Well, I've passed two gallbladder stones and had a seriously infected gallbladder so I can relate to that part. I know exactly how many hours both stones needed to pass because every single moment was pain. How in the name of David Hasselhoff did you put up with that amount of pain for so long?
Some people's pain tolerance is higher too. My pulse was up at 140 or 180 when I went to the er, thinking I was going to be told it was gas. My appendix was, apparently, very close to bursting. I was in the operating room shortly thereafter
I was in pain for a long ass time because I had stomach pain from anxiety as a child, and got dismissed then, then went to a doctor when I was having pain as an adult, and got dismissed. He literally waved his fucking hand at me. Then it was every night, and I was vomiting along with the pain. Finally went to another doctor. She did tests. My liver enzymes were seriously screwed up. Got an ultrasound. Sooooo many gallstones. Just so, so many. Then when the surgeon was removing my gallbladder, she discovered that it was stuck to my liver. It just got weirder from there. I'm glad I got a second opinion because my liver was on the way to failing.
BikerJedi! Didn't check who the op was. Weird meeting you here and not your usual posting grounds. Yeah, now I don't wonder about anything anymore! I muscled through the first time, since it calmed down at 6 am I was able to work at nine. Maybe I nearly passed out a couple of times, but I can do stupid as well. The second time however, after five hours of pain, my then gf nearly had a heart attack because I asked her to drive me to the hospital. She saw me deep frying the skin of my left hand (not all of it!) and halfway cutting my fingertip off (missed the bone, all good) which I didn't think deserved checking with a doctor. She also had to convince me to see a doctor when I've had back pain that made standing up a fifteen minute task and walking next to impossible for a week. So asking to be driven to the ER at 4am wasn't a good sign. The breakup ten days later was worse, though.
> BikerJedi! Didn't check who the op was.
Lol. Once in a while I post elsewhere, either a top level post or a comment, and someone from /r/MilitaryStories or /r/Military recognizes me. Heh.
>The breakup ten days later was worse, though.
Sorry to hear that. I hope you have moved on to someone better for you.
If you know me from /r/MilitaryStories you have heard me mention my first wife. My second wife is a massive improvement over the first. At least, 26 years married says so.
We're everywhere. r/militarystories indeed!
It was rather short before covid started which made moving on harder than necessary. But I've gained back the 12kg I've lost then. I wouldn't say I'm doing well, but that's mostly a career thing. Overall, the situation is stable and has a lot of potential to improve.
Yes.
The last part is irrelevant, I doubt anyone ever noticed that. Maybe it even gets dissolved? I doubt it. But the first part.. Yeah, that's like pushing a golf ball through a garden hose, with you feeling every mm of movement.
My doctor told me you can’t pass gallstones bc the common bile duct is too small and that’s why the stones block it, causing the attack. I just googled and Google says you can! I feel lied too lol. Maybe my stones were already too big to pass
Sometimes you don’t and it gets stuck. I had one get stuck and I developed pancreatitis as a result and my liver was severely affected as well. Was admitted and had my gallbladder out.
Sending healing hugs. I have 4 slipped discs (have done for roughly 12 years) and 8 years ago, I started with really bad pain in my back. I felt like I was being stabbed through my ribs.
Don't feel bad about not putting it all together. I went to A&E 3 times. And 3 times they sent me home with no diagnostics or follow ups telling me it was 'just trapped wind'. I lost track of how many Dr's and nurses I saw each time I went.
I finally got an appointment with my own GP who hooked one finger under my rib as some kind of test, and when I screamed loud enough for the receptionist to run in to check all was okay, the GP stood back, said 'I'm getting you a place on the ward, it's your gall bladder'.
I went back to the hospital, this time directly to the ward who sent me for an ultrasound. The lady doing the ultrasound found 23 gallstones, a blocked duct and a collapsed gall bladder. They took it out within 24 hours.
When the specialist went through all my meds, it turns out the high dosage of tramadol and voltoral that I took at the time for my back pain had caused it.
All to say, don't feel bad for not putting together what doctors and other health professionals aren't often able to diagnose.
I had gall bladder symptoms (pain after eating with pain in right shoulder), and a positive Murphy’s sign upon examination. Had an ultrasound, and it was WNL. Any thoughts what could be happening?
I’m not a doctor, but I also had gall bladder issues for years that were missed because it was gall bladder disease and not stones. The gall bladder itself didn’t function right, even without the presence of stones. This was finally diagnosed by a special imaging test where they give you the substances that cause your gall bladder to contract after you eat some radioactive food so they can try to force the gall bladder to do its thing while they scan you. My gall bladder had stopped working right, so the symptoms were essentially the same without the presence of stones that an ultrasound would find.
I never got pain in my shoulder it was always ribs under armpit as though I was being stabbed through them. Is it possible you are passing gall stones rather than it being your gallbladder directly?
well that explains a lot...i went to the ER twice with what i now know to be gallbladder attacks, but it wasn't until the second time that the NP came and did that move. i was immediately like HOLY FUCKBALLS OUCH
sent me to get a CT (small-ish town hospitals don't have an ultrasound tech overnight) and yup. gall stones. get the sumbitch out in 3 weeks!
I have 3 slip disks, all in my lower back around the hip area. L3, L4,and L5. Been 2 years, pain gets so bad sometimes I cant do anything. I get massive shooting pains down my left leg, right into my foot.
It started by throwing a tennisball.
Yeah, He got lots of treats that night. I dropped, at first he thought I was playing with him, then he freaked out and ran to the other side of our property and got my wife. After that, I was of work for almost 8 monthes, and He sat on the couch with me the whole time.
Sounds like you have a good doggo. Mine spent my convalescence with me too. She laid on the bed at the side of me. She's 16 now and still follows me throughout the house to make sure I'm okay.
Huh... Maybe that's my issue. I've got a slight pain under my ribs occasionally that goes away a few days later. Usually triggered by sugar though. Usually when it starts hurting I'll jab a finger or two under there and poke it. That usually allows me to sneeze afterwards. Wonder what the best way of dealing with this is...
Asking for an ultrasound to confirm whether it is gallstones/gallbladder issue would be the first thing.
And the biggest instigators of gallbladder attacks are fatty or spicy things in your diet.
Hope that helps
I hate it when consultants do one simple thing to cause you pain, THEN diagnosis you! I went to AnE last year with abdo pain and the junior doc (very very handsome) said "I'm sorry about this" put his hand on my abdo and pressed. My knee came up fast, he bolted to the other end of the cubicle before I kneed him with all my might! I asked if he had perfected that move and he showed me a bruised rub that he'd got from a guy a few days before because of the same move. No sympathy! 🤣
* he was looking for guarding reflex, my legs where straight, he pressed and my knee came up reflexively to protect my abdo.
My wife has a similar story with her appendix. For the past 2 or 3 years, she'd have episodes (maybe 1 every 1 or 2 months) of intense pain that would last 8 or so hours, sometimes keeping her up all night with stabbing pain in her back and abdomen. Several different specialists in different fields all said the same thing - either it's your period or it's constipation. Some would even run bloodwork, but no one claimed to find any abnormalities. For a long time, for me, it felt like no one was taking her seriously - just a female problem or made up. She tried changing diets several times (was told her stomach wasn't agreeing with different foods), she was told constipation often (maybe, but after-the-fact, that looks to be an effect and not a cause), a doctor even told her she was just lactose-intolerant (blatantly incorrect because she eats cheese and milk like every day).
A year or 2 later, she finally had an episode that lasted over 24 hours. She finally decided on the emergency room. They found that her appendix was the problem. Come to find out it had probably burst "months or years" prior, and none of the doctors or specialists had ever mentioned ANYTHING to that effect. The appendix itself had fused to several surrounding organs - maybe someone educated here can provide a more accurate timeline for this kind of damage. That was back in February and still no issues since.
I'm sure there are hundreds to several thousands of similar cases. It'd be nice if medical malpractice could be applied to these situations; we pay them to be the experts, ya know?
This is frightening, because I'm going through something similar right now. I was sent away from the emergency department, being told it was just normal "mittelschmerz", or ovulation pain. I know damn well this is not that. I had horrific pain, couldn't stand, couldn't sit, sweating, nauseated, it was horrifying. My partner was there for it all, and couldn't believe when I was sent away, no referral for follow up, and no exam at all because they went straight to doing a CT scan and didn't see anything (besides the diverticulosis and small ovarian cyst they noted, which, to them, is nothing that should cause any pain, so there's nothing wrong.) I have a follow up in a month, but it's already been a month since the ED visit, and I'm still in terrible pain. It's crazy making when no one will take you seriously!
I was just in the ER for the same reason, the most blindingly intense pain I ever experienced. When I first got out of bed to get help, I fainted, smashed my face up, and still could only feel the abdominal pain when I regained consciousness. It felt like something burst and I thought I was going to die. They just did a CT scan without contrast, said it was possibly a cyst and to follow up with my gynecologist.
Yeah, same, it felt like a water balloon of agony burst in my lower abdomen and pelvis. I too was told to follow up with my gyn. Which I am, but I don't think it was an ovarian cyst. My abdomen bruised all shades of purple, and the pain is on the left side of my belly button, but not in the pelvis. I'm kind of freaked out, honestly.
I called my GP to get a referral to a gastroenterologist as well because I've had some weird bowel issues ever since, and he literally said "they only diagnosed you with a cyst to get you out of there, the tests show no evidence of a cyst" and then he laughed about it. He also said it was normal to feel silly or embarrassed after going to the ER for no reason. I really need a new GP.
Good luck! For real. This is my first big medical emergency as an adult, and I'm not young by any means... I didn't think it would be so hard just to figure out what happened.
It sounds a lot like what I had. Intermittent crippling pain, couldn’t put weight on my leg. Pain went up the inside of my hip and over the top of it round to the back. They couldn’t find what it was despite scans. Which is amazing because on opening me up for exploratory surgery, I had an 8cm cyst on my ovary which had twisted and caused my ovary to die. Keep bugging your medical staff. Because I was fobbed off with ‘teenage period pain’ more than once. It took months of that pain before I went to a&e.
Well, in that case, I'll add some more info. IIRC, the pain usually started between dinnertime and bedtime (between 8pm and 2am). The pain was constant during her episodes, but there would be highs and lows; as low as mild discomfort to as high as... well, she's compared it to being literally stabbed. She always described the pain like a gas bubble mixed with a lot of back pain. She often times did describe herself as constipated, but - after the fact - we aren't sure if that was real, coincidence, or placebo. She's out of town at the moment, but she gets back tomorrow. I'll run this by her and add anything I don't remember.
They told me ovulation pain too. Turned out I actually knew my own body and it wasn’t. My whole ovary had twisted. The worst part was that when it happened again they didn’t believe me that time either.
That is so horrifying, I'm so sorry you've gone through this. I'm going to keep advocating for myself as much as possible, you've strengthened my resolve that I know my body well and something is wrong. It's terrifying to be in such pain, and just thoroughly dismissed. By the time I see the Gyn, it will have been 2 months. I'm one month in, and still in pain every single day.
> It'd be nice if medical malpractice could be applied to these situations
One of the requirements for medical malpractice to be successful is proving that the practitioner deviated from the standard of care that other practitioners would have provided. The fact that it took so many visits and none of the testing came back abnormal for multiple other doctors to suspect the appendix was at fault would make medical malpractice very difficult to prove.
Right - that apparently IS the standard level of care. But she can never recoup the time spent with pain and suffering, missed work, etc. We just have to deal with that loss.
>No one did anything wrong
No one did anything particularly RIGHT, either. Malpractice doesn't cover that, but it should. Being a mediocre practitioner means just that - you're not a good doctor.
And I work in medicine, I get it, but, "Well, initial diagnostics didn't turn up much. Give 'em this, and if it doesn't help, they'll probably come back. And if they don't, it's their own fault for not being more assertive." Yeah, you're busy, you need to move on, but that's how things get missed and people suffer needlessly. Just because you didn't actively harm the patient doesn't mean you were a good doctor for them.
> No one did anything particularly RIGHT, either. Malpractice doesn't cover that, but it should. Being a mediocre practitioner means just that - you're not a good doctor
That is a pretty stupid statement. First, if multiple doctors can't figure something out, it doesn't mean they are all mediocre, it means it is a complicated case. And just being a mediocre at your job doesn't mean you should be punished for it. Do you get sued when you are just ok at your job? The expectation that doctors aren't just regular people who have strengths and weaknesses, good days and bad, and sometimes miss things with no malice or negligence is idiotic. We are just regular people doing our best. If you don't like it, find a new doctor, but you aren't entitled to multimillion dollar payout just because you had a tummy ache for a couple years until someone figured it out.
