Pancreatitis/Gallstones experience?

[lemonzest123]

Hi all,

I've been trying not to write this message for ages but I feel like I'm going completely nuts here.

Has anyone got experience with gallstones or pancreatitis they can share? These two are the front runners for what's currently wrong with me (on waiting list for ultrasound atm - they said up to six weeks) but obviously the symptoms for these are very similar to those of pancreatic cancer so I'm completely freaked out.

I'm sitting obsessively goggling symptoms every night because none of them seem to match perfectly.

[B1rdonawire]

I've had gallstones, infected gall bladder, and now no gall bladder (infinitely better!) What do you want to know?

[lemonzest123]

Just whether the pain always comes in attacks or if it can been on going? All the stories I read about gallstones and pancreatitis seem to talk about attacks lasting a few hours. This pain I have in my upper right abdomen and back is low level all the time

[user1492781016]

I had pancreastitis caused by gallstones why would you think you have cancer?
If it causes you horrific pain which it did for me go to a and e pancreastitis is serious and can make you very ill. I was admitted straight away for a week and then had all the necessary scans and had my gallbladder out in hospital that week.

[user1492781016]

my pain from gallstones was on and off sometimes would last for hours and the pancreatic pain was always there all over and made me very sick in hospital I was on paracetamol drip codine tram tramadol and oramorph (liquid morphine) and all them still didn't take the pain away awful awful pain.

[B1rdonawire]

Does it make any difference depending on what you eat? Sometimes completely cutting out fat can ease the pain - helped while I was waiting for my op. If you have gallstones and they are blocking things, it might hurt all the time. I'd say I was low-level uncomfortable / nagging pain most of the time when on very restricted diet, with bouts of severe pain especially if I did something silly like eat cheese . Affecting the back and ribcage is usual if that's what you have.

With anything like this, my over-the-internet fallback position is - if you're worried, talk it over with your GP and explain your worries. They can hopefully then explain their thinking, and put your mind at rest until you have your scan. I hope you feel lots better soon

[Fifthattemptatusername]

I had pretty much the same experience as pp. Excruciating pain and a week in hospital. Even morphine wasn't getting rid of the pain. Was in hospital for a week and then called back within 3 days to have my gallbladder out. Before that I had gall bladders attacks that would last for an hour or two but pass on their own

[piefacedClique]

I had probs with gallstones which I had removed in Jan. The always started with feelings of general windiness and discomfort. Then pain in my upper right abdomen which would spread across whole abdomen, and around to my shoulders and back. It would usually start mid eve and then last sometimes all night, annoyingly at the time I would need to get going for work I would be violently sick and then be absolutely fine! The first night it happened I stumbled upon the pancreatic cancer thing too and absolutely shit myself worrying about it! Have you tried making changes to a lower fat diet to see if the constant niggling pain changes?

[Muskey]

I have just come out of hospital after gall bladder surgery. Before that at Christmas I had an inflamed gall bladder and was in hospital for a week. As a pp mentioned the pain was terrible. In my experience if the pain is there all the time then you might have an infection in the gall bladder. If you are throwing up with a fever and chills and your urine is very dark then I would say definitely. If the pain is intermittent then I would say that your gall bladder is telling you to lay off fatty foods. If it's any consolation I thought I had pancreatic cancer too. If you are due a scan soon they will be able to tell you for certain if you have gallstones. Hope this helps

[Saladd0dger]

I have been having gallbladder pain for about a year now. It comes and goes in waves or it's permanently aching.
I had a scan last week where I was told there is nothing wrong with it. Bit fed up of going to the doctors as it just never gets taken seriously.

[lemonzest123]

The cancer thing is just general paranoia.... if you go up a generation in my family every person bar one, who isn't a blood relative anyway, has had or currently has cancer, and all were under 60. My Mum just died from it last October. I know the stats are weighed heavily against it as I'm only 29 but the family history is so strong it still scares me.

GP hasn't said much except wait for the scan

My pain isn't excruciating just annoying really. It's a bit worse after eating and when lying down flat. I've got almost no appetite and feel really full after eating half what I normally would.

The main problem is feeling nauseated the entire time. I've just got a promotion at work and I need to go to loads of meetings with important people and I'm terrified of being sick on them!!

[Aquamarine1029]

I had been feeling horribly for months. Terrible pain in my back and right side. I was checked for gallstones but had none. The next test showed that my gallbladder had almost no function. I had to have it removed and I was immediately like a whole new person.

[Badders123]

My pain was all the time because a large gallstone was lodged in the entrance to the duct of my gallbladder
Was awful

[lemonzest123]

aquamarine did it come in waves or was it pretty constant? Mine is worse after eating but always there

[myoriginal3]

In my experience of pancreatitis, I was groaning, screaming, crying in pain on a trolley in A&E. On the scale of one to ten that they ask you for in terms of pain, mine was a ten. It was the worst pain I've ever felt and I've given birth. Morphine didn't really hit it. Paracetamol certainly didn't. It is excruciating pain and it got progressively worse for me. There was no let up. It got gradually worse for me over a couple of days. In the end I think would happily have died.

[myoriginal3]

In the first few hours though it did come like a wave every few seconds. It just got constant very quickly. Within a couple of hours.

[myoriginal3]

I was white as a ghost with sweat pumping out of me. My bp was through the roof.
If it's not agonising yet, there's fuck all they'll do.

[myoriginal3]

Your symptoms sound more like gastritis btw. I've had that too.
It's basically inflammation of the lining of the stomach. Painful too and nausea.

[Elphaba99]

In my experience, gallstones feel like someone twisting your intestines. Pain around ribs at front and side. Very nasty and when I had surgery there were 13 gallstones the size of large hazelnuts.

I used to get acute Pancreatitis when taking Codeine - that felt like a combination of horrific indigestion, being punched in the stomach by a knuckleduster, and a heart attack - deathly pale, sweating, nausea and vomiting. Very very nasty.

If the pain is abdominal and in your back, could it be a kidney infection, btw? Also, what painkillers have you been taking for it?

[Aquamarine1029]

The pain was always there, along with the nausea. After eating it was always worse. I was miserable.

[Oncandystripedlegs]

Hi, sorry to hijack your thread but am in a similar situation but they couldn't find any stones on the ultra sound. I have had several attacks of awful pain which the doc thought was classic gallstones pain- pain in right side that came in waves, spreading to ribs chest and back . It lasts several hours and is horrendous. the rest of the time I have a dull ache in my right side and nausea that comes and goes. . Waiting to see the GP next week when she gets the full report.
Aquamarine, did they do a HIDA scan?

[lemonzest123]

Am going to pay for a scan today there's one near my work that does them for £99. It's a lot of money for me but I can't wait 6 weeks feeling this poorly

[Oncandystripedlegs]

Hope you get some answers. Let us know how it goes.

[Ginormoustrawberry]

How didn't you get on OP?

[Ginormoustrawberry]

Did*