Is there anything you can do to fix gallstones??

[StillMe89]

Sorry, posting here for traffic! I woke up in the night not feeling sick, but with a super bad pain under my ribs and radiating all round my back. I thought it would fade off through the day, but it was getting worse and ibuprofen wasn't even touching it. So I called 111 and they told me to go to an Urgent Care Centre. I know that's going to sound like I was being OTT, but it was hurting so much!

I thought it must be a muscle thing, but the doctor at the Urgent Care said it was a typical onset of gallstones and told me I need to contact my GP asap to arrange an ultrasound and figure out what needs to be done. She prescribed some codeine (which was helped!!) and said that there's not much to do in terms of diet, etc. which would help at this point. I'm stressing out because I seriously can't take time off work this coming week and... urgh. I just can't believe it. Such bad timing!

Has anyone had this and was there anything you did that helped, if so? Anything - in terms of pain relief, diet, lifestyle...?

Oh, just remembered something else... It wasn't just WHAT I ate, but WHEN. Food not long before bedtime practically guaranteed I'd have an attack around 1 am. Leaving 3 hours between food and lying down seemed to be sufficient.

I think it may be a bit premature to assume you have gallstones? Others can add their experiences, which may differ, but almost everyone I know had vomiting with their attacks - TMI, but vomiting so much for hours that once the stomach was empty, you would be vomiting bile straight from the gallbladder (you can’t miss it as it’s neon green ). I haven’t really heard of having JUST the pain and that’s it. Maybe others can chime in (or have?) that haven’t had any vomiting. But I wouldn’t definitively assume gallstones or worry about surgery until after your ultrasound (I know, easier said than done).

@RightYesButNo I had both vomiting and diarrhoea with my attacks. But not every time and sometimes I would have one and not the other, only had both together during two very bad attacks.

I didn't have vomiting either but my attacks left me crippled in pain in the floor. Just be careful to look out for any signs of an infection ie temperature, feeling really unwell in yourself and seek urgent medical attention if you do. That's what they told me while I was waiting for my op. I feel for you, my pain was worse than labour and often very scary

A few of my attacks included vomiting but most didn't.

I might not be remembering properly, as it was a few years ago now, but I thought that vomiting and turning yellow were the two signs that it could be a stuck stone (i.e. needing A&E, rather than managing the attack at home).

The only things that relieved mine when they started out of nowhere was drinking peppermint cordial & soda water, I couldn't drink tea or coffee, our local pub landlord even let me take my own bottle in with me & he served me soda water. I had a couple of isolated attacks when ds was born but it went away, I never had another attack until I had a hysterectomy 7 years later so I can only conclude that hormones play a big part in them playing up. From my first attack after my hysterectomy to getting my gallbladder removed was 10 weeks, I went through NHS choose & book to my local private hospital, went in at lunchtime, theatre at 2.00pm & was sat on the sofa at home watching television by 7.00pm.

The only thing that really helped during an attack was being sick, I spent hours either on my hands & knees with my bum in the air or knelt on the stairs with a hot water bottle. My doctor prescribed me dihydracodeine & something for the sickness, my surgeon thought I had passed a massive stone, my gall bladder was extremely stretched but only had gravel & sludge in it, it was stuck to my liver &1 only just missed having to swap to open surgery.

I didn’t have vomiting until I got the pancreatitis, and then there was so much vomiting (every 20 minutes for 4.5 days) that I would have gladly welcomed death.

And that’s why MN is useful. My sample size of people I know with gallstones is about 10 and they all vomited. But thousands of people have seen this question, and several shared they don’t necessarily vomit with attacks. Either way, I’m so sorry you have this pain, OP. The advice is usually avoid fatty foods, but like you said, that really doesn’t apply to you. Perhaps spicy foods as well? I knew one person who seemed to have spicy foods sometimes trigger an attack, possibly.

How are you today OP?
I started to feel a bit better yesterday avo, and wondered whether blocked stone had moved a bit, but today I'm back to pain and writhing.

I have a big stone blocking a duct, but no vomiting and no yellow face / eyes so am not an emergency.

I'm panicking a bit about work, as I can't work in this pain, and if I'm upright it's worse. But if I have to wait months for an operation, what on earth do I do? Miserable.