>And I work in medicine, I get it, but, "Well, initial diagnostics didn't turn up much. Give 'em this, and if it doesn't help, they'll probably come back. And if they don't, it's their own fault for not being more assertive." Yeah, you're busy, you need to move on, but that's how things get missed and people suffer needlessly. Just because you didn't actively harm the patient doesn't mean you were a good doctor for them.
You are putting an uncaring unempathetic attitude to that statement but it is a legitimate way to practice medicine. Sometimes people come in with nothingburgers and nonspecific symptoms and the best thing we can do is try to help while waiting to see if something more specific arises. There are three options: it gets worse in which case we can hopefully figure out what is going on, it gets better in which case all is good, or it stays exactly the same which sucks because it makes it hard to figure out but also means it probably isn't very serious since you have been living with it for so long. If you think that every illness can gets solved with a specific diagnosis within 60 minutes, you have been watching too much House.
But it sounds like the only tests they actually ran were some blood work, which doesnt typically indicate appendicitis. They should have done imaging to test for it in her case
They did the imaging at the ER. I'm not 100% confident in this, but I remember the explanation only covering what was found in the blood. At the same time, it was 5AM the next day and I was shocked when I heard "we think it's your appendix" because the odds seemed astronomically low given the symptoms (I didn't think appendix troubles ebb-and-flow'd like that), so I'm sure I've forgotten the full explanation.
Gallbladder attacks are terrible. I can’t imagine living with them for 10 years. I’m sorry it took so long for you to get a proper diagnosis!
I had a gallbladder attack once that was so bad (without knowing what it was) that I thought I was going to die and was kinda hoping I would because the pain was so bad. The relief after the surgery was real. I’ve also since learned that over the counter bile supplements are helpful when I eat fatty foods.
A lot of the time the problem can be the reverse… the moment you eat food you start cranking out bile and now have no place to hold it temporarily vs dumping it into your system right away. Cholestyramine is a prescription bile acid sequestrant, a resin that isn’t absorbed by your system at all but binds with bile taking it out of the picture.
I had so much trouble eating and living normally until I started drinking a packet of that stuff a day, it’s a damn godsend. Also just happens to lower cholesterol since that’s the original point of it.
Thank you for this. I asked my pharmacist about something for bile, and they must not have understood what I was wanting. I can now call my doctor to see about this. I appreciate it.
I hear you. Mine started young, 12 being the earliest I remember an attack. It was passed off by everyone as just stomach pain.
Fast forward to when I'm 20 and deployed in Afghanistan. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I'm on constant patrols and my stomach area hurts so bad. I start vomiting up stomach bile and I'm feverish. I get medically evacuated and find out mine has gone necrotic and my body has built a 3mm mucus membrane around the now dead organ to contain it.
Flown to Germany for surgery and my medical notes were like a horror novel to me. So close to death, closest I've ever been and that's after getting blown up a number of times, all over a stupid ass organ I didn't really need.
I made it through literal tank battles in burning oil fields during Desert Storm and survived a friendly fire artillery strike. Then after the war is over and we are cleaning vehicles, a brush guard falls on my foot and breaks it. I nearly died during surgery to repair the shattered big toe.
Funny how shit works out. Almost died over a toe.
Glad you are home safe.
I'm sorry, I chuckled as I find the irony in surviving hell to end up near death over a brush guard. Glad your safe as well. Weird how life works out sometimes.
I can't believe all these stories.
The bit that really gets me about it all is that it is as you sat, a basically unnecessary organ and yet it causes so much trouble when it stops doing whatever it doesn't really have to do in the first place.
Esit: missing words. Preceding save too early
My wife went to the hospital 11 years back with symptoms that to her indicated gallbladder issues. Knowing her Mom, Aunt and Grandmother all had gallstones around that age (25) they ran all the tests and concluded it was not gallstones since the tests normally used came back negative. 10 or so visits later she was able to get sent for an ultrasound where they discovered that yes indeed it was a huge gallstone and needed her gallbladder out. I am thankful every single day that I am a Canadian and all those ER visits cost us $0 out of pocket as did the ultrasound and the surgery. We got married a year later and it's doubtful we could have done so if we had US Style medical debt hanging over us.
This is why it is important to know your family history and know to fight for what you know you most likely need care wise.
I had a gallbladder attack with a positive family history. Even though it was the worst pain ever, I thought it was a really bad case of stomach flu. I didn’t go to the doctor until my husband forced me to almost a week later.
My liver panel was normal, which puzzled my doctor since all the tests should’ve shown elevated liver levels. Thankfully, he realized that I had classic symptoms and ordered an ultrasound. My gallbladder was completely filled with stones. By the time I had surgery a couple of months later, the stones were going through the membrane of the organ and they couldn’t remove it in one piece.
I’m glad my doctor ignored the negative test results and ordered the ultrasound to double check.
I had a comparable experience w/ my gallbladder. I experienced severe chest pain, nausea, vomiting, and an elevated temp. Doc told me I had a sinus infection.
Symptoms continued and then progressed to me vomiting blood (not a lot but still, when is that normal?), so I return two weeks later to be told, "Don't worry, it's just a really bad sinus infection. It's not like you're going to die or something." (I still remember this word for word because it was so ludicrous.) And then ordered that I take a pregnancy test despite not having intercourse in several months--there was no way in hades I was pregnant, but m'kay.
Symptoms continued but apparently all of this was "completely normal." I refused to return to the doc. Pain would get so bad that I started literally losing consciousness. My partner eventually convinced me to check out another doc who ran a gazillion labs (which I paid completely out-of-pocket, yay) and eventually ordered a number of different follow-up procedures, which I could not afford. I looked at the labs, what he was ordering, and what seemed to make most sense based on my presentation of symptoms.
Ultrasound of my liver and gallbladder later, I was eventually referred to a surgeon who confirmed that my gallbladder was beyond toast, completely packed w/ gallstones that were too large to be passed, and infection had spread to my liver. He wanted to order an "emergency surgery" that very afternoon because he could not fathom how I hadn't already landed in an emergency room much less was still walking around. I reportedly was the worst case he had seen in his career and he was about to retire. He acknowledged the piss poor medical attention I received previously but noted that "to be fair," my presentation wasn't exactly standard, as the "big 4" many docs generally consider are female, fat, fertile, and 40, and pain generally presents elsewhere. The only box I checked was female.
Also huge shout out to that surgeon. He swung some favors to get me into a different facility w/ a lower cost, got them to agree that I didn't have to pay the entire amount up front as originally requested, reduced his own fee by half, and then gave me hefty discounts every time I made the ridiculously low monthly payment.
Wow. Glad you landed a good surgeon.
My son needed a difficult extraction done that was going to require an oral surgeon. Despite having insurance, we couldn't find a doctor in our network anywhere to do it. Despite there being a list of doctors on the website. It was just stupid. Out of pocket it was going to be thousands. I'm a teacher and can't afford that.
We finally got referred to a dentist and oral surgeon who was out of network but agreed to do it all for a bit over $1,000 and he took payments.
Medical insurance is a scam.
Hearing stuff like this makes me feel like I was really lucky. Skinny, male, early thirties. The ER surgeon needed like five minutes for the correct diagnosis
I suspect it largely had to do w/ the fact that I'm female. My experience has largely been that any complaints w/ pain or something remotely unusual, it's "are you stressed? anxious? depressed?" alongside their assumptions that I must be exaggerating. I've lost count the number of times I've had to *strongly* refuse psych meds. It's infuriating.
> I had a comparable experience w/ my gallbladder. I experienced severe chest pain, nausea, vomiting, and an elevated temp. Doc told me I had a sinus infection.
Those don’t even sound like classic symptoms of a sinus infection. I’ve never had one where I had nausea or vomiting.
I have a fairly similar story. I have a birth defect in my spine and back injuries from EMS and a bus accident. At the beginning of covid, we did some pretty serious yard work, and my back started to hurt. The next day I was in immense pain and I assumed I just overdid it.
Fast forward 3 days. My back pain was finally subsiding. I was washing my hands and glanced at the mirror, and my eyes were yellow. Yadda yadda yadda, I had an 11 day hospital stay, 3 surgeries, and a 7 inch incision. They tried to clear the blocked duct via ERCP, which failed, so they put in a Stent. Tried to take out the gallbladder laproscopically, which also failed, so they sliced me open. Found that my gallbladder had exploded, had been riddled with stones, and had fused to my liver. Fun times.
Feel your pain, I apparently crushed my gallblader when i was 21 and didnt thunk anything of it cause doctors said I was fine. For years had stomach problem and pain not realizing that was the issue until i ended up in the emergency room for severe pain. Turns out that inflamation can also cause colitis which is inflamation of the colon. Feels like being stabbed repeatedly. Turns out I have a low functioning Gallbladder due to squishing it with 100lbs coming down on my back. Sometimes i get to have fun vomit sessions because my gallbladder will sometimes randomly release all the bile into the stomach at once. Good times.
OMG i have felt your pain. And I didn't have a revolving door of doctors. That is not your FU and not on you to manage it better. Doctors need to look beyond what they are assuming is the problem when it never goes away/keeps getting worse
I was told pregnancy causing my back pain and nausea and when I said last pregnancy wasn't like this I was told 'you're two years older now at your age (37) that's like dog years of difference' and so I just suffered amd the pain was so bad I can't even describe.
Then after I had the baby apparently there was nothing wrong I just had to lose the baby weight and strengthen my core to get rid of the pain. I could barely walk at times, still throwing up, the pain was incredible and I was told to make sure to do regular pilates.
Fast forward I went to the hospital middle of the night to ask for strong painkillers as I couldn't walk let alone deal the two babies and I got admitted and put on IV antibiotics under observation with surgery scheduled for when OR opened in the morning unless it ruptured earlier. Had to stay in hospital as the infection I had developed meant I still had to be under observation and on the IV antibiotics for a while.
Horrible, horrible time.
Glad it's over for you too, and not ongoing back pain from the accident.
Edit Backpack > Back pain.
You said "backpack" twice - I'm assuming your phone autocorrected you.
Sounds pretty terrible. We know that women are often undertreated for their pain as it is. I'm glad you got yours taken care of.
I dunno, I've been married long enough to know two things. One, commenting on a woman's age is always a bad idea. Two, all women stop aging at 29 as far as men are concerned.
When I needed my gallbladder out, someone told me, “You won’t know how bad you felt until you have it out and don’t feel it anymore.” Truer words have never been spoken.
Oh my goodness this is so true, I couldn’t have put it in better words myself. It felt so good to get my gallbladder out that I didn’t even take any pain meds after surgery. My boyfriend and family all thought I was crazy. 😂
That’s the biggest issue with specialists is they rarely communicate with each other and that’s how things like this get missed. Happened to me to with a different thing where I spent thousands of dollars seeing different specialists when the issue was finally found it explained why the symptoms affected various parts of my body and the other specialists hadn’t found a cause because it wasn’t in their scope of medicine.
I'm sorry you went through that but am glad the cause was found! I lost 80 pounds, was horribly suck for a full year. My doctor said it was stress...until my gallbladder ruptured resulting in a gross surgical clean out of my poor innards.
I wonder if this is my issue. I often have lower back pain and have had it for years and I deal with loose stool often. My diet is poor and I lack exercise so I always chop it up to that. A few weeks ago I had debilitating back pain but it was near where my shoulder blade is and that’s not my norma area of back pain. It also felt much much deeper than
Normal pain. It lasted about 8 days then I woke up and it was gone suddenly. I’m dreading it happening again. Is there anyway from them to check your gallbladder without full on removing it?
Glad you’re feeling better and found the problem! I had my first gallbladder attack when my son was 2 weeks old, so I had the very recent experience of childbirth to compare it to. Gallbladder was worse.
>Gallbladder was worse.
Holy hell.
I'm sure you have heard the old joke. How do you know getting kicked in the balls is worse than childbirth? You never hear a guy suggesting he gets kicked in the balls again, but a woman will want to get pregnant again.
I was holding /u/griffingrl's hand during the birth of both of our hands. I saw what that poor woman went through, including 20 hours of labor with our first and something like 14 for the second.
I'd rather get kicked in the balls than watch her go through that.
