Who wants to tell me about their gallbladder experience?!?

I had a long post going, was suffering horribly from anxiety all the sudden. Lasted a couple months. Thought it was topamax that I recently went on. Also had pretty bad nausea and abdominal pain. Well, pretty much off topamax. Anxiety is gone. But nausea is BAD. Started vomiting in the mornings a few days ago. Abdominal pain continues. And now have a low grade fever. I made the connection that if a ate (always very little) something fatty one day, I couldn't look at food the next. So, we are pretty sure it's my gallbladder!! Seeing the GI on Tuesday. Can't come soon enough. Was supposed to have a hysterectomy but I'm thinking that's going to take a back burner.

Anywho, any fibro pals like to share their gallbladder tails?? I'm ready for this to be over!! Lol! Barf!!!

Mine went bad during the last month of my pregnancy with my daughter. It presented as the absolute worse pain in my right upper quadrant and went around into my back and flowed up and down my back. I would curl in a ball with my new baby at night because the pain was unbearable, no way I could sleep at night. I remember being in the car coming home from a drs appointment and stomping my feet, hard, into the floor board because the pain was so bad.
I went from dr to dr and was diagnosed with csection pain. I was given muscle relaxers and all sorts of pain killers. Nothing helped. Finally I went to an urgent care where they did a liver enzyme panel. I was on my way home and the dr called and said to go to the er right now. My common bile duct had been block with gall stones for so long that my liver was dying.
So I ended up having emergency surgeon to clear the duct and remove my gall bladder. They went ahead and took my appendicts, too. Now I have to be careful with foods because of dumping syndrome but that's better than that pain.

about 5 years ago, I went to the ER with what I thought might be a heart attack - chest and arm pressure, lightheadedness, slight nausea, and back pain. After keeping me overnight and doing a nuclear stress test, they had me come back for a hida-scan (sp?) and it turned out my gallbladder was nonfunctioning.

The surgery was not fun. There were 3 big gallstones. And I had to have a tube that drained the fat off my liver area for about 10 days afterwards (they told me this is not normal, and I have very mild liver disease. They'd done a liver biopsy, too - but that was the last I heard of it.) Since I recovered, I haven't noticed a lot of difference, except that I now have trouble keeping weight ON...   ... it's hard not to be too skinny when you can't eat much, especially fats.  I don't know how common this is.

I hope your trip to the doc gives you answers and you can put this pain behind you soon, whatever's causing it.

Debbie

Well, Linda,

I already have IBS so maybe that's a plus.. Lol. It's been pretty bad at times. But thinking back, especially now that we are putting pieces of the puzzle together, I'm wondering how much of my IBS sysmptoms were caused by my gallbladder. Had a month of dumping we thought was caused by severe food poisoning cuz I ate sushi 3 days prior to it starting. Culture after culture turned up nothing. Could have been my gallbladder. And the only reason we are making connections this time is the nausea and vomiting. I didn't have that before. And my pain isn't horrible. It's more like cramping here and there and a dull ache under my ribs and my back. So I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that my gallbladder is low or no functioning as opposed to full of stones. Just a guess. I could be wrong. Come ON Tuesday!!

I had mine out last December (in 2011). I had taken Chantix in an attempt to quit smoking from February 2011 to September 2011. Shortly after the end of summer, I started getting terrible pains in my abdomen. After seeing a GI specialist, it was determined my gallbladder was not functioning and was basically rotting away inside me. I tried to deal with the pain and decided to finally have it removed in December of 2011. Best decision ever! I'm really glad I did it. Mine was an endoscopic surgery, so just a teenie tiny scar on my tummy. Recovery was really easy, I thought. It's been a year and a month and I still don't regret having it out. :)

Well, I love my GI! Just seems like forever and a day till Tuesday gets here. I only made the appt a week ago but it's been a LONG week.

I've managed to continue exercising everyday. But I've slowed up on my supplements. I don't know if that's a mental thing or my stomach really IS that sensitive right now. When I was still taking (especially) my fish oil and probiotic, that's when my pain was almost unbearable. I even went out and bought a gentler gummy probiotic with a much lower potency because I hate the thoughts of going without, but even that seems to make it worse. So... I'll wait and see what he says on Tuesday.

Just curious, did anyone get big acne bumps when theirs flared? I even got that this round and was shocked to find that on a list of symptoms. Plus this headache most over my right eye. It said exactly that! "Headaches, especially over the right eye." I ain't NEVER heard of that!! I just blamed the headaches on my fibro except they were different in that an ice pack is helping now (never did before) and was blaming the acne on the medication switch. But the way the site (of course can't find it again) described these "painful acne lesions" I was like NO WAY because I just went from having skin that never required makeup for the last 10-ish years to looking like I was in high school again when I had to go on accutane. I will admit, it's much easier having acne as an adult when you aren't so worried about your looks then when you were in high school!! Seems like other people were more upset about my skin than me!! Lol

Well, I'm going to start praying now for a positive visit Tuesday and hopefully a positive solution in the VERY NEAR future!! Enough is enough!!

But Thank God the anxiety lifted. That was, by far, the worst part. I'll take throwing up ANYDAY over that again!!!

Thanks, AK Angel. I'm going to insist he figures out what's wrong. I've been vomiting for several days now. A lot of times nothing comes out because I can't eat much. But, I think he'll be concerned enough to get the testing ball rolling. And I think he'll agree that it won't be able to wait for routine appts. If I have to, I'll resort to kicking and screaming then turn on the water works to get results ! Cuz I'm not thrilled at the possibility of having my gallbladder out then heading into more digestive problems. No thank you!

I do have issues with dumping syndrome but I've been okay since I restricted my diet. I try to keep my diet very low fat and avoid anything spicy. You'd think I'd be thinner. I know lots of people lose weight after this surgery, but I really haven't.
I'm having more issues lately and I know that having no gallbladder certainly impacts any your digestive system greatly. Just make sure you ask questions! I wish I had had that opportunity but with my liver failing I was rushed into it.

A few years ago, I was having a lot of discomfort in that area. Then I had two real attacks with terrible spasms that scared me. I was eating a LOT of cheese at the time and was not be very careful about diet in general.

Since I had an appendectomy after I got Fibro and that was really bad and took a long time to recover from, I will do anything to avoid surgery if possible.

I did some research and went on a three day apple juice fast. I also drank a lot of lemon juice since that seemed to calm it down. I stopped eating so much cheese and replaced it with good bread (gluten free), and salads.

Now I have a twinge once in a while which I take as a reminder to be a little more careful but I have not had to have surgery for it yet.
Keeping fingers crossed.