Hyperkinetic Gallbladder?

Since October 07, I have been having off and on pain in my upper right side. I've had a ultrasound, nuclear imaging scan w/CCK injection, bloodwork, colonoscopy, and endoscopy. Ultrasound showed no stones, elevated liver enzymes from bloodwork (I'm 23, and only socially drink), my scan showed a 81% ejection rate and the radiologist noted hyperkinetic gallbladder, diagnosed with diverticulous, and I have a small hernia in my stomach? I've done a little research an discovered hyperkinetic means overactive gallbladder. I haven't seen my surgeon since I had the nuclear imaging scan. I ended up picking up the results from the imaging center and reading the report myself.
I have been dealing with this for only a few months now, but its been miserable. I'm in constant pain after eating any meal that is the least bit fatty or greasy. I've been through what seems so many procedures, and at this point I'm just wanting to be through with it and have my gallbladder removed. Anyone have a similar experience, or been diagnosed with a hyperkinetic gallbladder?

Thanks so much for the quick response. I've been feeling quite alone dealing with this, and I was starting to think I was crazy until I received the last nuclear imaging scan. I do not eat regularly. I know its bad, but I honestly eat about only once a day. I've been trying to eat 3 meals, as well as I joined a gym for cardio. As you may have guessed I am overweight. The only medicines i am on currently are nexium, darvocet, and flexiril (muscles relaxer).
I had thought that having the gallbladder removed with fix things, but after reading your post I'll deffiantly look at other options first. Thanks so much for your response.

My gall bladder was dysfunctional, so I'd get times when it would dump all the bile at once. That sucked! I got mine taken out, and the pain from the sudden dumping stopped, but I found that I still have a lot of bile. Maybe I had too much bile all along. Anyways, there's nothing to be done about stopping or slowing it down, although I do take a medicine that absorbs a lot of it so I can sort of regulate it that way. Most people are told they will be 100% normal after they get their gall bladder out, and after talking to lots of people, I have found that this is just not true. Yes, a few people go back to being farily normal, with only a rare episode of being sick, but more people seem to wind up with fairly regular, if not constant diarrhea, or heatburn (and some get constipated). For me, my pain was so bad, and I had diarrhea so often anyways, there wasn't anywhere to go but up, so I got mine out.

Besides fatty and greasy foods, also watch out for caffeine; that was my biggest trigger, although it took me several years to figure it out. Even now I still can't have so much as one cola.

Thanks for the update, I've read pancreatis is a common side effect of the ERCP, so, perhaps it's just something that takes time to heal even after the worst (pain) symptoms are gone?  One question... I'm not following on the alternative procedure that you had done, specifically, I don't understand the recommendation for the stint.  I've read about ERCP and in cases where that valve doesn't open properly (or the path to it is too small) that they put a stint in.  In your case, it sounded like it was large enough or working too well in that it was letting too much bile through?  So I'm not sure how the stint resolves that.  Well, needless to say, I'm confused so if you feel up to explaining I'd love to read more about it.

I wish I could offer up some advice.  You said you are on a special diet, are you following a gallbladder diet (Are you avoiding the common trigger foods Carbonated beverges, Caffeine, bad-fats, eggs, etc)? 

 

I can't do eggs very well, and certainly no fruit juices. Too much acid. Not sure what it is about eggs, since I can do other meats okay. But it sounds like it doesn't matter what you eat because everything makes you sick (been like that myself in the middle of a GB attack).

Hi!  This is the first site that I have found that sounds like what I am going through.  My Hida Scan showed that I have hyperplastic cholecystosis.  Which, from what I can tell means the same as hyperkinetic gallbladder.  Both of them empty too quickly.  I started out 3-4 weeks ago with upper right quadrant pain with nausea, vommitting.  It gets worse when I eat or stand or sit up.  It's really hard to have a life under these conditions.  Same thing for me, it doesn't matter if it's soup or a greasy hamburger, I'm still going to get sick.  Now, my latest really fun symptom is diarrhea.  Sometimes I can't even finish a meal before it starts.  I try to only eat one meal a day.  It's just to much deal with if I eat more than that.  I'm tired, I'm weak, and weary.  My CT Scans and Ultrasound shows that I have thickening of my gallbladder walls, as well as my gallbladder is distended.  I'm not able to work either.  The pain really kicks in at night.  I sit up all night.  Last night about 2 AM my fever started rising.  I just don't know what to do.  I am meeting with the surgeon tomorrow.  I had HELLP syndrome when I was pregnant with my son and they took him by emergency c-section 8 weeks early to save my life, thank God they saved both of our lives.  Anyway, I thought that I would never have to be in that kind of pain again, but I was wrong.  HELLP stands for Hemolysis, Elevated Liver Enzymes, Low Platelets.  It was the elevated  liver enzymes that gave me such horrible pain.  Well, I am having pain like that again.  It's not fun.  As a matter of fact, I am starting to get in such pain that I am going to stop typing.  Can anyone shed some light on my situation?  I too just want him to take it out.  My situations sounds alot like  everyone elses, but just digging for any kind of information.  Does anyone's pain radiate around their back and into the rib cage?  Mine does, it's painful.  Any and all comments and suggestions will be glady taken!     