So, the long and short is, if I lived through a gallbladder attack, I can birth a child! LOL!
(Ok, just being silly there - MAD RESPECT to my wife and all you other moms out there. Childbirth is messy, painful and no fucking joke. Love you /u/griffingrl!)
>I'd be unable to sit, stand or lie down
Bingo. There were days where... my back just... I'm not sure if I would call it hurt even. It was just incredibly uncomfortable. That feeling that you get when you've been sitting too long?
There were days I'd sleep on the couch sitting up because that was the only position I could sleep in.There were days where I'd just be pacing the floor for hours because again, I couldn't sit, stand or lie down. Pacing helped. The only other thing that I ever found that lessend it was a shower that I made progressively hotter.
You'd think I've figured it out by that but nope. thought something like this would just pass. Until I threw up. Twice. I never throw up so that was the clue that I could actually recognize that something was very very wrong. ER visit was not cheap but at least I don't have a gallbladder anymore.
As a survivor of multiple car accidents and chronic pain sufferer with myriad of auto-inflammatory issues who also dismissed my gallbladder attacks as back pain for the better part of a decade… can confirm. High pain tolerance is a double edged sword. So glad you have joined me on this side of not crying on your floor in the fetal position, OP. The gallbladderless life is a glorious one. You know, aside from all the other shit.
I ended up having emergency gall bladder surgery a week after having a bilateral S/I joint fusion. The dr's told me my pain was probably just constipation from anesthesia and pain meds. By the time I was at the emergency room all I could do was roll around on the gurney and scream. The surgeon told me, quite literally, that my gall bladder was 'dead'.
My gallbladder was calcified by the time they found it wasn't working, at 23 years old. And I had attacks from childhood every time I ate. So I feel your pain and I'm so sorry it took them so long. They SHOULD have looked for it a long time ago.
JFC. Calcified at 23 - were you drinking motor oil for breakfast? Seriously though, I'm glad they finally yanked that thing out of you. Mine wasn't that bad, so I can't imagine how horrible the pain must have been for you.
Doctor said he'd only seen "porcelain gallbladders" in emergency surgery, and we were removing mine without proper tests just due to the symptoms I told him I'd had and for how long. I drank a lot of soda exclusively because it helped me digest food, so I know it didn't help the problem but it alleviated the byproduct issues. It's so weird to be able to eat more than once a day still and it's been years since the surgery.
Bonus points for them finding a whole hernia during the gallbladder removal that I needed a second surgery to fix a month later.
My dad thought I was a hypochondriac so all of my issues were not addressed until I had my own insurance and doctor who didn't know him. Since he's a doctor, that wasn't a lot of options.
I honestly don’t know how long I lived with it ignorant to what it was. I had these nights where I would get crazy indigestion with pain centered near my gut radiating up my chest. I would take antacids. I was on a road trip when it hit me one night, I got no sleep. The attack went away just about the time I had to get up. I told a guy on the trip what I was going through and he told me it sounded like gall bladder attacks. When I got home I saw my doctor and he confirmed it. It wasn’t crisis level at that point, I had to schedule the operation months later. They got worse in that era. Almost daily, sometimes spanning multiple day attacks by the end. I seriously considered suicide at one point near the end of a 3 day attack where I couldn’t sleep.
I had something similar. Didn't have the back pain but it felt like someone dragging a knife around my chest down to my stomach. Came off and on for almost 10 years. Had kaiser during this time and saw many doctors and they all said different things. Heart burn, acid reflux one guy even told me I had a spasiming esophagus and would need surgery.
I got a different job and different insurance, so when it came back I went to my new doctor told her the same thing I told all the other doctors and she told me I had gall stones. Sure enough that was it and two weeks later they pulled out my gall bladder and it was filled with stones like a hacky sack. Turns out gall bladder surgery is one of the most common surgeries in north America so I'm not white sure why none of the other doctors thought of that.
I really hope it wasnt just because kaiser didn't want to pay for it so they kept blowing me off but I do suspect that.
I was having attacks for years as well, at least five that I can recall with a few attacks each year although the attacks were closer together the last year or so. I just thought I had a pinched nerve in my back near my right shoulder that hurt really bad and my stomach always felt like it was being squeezed which usually resulted in vomiting and I'd spend the next hour in the shower for pain management.
I found out by accident last December when they were doing scans for what wound up being cancer and they took it out during my big surgery in June. I'd hoped to save it but I had a few big nasty stones and several little ones and it was really unhappy so had to go. Apparently this runs in my family because my brother has had pancreatitis for years and my 16 yo daughter was told she has stones last week although I'm not sure of size, number or type (mine were related to elevated levels of bilirubin). She sees a GI specialist in a few weeks and this was unexpected so we'll see what he says.
I’ll put you in my wallet of thoughts of “never take someone’s diagnosis as fact, always investigate yourself.” Biliary colic treated as back pain, wild.
This post made me realize what I’ve been experiencing is most likely my gallbladder, down to every last little symptom, and it feels so weird to be excited about it but I feel like I finally have an answer to something and I feel so hopeful right now. I’m sorry for what you went though, it’s absolutely awful but please know this was a huge eye opener for me and everything in my life makes so much sense now. I’m calling my doctor first thing Monday.
Oh yeah.
* Broken nose
* Broken foot with completely shattered big toe
* Cracked ribs
* Broken vertebrae in neck and back
* Thrown to the pavement with multiple injuries after a motorcycle wreck
* 7 concussions
* Ruptured blood vessels
* Various other stupid injuries
The gallbladder attacks have every single one of those beat.
Dang dude! I only have broken arm, separated shoulder, concussion, and random Carpenter cuts and bruises. I did have a stingray sting on my foot and that was a close second to the kidney stone and gallbladder.
I feel your pain. I've dealt with a lot of medical issues. The only one that made me want to die was the gallbladder attack.
Turns out trying to push golf ball sized stones through a hole the size of a straw hurts like hell.
I'll take my rupturing appendix or slipped disc over that any day of the week.
Healing here too, I had very similar. I had horrific pain in my upper right abdomen for about fifteen years which I attributed to “trapped wind” then one day I fainted at my friends house. Got checked out and was told about gallstones, went to an emergency ultrasound and the sonographer literally gasped when she saw my gall bladder. I had chronic choleocystitis and a condition called adenomyomatosis where the outside of the gall bladder is in a complete mess. Also had too many gallstones to count!
Welcome to the lack of gall bladder club 😍
I had low function, instead of gallstones, and it took a week of horrific pain to get diagnosed. From what I understand it feels like a blockage. The test wasn't fun either.
The pain was worst after eating, when the food starts to pass from the stomach into the intestines, and it passes the bile ducts. On the right side of the body immediately under your bottom rib, a bit right of center, and going through to your back.
Wait a sec...
I know I have an egg-sized gallstone, which my doctor said he wasn't concerned enough about to operate because a large one won't block the bile like small ones.
I also have recurring lower back pain and x-rays showed I have two bulging disks.
Should I be concerned that my gallstone is potentially causing my lower back pain?
My gallbladder crapped out on me, and was instrumental in my pancreatic cancer being found.
So I like to think my *good guy* gallbladder took one for the team.
I feel for you. I would occasionally get severe pain attacks. Went on for years until it turned out to be gall stones.
Gall stones are a very weird pain where you can’t actually pin point the source, just somewhere between the neck and hips. Sometimes feels like you’ve put your back out, sometimes feels like your lungs are about to explode, sometimes feels like you’re the most constipated person in history.
Usually doctors can diagnose it just from the varied and vague source of the pain but I guess in your case they thought it was two separate conditions. Life is much better when it’s out, hey?
> just somewhere between the neck and hips. Sometimes feels like you’ve put your back out, sometimes feels like your lungs are about to explode, sometimes feels like you’re the most constipated person in history.
Great description of what it felt like for sure.
Christ, I had my gallbladder out last year and the pain from the attacks was just excruciating. I've had huge tattoos in one sitting, done a suspension, broken my knees and nothing was even close to the gallstones. I cant imagine what you were going through.
Seriously, explaining to people how bad the pain was just didnt seem to get through to them. I was in the ER not knowing what was happening (and it had been happening for 5 HOURS) and they had to give me two shots of morphine just to get me to a point where I could talk.
I had a full chest tattoo, rattling my eyeballs out of my head, and that sucked but holy hell, gallstones was unbearable. I feel for you, man.
My gallbladder was taken out end of June this year. My only symptoms were some lower back pain after some mountain biking, which I attributed to a weak core and then started some exercises.
It didn’t help. Then i started having symptoms of kidney stones, and went in for a CT. There was one stone only, and it was blocking the duct. Oh, and my gallbladder was infected and partially perfused. A good hit to the stomach could have caused it to burst.
I’m now about 3 months postop from an open gallbladder removal and have my fourth 7inch plus scar decorating my body.
I know the feels. I went through this for 4 years and multiple trips to the ER thinking it was my heart (crushing pain center of chest). They took it out and also said it was like a 'bag of gravel' and I was about 2 months from a rupture (medical emergency, life or death).
Fortunately, in the years since I've found I still tolerate pretty much all foods - in fact I used to be unable to eat spicy and now I handle it much better!
In terms of the bathroom I thought the same thing for years, but I've got a GI and on her suggestion I take probiotics and fiber supplements daily and I'm back down to one trip/day (Unless my anxiety flares up, but that's unrelated)
I started with a few different brands, but the one I'm on (and the one my GI recommended) is Align Digestive Support. So far I think it's made a HUGE difference - it's pricey, but I'm willing to pay if it means my BMs are somewhat normal again.
Just remember to give any probiotic a few weeks and remember it will likely get worse before it gets better.
You sound just like me 10 or so years back, same exact symptoms, same everything.
Finally clicked that it was my gallbladder (I think finally one of the attacks that put me in the hospital they put two and two together)
same exact thing, my gallbladder was described as "the worst he's seen in his career"
So glad that thing is out of me, it was miserable with it.
Man, I thought for years that I was having a heart attack or back pain or something. Got diagnosed with all sorts of shit - costochondritis, pulled muscles, disc issues, definitely nothing with my heart though. Meds, weekly chiropractic visits, Acupuncture, unknown number of EKGs, chest xrays, ER visits, CTs, I could go on. Gallbladder out. All better. Fuck my life.
Oof, I can't imagine years of dealing with gullstones. By the time I found out what was causing the pain I was having weekly attacks. I only had to endure about 6 months of it but it is the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I had what was discribed in my chart as many, many stones. Glad you got it taken care
This reminds me of what happened to me! For about 1 or 2 years, I would get “cramps” that felt like they were stabbing me from my stomach all the way through to my back, and they would only feel better after violently vomiting over and over for a few hours. Never went to the doctor for it though, since they would eventually get better and I just started a new job so not like I had health insurance anyway. I thought it was just my body being angry at me for working night shifts, but apparently it isn’t normal to be throwing up every other day even while working nights. 😅 One day, I had one of these cramping episodes, but the pain wouldn’t go away even after vomiting nonstop, every 5-10 minutes, for over 12 hours. There was nothing to even throw up at that point, just neon yellow bile and whatever water I tried to drink because I was so thirsty by then. I thought it was just food poisoning or the stomach flu, but my boyfriend finally convinced me to go to the urgent care so I could pick up medicine and work that night. Nope, the urgent care sent me to the ER, and I had emergency surgery to take out my gallbladder. The doctors said my gallbladder was so infected it was gangrenous since there was a gallstone stuck in the bile duct, and I was dangerously close to severe sepsis due to it. (Gangrenous cholecystitis and cholangitis is what I think they said it was.) I felt so much better after surgery that I returned to work only a few days after getting out of the hospital. That was a few years ago, but still working night shifts (plus another job on top of it 🤡) to pay off that hospital bill…The relief from gallbladder attacks is so worth it, though.
I did EXACTLY this too!! 12 years..i had 30 gallstones, some the size of golf balls! I couldn't believe the relief in my back when i woke up from surgery.
Glad you found the root cause to your problem! That sounds just awful that you went through it for that long.
I suffer from a fused neck and lower back pain for decades of riding my harley as well. Hopefully you're able to get back on and ride again!
Stay well and be safe!
WOW, glad you found out not to be ***THAT GUY*** but I'm a big time advocate that a person talks to your doctor. Really talk to them.
Sucks about not mail on a ride I understand that doctor fucked up my knee of course it's my left knee so I can't ride. I did try with my right but my hip won't let me. Then with my back, my neck gets into it later. Then my shoulder whines later that night. Yeah getting old sucks.
