Today stinks......

I feel like I am looking for the next BIG problem (that's what I get with health anxiety)....

Even though I had a colon/endoscopies done last week--and the MD 'thinks' I have IBS---I still feel like my gall bladder is wonky---b/c I still get pains in my upper right quadrant!

I try to ignore the pain I get after I eat in my righ rib, sometimes back, sometimes rt. shoulder, sometimes rt. arm...  but, it's here----all day (after I start eating 'til I go to bed)....

Yesterday, I told DH that just b/c I had a good report on my "scopies"----doesn't mean my pain just 'clicks off'---and I am 100% better!  I still get the pain!  He tells me I am just looking for the next 'big problem'----so I can focus on that!

YEs, he is right----only b/c I still have the pain-----If I didn't have pain---I would be    NOT  .

I am just so angry right now with the whole PAIN thing!  Everything I read talks about IBS as having abdominal pain, diarrhea/constipation (or change b/t the two), etc...  I don't know if abdominal pain includes the upper right quadrant where I experience pain! 

My neighbor suggested I take a shot of 'shot glass that is'---of organic cider vinegar for gall bladder pain.  I did----for about 4 hours---I thought I was going to throw-up-----and the "nausea" is finally subsiding a little now!   Holy moly!  But--I still have that PAIN in my right upper quadrant!

I am sorry I am on a rant right now!  I will probably only get a response or two----but, I get so frustrated with this whole thing!  Health anxiety is no fun!

Laurel

Hi Hope,

I just wanted to sympathize and tell you that that is exactly what I feel like I'm going thru right now.  You may have read my earlier post, but in recent months I've gone through 2 visits to the urgent care with EKG's, Xrays, and blood tests, an ER visit for terrible chest pain, which I swore was GERD related, 12 weeks of PPI's, an endoscopy, and a 48-hr ph test that came back and said I am normal and fine and have no GERD.  The GI nurse told me that I shouldn't be having heartburn and just to go back to my PCP and start over.  I almost felt like she told me I was just making it all up!  I am so extremely frustrated right now about the constant congestion, throat clearing, pain, and swelling in my throat that I'm feeling.  I have health anxiety too, and I just cannot shake the feeling that something is wrong, I just don't know what.  I can't stop worrying about it! 

I'm sorry to go off on my own rant, I just wanted you to know that I completely understand, and that you're not alone.  Health anxiety definitely stinks!!! 

Two years ago I had my gall bladder removed and I thought you might like to know what a gall bladder attack feels like. 

It was the most terrible, sharp piecing pain that I ever experienced in my life and it was in the right side of my stomach.  In fact it was so bad that I had to roll on the floor for hours, side to side, in an attempt to relieve the pain-- and it was ten times worse than period cramps and the pain went on for two to three hours. 

The reason why this pain develops is the gall bladder releases bile to help the body digest fat in the digestive track and this bile cannot be released freely from the gall bladder.  Why?  Because there are stones in the gall bladder (similar to kidney stones) and the bile cannot  leave the gall bladder.  

With your pain, you say that you also get pain in your back, right rib, right shoulder, and right arm.  If this is the case, that would not indicate a gall bladder attack.   

I know it is worrisome when one feels pain but try not to worry about your gall bladder because I do not think your gall bladder is causing your pains.  Instead, it sounds like IBS like your doctor said and that is not a serious concern.  

I hope I have helped to relieve some of your anxiety.  

I had an ultrasound of my stomach/gall bladder area and I did see the stones for myself.  Talk about seeing to believe--I could not believe (even after seeing ) how the ultrasound was showing my stomach and organs inside my body.  What an experience that was!   Anyway if you want to know for sure about your gall bladder, I think the ultrasound is the only way to see it.

Post Edited (patti48) : 11/22/2007 11:12:19 PM (GMT-7)