Misty Brooks said...
</b> 2 AM my fever started rising. I just don't know what to do. I am meeting with the surgeon tomorrow. I had HELLP syndrome when I was pregnant with my son and they took him by emergency c-section 8 weeks early to save my life, thank God they saved both of our lives. Anyway, I thought that I would never have to be in that kind of pain again, but I was wrong. HELLP stands for Hemolysis, Elevated Liver Enzymes, Low Platelets. It was the elevated liver enzymes that gave me such horrible pain. Well, I am having pain like that again. It's not fun. As a matter of fact, I am starting to get in such pain that I am going to stop typing. Can anyone shed some light on my situation? I too just want him to take it out. My situations sounds alot like everyone elses, but just digging for any kind of information. Does anyone's pain radiate around their back and into the rib cage? Mine does, it's painful. Any and all comments and suggestions will be glady taken!

Unfortunately, I don't have any suggestions for you. Nothing has really helped me, other than plan old rest. I try to eat earlier in the day, so that at night I can try to sleep. I've had several different meds that never really did the trick. I wish you luck. What did the surgeon say to you ?

Hello! I was just diagnosed with this wonderful hyperkinetic gall bladder and was told my options are a very strict diet or surgery to remove it. I'm actually surprised there was something wrong with me. I started having stomach aches about 6 months ago, but I just thought I was eating too much at certain meals. I have had NO pain in my upper ride side associated with this condition except when I had the HIDA scan. My pain is usually in my lower intestines....and I'm very gassy. I'm really thinking surgery is not an option for me especially after reading the posts in this forum. What are the long term side effects of this condition if you leave your gall bladder in?

I have a gall bladder ejection fraction of 90 percent and have been in pain 8 years. I finally figured out that this is what was causing me so much hell because all my other tests were normal. I think it would be beneficial to post a list of doctors who treat it since so many of them waive it off as normal. Trust me, I checked myself out of the hospital today (I have pancreatitis) but since they do not recognize this condition and balked at removing my gall bladder I had had enough! They really need to start dealing with this because I have seen so many posts of people in pain and who didn't know what was going on, me included. I had gotten and ERCP with Manometry because they said everything else was "normal". How can we get the medical community to recognize this as a condition so people will stop suffering?

I am a new member. Help. I had nonfunctioning gb for years. after millions of test nuclier show 12 % ejection. I got it out laprascopicly 2 weeks ago. It is less pain but after beeng brown for few days my bm is pale again. does it mean that bile not going there? or it not enoeph of it? Sometimes I have bright yellow diarhea some times constipated. can only eat yams, potatoes, fish a little chicken zukhini and apple juice. anything else make gas cramps.
Any thoughts how long it will be after sergery? The pain is better though. I just worry about bile not going where it soppose to. sorry for my spelling.

back again.. the more i think about things.. its like im obsessed with feeling this way now...but the more i think about the gallbladder problem, it apears to me like thats what it was the whole time..the cardiologist says that the "feelings" i was having were not heart palpitations.. took 3 darn years but i think this is the problem..the constant movement in my chest and pressure.. not stop every day is throwing me into a constant state of anxiety and fatigue...but i dont know if ill ever be the same old me again even if it does get fixed..i should have seen a GI in the first place not the last. all the other health issues i could live with .. this is horrible... and the doctors keep feeding that BS to you like " whats ur worst fear"..or " its all in ur head" or "you need councelling".....> NO what i need is the FCKIN presure in my chest OUT.... thats what I NEED. i was a regular person before this shyt...IM SO PISSED. and no one understands the pain i go through or what its been like for me. yea just imagine pain and discomfrot that never goes away.... ever... even in ur sleep.. i had 2 sleep studies... they told me i didnt have sleep apnea but i wasnt dreaming at alll,, been tested for narcolepsy.. didnt have it.. i just want this nightmare over. does anyone out there no what i am talking about at all..??? sory if i sound crazy.. im so tired of this.