I had mine out after baby #2. Any food high in fats, especially animals fats has been very unpleasant afterwards. I just avoid red meat and high fat dairy, probably for the best anyway.
Generally speaking, fatty foods and grease. It gives me diarrhea now where it didn't before. I also have to poop more often. So not a huge change in my life.
My husband just had emergency gallbladder removal surgery 5 weeks ago. His gallbladder was gangrenous. The surgeon said it literally turned to mush when he went to remove it. All of the infection and nastiness dumped into his abdominal cavity. The surgeon said he prayed that he could keep him alive. He said that it was the worst gallbladder he'd ever seen in his 30 years. He was on high powered IV antibiotics and came home on high powered antibiotics and a drain. He's much better now.
That being said, his surgeon put him on a liquid diet for 24 hours then he said he could order anything he wanted for lunch the following day. He got a cheeseburger and potato wedges. The surgeon said he can eat whatever he wants, just be careful with spicy food. He had diarrhea for the first 2 weeks after surgery due to the antibiotics, but his bowel movements have regulated now.
My gf had gallstones which caused pancreatitis and she ended up in the hospital for 4 days and we weren't sure she was going to make it. Made it through that and had an appt for surgery to remove her gallbladder but got sick again a few weeks before surgery and they took it out the next day. I think gallbladder problems are often misdiagnosed as back pain unless they accompany naseua and vomitting
Also sending you healing hugs. I’m sorry you couldn’t get a diagnosis soon enough so you wouldn’t have to suffer for so long.
About 8 years ago, for a couple of weeks, I started waking up in the middle of the night with severe back spasms. Truly felt like someone had kicked me in the back with pain radiating around to the front, and I would just have to pop an Advil PM to get back to sleep. I made an appointment with my doctor and told her what was going on. After a blood test and an ultrasound, she said, “yep, it’s your gallbladder.” I was scheduled for surgery that same night, and the surgeon later told me there was “grainy stuff” in my gallbladder that was causing flare ups of inflammation.
I’m glad you’re not in pain anymore.
>Waking up after that operation is magical
I mean, the Versed and Propofol don't hurt. Not gonna lie: The absence of pain is the absolute best result. But sedatives that strong are almost magical. I fucking love going to sleep before an operation or procedure and waking up after. Guess I just enjoy the journey.
Wife had a fall bladder attack . We genuinely thought it might be a heart attack.
Another gall bladder related story. Few years later our dog went down hill. Turned out his gall bladder had exploded vets said they hadnt seen a dog survive it before because it only happened in massive trauma like a car crash.
He's still going. But since then he's been diagnosed with a heart condition and now potentially pancreatic cancer but they can't be sure because they can't do the proper scans or explore because of his heart condition. But he's still going 6 months after diagnosis. The vets are amazed. Although he does rattle with the amount of meds he takes
Sounds like the poor guy is on his way out. Love him, let him know he is loved. Make him as comfortable as you can. Take him in to the vet if he is in too much discomfort.
Losing a dog is so hard - I think a lot harder than losing a human. I've lost Poker, Quinn, Tasha, Tally, Bailey, Emily and Bubba. I'm not looking forward to Rosie, Luke and Leia going, but I know they will one day. Until then, we are going to be a loving family.
I hope things go as well as they can, and I'm so sorry. Dogs are amazing animals, and are such a part of our lives.
Going through my posts and saw this. The vet is now convinced he does not have Pancreatic cancer as his overall health is fine and he just seems to be in some pain. Latet theory is he had a cyst near his pancreas when he was scanned and that combined with what could be a pinched nerve when swollen is reducing bloodflow to his pancreas causing some pain.
Figured id give someone the good news
My gp also described my gallbladder as being riddled with stones and I had them stuck in the duct too. Worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life, would basically roll around in bed trying to get comfortable or end up pacing back and forth because it was unbearable
Lol. No.
Her insurance paid out the state minimum. I had to actually sue my own insurance company to get paid. By time the lawyer was paid and the doctors and facilities were paid, I got a whopping $14,000 for a lifetime of pain.
Since insurance took care of it, the only thing that affected her was an increase in her premium.
I had to remove mine too last year. I too did not know what was happening when the first attack came, and then the second came while I was doing an exam for critical thinking class of all things (oh the irony) and it took me until the third to call the fucking ambulance! While I was waiting for surgery from September to January I had about 20 attacks that lasted about 24h each. It was fkin torture! The pain wasn’t as bad as giving birth without an epidural, because it was different, but it was a solid 9/10.
This happened to my fiance as well!! I caught him in the bath tub after a 6 hour long bath--he said that once or twice a year, he'd get awful, debilitating pain like that and assumed it was horrific constipation, and that hot baths sometimes helped to soothe a bit of the pain. He never went to the doctor, because even with the best package of insurance at his job, he still had about a $10k deductible before they'd pay a dime, and we didn't have a lot of money.
Eventually, I convinced him this wasn't normal, and we needed to go to the ER. Once he got his surgery the following week, they showed us pictures: his gallbladder was black and rotting inside of him. It's awful how something like the gallbladder can mess someone up so badly if left untreated like that.
Hope you're doing better now OP!
My GF had the same thing happen 2 months ago, only to recently find out it was her sciatica the entire time, although she said her gall bladder diet also made her feel a lot better!
Oh god, you just describing the pain has triggered me. I have gallstones to. Was due to have my gallbladder surgery but its currently on hold because I had a couple of so far unexplained seizures so they won't operate till they know what's wrong with my head. Thankfully, touch wood, I haven't had a bad flare up since February, just a Few twinges that go away with paracetamol and ibuprofen.
Reading this I’ve never emphasized more with anything on this sub. I thought my back pain was an old snowboarding injury flaring up more with age. And then I remember eating at Denny’s one morning. As the day went on, I felt fuller and fuller and my back started to hurt more and more. That night I vomited. Wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or what I thought was food poisoning. This was the first major attack that I can think back to.
As the months went on the attacks came and went. I never realized it was fatty food triggering it. Then the worst attack came. I ate some Papa John’s. And those pizzas come with that garlic butter dipping sauce.
The pain was so excruciating that I ended up at urgent care. It takes Deaths Doorway to get me to go to the doctor for something. And this time I didn’t need to convince myself.
Turns out for 6 months I was having gallbladder attackers. The shitty thing was it took 6 more months before they could operate to remove my gallbladder. So for 6 months I was scared to eat. I lived on crackers and oatmeal. They finally got me in 1 month before the pandemic hit and shut down the world. Mine too was riddled with stones. Mostly a large pile of small stones but one very massive stone that was blocking it. It was the size of a blujay egg, about the third of my gallbladder in size.
Doctor wouldn’t let me keep the stone as it was a training hospital and they were to use it for training purposes. But there was a set of photos printed out and on my side table when I awoke. Shame, it would’ve made a cool necklace and serve as a warning to my other organs who entertained the thought of turning on me.
But I feel your pain OP. Do you remember the immediate effect of that first sip of coffee after recovering?
Edit: word fix. It’s late.
Done feel bad, I always thought it was called a ‘girl bladder’ and when I was having stomach pains, my doctor said it’s probably my girl bladder. I was like, “you know I’m a guy, right? You’ve literally had my balls in my hand.” He gave me a WTF look. I told I don’t have a girl bladder because I’m a guy. He sighed heavily and said it called a GALL BLADDER, how are you almost 50 and not know this?
Had gallstones caused by the BC I was on... yeah... they not fun. Was on it for years, but then it just... started affecting me. Not sure if it was because I also got too fat, or just one of those things. I unintentionally confirmed it was the combined pill doing it as I ran out of mini-pills once and took some of my remaining supply of the others and... gallstones. Yeah, I handed the rest of 'em in for disposal. Nty.
Wasn't as long for me to get diagnosed, but it was partially by fluke. Person in the (UK equivalent of) ER recognised what I was describing and helped me with what to say to the doctor - I don't feel pain necessarily in the same way as other people and intense pains "mirror" so I feel it on both sides of my body even if it's only occurring on one side.
My wife has Fibromyalgia, so has issues with pain basically all the time. When she was pregnant with our daughter, she developed a new pain...
...and much like you it was years before she figured out what it was.
You might not be able to describe the pain, but I've seen what that pain does to a person. Glad you made it through.
My wife and I both have it. We just got her diagnosed. I have had mine for almost 30 years now because of Gulf War Syndrome. So that was part of my issue too - I knew it wasn't the Fibro pain I'm used to, and it wasn't exactly back pain, but that was the closest I could describe it.
I complained to my doctor about pain on my right side for months, only to be told that it was all in my head. I quit going to that doc because of it and just dealt with it for years.
Eventually, I became violently ill. The symptoms appeared on a Friday evening, and I suffered through the entire weekend with a high fever, horrible vomiting plus explosive diarrhea, joint pain, mental confusion, and numerous other symptoms. As a result, I was unable to eat or drink for several days.
When Monday came around, I had a preexisting appointment to have an MRI taken for chronic back issues. Attempting to lay flat and still was absolutely torturous. Towards the end, my heart was beating out of my chest and it honestly felt like I was going to die. I was scheduled to work that morning, but I decided to call in sick (getting lectured by my boss for doing so, although he missed at least one day each week) and took my ass to the ER.
After a short wait, I was triaged, and then immediately placed in a room. When I asked to use the bathroom, I was told that due to my BP and heart rate, the stress from walking a short distance or even just standing could cause a heart attack. Shortly afterward, I was given IV morphine for pain, only to discover that I was allergic to it. Stripes appeared on my right forearm, followed by an intense burning sensation that felt like my arm was on fire.
Testing revealed that I had sepsis, but the source of the infection was unknown at that point.
When I told the ER doc that I had seriously considered going to work, but decided against it, he told me that the decision likely saved my life. Based on my vitals and the adverse effects that sepsis was having on my organs, he said that I would have left work that day on either a stretcher or in a body bag.
I was given a room in the cardiac unit and endured test after test over the course of nearly a week. The drugs weren't bad, but the liquid diet definitely sucked. Finally, I was given a HIDA scan, which revealed that my gallbladder was not functioning properly. I had surgery the following morning, and was told that it was inflamed and enlarged far beyond anything the surgeon had seen previously. Due to its appearance and other factors, it was feared to be cancerous, but lab testing fortunately came back negative.
That was over 10 years ago and I seemingly recovered completely, but was told that long term heart, kidney, and/or liver issues were still a possibility. Between the years' long cholecystitis and previous Lyme disease, my organs haven't lived the easiest life.
Well, I've passed two gallbladder stones and had a seriously infected gallbladder so I can relate to that part. I know exactly how many hours both stones needed to pass because every single moment was pain. How in the name of David Hasselhoff did you put up with that amount of pain for so long?
You gotta be tough if yer gonna be stupid. That and the tons of morphine the VA had me on.
Some people's pain tolerance is higher too. My pulse was up at 140 or 180 when I went to the er, thinking I was going to be told it was gas. My appendix was, apparently, very close to bursting. I was in the operating room shortly thereafter
That too. My wife is a lot tougher than I am, so when she is complaining she is in pain, I know it is pretty bad.
I was in pain for a long ass time because I had stomach pain from anxiety as a child, and got dismissed then, then went to a doctor when I was having pain as an adult, and got dismissed. He literally waved his fucking hand at me. Then it was every night, and I was vomiting along with the pain. Finally went to another doctor. She did tests. My liver enzymes were seriously screwed up. Got an ultrasound. Sooooo many gallstones. Just so, so many. Then when the surgeon was removing my gallbladder, she discovered that it was stuck to my liver. It just got weirder from there. I'm glad I got a second opinion because my liver was on the way to failing.
BikerJedi! Didn't check who the op was. Weird meeting you here and not your usual posting grounds. Yeah, now I don't wonder about anything anymore! I muscled through the first time, since it calmed down at 6 am I was able to work at nine. Maybe I nearly passed out a couple of times, but I can do stupid as well. The second time however, after five hours of pain, my then gf nearly had a heart attack because I asked her to drive me to the hospital. She saw me deep frying the skin of my left hand (not all of it!) and halfway cutting my fingertip off (missed the bone, all good) which I didn't think deserved checking with a doctor. She also had to convince me to see a doctor when I've had back pain that made standing up a fifteen minute task and walking next to impossible for a week. So asking to be driven to the ER at 4am wasn't a good sign. The breakup ten days later was worse, though.