@RightYesButNo

I think it may be a bit premature to assume you have gallstones? Others can add their experiences, which may differ, but almost everyone I know had vomiting with their attacks - TMI, but vomiting so much for hours that once the stomach was empty, you would be vomiting bile straight from the gallbladder (you can’t miss it as it’s neon green ). I haven’t really heard of having JUST the pain and that’s it. Maybe others can chime in (or have?) that haven’t had any vomiting. But I wouldn’t definitively assume gallstones or worry about surgery until after your ultrasound (I know, easier said than done).

I posted a pic of my nine massive stones upthread. Never vomited once during an attack.

Fat in your debit triggers the pain. Don't eat anything with more than 3% fat in it. You will need surgery to remove the gallbladder at some point though as once you have gallstones things can escalate. Mine went untreated for a couple of years and I ended up with my liver starting to fail and emergency surgery.

The diet can buy you a few weeks/months until it's a better time to sort out surgery but I'd get the ultrasound and onto the waiting list asap with all the disruptions going on right now.

I was told to follow a super low fat diet when I was diagnosed with suspected gallstones. It ended up not being then, so I can't say whether it worked though I felt better over all from not eating lots of cheese etc!

Diet not debit! Silly autocorrect!

@hopsalong

How on earth do you know if your passing stones?

Also how are you drinking the apple cider? Diluted... How much? For how long... Thanks

You are ok with olive oil and nuts think. My consultant said so. But hard fats are out. They stimulate the gall bladder. For the coming week book your test (there may be a wait anyway ) and lower your food in sake altogether. That helped me. I also stuck to grains and fruit and veg just for a few days, to get over the inflammation.

I find hormonal changes in my cycle also cause pain. But I have a low excretion level/ functional gallbladder disorder. Diet can impact it, but isn't the only factor.

I get painful episodes once or twice a week minimum for around 3 to 6 hours. And I have issues with a dodgy guy as a consequence. Been like this for well over a year now with no end in sight thanks to Covid 19.

I find drinking Diet Coke helps when I feel my gall bladder playing up (disclaimer - my attacks are very mild compared to many people. Keeping everything crossed that this is the worst it ever gets).

I was taught Five Fs:
Fat Fair Female Forty and Fecund (or Fertile)!

@CheetasOnFajitas

Yep, knackered heart and very fat (and rapid weight loss also triggers gallbladder attacks!)..

My aunt (who's a nurse) advised my dad to jump up and down with his gallstones.

You are right about the jumping, there was an American study where they found daily roller-coaster rides gave relief! I certainly felt better sometimes doing a handstand or downward dog but not easy to do that in the office... And goes against all your instincts to move about when you just want to curl up in a ball.

Can go other way though, I've had a big attack while assembling furniture and presumed a stone moved with all the bending and movement.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice I'm feeling a bit better today - not 100%, but a definite improvement! Thank goodness. (And I'll keep my fingers crossed for a similar recovery for anyone else who is suffering!)

I am 30 and on the thin side, but I guess I tick the fair, female and fertile boxes!

My friend's 19 year old daughter who was also very slim had to have her gallbladder out. It doesn't only afflict the chubbies.

@Bulblasagna
You may not really want to know how I know!

You have to have a fairly high tolerance for looking at your own shit. Occasionally, if you do that, you may find one (a cholesterol stone) floating in the loo after you flush. It probably depends (sorry) on the general texture of the rest of your poo as to whether you see any others. And by no means all of the ones that you think are stones actually turn out to be. The only way to be sure, I think, is to look at the stone (after sanitising it in every imaginable way, during which time it will feel -- like a stone) under a microscope. But you may not have a home microscope and may not have my morbid fascination with these things. (Driven, admittedly, by extreme pain.) There are lots of photos of other stones, at different levels of magnification, available online to compare yours to.

I'm not too precise about the apple cider vinegar but amazed that it works at all. I bought a bottle mixed with turmeric and ginger (brand is Raw Health) and that seems to make it more palatable. I have drunk the first bottle in about two weeks, so suppose am drinking about 35 mls a day in several doses. That would be two teaspoons a time. I add about the same amount of water again to make it more palatable.

Before I started it I was on an omeprazole-type medication which only made everything worse. But it hasn't given me an acid stomach at all, or any stomach pain, despite just coming off that. Right now, touch wood, touch wood, I think the stones might have... gone... But we will see.

Also higher risk from contraceptive pill.