SOS - GALL BLADDER INFO, PLEASE - LONG READ

hello all: i just survived a really gruesome week and would appreciate any info you could offer, please. last monday evening i was in urgent care and then emergency room. suffering severe pain originating in my right side, under my rib cage, and shooting up into my shoulder and down into my groin. they did an awful lot of tests and ended up telling me i am showing fluid on my heart, irritation in my bowels, lots of gas, and i'm full of **** i've been suffering from constipation forever - no news there. but this pain was truly breathtaking. so they sent me home with instructions to take milk of mag, along with the miralax and colace and flax seed which i'm already taking. being a wls person, i questioned whether this could be gall bladder. they said no. on tuesday i saw my colorectal surgeon, having had some really embarassing tests about two weeks ago. he tells me my rectocele is large and there's a secondary hernia higher up. that he will need to do the surgery but before he does it i need to do some biofeedback so i can learn to 'evacuate' correctly. how humiliating!. at this point, i am controlling the pain in my side with vicodin - which is constipating but controls the pain. a catch 22. on wednesday, i went back to urgent care. the flare up in my side had me doubled over again, i was actually panicking, because i was alone at work and didn't want to pass out. again - they told me i was FOS. again, i questioned the gall bladder. again, i was told to take the laxatives. at this point i'm taking three forms of laxative, twice a day, along with a minimum of 100 oz of water, oatmeal with walnuts for breakfast, and whole wheat sf banana nut muffin for lunch. thursday was relatively calm. the vicodin controls the pain but makes me very tired. on friday @ 5 p.m. i saw my gp. she is recommending i have an echocardigram for my heart - it's apparently not good to have pericardial effusion, whatever the heck that is. she's also ordering up a nuclear ultrasound to see if the gall bladder is diseased without having stones in it. emotionally, my father passed away a year ago this past week, which makes me sad, of course, and on which i'm dwelling entirely too much - i guess. spiritually, my faith waivered this past week. i had a major meltdown on wednesday. the 'why me, lord?' syndrome kicked in big time and i forgot, for a while, that i'm lucky to be alive and life is good, in spite of what we are challenged to endure. financially, the time off work is hurting, because i know i'll need to take off in the near future for surgery and if i don't have the hours available, it could become an issue. plus, our finances suck. because of what i thought was a really wise choice on my part, we are so tight financially, we've had to borrow from the kids. talk about humbling. so that was my week from he!!. my question is this - have you had gall bladder troubles? what were your symptoms? is there any way i can alleviate the pain beside the vicodin? i feel like i'm becoming a real bummer to be around. i know that this too shall pass, NO PUN INTENDED, but in the meantime i'm trying to figure out how to stay positive. it ain't easy, though. oh yeah. i see a plastic surgeon on tuesday. wish me luck. i'm gonna try to see if she can tackle a panni at the same time as my rectocele repair. i feel like both are tied to the backaches i have every day and i honestly need to get some relief here. if you're still reading, bless your heart. if you can help me out with gall bladder info, it would be greatly appreciated. thanks, everyone. i don't post often, but it's nice to know i can when i need to. dorthe

Before I had my bypass surgery I got "impacted" from the barium swallow pre-op test and I was in severe pain so I know what you are going through. The nurse at the hospital also reccommended that I drink coffee. One of the things I like to eat is the South Beach Pizza's because they have 31g of Fiber and high protein. This should help with the bowel issues. Remember too, tons of water!!!! As far as the gallbladder goes. I went through the same thing. I had right side pain for months that no one could figure out (from 7/05 to 3/06) it wasn't until they did a CT Scan on my abdomen that they discovered that I needed my appendix out. You see, my appendix ended up being behind my intestines after all was said and done so they had a hard time diagnosing it. My advice, get the bowels moving and if you are still having a problem with side pain ask for a hida-scan (this test the gallbladder function) if this comes back negative and you continue with the pain get a CT scan. This will show all your organs. By the time they got my appendix out it had developed this huge growth of bacteria and I was very fortunate that it had not ruptured! Good luck, my thoughts are with you.

thanks for the response. i've got the bowels moving and the side pain is still an issue. it's no longer shooting up into my shoulder at this point, but it's still feeling as though my right side has gotten HARD. i appreciate your letting me know what to ask for. sometimes that's half the battle. and i'm very glad you got it taken care in time, too. thanks again. dorthe

Dorthe, so have you been able to have a BM, have you tried an enema to clean yourself out? That should be your #1 thing right now, making sure you can go and it isn't a blockage you might have. As for the gallbladder it most definitely can cause the symptoms you are feeling. Press your doctor to do an ultrasound and if it shows up clear a hydascan which is a radioactive test that will make sure your gallbladder is functioning correctly even if you do not have gallstones. I hope you feel better soon, good luck with the PS consult. Dana

hi dana. thanks for the response. last monday, one of my concerns was that it was a blockage. i know they can be painful and problematic. but i actually did start having bowel movements by tuesday, so i ruled that out. the pain came back on wednesday, strongly enough to go back to urgent care, which makes me think it was my gall bladder flaring up. they've got me set up for an echo for my heart and a nuclear ultrasound for the gall bladder on wednesday. is that the same as a hydascan? do you know? hope to heck they find an answer. i woke up at 3 a.m. with a backache and a pain in my side again. not as brutal, but bad enough to take a vicodin. the ps consult is today. i hope she doesn't tell me she can't do ps yet. i've got another 80 lbs to go to get where i had hoped to end up. but other complications are kinda putting another surgery in my near future, so i'm hoping they can do this then. does that make sense or is my lack of sleep showing? anyway, thanks for the message. i'll post with what i find out, maybe after wednesday's appointment. dorthe

Dorthe, About a year to the date of my wls I started having side splitting pain of course being one of those people that does not go to hosp I waited a day. I could not sleep at night the pain was so bad. I was doubled over I finaly called my surgeon. who ordered a ultrasound and ct scan. They found gall stones. They thought at first it was a bowl blockage as I too dont have bm's that often. They had me on the surgery table 4 hours after that only to find that my gall bladder was full of sludge and had started to solidify. They advised me after that I had the gall bladder of a 80 year old woman. they also fixed a hernia while they were in there that they found during surgery. All I have to say is if You are having pain in the vicinity of your surgery call your doctor that you do your follow ups with. For me it is my surgeon. I hope this helps. Gall bladder pain is horrible. Adena