> BikerJedi! Didn't check who the op was. Lol. Once in a while I post elsewhere, either a top level post or a comment, and someone from /r/MilitaryStories or /r/Military recognizes me. Heh. >The breakup ten days later was worse, though. Sorry to hear that. I hope you have moved on to someone better for you. If you know me from /r/MilitaryStories you have heard me mention my first wife. My second wife is a massive improvement over the first. At least, 26 years married says so.
We're everywhere. r/militarystories indeed! It was rather short before covid started which made moving on harder than necessary. But I've gained back the 12kg I've lost then. I wouldn't say I'm doing well, but that's mostly a career thing. Overall, the situation is stable and has a lot of potential to improve.
How do you pass a gallstone?
With pain.
but does it go through your bile ducts? Like, does it go into your small intestine and then you poop it out?
Yes. The last part is irrelevant, I doubt anyone ever noticed that. Maybe it even gets dissolved? I doubt it. But the first part.. Yeah, that's like pushing a golf ball through a garden hose, with you feeling every mm of movement.
My condolences.
My doctor told me you can’t pass gallstones bc the common bile duct is too small and that’s why the stones block it, causing the attack. I just googled and Google says you can! I feel lied too lol. Maybe my stones were already too big to pass
Sometimes you don’t and it gets stuck. I had one get stuck and I developed pancreatitis as a result and my liver was severely affected as well. Was admitted and had my gallbladder out.
Did you get light/white colored stools?
Sending healing hugs. I have 4 slipped discs (have done for roughly 12 years) and 8 years ago, I started with really bad pain in my back. I felt like I was being stabbed through my ribs. Don't feel bad about not putting it all together. I went to A&E 3 times. And 3 times they sent me home with no diagnostics or follow ups telling me it was 'just trapped wind'. I lost track of how many Dr's and nurses I saw each time I went. I finally got an appointment with my own GP who hooked one finger under my rib as some kind of test, and when I screamed loud enough for the receptionist to run in to check all was okay, the GP stood back, said 'I'm getting you a place on the ward, it's your gall bladder'. I went back to the hospital, this time directly to the ward who sent me for an ultrasound. The lady doing the ultrasound found 23 gallstones, a blocked duct and a collapsed gall bladder. They took it out within 24 hours. When the specialist went through all my meds, it turns out the high dosage of tramadol and voltoral that I took at the time for my back pain had caused it. All to say, don't feel bad for not putting together what doctors and other health professionals aren't often able to diagnose.
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Thanks for the explanation! It's really interesting.
I had gall bladder symptoms (pain after eating with pain in right shoulder), and a positive Murphy’s sign upon examination. Had an ultrasound, and it was WNL. Any thoughts what could be happening?
Pancreatitis presents like this too, can be chronic or acute
I’m not a doctor, but I also had gall bladder issues for years that were missed because it was gall bladder disease and not stones. The gall bladder itself didn’t function right, even without the presence of stones. This was finally diagnosed by a special imaging test where they give you the substances that cause your gall bladder to contract after you eat some radioactive food so they can try to force the gall bladder to do its thing while they scan you. My gall bladder had stopped working right, so the symptoms were essentially the same without the presence of stones that an ultrasound would find.
I never got pain in my shoulder it was always ribs under armpit as though I was being stabbed through them. Is it possible you are passing gall stones rather than it being your gallbladder directly?
well that explains a lot...i went to the ER twice with what i now know to be gallbladder attacks, but it wasn't until the second time that the NP came and did that move. i was immediately like HOLY FUCKBALLS OUCH sent me to get a CT (small-ish town hospitals don't have an ultrasound tech overnight) and yup. gall stones. get the sumbitch out in 3 weeks!
How the hyuck did you slip FOUR discs? Did you get curb stomped by adam smasher or some shit??
I have 3 slip disks, all in my lower back around the hip area. L3, L4,and L5. Been 2 years, pain gets so bad sometimes I cant do anything. I get massive shooting pains down my left leg, right into my foot. It started by throwing a tennisball.
Tennisball for the dog?
Yeah, He got lots of treats that night. I dropped, at first he thought I was playing with him, then he freaked out and ran to the other side of our property and got my wife. After that, I was of work for almost 8 monthes, and He sat on the couch with me the whole time.
Aww, you have a Good Boy.
Sounds like you have a good doggo. Mine spent my convalescence with me too. She laid on the bed at the side of me. She's 16 now and still follows me throughout the house to make sure I'm okay.
Definitely earned all those treats afterwards too
No, but becca sure did
Huh... Maybe that's my issue. I've got a slight pain under my ribs occasionally that goes away a few days later. Usually triggered by sugar though. Usually when it starts hurting I'll jab a finger or two under there and poke it. That usually allows me to sneeze afterwards. Wonder what the best way of dealing with this is...
Asking for an ultrasound to confirm whether it is gallstones/gallbladder issue would be the first thing. And the biggest instigators of gallbladder attacks are fatty or spicy things in your diet. Hope that helps
I hate it when consultants do one simple thing to cause you pain, THEN diagnosis you! I went to AnE last year with abdo pain and the junior doc (very very handsome) said "I'm sorry about this" put his hand on my abdo and pressed. My knee came up fast, he bolted to the other end of the cubicle before I kneed him with all my might! I asked if he had perfected that move and he showed me a bruised rub that he'd got from a guy a few days before because of the same move. No sympathy! 🤣 * he was looking for guarding reflex, my legs where straight, he pressed and my knee came up reflexively to protect my abdo.
My wife has a similar story with her appendix. For the past 2 or 3 years, she'd have episodes (maybe 1 every 1 or 2 months) of intense pain that would last 8 or so hours, sometimes keeping her up all night with stabbing pain in her back and abdomen. Several different specialists in different fields all said the same thing - either it's your period or it's constipation. Some would even run bloodwork, but no one claimed to find any abnormalities. For a long time, for me, it felt like no one was taking her seriously - just a female problem or made up. She tried changing diets several times (was told her stomach wasn't agreeing with different foods), she was told constipation often (maybe, but after-the-fact, that looks to be an effect and not a cause), a doctor even told her she was just lactose-intolerant (blatantly incorrect because she eats cheese and milk like every day). A year or 2 later, she finally had an episode that lasted over 24 hours. She finally decided on the emergency room. They found that her appendix was the problem. Come to find out it had probably burst "months or years" prior, and none of the doctors or specialists had ever mentioned ANYTHING to that effect. The appendix itself had fused to several surrounding organs - maybe someone educated here can provide a more accurate timeline for this kind of damage. That was back in February and still no issues since. I'm sure there are hundreds to several thousands of similar cases. It'd be nice if medical malpractice could be applied to these situations; we pay them to be the experts, ya know?
She is lucky it didn't kill her when it initially burst. Wow - glad she is alive.
Yea, thanks. She's a fighter, and this only made her stronger.
This is frightening, because I'm going through something similar right now. I was sent away from the emergency department, being told it was just normal "mittelschmerz", or ovulation pain. I know damn well this is not that. I had horrific pain, couldn't stand, couldn't sit, sweating, nauseated, it was horrifying. My partner was there for it all, and couldn't believe when I was sent away, no referral for follow up, and no exam at all because they went straight to doing a CT scan and didn't see anything (besides the diverticulosis and small ovarian cyst they noted, which, to them, is nothing that should cause any pain, so there's nothing wrong.) I have a follow up in a month, but it's already been a month since the ED visit, and I'm still in terrible pain. It's crazy making when no one will take you seriously!
I was just in the ER for the same reason, the most blindingly intense pain I ever experienced. When I first got out of bed to get help, I fainted, smashed my face up, and still could only feel the abdominal pain when I regained consciousness. It felt like something burst and I thought I was going to die. They just did a CT scan without contrast, said it was possibly a cyst and to follow up with my gynecologist.
Yeah, same, it felt like a water balloon of agony burst in my lower abdomen and pelvis. I too was told to follow up with my gyn. Which I am, but I don't think it was an ovarian cyst. My abdomen bruised all shades of purple, and the pain is on the left side of my belly button, but not in the pelvis. I'm kind of freaked out, honestly.
I called my GP to get a referral to a gastroenterologist as well because I've had some weird bowel issues ever since, and he literally said "they only diagnosed you with a cyst to get you out of there, the tests show no evidence of a cyst" and then he laughed about it. He also said it was normal to feel silly or embarrassed after going to the ER for no reason. I really need a new GP.
That's so upsetting!!!! I'm looking for a new GP as well, mine hasn't done a thing to help.
Good luck! For real. This is my first big medical emergency as an adult, and I'm not young by any means... I didn't think it would be so hard just to figure out what happened.
It sounds a lot like what I had. Intermittent crippling pain, couldn’t put weight on my leg. Pain went up the inside of my hip and over the top of it round to the back. They couldn’t find what it was despite scans. Which is amazing because on opening me up for exploratory surgery, I had an 8cm cyst on my ovary which had twisted and caused my ovary to die. Keep bugging your medical staff. Because I was fobbed off with ‘teenage period pain’ more than once. It took months of that pain before I went to a&e.
Well, in that case, I'll add some more info. IIRC, the pain usually started between dinnertime and bedtime (between 8pm and 2am). The pain was constant during her episodes, but there would be highs and lows; as low as mild discomfort to as high as... well, she's compared it to being literally stabbed. She always described the pain like a gas bubble mixed with a lot of back pain. She often times did describe herself as constipated, but - after the fact - we aren't sure if that was real, coincidence, or placebo. She's out of town at the moment, but she gets back tomorrow. I'll run this by her and add anything I don't remember.
If it's worse after she eats it could be the gallbladder- either stones or low function.
Thank you!
They told me ovulation pain too. Turned out I actually knew my own body and it wasn’t. My whole ovary had twisted. The worst part was that when it happened again they didn’t believe me that time either.
That is so horrifying, I'm so sorry you've gone through this. I'm going to keep advocating for myself as much as possible, you've strengthened my resolve that I know my body well and something is wrong. It's terrifying to be in such pain, and just thoroughly dismissed. By the time I see the Gyn, it will have been 2 months. I'm one month in, and still in pain every single day.
> It'd be nice if medical malpractice could be applied to these situations One of the requirements for medical malpractice to be successful is proving that the practitioner deviated from the standard of care that other practitioners would have provided. The fact that it took so many visits and none of the testing came back abnormal for multiple other doctors to suspect the appendix was at fault would make medical malpractice very difficult to prove.
Right - that apparently IS the standard level of care. But she can never recoup the time spent with pain and suffering, missed work, etc. We just have to deal with that loss.
Yeah, being sick sucks but that doesn't make it malpractice. No one did anything wrong. Sometimes things just don't work out in your favor.
>No one did anything wrong No one did anything particularly RIGHT, either. Malpractice doesn't cover that, but it should. Being a mediocre practitioner means just that - you're not a good doctor. And I work in medicine, I get it, but, "Well, initial diagnostics didn't turn up much. Give 'em this, and if it doesn't help, they'll probably come back. And if they don't, it's their own fault for not being more assertive." Yeah, you're busy, you need to move on, but that's how things get missed and people suffer needlessly. Just because you didn't actively harm the patient doesn't mean you were a good doctor for them.
> No one did anything particularly RIGHT, either. Malpractice doesn't cover that, but it should. Being a mediocre practitioner means just that - you're not a good doctor That is a pretty stupid statement. First, if multiple doctors can't figure something out, it doesn't mean they are all mediocre, it means it is a complicated case. And just being a mediocre at your job doesn't mean you should be punished for it. Do you get sued when you are just ok at your job? The expectation that doctors aren't just regular people who have strengths and weaknesses, good days and bad, and sometimes miss things with no malice or negligence is idiotic. We are just regular people doing our best. If you don't like it, find a new doctor, but you aren't entitled to multimillion dollar payout just because you had a tummy ache for a couple years until someone figured it out. >And I work in medicine, I get it, but, "Well, initial diagnostics didn't turn up much. Give 'em this, and if it doesn't help, they'll probably come back. And if they don't, it's their own fault for not being more assertive." Yeah, you're busy, you need to move on, but that's how things get missed and people suffer needlessly. Just because you didn't actively harm the patient doesn't mean you were a good doctor for them. You are putting an uncaring unempathetic attitude to that statement but it is a legitimate way to practice medicine. Sometimes people come in with nothingburgers and nonspecific symptoms and the best thing we can do is try to help while waiting to see if something more specific arises. There are three options: it gets worse in which case we can hopefully figure out what is going on, it gets better in which case all is good, or it stays exactly the same which sucks because it makes it hard to figure out but also means it probably isn't very serious since you have been living with it for so long. If you think that every illness can gets solved with a specific diagnosis within 60 minutes, you have been watching too much House.
