side) I had the most chronic awful mind blowing pain for hours and hours afterwards if I had anything with fat in it, so bad that I would pass out with the pain and go a nice shade of yellow.

For two years before I had it out I was treated for ;

1. A gut infection ...............wrong , as I didn't have one.

2. A peptic ulcer ................wrong , as I didn't have one.

3.A neurotic woman............wrong , as I wasn't one

You name it the doctors tried it on me , the hospital was no batter and I was getting worse and worse, the hospital refused to believe I had gallstone problems because I didn't fit into there criteria , that being;

FAT, FOURTY AND FERTILE . I was 33, weighed 8stone and had just 2 kids !

I was eventually diagnosed when my normal hospital consultant went on holiday and I saw his stand in one............by then bright yellow and very ill I passed out in his consulting room ...........my gallbladder burst and I had 22 gallstones removed along with a length of intestine which was 'suspect' I was given an emergency operation within an hour of this happening and was very ill afterwards .

This has left me with a huge 12 inch scar right down the front of me from my breast bone to my navel ................mmmmmm nice and also an inability to digest fat and such still and food problems.

If any of you get pain after eating foods with fat in them then I advise you to have your gallbladder checked out ASAP , I was so ill and it took me 6 months to get over the operation , Nasty one that .

Willows.

[OCsunshine]

Yep I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago, in my early 20's. It seems common among us Dysautonomia folks... not sure why......

[juliegee]

Wow!

I've been meaning to post about this. I was just hospitalized for the past week with a major GB attack. (I'm also not a typical GB patient as I'm quite thin and don't eat fatty foods.) I finally had a colonoscopy for my chronic constipation. I was thinking that it went pretty well. However, I felt a little nauseous afterwards. I didn't feel like eating. Around 10PM that night I finally had a few handfuls of popcorn. (So, I went 2 days w/o eating) I woke up at 1 AM with the most God-awful pain I've ever felt in my chest and between my shoulder blades. No position made it better. I couldn't even breathe. I passed out and hubby got me to the ER. I woke up when they hooked me up to the morphine. I ended up having LOTS of tests. the only unusual ones were high liver count and a 30% on the HIDA scan. The ultrasound didn't show any stones. I had a fever and chills. The symptoms have abated and I am able to eat pretty normally now. I never had GB symptoms before this big "attack." My (lined up) surgeon thinks the fasting/dehydration required by the colonoscopy set all of this into motion.

Now, I'm wondering......is this coincidental that so may of us have GB issues? (I'm thinking not as we don't seem like "typical" GB patients.) And, does getting the GB out resolve any of the motility problems or just relieve that pain? I'm hesitant to have the surgery as I haven't had GB issues before this. Any advice?

Thanks in advance-

Julie

[lmbutare]

I had my GB removed last August. I had HORRIBLE pain in the right upper quadrant, worse with eating and ended up losing over 20lbs in about 2 months (i wasn't overweight). They made me go through all kinds of tests and really didn't want to take it out b/c they said I was atypical too. They finally did though, and it was the best thing I ever had done. The pain was gone the day after surgery for the first time in months (although the surgical pain was pretty unpleasant). I had "biliary dyskinesia"...there were no stones but the GB wasn't contracting properly... I wonder how many of us have that too? My HIDA scan was really low, so that would definitely be an important test before considering surgery.

Good luck. Hope it goes away on its own and you don't have to have surgery!!

Lauren

[DancingLight]

Dean,

I'm another member of the 'gallbladder-less' club. You may have found my story in your search b/c it was a fun one too, NOT!

Actually, Sunfish and I had our surgeries about the same time...

I didn't have stones and only the HIDA w/ CKK figured it out. Just a very inflamed and scarred GB.

I don't usually think that diarrhea that you are describing is GB related, but the pain you are describing does sound similar. I did have horrible pain, vomiting and diarrhea with my 'attacks'...but they were clearly 'attacks' or 'episodes'....

Emily

[wareagle]

Just wanted to say "Me too"! I echo the others in saying definately go with the HIDA scan with the CKK... I had an ultra sound that came back "normal" but my HIDA indicated I had an ejection fraction of only 4%!!

I also had horrible diarrhea with my gallbladder problems...almost every day for over 2 mths . Since my surgery my GI issues have calmed down a lot....I did start taking fiber supplements more too though so I think that the diarrhea was a little bit gallbladder and a little bit IBS...kinda' like that Donnie and Marie song... ...sorry, guess I'm a bit loopy from lack of sleep!

I hope that you're feeling better soon Dean! Keep us posted.

[meandean]

Thanks to all of you for replying to my post.

Iam hoping that the new neurologist that I see tomorrow can level me out and answer all questions, address my symptoms and has some idea about POTS.

Still have the strange pain on my right side that radiates in between my shoulder blades, not unbearable yet, but there just the same.

Thanks again, for sharing your experience and the testing advice.

Regards,

Dean

[juliegee]

I'd recommend a HIDA scan. It definately sounds like BG problems. Best of luck to you. Keep us posted.

Julie