To give myself a gallbladder attack, on purpose.

[UltimateIdiot]

Long story short: had a lot of problems with my gallbladder in 2015, hospitalisation, MRI, and was scheduled to have the damn thing out but had a surprise pregnancy.

Ds is 10 months now and for the last six week I have been in a lot of pain. Not acute attack pain but still painful enough to be bothering me.

I've cut out all dairy, eggs, nuts, meat etc. and it's still feeling irritated, in fact I would say it feels worse.

Gp wants me to wait to have another ultrasound but warned that I could be waiting quite some time.

She seemed to be dropping hints that if I went in to a&e I might get seen sooner but didn't come right out and say it.

I'm sick of it. I can't sleep properly and it's getting worse.

I'm really close to just wolfing a ton of saturated fat, waiting for the inevitable and going in.

Wibu?

[lamprey42]

Actually this seems better www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/drugs-factsheets/

[lamprey42]

Sounds awful op. Sorry no advice on gall stones but are you aware of this page on bf and medication? She can answer individual queries too. Might help you get some decent pain relief anyway www.breastfeeding-and-medication.co.uk. Re the a+e thing. I did find going helpful when I had renal colic but only because my kidney consultant had decided nothing wrong with my kidneys and it was period pain/constipation despite my history and symptoms not matching either . It meant I saw another specialist who did the correct test and diagnosed me. In hindsight I'm not sure the consultant realised how much pain I was in (although he could have listen to me and gp!). In your case as you have a diagnosis calling the hospital sounds like best bet.

[SkinSpot]

Op.

They can't easily operate under the following conditions:

1. Gallbladder currently inflamed
2. Patient currently too overweight
3. Pancreatitis occurred secondary to inflamed gallbladder

Pancreatitis kills so easily, so please don't put yourself at risk!

[Muskey]

I was very ill over Christmas with an infected gall bladder (I didn't go to the doctors as I thought I had a very bad bout of food poisoning. When I did go to the doctors I was rushed to hospital from the GPs surgery. I was in hospital for five days where I was given I've antibiotics, pain killers and fluids. I was told that the infection had affected my liver and pancreas. It took me about a month to recover. I have just seen the surgeon and I am now on the waiting list for surgery. Please do not make yourself Ill (I to miss cheese). While we can live without our gallbladders we can't live without a pancreas or a liver. Try to be patient.

[MirabelleTree]

There are 2 Buscopans available off the shelf- one is called something like Buscopan cramps and sold targeted for period pain, the other just Buscopan. The chemist has told me they are the same so whichever you can get.

So sorry, I know how much it hurts

[UltimateIdiot]

LionRichie thank you, fingers crossed it helps!

[LionRichie]

You can get buscopan ibs from supermarket/boots. Same stuff that they will prescribe you just with ibs in the name!!

[UltimateIdiot]

I've just called the hospital and got hold of the consultants secretary.

She said I've been taken off the list and will have to be referred through gp again.

I explained what was going on re: ultrasound but she said sorry and there was nothing else they could do until gp referred me.

But ashamed to admit it but I've just had a cry over it. Throwing up again this morning, this last lot of pain just seems never ending.

Going to call the GP (it's usually two weeks wait for an appointment at the least) and try to get some buscopan and better painkillers too.

[Cheby]

Your GP is shit OP! I can't believe how she has dealt with this. You have gallstones, diagnosed and listed for the op. Op delayed but not cancelled; you should have been scheduled to have been seen again by the hospital at a few months post partum, and if the hospital didn't sort that, the GP should have.

No need for more scans unless there is a specific concern (many of us have scan for diagnosis and then an operation 6-12 months later with no additional scans).

And yes absolutely there are painkillers you can take. Maybe print this out and take it in with you so your GP can refer to it. As your baby is 10 months and not a newborn you have more options, and as with any medication when bf or pregnant you should be able to have a sensible conversation with your HCP about relative risks and benefits.

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/dibm/analgesics.pdf

[PenelopeFlintstone]

I've had my gallbladder out. I've also seen someone with pancreatitis. The pancreatitis was terrifying to watch.

[PlayOnWurtz]

Can I warn you that after a gallstone bladder op you can also develop an allergy to codeine. I found this out when I had multiple mild attacks of pancreatitis.

[PenelopeFlintstone]

VERY IMPORTANT ('scuse my caps ) - my doctor told me that codeine and morphine are contra-indicated for gall bladder problems. Makes it worse.
Buscopan is amazing for it.

[OneForTheRoadThen]

Oh and definitely go to a&e. I tried to manage my attacks at home but the doctors there told me always to go in as complications are common.

[OneForTheRoadThen]

Don't do it OP! I had mine out yesterday after 2 hospitalisations for pancreatitis in 6 weeks. The first time they stabilised me and sent me home with painkillers and I had an MRI and ultrasound.
The second time I had to wait in hospital until it had calmed down as they won't operate whilst it is inflamed as the risks are much higher.

Please don't give yourself pancreatitis, it is far, far worse than gallstone pain and can be very dangerous.

Agree with pp, keep pushing for an op date and get some decent pain relief. I was breastfeeding the first time and most painkillers were approved.

[AndIAskMyself]

In the meantime, look at food packaging and do not eat anything with more than 1 or 2% fat.