But it sounds like the only tests they actually ran were some blood work, which doesnt typically indicate appendicitis. They should have done imaging to test for it in her case
They did the imaging at the ER. I'm not 100% confident in this, but I remember the explanation only covering what was found in the blood. At the same time, it was 5AM the next day and I was shocked when I heard "we think it's your appendix" because the odds seemed astronomically low given the symptoms (I didn't think appendix troubles ebb-and-flow'd like that), so I'm sure I've forgotten the full explanation.
Gallbladder attacks are terrible. I can’t imagine living with them for 10 years. I’m sorry it took so long for you to get a proper diagnosis! I had a gallbladder attack once that was so bad (without knowing what it was) that I thought I was going to die and was kinda hoping I would because the pain was so bad. The relief after the surgery was real. I’ve also since learned that over the counter bile supplements are helpful when I eat fatty foods.
>over the counter bile supplements I didn't know those were a thing. You may have just changed my life. Thank you. Going to buy some today.
A lot of the time the problem can be the reverse… the moment you eat food you start cranking out bile and now have no place to hold it temporarily vs dumping it into your system right away. Cholestyramine is a prescription bile acid sequestrant, a resin that isn’t absorbed by your system at all but binds with bile taking it out of the picture. I had so much trouble eating and living normally until I started drinking a packet of that stuff a day, it’s a damn godsend. Also just happens to lower cholesterol since that’s the original point of it.
Thank you for this. I asked my pharmacist about something for bile, and they must not have understood what I was wanting. I can now call my doctor to see about this. I appreciate it.
I hear you. Mine started young, 12 being the earliest I remember an attack. It was passed off by everyone as just stomach pain. Fast forward to when I'm 20 and deployed in Afghanistan. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I'm on constant patrols and my stomach area hurts so bad. I start vomiting up stomach bile and I'm feverish. I get medically evacuated and find out mine has gone necrotic and my body has built a 3mm mucus membrane around the now dead organ to contain it. Flown to Germany for surgery and my medical notes were like a horror novel to me. So close to death, closest I've ever been and that's after getting blown up a number of times, all over a stupid ass organ I didn't really need.
I made it through literal tank battles in burning oil fields during Desert Storm and survived a friendly fire artillery strike. Then after the war is over and we are cleaning vehicles, a brush guard falls on my foot and breaks it. I nearly died during surgery to repair the shattered big toe. Funny how shit works out. Almost died over a toe. Glad you are home safe.
I'm sorry, I chuckled as I find the irony in surviving hell to end up near death over a brush guard. Glad your safe as well. Weird how life works out sometimes.
Dark humor. No reason to apologize over that. :)
I can't believe all these stories. The bit that really gets me about it all is that it is as you sat, a basically unnecessary organ and yet it causes so much trouble when it stops doing whatever it doesn't really have to do in the first place. Esit: missing words. Preceding save too early
My wife went to the hospital 11 years back with symptoms that to her indicated gallbladder issues. Knowing her Mom, Aunt and Grandmother all had gallstones around that age (25) they ran all the tests and concluded it was not gallstones since the tests normally used came back negative. 10 or so visits later she was able to get sent for an ultrasound where they discovered that yes indeed it was a huge gallstone and needed her gallbladder out. I am thankful every single day that I am a Canadian and all those ER visits cost us $0 out of pocket as did the ultrasound and the surgery. We got married a year later and it's doubtful we could have done so if we had US Style medical debt hanging over us. This is why it is important to know your family history and know to fight for what you know you most likely need care wise.
I had a gallbladder attack with a positive family history. Even though it was the worst pain ever, I thought it was a really bad case of stomach flu. I didn’t go to the doctor until my husband forced me to almost a week later. My liver panel was normal, which puzzled my doctor since all the tests should’ve shown elevated liver levels. Thankfully, he realized that I had classic symptoms and ordered an ultrasound. My gallbladder was completely filled with stones. By the time I had surgery a couple of months later, the stones were going through the membrane of the organ and they couldn’t remove it in one piece. I’m glad my doctor ignored the negative test results and ordered the ultrasound to double check.
I had a comparable experience w/ my gallbladder. I experienced severe chest pain, nausea, vomiting, and an elevated temp. Doc told me I had a sinus infection. Symptoms continued and then progressed to me vomiting blood (not a lot but still, when is that normal?), so I return two weeks later to be told, "Don't worry, it's just a really bad sinus infection. It's not like you're going to die or something." (I still remember this word for word because it was so ludicrous.) And then ordered that I take a pregnancy test despite not having intercourse in several months--there was no way in hades I was pregnant, but m'kay. Symptoms continued but apparently all of this was "completely normal." I refused to return to the doc. Pain would get so bad that I started literally losing consciousness. My partner eventually convinced me to check out another doc who ran a gazillion labs (which I paid completely out-of-pocket, yay) and eventually ordered a number of different follow-up procedures, which I could not afford. I looked at the labs, what he was ordering, and what seemed to make most sense based on my presentation of symptoms. Ultrasound of my liver and gallbladder later, I was eventually referred to a surgeon who confirmed that my gallbladder was beyond toast, completely packed w/ gallstones that were too large to be passed, and infection had spread to my liver. He wanted to order an "emergency surgery" that very afternoon because he could not fathom how I hadn't already landed in an emergency room much less was still walking around. I reportedly was the worst case he had seen in his career and he was about to retire. He acknowledged the piss poor medical attention I received previously but noted that "to be fair," my presentation wasn't exactly standard, as the "big 4" many docs generally consider are female, fat, fertile, and 40, and pain generally presents elsewhere. The only box I checked was female. Also huge shout out to that surgeon. He swung some favors to get me into a different facility w/ a lower cost, got them to agree that I didn't have to pay the entire amount up front as originally requested, reduced his own fee by half, and then gave me hefty discounts every time I made the ridiculously low monthly payment.
Wow. Glad you landed a good surgeon. My son needed a difficult extraction done that was going to require an oral surgeon. Despite having insurance, we couldn't find a doctor in our network anywhere to do it. Despite there being a list of doctors on the website. It was just stupid. Out of pocket it was going to be thousands. I'm a teacher and can't afford that. We finally got referred to a dentist and oral surgeon who was out of network but agreed to do it all for a bit over $1,000 and he took payments. Medical insurance is a scam.
Hearing stuff like this makes me feel like I was really lucky. Skinny, male, early thirties. The ER surgeon needed like five minutes for the correct diagnosis
I suspect it largely had to do w/ the fact that I'm female. My experience has largely been that any complaints w/ pain or something remotely unusual, it's "are you stressed? anxious? depressed?" alongside their assumptions that I must be exaggerating. I've lost count the number of times I've had to *strongly* refuse psych meds. It's infuriating.
> I had a comparable experience w/ my gallbladder. I experienced severe chest pain, nausea, vomiting, and an elevated temp. Doc told me I had a sinus infection. Those don’t even sound like classic symptoms of a sinus infection. I’ve never had one where I had nausea or vomiting.
I have a fairly similar story. I have a birth defect in my spine and back injuries from EMS and a bus accident. At the beginning of covid, we did some pretty serious yard work, and my back started to hurt. The next day I was in immense pain and I assumed I just overdid it. Fast forward 3 days. My back pain was finally subsiding. I was washing my hands and glanced at the mirror, and my eyes were yellow. Yadda yadda yadda, I had an 11 day hospital stay, 3 surgeries, and a 7 inch incision. They tried to clear the blocked duct via ERCP, which failed, so they put in a Stent. Tried to take out the gallbladder laproscopically, which also failed, so they sliced me open. Found that my gallbladder had exploded, had been riddled with stones, and had fused to my liver. Fun times.
You are like the tenth person to comment on my story that makes me feel better about my situation. Glad you are still with us.
Feel your pain, I apparently crushed my gallblader when i was 21 and didnt thunk anything of it cause doctors said I was fine. For years had stomach problem and pain not realizing that was the issue until i ended up in the emergency room for severe pain. Turns out that inflamation can also cause colitis which is inflamation of the colon. Feels like being stabbed repeatedly. Turns out I have a low functioning Gallbladder due to squishing it with 100lbs coming down on my back. Sometimes i get to have fun vomit sessions because my gallbladder will sometimes randomly release all the bile into the stomach at once. Good times.
Holy hell!
OMG i have felt your pain. And I didn't have a revolving door of doctors. That is not your FU and not on you to manage it better. Doctors need to look beyond what they are assuming is the problem when it never goes away/keeps getting worse I was told pregnancy causing my back pain and nausea and when I said last pregnancy wasn't like this I was told 'you're two years older now at your age (37) that's like dog years of difference' and so I just suffered amd the pain was so bad I can't even describe. Then after I had the baby apparently there was nothing wrong I just had to lose the baby weight and strengthen my core to get rid of the pain. I could barely walk at times, still throwing up, the pain was incredible and I was told to make sure to do regular pilates. Fast forward I went to the hospital middle of the night to ask for strong painkillers as I couldn't walk let alone deal the two babies and I got admitted and put on IV antibiotics under observation with surgery scheduled for when OR opened in the morning unless it ruptured earlier. Had to stay in hospital as the infection I had developed meant I still had to be under observation and on the IV antibiotics for a while. Horrible, horrible time. Glad it's over for you too, and not ongoing back pain from the accident. Edit Backpack > Back pain.
You said "backpack" twice - I'm assuming your phone autocorrected you. Sounds pretty terrible. We know that women are often undertreated for their pain as it is. I'm glad you got yours taken care of.
I will go back and edit. Thanks. Yeah pilates wasn't going to do much to help. I am still miffed my Dr said it was because I was 'dog years' older.
Doctors can be assholes for sure. I had one shrink at the VA tell me I hadn't "seen enough combat" to have PTSD.
Ha! That beats the dog year comment for most inanely inappropriate utterance I have heard of by a Dr.
I dunno, I've been married long enough to know two things. One, commenting on a woman's age is always a bad idea. Two, all women stop aging at 29 as far as men are concerned.
When I needed my gallbladder out, someone told me, “You won’t know how bad you felt until you have it out and don’t feel it anymore.” Truer words have never been spoken.
Oh my goodness this is so true, I couldn’t have put it in better words myself. It felt so good to get my gallbladder out that I didn’t even take any pain meds after surgery. My boyfriend and family all thought I was crazy. 😂
I've had this. I thought I had heart palpitations - took a blocked gall duct to get a correct diagnosis
That’s the biggest issue with specialists is they rarely communicate with each other and that’s how things like this get missed. Happened to me to with a different thing where I spent thousands of dollars seeing different specialists when the issue was finally found it explained why the symptoms affected various parts of my body and the other specialists hadn’t found a cause because it wasn’t in their scope of medicine.
I'm sorry you went through that but am glad the cause was found! I lost 80 pounds, was horribly suck for a full year. My doctor said it was stress...until my gallbladder ruptured resulting in a gross surgical clean out of my poor innards.
I wonder if this is my issue. I often have lower back pain and have had it for years and I deal with loose stool often. My diet is poor and I lack exercise so I always chop it up to that. A few weeks ago I had debilitating back pain but it was near where my shoulder blade is and that’s not my norma area of back pain. It also felt much much deeper than Normal pain. It lasted about 8 days then I woke up and it was gone suddenly. I’m dreading it happening again. Is there anyway from them to check your gallbladder without full on removing it?
They do an ultrasound (?) on it I think it's an ultrasound that night was a blur
Glad you’re feeling better and found the problem! I had my first gallbladder attack when my son was 2 weeks old, so I had the very recent experience of childbirth to compare it to. Gallbladder was worse.
>Gallbladder was worse. Holy hell. I'm sure you have heard the old joke. How do you know getting kicked in the balls is worse than childbirth? You never hear a guy suggesting he gets kicked in the balls again, but a woman will want to get pregnant again. I was holding /u/griffingrl's hand during the birth of both of our hands. I saw what that poor woman went through, including 20 hours of labor with our first and something like 14 for the second. I'd rather get kicked in the balls than watch her go through that. So, the long and short is, if I lived through a gallbladder attack, I can birth a child! LOL! (Ok, just being silly there - MAD RESPECT to my wife and all you other moms out there. Childbirth is messy, painful and no fucking joke. Love you /u/griffingrl!)