I am so thankful to find this post. I have been absolutely miserable since 6/21/12. I have had stomach problems that seemed to start one day out of nowhere and they have never stopped. On June 21 I ate a very late lunch, nothing too exciting some salad and jambalaya. Within 10-15 minutes, I felt this horrible pressure in the epigastric region and then felt queasy, and started having burning and tingling down both my arms, my heart starting beating fast, and I had pressure in my chest. I thought there was something seriously wrong with me and that I was having a heart attack or something. And as soon as the symptoms started that day I had what I think was a full blown panic attack. I have never had a panic attack before this. I had some issues with anxiety and flying, but never ever like this. It took 3-4 hours to come down from the first episode. I wrote it off that I was really stressed with work and it was an isolated incident. But unfortunately I was very wrong. Starting with my next meal, which didn't happen until lunchtime the next day I couldn't eat without having the same symptoms, nausea, pressure in epigastric region, burning and tingling down my arms, fast heartbeat not to mention I had no appetite whatsoever so eating was very challenging. I also just did not feel like myself and I knew something was not right. Keep in mind I am a health professional and I am pretty medically savvy, but I had no idea what was going on. The next 2 weeks after that, things got progressively worse. I couldn't eat without feeling awful. The pain and discomfort would subside several hours after I ate, but then over time started to be constant, just worsen when I ate. I started losing weight, and was thrown into a constant state of anxiety. I want to know what person can relax when they feel unrelenting burning and tingling in their arms and their heart is beating a mile a minute and they can’t eat. When I checked my pulse it would be 90 or so, which I know is considered a normal resting heart rate, but my normal heart rate was 65-70 before this.

Within a few days of the first episode I went to my GP, told her my symptoms and she thought maybe dyspepsia. I also asked if it may be my heart and she said “no” after doing some stethoscope listening. I know I am only 31 and in good shape, good diet overall, but this chest pressure I was having didn't seem right. I have never had problems with indigestion or heartburn before this started but I decided to try the meds she recommended. I took Pepcid AC and Prilosec, each 2x/day. I had absolutely no relief from this. On the Saturday after that appointment I was getting worse and the pain had changed from just epigastric to include the area below right ribcage. I started getting shaky like chills and shortness of breath. I went to the ER. The ER doctor said "definitely sounds like gallbaldder" so I had an ultrasound. Well the ultrasound results showed gallbladder looked fine, as well as my kidneys, liver, aorta, etc. He gave me an Rx for Cipro 500mg and Flagyl 500 mg (metronidazole) both twice a day in case it was an intestinal bug. I starting taking the antibiotics and my problem kept getting worse and worse. I could not eat anything without getting sick. At this point I couldn't sleep well, my anxiety was not helping. On July 4th, I took a huge nose dive. Because eating was such a horrible experience my diet consisted of ensure, nuts, fruit, some chicken broth here and there. The night of July 4th I was feeling worse and worse, my stomach pain was out of control (probably a 9 on the pain scale) and it was shooting through to my back, I was having diarrhea, extreme nausea, intermittent dizziness, and a horrible headache. I also felt like I was in this weird fog, and my vision wasn't right or something (kind of like what EDWARD1 mentioned in his post 7/22/11. I stayed up all night thinking the worst was happening to me...was I having an aortic aneurysm? Right kidney failure since my right back was hurting so bad? Sometimes as a medical professional I wish I didn't know so much about what can go wrong. I was in agony for 12 hours and had to have my husband take me to the doctor because I was so sick. So there I was back at my GP, I could tell by the look on her face I was looking pretty bad. My stomach pain was so bad, and I was trying not to vomit in her exam room. She gave me carafate (a medication that helps coat the stomach) and Zofran and Phenergan for the nausea. I had a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis the following day and had to stay in the hospital for a bit after that to get some fluids via IV since my diarrhea was so bad and I could have no water before the CT scan, I was very dehydrated. Well guess what, the CT scan showed nothing, just a couple of small cysts on my ovaries, which apparently the kind I have is very common and can change from month to month. Went home after CT scan still feeling sick and could not eat hardly at all. A few days later I had an upper endoscopy because they thought I may have a bad case of gastritis. That showed nothing as well other than very over active peristalsis, but was negative for h pylori and celiac disease. They also did and EKG that day and my doc said it looked "beautiful", and that my heart was fine. He also said I would probably start feeling better in just a few days, WRONG.

