Sono done today...

I still have no idea what's going on with the pain under my right ribs. I won't "officially" have the results for a few days, but it was interesting. I saw my roux limb - nice and straight, no kinks or anything. She took an image of that. She took a LOT of pics of my liver...she kept coming back to that and taking more measurements and pics... I know they can't tell me anything...but I usually press anyway... so I threw out "does it still look like I have a fatty liver?" She said "I'm not a doctor and I'm not the one who will read these for your results, but I don't see any" She took a few shots of my gall bladder - me, still pressing for info - explained that I had images taken there in 99 showing gallstones and asked if they had pulled those images. She said "No, but we will pull them because the doctor is going to be surprised at how CLEAN your gall bladder is - this is the cleanest, emptyest gall bladder I have ever seen - are you sure your surgeon didn't clean your gall bladder out when you had your RNY?" I said "I'm pretty sure, unless that was an unmentioned free bonus!" Okay - so I think I can safely say it's not gallstones causing this. She took just a couple of shots of my left kidney and a whole bunch of shots of my right kidney. I have no idea what I'm looking at on the screen as far as the kidneys go. I can tell you that I could see the shape of them and they look all white and fuzzy inside. That's about it. She gave me no further clues.... but I'm getting the impression by her facial expressions that she didn't see anything. So..... I have no ideas. I know the pain is still there, just not nearly as bad as it was. I know the nausea is still there and is just grotesque. I guess I have to wait for the "official" results and see what the next step is. I'm thinking if all of this is negative, maybe I should be doing some sort of gastro testing, maybe with barium to see if it is my digestive tract? A deudonal ulcer? I have no idea. I'm on Prevacid....so not sure what else could be done anyway. I guess if it gets bad again, I'll just go to the ER. Pam

You will have to keep us posted. I was following your plight with interest, as I have had similar pain. I had the same pain as you described, and had my gb removed just before thanksgiving. Unfortunately i have had three severe attacks since then. My surgeon has put me on actigal and protonics. Actigal is in case there is a small stone in a bile duct, and protonics in case it is an ulcer. I never know when the pain is going to come. Is that the case with you, or is your pain chronic? My surgeon told me the next step is to do a scope, then a mri, and then investigative surgery. I am hoping that I won't have to do any of those things. Let me know how it goes and what they find. Good luck! Margo

Well, this started suddenly a couple of weeks ago. It was gradual, starting on a Saturday and getting more & more intense until mid-Sunday when I was unable to even stand up straight. I should have gone to the ER then but I ended up laying down with a pillow under my ribs. I felt very weak and tired, so I just went to bed. Over the next couple of days, it came and went at varying intensities - until that Friday when it got really really bad again. I was going to go to the ER but decided that I better not miss my son's Christmas program - so I went to that and made an appt with the doctor for last Saturday. Over the course of all of this, it has been a pain that comes and goes, at varying intensities - but never completely goes away. When I described this to the doctor, she said that is a "choliky" pain - which is normally associated with some kind of spasms (like maybe my gall bladder spasming to push a stone, or kidneys pushing a stone, or intestines trying to work something out, basically, could be any organ trying to do "something"). She put me on Prevacid in case it's an ulcer. I'm no doctor, just a chick in pain trying to figure out what's going on, but I'm thinking if I do have an ulcer and the pain is an indication of where the ulcer is, then this could be a deuodenal ulcer or in my remnant stomach. I know where my pouch is, and judging from what it feels like when something gets stuck in my pouch, the pain is not in my pouch. And judging from where I saw my roux limb, it's no where near that either. I just wish these things could all be figured out with testing instead of having to face investigative surgery. I sure hope it doesn't come down to that for either one us!! Keep in touch and let me know what you find out! I'll keep posting too. Maybe someone else has been down this road and can toss out the one pearl of wisdom that we need to take to our doctors - or maybe someone else will benefit from what we find out along the way. Good luck to you too! Pam

I hope they can give you some answers soon and that things don't get so bad that you end up in the ER. Keep us posted! Tracy B

Hey, Pam... I've had unexplained pain under the right ribs since about 4-5 months post-op. Seems to come and go. Had tons of tests. No explanation. Thought lots of things but diagnosically nada. Right now, I can tell you that something with citric acid seems to trigger it. It isn't a big pain...just a slight nagging one. Sounds like yours is much more severe though. One thing you might want to check out is costochondritis which is inflammation of the rib cartilage can cause pain, chest pains, etc. Often misdiagnosed. and unfortunately no good treatments out there either except anti-inflammatories. Feel better and I really hope you get your answer and solution very soon! Hugs, Kathy