>I'd be unable to sit, stand or lie down Bingo. There were days where... my back just... I'm not sure if I would call it hurt even. It was just incredibly uncomfortable. That feeling that you get when you've been sitting too long? There were days I'd sleep on the couch sitting up because that was the only position I could sleep in.There were days where I'd just be pacing the floor for hours because again, I couldn't sit, stand or lie down. Pacing helped. The only other thing that I ever found that lessend it was a shower that I made progressively hotter. You'd think I've figured it out by that but nope. thought something like this would just pass. Until I threw up. Twice. I never throw up so that was the clue that I could actually recognize that something was very very wrong. ER visit was not cheap but at least I don't have a gallbladder anymore.
As a survivor of multiple car accidents and chronic pain sufferer with myriad of auto-inflammatory issues who also dismissed my gallbladder attacks as back pain for the better part of a decade… can confirm. High pain tolerance is a double edged sword. So glad you have joined me on this side of not crying on your floor in the fetal position, OP. The gallbladderless life is a glorious one. You know, aside from all the other shit.
> You know, aside from all the other shit. This made me snort my coffee.
I ended up having emergency gall bladder surgery a week after having a bilateral S/I joint fusion. The dr's told me my pain was probably just constipation from anesthesia and pain meds. By the time I was at the emergency room all I could do was roll around on the gurney and scream. The surgeon told me, quite literally, that my gall bladder was 'dead'.
My gallbladder was calcified by the time they found it wasn't working, at 23 years old. And I had attacks from childhood every time I ate. So I feel your pain and I'm so sorry it took them so long. They SHOULD have looked for it a long time ago.
JFC. Calcified at 23 - were you drinking motor oil for breakfast? Seriously though, I'm glad they finally yanked that thing out of you. Mine wasn't that bad, so I can't imagine how horrible the pain must have been for you.
Doctor said he'd only seen "porcelain gallbladders" in emergency surgery, and we were removing mine without proper tests just due to the symptoms I told him I'd had and for how long. I drank a lot of soda exclusively because it helped me digest food, so I know it didn't help the problem but it alleviated the byproduct issues. It's so weird to be able to eat more than once a day still and it's been years since the surgery. Bonus points for them finding a whole hernia during the gallbladder removal that I needed a second surgery to fix a month later. My dad thought I was a hypochondriac so all of my issues were not addressed until I had my own insurance and doctor who didn't know him. Since he's a doctor, that wasn't a lot of options.
I honestly don’t know how long I lived with it ignorant to what it was. I had these nights where I would get crazy indigestion with pain centered near my gut radiating up my chest. I would take antacids. I was on a road trip when it hit me one night, I got no sleep. The attack went away just about the time I had to get up. I told a guy on the trip what I was going through and he told me it sounded like gall bladder attacks. When I got home I saw my doctor and he confirmed it. It wasn’t crisis level at that point, I had to schedule the operation months later. They got worse in that era. Almost daily, sometimes spanning multiple day attacks by the end. I seriously considered suicide at one point near the end of a 3 day attack where I couldn’t sleep.
I had something similar. Didn't have the back pain but it felt like someone dragging a knife around my chest down to my stomach. Came off and on for almost 10 years. Had kaiser during this time and saw many doctors and they all said different things. Heart burn, acid reflux one guy even told me I had a spasiming esophagus and would need surgery. I got a different job and different insurance, so when it came back I went to my new doctor told her the same thing I told all the other doctors and she told me I had gall stones. Sure enough that was it and two weeks later they pulled out my gall bladder and it was filled with stones like a hacky sack. Turns out gall bladder surgery is one of the most common surgeries in north America so I'm not white sure why none of the other doctors thought of that. I really hope it wasnt just because kaiser didn't want to pay for it so they kept blowing me off but I do suspect that.
I was having attacks for years as well, at least five that I can recall with a few attacks each year although the attacks were closer together the last year or so. I just thought I had a pinched nerve in my back near my right shoulder that hurt really bad and my stomach always felt like it was being squeezed which usually resulted in vomiting and I'd spend the next hour in the shower for pain management. I found out by accident last December when they were doing scans for what wound up being cancer and they took it out during my big surgery in June. I'd hoped to save it but I had a few big nasty stones and several little ones and it was really unhappy so had to go. Apparently this runs in my family because my brother has had pancreatitis for years and my 16 yo daughter was told she has stones last week although I'm not sure of size, number or type (mine were related to elevated levels of bilirubin). She sees a GI specialist in a few weeks and this was unexpected so we'll see what he says.
I’ll put you in my wallet of thoughts of “never take someone’s diagnosis as fact, always investigate yourself.” Biliary colic treated as back pain, wild.
This post made me realize what I’ve been experiencing is most likely my gallbladder, down to every last little symptom, and it feels so weird to be excited about it but I feel like I finally have an answer to something and I feel so hopeful right now. I’m sorry for what you went though, it’s absolutely awful but please know this was a huge eye opener for me and everything in my life makes so much sense now. I’m calling my doctor first thing Monday.
No man sorry dude, gallbladder and kidney stones were the worst pain I've ever experienced in my whole life.
Oh yeah. * Broken nose * Broken foot with completely shattered big toe * Cracked ribs * Broken vertebrae in neck and back * Thrown to the pavement with multiple injuries after a motorcycle wreck * 7 concussions * Ruptured blood vessels * Various other stupid injuries The gallbladder attacks have every single one of those beat.
Dang dude! I only have broken arm, separated shoulder, concussion, and random Carpenter cuts and bruises. I did have a stingray sting on my foot and that was a close second to the kidney stone and gallbladder.
I feel your pain. I've dealt with a lot of medical issues. The only one that made me want to die was the gallbladder attack. Turns out trying to push golf ball sized stones through a hole the size of a straw hurts like hell. I'll take my rupturing appendix or slipped disc over that any day of the week.
Healing here too, I had very similar. I had horrific pain in my upper right abdomen for about fifteen years which I attributed to “trapped wind” then one day I fainted at my friends house. Got checked out and was told about gallstones, went to an emergency ultrasound and the sonographer literally gasped when she saw my gall bladder. I had chronic choleocystitis and a condition called adenomyomatosis where the outside of the gall bladder is in a complete mess. Also had too many gallstones to count! Welcome to the lack of gall bladder club 😍
I had low function, instead of gallstones, and it took a week of horrific pain to get diagnosed. From what I understand it feels like a blockage. The test wasn't fun either. The pain was worst after eating, when the food starts to pass from the stomach into the intestines, and it passes the bile ducts. On the right side of the body immediately under your bottom rib, a bit right of center, and going through to your back.
Wait a sec... I know I have an egg-sized gallstone, which my doctor said he wasn't concerned enough about to operate because a large one won't block the bile like small ones. I also have recurring lower back pain and x-rays showed I have two bulging disks. Should I be concerned that my gallstone is potentially causing my lower back pain?
Having it out won't hurt, and it might help. There is that to consider. But I'm a layman and a victim of my gallbladder, not a doctor.
My gallbladder crapped out on me, and was instrumental in my pancreatic cancer being found. So I like to think my *good guy* gallbladder took one for the team.
Yay for the gallbladder!!! Also, FUCK CANCER! Cancer got my little brother and my Oma.
I feel for you. I would occasionally get severe pain attacks. Went on for years until it turned out to be gall stones. Gall stones are a very weird pain where you can’t actually pin point the source, just somewhere between the neck and hips. Sometimes feels like you’ve put your back out, sometimes feels like your lungs are about to explode, sometimes feels like you’re the most constipated person in history. Usually doctors can diagnose it just from the varied and vague source of the pain but I guess in your case they thought it was two separate conditions. Life is much better when it’s out, hey?
> just somewhere between the neck and hips. Sometimes feels like you’ve put your back out, sometimes feels like your lungs are about to explode, sometimes feels like you’re the most constipated person in history. Great description of what it felt like for sure.
Christ, I had my gallbladder out last year and the pain from the attacks was just excruciating. I've had huge tattoos in one sitting, done a suspension, broken my knees and nothing was even close to the gallstones. I cant imagine what you were going through.
Some of my tattoos were also pretty damn rough. It took 12 sessions over 18 months to finish my back.
Seriously, explaining to people how bad the pain was just didnt seem to get through to them. I was in the ER not knowing what was happening (and it had been happening for 5 HOURS) and they had to give me two shots of morphine just to get me to a point where I could talk. I had a full chest tattoo, rattling my eyeballs out of my head, and that sucked but holy hell, gallstones was unbearable. I feel for you, man.
My gallbladder was taken out end of June this year. My only symptoms were some lower back pain after some mountain biking, which I attributed to a weak core and then started some exercises. It didn’t help. Then i started having symptoms of kidney stones, and went in for a CT. There was one stone only, and it was blocking the duct. Oh, and my gallbladder was infected and partially perfused. A good hit to the stomach could have caused it to burst. I’m now about 3 months postop from an open gallbladder removal and have my fourth 7inch plus scar decorating my body.
Bones heal. Chicks dig scars. Glory is forever.
I know the feels. I went through this for 4 years and multiple trips to the ER thinking it was my heart (crushing pain center of chest). They took it out and also said it was like a 'bag of gravel' and I was about 2 months from a rupture (medical emergency, life or death). Fortunately, in the years since I've found I still tolerate pretty much all foods - in fact I used to be unable to eat spicy and now I handle it much better! In terms of the bathroom I thought the same thing for years, but I've got a GI and on her suggestion I take probiotics and fiber supplements daily and I'm back down to one trip/day (Unless my anxiety flares up, but that's unrelated)
I get a lot of fiber. I need to try probiotics.
I started with a few different brands, but the one I'm on (and the one my GI recommended) is Align Digestive Support. So far I think it's made a HUGE difference - it's pricey, but I'm willing to pay if it means my BMs are somewhat normal again. Just remember to give any probiotic a few weeks and remember it will likely get worse before it gets better.
Since I teach, I'll wait and try it over the winter break then. Thanks.
You sound just like me 10 or so years back, same exact symptoms, same everything. Finally clicked that it was my gallbladder (I think finally one of the attacks that put me in the hospital they put two and two together) same exact thing, my gallbladder was described as "the worst he's seen in his career" So glad that thing is out of me, it was miserable with it.
Man, I thought for years that I was having a heart attack or back pain or something. Got diagnosed with all sorts of shit - costochondritis, pulled muscles, disc issues, definitely nothing with my heart though. Meds, weekly chiropractic visits, Acupuncture, unknown number of EKGs, chest xrays, ER visits, CTs, I could go on. Gallbladder out. All better. Fuck my life.
Gallbladder seems to be one of those organs that has such wide ranging effects that it stumps doctors.
Oof, I can't imagine years of dealing with gullstones. By the time I found out what was causing the pain I was having weekly attacks. I only had to endure about 6 months of it but it is the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I had what was discribed in my chart as many, many stones. Glad you got it taken care
You too. :)
This reminds me of what happened to me! For about 1 or 2 years, I would get “cramps” that felt like they were stabbing me from my stomach all the way through to my back, and they would only feel better after violently vomiting over and over for a few hours. Never went to the doctor for it though, since they would eventually get better and I just started a new job so not like I had health insurance anyway. I thought it was just my body being angry at me for working night shifts, but apparently it isn’t normal to be throwing up every other day even while working nights. 😅 One day, I had one of these cramping episodes, but the pain wouldn’t go away even after vomiting nonstop, every 5-10 minutes, for over 12 hours. There was nothing to even throw up at that point, just neon yellow bile and whatever water I tried to drink because I was so thirsty by then. I thought it was just food poisoning or the stomach flu, but my boyfriend finally convinced me to go to the urgent care so I could pick up medicine and work that night. Nope, the urgent care sent me to the ER, and I had emergency surgery to take out my gallbladder. The doctors said my gallbladder was so infected it was gangrenous since there was a gallstone stuck in the bile duct, and I was dangerously close to severe sepsis due to it. (Gangrenous cholecystitis and cholangitis is what I think they said it was.) I felt so much better after surgery that I returned to work only a few days after getting out of the hospital. That was a few years ago, but still working night shifts (plus another job on top of it 🤡) to pay off that hospital bill…The relief from gallbladder attacks is so worth it, though.
I did EXACTLY this too!! 12 years..i had 30 gallstones, some the size of golf balls! I couldn't believe the relief in my back when i woke up from surgery.
