Talk to me about your gall bladder

[lottie198]

So I've been having a few health issues lately and have already been to the GP who are doing blood tests, weekly weights at home and need to book a follow up.
There's a lot of different symptoms but my most recent thought is gall stones.
I have had 3 episodes of intense constant pain in my upper right abdomen, it's lasted around 4 hours each time and crippled me. The only relief I could get was lying in a bath of steaming hot water and even that didn't help that much.
First episode about 3 months ago, then I had one a week after the first and then another just recently.
Everything I read says gall stones. I'm getting to a point where I'm too nervous to eat much because I'm worried it's going to trigger that pain. The pain has always come on about an hour after a meal. I've lost a lot of weight recently (not purposefully) but just wondering if that's triggered it. I just can't shake the feeling there is something seriously up with me .
But then I am quite an anxious person. Has anyone been through the same?
For context I am 26 years old, 5 foot 8 and half and 72kg.

I had my gall bladder removed 2 years ago after years of sporadic attacks which then intensified over a period of a few months. My attacks were characterised by intense pain with no relief whatsoever and constant vomiting (so couldn't even keep painkillers down) for at least a couple of hours at a time.

Push for a referral for imaging. My gall bladder was chock full of stones and getting it removed was the best thing I've ever done. Had to have a follow up procedure as a stone lodged in my bile duct but all good now. I thankfully had private medical through work so was able to get the op quickly as waiting lists with NHS are lengthy.

In the meantime, avoid fatty foods which will be a trigger.

I had my first symptoms of gallstones at the age of 21. What I thought was indigestion spread into my back and particularly under my right shoulder blade. Was agonising and kept me up all night. That pain is a classic presentation of gallstones but I didn't do anything about it for a numberof years and these 'attacks' had incremently increased in frequency to every year or so, then mostly, fortnightly, weekly and daily. They were initially triggered by eating high fat food but by the end anything would wet if off - even salad or other very low fat foods. The only thing that helped was paracetamol and codeine and even that stopped working after a while.

I didn't really do anything about it til they hit monthly when i had just turned 29 and then the slow wheels of the nhs meant by the time I had it removed I had daily pain. And I only got it removed then because i went private in desperation. Not blaming the NHS there - I should have sought treatment sooner. So the pain did increase in frequency very quickly towards the end. Was gifted a container of several large stones by the surgeon which I still have 🙂.

I regret not getting medical advice sooner as I could have saved myself years of pain. I would go and get checked out ASAP. The operation is pretty routine and I was in and out of hospital with just an overnight stay. Good luck OP.

What you have described sounds similar to my symptoms and I have been diagnosed with a gallstone (about a cm in diameter).

You may find it helps to keep a log of what you have eaten before an attack to identify any trigger foods. I avoid my triggers and it does help (although not fully as occasionally something new will trigger an attack).

From what I have read online rapid weight loss can be a cause of gallstones.

See GP to be referred for a scan.

Peppermint tea does help a little bit, at the time. Sit up, hot water bottle and a peppermint tea. Painkillers.
Then doctors as soon as you can

UPDATE
I went for an ultrasound scan after having a few more attacks and I have got gall stones . 😩 got to book in with GP to see what the next steps are.

I didn't have stones, I had polyps but I'm 10 days post op now and feeling great. Didn't even have to wait that long either, from being put on the waiting list it was 3 months, but I was offered an op date after 2 months and turned it down (just before Xmas) so I think it depends where you live (I'm in NW England). Don't hesitate, just go for it! X

This sounds just like gallstones paine. I found eating less fat helped but I stil.need a low fat diet even though my gallbladder was removed years sgo

Just wanted to update this thread for anyone reading in the future. Ended up in hospital with infected gallbladder and stones and they removed it a week later.
3 weeks post recovery today and I do not miss that gallbladder one bit !