After the endoscopy I was having terrible headaches (mostly on the left side of my head- weird), same stomach pain in epigastric and RUQ (right upper quadrant) area, chest pressure, increased heart rate, constantly felt like I was in a fog, my anxiety was through the roof, and I cried all time because I could get any relief whatever I did...NONE. I was so unbelievably uncomfortable all the time. During all this I had blood work several times to check for everything, kidney and liver function (amylase and lipase), liver panel, a CBC panel, metabolic panel, gluten allergy (IgA and IGG), vitamin B12 levels, D vitamin levels, mono SPOT test, thyroid function. I also had my stool checked for everything...blood, c. diff, white blood cells, shiga toxins, e coli, shigella, salmonella, campylobacter, giardia, and other parasites. All were NORMAL! At this point I was questioning whether it was all in my head, but deep down I knew something was wrong. I still felt horrible.

Back at my GP and she gave Rx for amitriptyline 10mg at bedtime in case this was related to IBS and to help with mood. She asked if I was depressed and I said yes. But I was not depressed before I got sick. I am also taking lorazepam up to 1mg daily to help with anxiety. The amitriptyline allowed me to finally sleep at night but the side effects aren't the greatest. I also started taking Buspar 10mg daily divided into 2 doses. Ok, so after being on these meds no stomach relief, still can’t eat without bad reaction, some help with my anxiety. Lorazepam would somewhat make my stomach pain tolerable, but not all the time.

At this point you are probably asking why I haven't been to a GI. Well when you live in Alaska, Seattle is the closest place. I was not going to spend all that money and time to have the GI tell me, sorry there is nothing we can do for you. I needed some sort of lead. I was getting so discouraged at this point. I had lost over 15 lbs (5’8” starting weight at 146, now at 130) and still losing. On a gluten free, dairy free, fat free diet in case all this was due to a food allergy. And my tests were normal, normal, normal…but I felt far from normal, I knew there was something that wasn’t right and all these symptoms were not due to anxiety and depression alone. I just kept saying to myself there has to be a reason I cannot eat!!

After this, I was sent for a HIDA scan, MRI of my abdomen, and MRI of my brain (due to all the burning and tingling I was having after meals). I had all 3 tests performed 8/6/12. Both MRIs came back completely normal, and my doctor said my HIDA scan was normal too. But my ejection fraction was 84%. I knew from the research I had done this was not necessarily normal. I then talked to 2 separate general surgeons and my brother-in-law who just graduated from med school. All 3 had heard about a hyperactive gallbladder and gave me some research articles showing that patients with an ejection fraction higher than 80% often have relief when the GB is removed. Meanwhile I have been prescribed Bentyl 20mg up to 4x/day. It is an antispasmodic for the GI tract and has taken me from completely and utterly miserable to just feeling sick and uncomfortable.

I am getting my gallbladder removed in the next 2 weeks. I am hopeful this will be it! I WANT MY LIFE BACK. I am very nervous, but I am willing to take a gamble and both surgeons I talked to feel pretty confident this will get rid of or significantly improve my symptoms. I know this is so long, but I wanted to share my story to all of you who are dealing with GB issues. DO NOT give up and don’t stop praying, you are not crazy. I am so sorry all of you went through or are still going through this. I will post again after surgery, I promise.

Post Edited (butterflyAK) : 9/11/2012 8:55:54 PM (GMT-6)

Well it has been 2 1/2 weeks since I had my gallbladder removed. The surgery was no big deal, and not very painful, but made me very nauseated for about a week. BUT it wasn't the solution...the right side of abdomen still hurts all the time. I am still having a really hard time eating without PAIN, and I am still losing weight, now lost over 20 lbs. But they cannot figure out what is causing it. Only thing they can find is extreme digestive motility. So then, why are my bowels so hypermobile? No one seems concerned about it. Most evenings I get home from work, try and eat some rice or other bland food, and then put ice on my stomach. The ice seems to help with the pain, or at-least act as a diversion. I am still on anxiety and depression meds. When I take lorazepam it does help my stomach pain, maybe because it acts as a muscle relaxant as well. But obviously I cannot keep taking that. I am not giving up. I am going to the University of New Mexico hospital to see a GI and whatever other specialists I need to see. I refuse to believe this is all anxiety related. There has to be a way to manage my symptoms. I cannot live with horrendous stomach pain any longer. I used to love food...now it just seems like a job to feed myself. Everyday is a real struggle. I am determined to get my life back. Good luck to everyone and keep faith.