I followed that and most of the time it kept me ok. I did lose 2 stone in 4 months - everyone kept commenting on how great I looked which really pissed me off because they all knew it was as a consequence of being very ill

[AndIAskMyself]

Hmmm. I would not advise doing it. Because of the risks - the main one being that you can fuck your pancreas which has lifelong implications, but in my experience, going to a&e did speed through my referral. And I know this to be true. At my hospital there were two surgeons who did gallbladder removals. Via my gp I had referral to one of them and got letters for consultations and every week I'd get another letter cancelling and pushing back the date.

In the meantime I was in agony and ended up in a&e about 6 times. And 3 times I was admitted for a few days. On those occasions I was admitted to the surgical ward where the other surgeon saw me and I basically then bypassed all the consultation stuff. I had an ultrasound and MRI while in hospital so all I had to do was wait for a date for surgery,

In the meantime I still kept getting letters from the other surgeon cancelling my consultation.

If your attack is a severe attack you won't just get sent home - every time I was given morphine and anti sickness drugs. But I guess it depends on the severity. Which as I understood it, the smaller the stones, the worse the attacks because they move around more blocking your bile ducts.

[Skooba]

Surely what the doc was saying was that the waiting time for scan is long and the ensuing waiting time for op is long. Much of this decision making has been taken out of the hands of gps. Waits for hip ops are a gov policy.
I would phone surgeons sec - do they still have secretaries? - and ask what the waiting time is for an US and for op as you are thinking of going private. See if you can get some facts.

[HicDraconis]

Current advice (at least here) is to take gallbladders out "hot" - rather than let it all settle down, scar up and make it ten times harder to take out.

You may need an ERCP or MRCP first if there are stones in the duct, otherwise you just need the damn thing out. If you're vomiting with the pain you need sorting out sooner rather than later. Personally I'd go to A&E with it as cholecystitis / cholangitis can be an emergency condition if not dealt with appropriately but then we have a decent health care system here (NZ) and I wouldn't be kept waiting for longer than half an hour or so.

If you can cope overnight, contact GP tomorrow for urgent referral. Contact hospital and demand to get put back on the waiting list and see if you can be booked in with your consultant for an urgent assessment to score your priority, I'd be surprised if you weren't high up the list.

[EmeraldScorn]

A few years ago I had my gallbladder removed after more than 18 months of suffering from excruciating pain and discomfort daily and my GP insisted that I had trapped wind.

Honestly for more than a year and a half I was being palmed off with the theory of trapped wind even though none of the medication was working but my GP would not budge from the trapped wind idea.

If it wasn't for the fact that I had been out one night at a restaurant with family and ended up violently ill throwing up green bile I would probably still be being told I had trapped wind; I was taken to the hospital that night and that's when I found out that I had "one very large" stone in my gallbladder and a raging temperature.

You'll get slated on here if you even so much as contemplate going to A&E but you do what you think is best for you!

[cantthinkofabloodyname]

I would keep going back to the gp, as that's what I had to do. I was prescribed fairly decent analgesics & I was admitted a couple of times in hospital due to the pain. When I had an ultrasound on my gallbladder the doctor said that I should have been crawling the walls in pain due to the size of the stone lodged in the neck of the gallbladder. She said it was 2.5cm wide . Eventually, as I had to wait for months to get a surgery date, we went private & I had the surgery to remove my gallbladder. The stone was oval and measured (roughly) 4cm long by 2.5cm wide.
I have had no pain since.

[UltimateIdiot]

And thank you, I will get my squeaky wheel going tomorrow 😊

[UltimateIdiot]

I haven't tried to do a head stand in years!

But do you know what? At this point I'll give anything a go!

Yes I was a bit concerned I couldn't trust gp's advice on which medication is safe and it's left me in a lot of pain that I could have avoided.

Also a bit bothered by the very obvious hinting about going to a&e to get seen quicker which doesn't seem to be the case at all. I have a feeling now that she was just trying to fob me off.

If I don't return to the thread I've had a hand standing related accident.

[kiwigeekmum]

You have my sympathies OP!! Gall stones are NO FUN!!

I had gallstones when I was pregnant with DS, but they wouldn't touch me while I was pregnant. When it was so bad that I needed to go to A&E, they sent me straight to maternity! Apparently 35w pregnant ladies with stomach pains aren't very popular in other areas of the hospital.

Anyway, the advice I was given by several people was "The squeaky wheel gets the grease".

I couldn't advocate causing an attack on purpose (although I totally understand it's tempting), but any time you are sick or in pain, turn up to your GP or A&E and request that they help you. No need to be rude or demanding, but be honest and point out that you're in pain, painkillers aren't helping, you're being sick a lot, and it's making it difficult to look after your baby etc. Repeat as often as necessary to get help!

Good luck! I really hope you get a solution soon.

[TaraCarter]

Headstands are horrendously difficult, but maybe shoulder-stands would have the same effect on the pain? They're a bit easier.

[user892]

Please trust your GP and not a bunch of people talking crap on the internet

OP said she would look into changing her GP specifically when she realised she had been given incorrect information on analgesia whilst breastfeeding.

She should clearly not trust her GP's advice, which was the only thing she could have was paracetamol.