hidascan

Hi yum 44... Welcome to Healing Well

I would be interested to know also. Stones would warrant a gb removal anyway so if the gb isn't functioning like its supposed to, it wouldn't matter. My hubby had his gb taken out with just stones seen on an ultrasound. That was enough for them, he didn't have the hidascan. I would definitely call your doc tomorrow and ask this question.

I agree that if you have stones, you don't need the hida scan. Yes, the hida scan checks function, but if you were dysfunctional enough to warrant an unltrasound, and stones were found, that's cause and effect enough and you do not also need the hida scan. That will just tell them that your stones are causing your gall bladder to not function, which they know anyways. Sounds like a doctor fishing for fees to me.

If your insurance doesn't require you to get referrals in order to see specialists, request your ultrasound pics from the doctor/hospital and take them directly to a surgeon. That's what I did with my hida scan results; I never went back to the original doctor, since I knew myself that the results warranted removal. The surgeon agreed and I got it out less than a week later.

If you require a referral, call your doctor's office and ask for one for a surgeon. If he says he wants you to have a hida scan first, ask why, and if he doesn't convince you that it's important (can't imagine how he can, seeing how even people without symptoms, but with stones, get their GBs taken out since that's just asking for a stone to get lodged in the duct), tell him you refuse to have an unnecessary procedure done and to please refer you to a surgeon so you don't have to get another doctor.

Yes, the stones will come back. I can't tell you how long it will take them to reform, but they will come back again and you'll be in the same boat you're in now. Maybe in a year from now, maybe 10; who knows? If it buys you 10 years of a functioning gall bladder, then I say it's definitely worth it. If it postpones it a year, then it's not worth it. I haven't heard of them removing stones through an endoscopy before. I know that they have tried using the ultra sonic waves to break them up, like they use on kidney stones, but that never met with much success, mostly because they did come back, although partly because they were harder to break up into small enough pieces. If your stones aren't small enough to pass through the bile duct unnoticed, I wonder how they're going to get them out of your gall bladder? Cut it open and stitch it back closed? Stretch out the bile duct and forcibly remove them? Sounds like a lot of chances for you to continue to have gall bladder problems after the stone removal.

I still say it's silly to test your gall bladder for function. DUH! You're sick, so it's obviously not functioning properly. How simple is that? Talk about 1 + 1. You have stones, therefore the stones must be causing it not to function. The hidascan won't show anything except that it's not functioning properly; there's no way it can tell you if removing the stones will remove the problem, because you could actually have a dysfunctional or otherwise diseased gall bladder on top of having stones. I still think your doctor is a fee-fisher, but, hey, at least he's going forward, even if he's taking the really long way around. It took me 5 years get where you are now, so maybe your policy of not rocking the boat is for the best. After five years of that junk, I was willing to do whatever tests that would ultimately lead to my GB removal.

Good luck with your test. I don't recall hurting, but I did feel nauseated and extremely uncomfortable lying down. Most people don't actually vomit from it, but that can happen. If the doctor wants to just try and remove the stones, then really press him for information regarding the long-term success rate of that. Like I said, I haven't even heard of it before, so I have no idea how much time that might buy you, but if it's not enough time, then you need to counter with a press to get it out once and for all. (And, whatever you do, double-check the information he gives you via internet searches; a lot of people have found that their doctors often don't fully disclose the side effects from some procedures; a lot of doctors are still telling patients that after having their GBs taken out, they will be completely normal and able to eat anything they want, which, out of everyone I know or have even heard of via a third party, that only came true in one case; everyone else has at least some problems and certain dietary restrictions.) Although, if you wait, they are now experimenting with taking organs out via oriffices, so in a few years surgery for this might consist of a scope down the throat to pull it out; that would be much easier than even the laproscopy through the belly button. No being sore, no being full of gas.

Hmm...an endoscopy and CT scan are probably good ideas because of your urinary symptoms and history of cysts, but you should also get a report of that ultrasound you had done in the ER.  I'd be really, really surprised if they found you indeed had gallstones and didn't recommend removing your gallbladder quickly.  Do you have the report handy, by any chance?

There is a method called ERCP that they use to essentially dissolve stones if they become lodged in the bile duct, but the preferred method is overwhelmingly removal of the gallbladder. 

The CT scan will also show gallstones, it's just a lot more expensive than an ultrasound and exposes you to a lot more radiation...but, like I said, it's probably worth it given your other symptoms that are not so readily explained simply by gallstones.

Good luck and let us know how your tests go!