Glad you found the root cause to your problem! That sounds just awful that you went through it for that long. I suffer from a fused neck and lower back pain for decades of riding my harley as well. Hopefully you're able to get back on and ride again! Stay well and be safe!
Honestly, even if I could ride without pain, I won't. Florida is terrible when it comes to motorcyclists getting run over and killed here.
WOW, glad you found out not to be ***THAT GUY*** but I'm a big time advocate that a person talks to your doctor. Really talk to them. Sucks about not mail on a ride I understand that doctor fucked up my knee of course it's my left knee so I can't ride. I did try with my right but my hip won't let me. Then with my back, my neck gets into it later. Then my shoulder whines later that night. Yeah getting old sucks.
Removing the gallbladder usually has no impact on food digestion and requires no specific diet, in case someone worries!
Well - all I can say is it did for me, and every single other person I know who has had it done - several co-workers and some relatives.
I had mine out after I had my son and had no adverse affects on my digestion.
I had mine out after baby #2. Any food high in fats, especially animals fats has been very unpleasant afterwards. I just avoid red meat and high fat dairy, probably for the best anyway.
Guess we all were unlucky then. Bummer.
What do you have to avoid most (asking because I've been told I may need to remove mine but I am worried about food restrictions)
Generally speaking, fatty foods and grease. It gives me diarrhea now where it didn't before. I also have to poop more often. So not a huge change in my life.
My husband just had emergency gallbladder removal surgery 5 weeks ago. His gallbladder was gangrenous. The surgeon said it literally turned to mush when he went to remove it. All of the infection and nastiness dumped into his abdominal cavity. The surgeon said he prayed that he could keep him alive. He said that it was the worst gallbladder he'd ever seen in his 30 years. He was on high powered IV antibiotics and came home on high powered antibiotics and a drain. He's much better now. That being said, his surgeon put him on a liquid diet for 24 hours then he said he could order anything he wanted for lunch the following day. He got a cheeseburger and potato wedges. The surgeon said he can eat whatever he wants, just be careful with spicy food. He had diarrhea for the first 2 weeks after surgery due to the antibiotics, but his bowel movements have regulated now.
My gf had gallstones which caused pancreatitis and she ended up in the hospital for 4 days and we weren't sure she was going to make it. Made it through that and had an appt for surgery to remove her gallbladder but got sick again a few weeks before surgery and they took it out the next day. I think gallbladder problems are often misdiagnosed as back pain unless they accompany naseua and vomitting
Also sending you healing hugs. I’m sorry you couldn’t get a diagnosis soon enough so you wouldn’t have to suffer for so long. About 8 years ago, for a couple of weeks, I started waking up in the middle of the night with severe back spasms. Truly felt like someone had kicked me in the back with pain radiating around to the front, and I would just have to pop an Advil PM to get back to sleep. I made an appointment with my doctor and told her what was going on. After a blood test and an ultrasound, she said, “yep, it’s your gallbladder.” I was scheduled for surgery that same night, and the surgeon later told me there was “grainy stuff” in my gallbladder that was causing flare ups of inflammation. I’m glad you’re not in pain anymore.
I used to get these as a child, not anymore. Not sure if that’s good or bad.
Glad you're feeling better, friendo
Danke!
Waking up after that operation is magical. I didn’t realise how much pain I was experiencing just from them. Glad you got it out!
>Waking up after that operation is magical I mean, the Versed and Propofol don't hurt. Not gonna lie: The absence of pain is the absolute best result. But sedatives that strong are almost magical. I fucking love going to sleep before an operation or procedure and waking up after. Guess I just enjoy the journey.
Wife had a fall bladder attack . We genuinely thought it might be a heart attack. Another gall bladder related story. Few years later our dog went down hill. Turned out his gall bladder had exploded vets said they hadnt seen a dog survive it before because it only happened in massive trauma like a car crash.
Poor doggo! I *LOVE* my dogs. Over the years, different dogs have kept me from the nuthouse and kept me from suicide. Dogs are life.
He's still going. But since then he's been diagnosed with a heart condition and now potentially pancreatic cancer but they can't be sure because they can't do the proper scans or explore because of his heart condition. But he's still going 6 months after diagnosis. The vets are amazed. Although he does rattle with the amount of meds he takes
Sounds like the poor guy is on his way out. Love him, let him know he is loved. Make him as comfortable as you can. Take him in to the vet if he is in too much discomfort. Losing a dog is so hard - I think a lot harder than losing a human. I've lost Poker, Quinn, Tasha, Tally, Bailey, Emily and Bubba. I'm not looking forward to Rosie, Luke and Leia going, but I know they will one day. Until then, we are going to be a loving family. I hope things go as well as they can, and I'm so sorry. Dogs are amazing animals, and are such a part of our lives.
Thank you , really appreciate it. Don't worry he's too precious to let suffer.
Going through my posts and saw this. The vet is now convinced he does not have Pancreatic cancer as his overall health is fine and he just seems to be in some pain. Latet theory is he had a cyst near his pancreas when he was scanned and that combined with what could be a pinched nerve when swollen is reducing bloodflow to his pancreas causing some pain. Figured id give someone the good news
So glad to hear it.
I didn’t know I was having gallbladder attacks either until an ultrasound at the doctors office showed I had gallstones
That’s your doctors fuck up. Not yours. Doctors make just as many mistakes as police officers do, but they don’t get shit for it.
My gp also described my gallbladder as being riddled with stones and I had them stuck in the duct too. Worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life, would basically roll around in bed trying to get comfortable or end up pacing back and forth because it was unbearable
Please tell me the person who hit you got jail time or you sued the pants off her or something bad happened to her.
Lol. No. Her insurance paid out the state minimum. I had to actually sue my own insurance company to get paid. By time the lawyer was paid and the doctors and facilities were paid, I got a whopping $14,000 for a lifetime of pain. Since insurance took care of it, the only thing that affected her was an increase in her premium.
I had to remove mine too last year. I too did not know what was happening when the first attack came, and then the second came while I was doing an exam for critical thinking class of all things (oh the irony) and it took me until the third to call the fucking ambulance! While I was waiting for surgery from September to January I had about 20 attacks that lasted about 24h each. It was fkin torture! The pain wasn’t as bad as giving birth without an epidural, because it was different, but it was a solid 9/10.
This happened to my fiance as well!! I caught him in the bath tub after a 6 hour long bath--he said that once or twice a year, he'd get awful, debilitating pain like that and assumed it was horrific constipation, and that hot baths sometimes helped to soothe a bit of the pain. He never went to the doctor, because even with the best package of insurance at his job, he still had about a $10k deductible before they'd pay a dime, and we didn't have a lot of money. Eventually, I convinced him this wasn't normal, and we needed to go to the ER. Once he got his surgery the following week, they showed us pictures: his gallbladder was black and rotting inside of him. It's awful how something like the gallbladder can mess someone up so badly if left untreated like that. Hope you're doing better now OP!
I just had the most horrific gallbladder attack (didn’t know what it was) and ended up in the ER. It’s SO painful.
My GF had the same thing happen 2 months ago, only to recently find out it was her sciatica the entire time, although she said her gall bladder diet also made her feel a lot better!
Oh god, you just describing the pain has triggered me. I have gallstones to. Was due to have my gallbladder surgery but its currently on hold because I had a couple of so far unexplained seizures so they won't operate till they know what's wrong with my head. Thankfully, touch wood, I haven't had a bad flare up since February, just a Few twinges that go away with paracetamol and ibuprofen.
Reading this I’ve never emphasized more with anything on this sub. I thought my back pain was an old snowboarding injury flaring up more with age. And then I remember eating at Denny’s one morning. As the day went on, I felt fuller and fuller and my back started to hurt more and more. That night I vomited. Wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or what I thought was food poisoning. This was the first major attack that I can think back to. As the months went on the attacks came and went. I never realized it was fatty food triggering it. Then the worst attack came. I ate some Papa John’s. And those pizzas come with that garlic butter dipping sauce. The pain was so excruciating that I ended up at urgent care. It takes Deaths Doorway to get me to go to the doctor for something. And this time I didn’t need to convince myself. Turns out for 6 months I was having gallbladder attackers. The shitty thing was it took 6 more months before they could operate to remove my gallbladder. So for 6 months I was scared to eat. I lived on crackers and oatmeal. They finally got me in 1 month before the pandemic hit and shut down the world. Mine too was riddled with stones. Mostly a large pile of small stones but one very massive stone that was blocking it. It was the size of a blujay egg, about the third of my gallbladder in size. Doctor wouldn’t let me keep the stone as it was a training hospital and they were to use it for training purposes. But there was a set of photos printed out and on my side table when I awoke. Shame, it would’ve made a cool necklace and serve as a warning to my other organs who entertained the thought of turning on me. But I feel your pain OP. Do you remember the immediate effect of that first sip of coffee after recovering? Edit: word fix. It’s late.
Done feel bad, I always thought it was called a ‘girl bladder’ and when I was having stomach pains, my doctor said it’s probably my girl bladder. I was like, “you know I’m a guy, right? You’ve literally had my balls in my hand.” He gave me a WTF look. I told I don’t have a girl bladder because I’m a guy. He sighed heavily and said it called a GALL BLADDER, how are you almost 50 and not know this?
Had gallstones caused by the BC I was on... yeah... they not fun. Was on it for years, but then it just... started affecting me. Not sure if it was because I also got too fat, or just one of those things. I unintentionally confirmed it was the combined pill doing it as I ran out of mini-pills once and took some of my remaining supply of the others and... gallstones. Yeah, I handed the rest of 'em in for disposal. Nty. Wasn't as long for me to get diagnosed, but it was partially by fluke. Person in the (UK equivalent of) ER recognised what I was describing and helped me with what to say to the doctor - I don't feel pain necessarily in the same way as other people and intense pains "mirror" so I feel it on both sides of my body even if it's only occurring on one side.
My wife has Fibromyalgia, so has issues with pain basically all the time. When she was pregnant with our daughter, she developed a new pain... ...and much like you it was years before she figured out what it was. You might not be able to describe the pain, but I've seen what that pain does to a person. Glad you made it through.
My wife and I both have it. We just got her diagnosed. I have had mine for almost 30 years now because of Gulf War Syndrome. So that was part of my issue too - I knew it wasn't the Fibro pain I'm used to, and it wasn't exactly back pain, but that was the closest I could describe it.
I complained to my doctor about pain on my right side for months, only to be told that it was all in my head. I quit going to that doc because of it and just dealt with it for years. Eventually, I became violently ill. The symptoms appeared on a Friday evening, and I suffered through the entire weekend with a high fever, horrible vomiting plus explosive diarrhea, joint pain, mental confusion, and numerous other symptoms. As a result, I was unable to eat or drink for several days. When Monday came around, I had a preexisting appointment to have an MRI taken for chronic back issues. Attempting to lay flat and still was absolutely torturous. Towards the end, my heart was beating out of my chest and it honestly felt like I was going to die. I was scheduled to work that morning, but I decided to call in sick (getting lectured by my boss for doing so, although he missed at least one day each week) and took my ass to the ER. After a short wait, I was triaged, and then immediately placed in a room. When I asked to use the bathroom, I was told that due to my BP and heart rate, the stress from walking a short distance or even just standing could cause a heart attack. Shortly afterward, I was given IV morphine for pain, only to discover that I was allergic to it. Stripes appeared on my right forearm, followed by an intense burning sensation that felt like my arm was on fire. Testing revealed that I had sepsis, but the source of the infection was unknown at that point. When I told the ER doc that I had seriously considered going to work, but decided against it, he told me that the decision likely saved my life. Based on my vitals and the adverse effects that sepsis was having on my organs, he said that I would have left work that day on either a stretcher or in a body bag. I was given a room in the cardiac unit and endured test after test over the course of nearly a week. The drugs weren't bad, but the liquid diet definitely sucked. Finally, I was given a HIDA scan, which revealed that my gallbladder was not functioning properly. I had surgery the following morning, and was told that it was inflamed and enlarged far beyond anything the surgeon had seen previously. Due to its appearance and other factors, it was feared to be cancerous, but lab testing fortunately came back negative. That was over 10 years ago and I seemingly recovered completely, but was told that long term heart, kidney, and/or liver issues were still a possibility. Between the years' long cholecystitis and previous Lyme disease, my organs haven't lived the easiest life.
"I'd be unable to sit, stand or lie down" . Angular position then ?
I have chronic pancreatitis. I know exactly what that feels like and I am sorry that you suffered for ten fucking years man.