Gall bladder

Where was the pain located at? If it was your upper right side radiating towards your back/shoulder blade, then I would think gallbladder. If the pain was closer to your belly button and the pain came in waves much like labor pains do, then I would lean towards an obstruction. Be interested in hearing what they think is going on. Hope you get some answers soon.

Hugs
Gail *Nanners*

I had to have my gallbladder out feb2007....I had pain in my upper abdomen, under my right breast and radiating towards the middle btw my two breasts...It gave me severe nausea...bloating... pain was different times of the day....my GI says it's not uncommon with people with UC and Crohn's...good luck with the test...oh and by the way...I started imuran two weeks ago and after 1 week I was having severe upper abdominal pain and back pain similar to what was going on with my gallbladder...I stopped the med and the pain went away....so maybe it is the med...I wish you well and a speedy recovery...

Thanks for the replies, and thank you goldy3 for sharing.

I do wonder what role Imuran is playing in this, but for now I am content with stopping it until things are sorted out. Think I been on it for 2 or 3 years now.

I got the scan done, and the person doing it said there were stones present, and let me view them on the screen. She also told me about her gall bladder surgery, no vomiting, just intense pain, and I had a great experience overall. It was done at my g.i. docs office, who shares a floor of the hospital with several other doctors.

I won't know the full results until I talk with my g.i. tomorrow. I am hoping they will just remove the gall bladder via same day surgery this week or next while I have some motivation, and a wee bit of excitement about having the surgery done.

In August last year, I started having this upper, middle-of-the-breastbone burning/aching/gnawing pain. It started out lasting about 15-30 minutes. I'd go days without the pain...then it'd come back. Go a week without it, then it'd come back for a few days in a row. Then the pain started lasting longer so I started taking TUMS, as if that might help. Once the pain was gone, though, the rest of the day was fine so I sort of just forgot about it.

Then one day in September the pain lasted for 8 hours straight. Kept me home from work. I called and left a message with my GI's nurse. Never heard back from her. I know better than to NOT call back and say, "HEY, YOU DIDN'T RETURN MY CALL" but I was feeling better! In fact, I didn't have the pain again for another 2 weeks after I first called! So I was feeling stupid and paranoid.

The pain came and went throughout October & November. In December, I had an appointment with my GI anyway, so I mentioned the pain then. "Hmmmm..." he said. "I don't know what that could be". He suggested I take another Omeprazole before I ate. I really didn't think THAT was going to help...and it didn't.

So I continued to suffer with the pain throughout the holidays. Finally, the pain was lasting 3 hours every day starting in January. So I started to self-diagnose. I requested an HPylori blood test thinking I had a stomach ulcer, because that's what the pain felt like. What should have been a 2-day wait for results took 2 WEEKS to find out the HPylori was negative (there was a computer problem the day I had my blood draw).

It took another week and a half to hear back from my GI. He asked me on the phone the same questions he asked me in December. This time, though, he scheduled me for an Upper Endoscopy and a Gall Bladder Ultrasound.

I got in that same day for the ultrasound and dern if I didn't have gall stones. I was shocked. I was certain I didn't have any. 3 days later my GI had the stones results. He called to say, "Well, you got gall stones! We need to get that thing taken out!" He's certain the pain I was having was caused by the stones. I'm still not convinced but even if the stones weren't causing that pain, I realize I DO have gall stones and because of that, it needs to come out.

The Upper Endoscopy was cancelled. If I still have the burning pain after the gall bladder comes out, they'll reschedule the Endoscopy to see what's going on. Unfortunately, they weren't able to schedule me for surgery for another MONTH. In the meantime, my bowels have been giving me fits, I've had massive fatigue from dehydration and malabsorbtion...I'm also having problems with vomiting while BM'ing it. I think I'll start a thread about that...

Good luck with your surgery...I love your positive attitude! That's the way I'm looking at my GB removal, too. Get that thing out and things will start getting better!

I met with my surgeon friday. He came into the room with two bright eyed, bushy tailed students.

They all seemed interested in asking me questions about crohns disease, to which I kindly replied the answers. He was an older doctor, white hair on his face and head, with little skulls on his cap.(For some reason I thought oh no, it's Dr. House)

He was especially interested in my scar. Making comments that it must have been done in a pediatric hospital. My eyes opened up a bit more, my interest peaked, what the hell, how could he know that. Then he said, on adults they tend to make incisions up and down, or vertical, on children they tend to make them across, or horizontal. He said don't worry, you won't have a scar like that railroad track across your abdomen from me, as he opened up a little booklet with pictures showing me how it would be done, and what would be done.

The surgeon then turned to his students and said, of course this man has gall stones, he had colon surgery some 20yrs ago, I would be shocked if he didn't have stones. Then he said, now tell me why he has them. Oooh this guy was good, as all went quiet in the room. Then he said, On monday, you will tell me the answer, with a big smile on his face. I wanted to know the answer, but didn't want to spoil anything for the students. I will ask him thursday for that answer, but in the meantime, good luck to anyone reading this post, and wanting to get an abdominal scan done.

Hey Guys, I am back from my surgery :)

Everything went well, I came home yesterday. Laproscopy. The surgeon did have to try 3 times, in different places throughout my abdomen, 3 small cuts. The belly button was the third and final entry point that was successful. I only remember getting to the operating room, and waking up in recovery.

The surgeon said my gall bladder was obstructed.

I feel quite a bit better. I am not feeling my stomach fill up with stuff like it used to do, even when I didn't eat.

I have felt absolutely no nausea whatsoever, since I woke up from the surgery, which is friggn awesome. No phenergen yesterday, and so far so good none today.

I am sore from the surgery, it's hard to move around, but that should go away in a week or so I hope.

The only problem I had was trying to pee, after the surgery. It took me several hours to make urine.

I got the answer to WHY I had gallstones. Whenever a patient loses their terminal illiem(spelling), it creates an imbalance. I was 15 when I lost mine.

The terminal illiem does alot, and helps to keep the bile salts, and other things balanced, which can create stones. Without the terminal illiem, it takes about 10 yrs. on average for stones to develop.

Good Luck to you Chastity. Maybe you can get same day surgery, and get that thing out.

:)