Gallbladder attacks advice

[HeyBwoss]

Been having episodes of pain since January but have now had 2 in the past 2 weeks. I thought it was trapped wind (actually the first one I thought was a heart attack, at first) but have seen it may be gallstones. All my pain matches everything I have read. Except for labour, it's the worst pain I've ever had.

Anyway, I'm hoping to see the GP tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm terrified to eat incase something triggers it. Does anyone have any advice on how to manage or anything that stops the attacks? Thanks in advance

That's good to hear@Nat6999 .

Any urge is tough to manage. I respect how you can out it aside so that you don't miss out on valuable family time @HeyBwoss.

All quiet on here today. Hope you're all keeping well. I'm going to talk about food woes again, I'm sorry!

I wasn't hungry this morning but trying to keep up with some semblance of little and often i eat anyway. For breakfast i had a bowl of porridge (1/2 cup oats, 1 cup no sugar semi oat milk, cinnamon, dried apples and raisins). For lunch a made a soup with soy sauce, chicken, vegetables and wheat based noodles. Both small or v reasonable size, no reason to feel so damn full. For dinner, and this is where my disappointment kicked in, my dh suggested a baked potato. Sounded good, i was looking forward to it... but i ate a grapefruit and I've been so full since then with gb just doing little pokes that I can't have to potato. And the kicker is I'm so bloated i could be 5 months pg. I can't get over how food oriented i am that not being able to eat a plain baked potato feels like a loss. I've got to readjust. I hope the bloating goes after surgery, i fear I'll be like this forever.

I had a bad attack yesterday. No obvious triggers, I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary. Only change was taking some stronger painkillers that I take occasionally for bad pain.

I felt really bad for a while, that bit where your pulse starts racing and the pain is right up into your chest.
I'm better today but still have that bruised ribs feeling. It's been a no bra day for me today as I can't bear the pressure!

Three weeks to my surgery still :(

Ah @Lionoso , we all feel for you. How long did it last and how did you manage? I ask selfishly, because I've gone to the sau the last two times and really want to try to ride it out before surgery.

That bruised and no bra feeling is so preoccupying. This is such an awful thing.

Oh no @Lionoso that sounds awful. Roll on 3 weeks!

Food woes are always welcome here, @dudsville! Sounds rubbish, sorry you couldn't eat dinner. The bloating is so weird, I didn't have it until I was diagnosed with the stones so it makes me wonder is it in my head?!

I'm ok today, just finding eating such a chore. I was shopping after the school run this morning and hadn't had breakfast, but not being able to just grab a snack makes everything so awkward. I've got awful back ache again, going round to my stomach. I mentioned it to the GP previously but she didn't think it was gallbladder related. I think it is, as I didn't get it at all before all of this.

@HeyBwoss ,an ultrasound scan of your kidneys might be needed, you talk of that back pain so much, if you could even get a private scan while you're waiting that might help?

Oh actually I forgot to mention I got an appointment for an abdominal scan through for the end of August. I'm not sure if it is the first one they referred me for ages ago, but I'm going to go anyway as I thought the consultant might want a more recent/nhs one when I see him in September. The GP thinks the back pain is from carrying my 2yo but I don't do that too often.

How are you feeling now @dudsville?

Oh, 🥳 @HeyBwoss , i somehow missed that you were progressing through!

I'm OK, just fine really, bloated. Getting excited about my appointment Monday.

I'm glad you're getting a scan @HeyBwoss. That being said, back pain was constant for me before they cleared the infection but all tests and scan showed nothing wrong with my kidneys. Excruciating though and combined with the stomach pain it felt like my whole torso was a vice.

I seem to be surviving on apples, rice cakes and water 🙄 I did manage a little bit of whole wheat pasta with chicken in tomato sauce last night but felt quite bloated afterward and I live in fear of triggering an attack before my surgery.

Thanks everyone I'm feeling better today gallbladder wise. Struggling with other health issues today so overall I'm glad it's raining hard where I am as I'm too tired to do much.

@HeyBwoss I get back pain too with my gallbladder in the rib area, but it's higher up more like under the shoulder blade.

@dudsville It lasted about 2 to 3 hours. I lie down on my back, as it's the most comfy position and take pain killers, watch TV to try distract me. Sometimes I use a heat pad but it didn't help yesterday. I felt very nauseous too but thankfully didn't actually throw up. I'm still baffled as to what caused it.

Glad you're on the mend @Lionoso, sounds even more difficult to manage in the context of other health issues, and the tenderness takes a while to ease. It's scary when you don't know what caused it. Although i can say i had "x" food before an attack, that food doesn't consistently trigger an attack, so who knows. I also put the tv on for distraction, but i have to sit up and a little forward!

I spent many hours kneeling on the stairs with a hot water bottle under my chest or sitting on the floor with my back against the radiator & a hot water bottle in my chest. It didn't matter that it was July, in the 80's & everyone else in the house was sweating. I found peppermint cordial & soda water helped that feeling of needling to burp, Buscopan helped the cramping & peppermint oil capsules helped with the bloating, I was prescribed dihydracodeine & domperidone by the doctors. I'm pretty sure I had passed one massive stone by the time I had the op as the doctor said my bile duct looked like a deflated balloon & the pain had eased off.

I read your post in the night and that description of a delayed balloon has stayed with me. I'm curious to see my stones. Would it be weird to ask the surgeon to keep one to show me?

I'm planning on doing the same 😂 I'm almost quite upset I'll be under anesthetic and won't be able to view the camera when they're doing surgery.

Although i am curious, the idea of surgery is grossing me out. I've never been in hospital before this, never had a broken bone or anything. The thought of being asleep and someone i don't know .... eurgh, can't even write the words! But i would like to see the stones!

My appt with the private surgeon is tomorrow and after that i can get a date in the diary. I'm so excited.

My experience was: repeated visits to GP for abdominal pain/sweating etc, initially being told it must just be "panic attacks", followed by bilary colic sufficiently bad to end up in A&E for morphine/overnight admittance and thus getting onto the surgery list directly with the hospital. Surgery shortly thereafter (not the same trip, but only a few weeks wait, with one other major attack between).

I just have to update you all, I'm so excited. I had my consultation with the private surgeon this evening. He said given the rate and severity of my attacks, that I can expect another one before the surgery and suggested and even more restricted diet, and spoke of the risks of further infection and the possibility of the pancreas developing problems. He works for the NHS too and I was able to look into this as I'm in a different field but have some contacts and he has a good reputation and I trusted that he wasn't after my money. He said it needed to come out asap and that my surgery will be wither August 3rd or 23rd depending on staff availability for the pre op bit to check my overall health. I'm so relieved.

Wow @dudsville I'm so pleased for you! A real light at the end of the tunnel.

@HeyBwoss ,i had you in mind when i was posting. Obviously I'm thrilled, as you say it's the light at the end of a painful tunnel, but i know I'm fortunate to be able to consider the private route. I really hope you get your light soon. ❤

Ah thank you for being so thoughtful. I'm ok at the moment, I know I've been really lucky to not have a bad attack for a while now! I'll be asking you all for your best recovery tips soon

That's great news @dudsville! I have to say, as frustrating as it is, the very restricted diet is easier when you know you've got an end date. Fingers crossed you get a firm date soon 💐

Thanks you both.

And you're right about the boost the date brings@CleanQueen123. This has been such an emotional roller coaster, and it came on the heels of what was a really tough start to the year. BUT, as awful as this has been there has been a bonus - I've lost so much weight, weight that all the calorie counting and exercising of last year did not shift one little bit. I'm peri with only a handful of periods a year (haven't had one since March 🥳) and what they say is true, weight loss at this time of life is harder for women. So I'm seeing the next handful of weeks as an opportunity to lose this final 7 pounds, that'll place me back inside the bmi to my prepandemic weight, where i felt and looked my best. I've even bought new scales and will start weighing daily and just diet on the days when it's needed as opposed to trying to manage longer term dieting, which was so dispiriting. This time has also taught me a lot about the fat content of food, which I've never paid attention to, I mostly only ate good fats, but i didn't realise how much of it i was having, so this will have a positive impact on my regular diet going forward.

Sorry for the monologue, I'm still riding the boost to my morale!

That’s good news @dudsville , must be a relief to know the end is in sight!

New scales arrived yesterday. Sadly old scales were incorrect, weighed again this morning and then had DH weigh just to confirm this. I have lost weight but the story isn't as amazing as I thought it was. I now think I've lost about 15 or 16 pounds. Still, I'm motivated to make the best use of the time before surgery to gain some ground on the 18 lbs to lose to reach my goal weight.

My latest food addition was 2% fat turkey mince. I used a few sprays of a low fat spray olive oil, browned the mince and added chopped fresh tomatoes, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and had this with pasta. It was really ok.

I had just a handful of small gb pains last night, all right in a row and I thought another attack was starting but it went away. I feel so preoccupied by this that it's really hard to work or see friends or really even be present with my dh.

How's everyone else getting on?

That's still a good weight loss, @dudsville, well done. I've no idea how much I've lost as my scales were so up and down. I don't feel any different though. Your dinner sounds nice too.

Physically I feel fine today, mentally I feel on the edge of tears and sick of this shit.