Anyone get gallstones?

[Ledkr]

My attacks are getting closer together and I cannot pinpoint the triggers.
I've had one minor and one recent major op in the last 6 months but I'm starting to think it won't be long till I have to have another.
Anyone find any relief from an attack?
I'd rather have ten labours, being sick a few times seems to ease it off.

[Lottiedoubtie]

Reasonably, most people have it out key hole and it's day surgery.

I had to stay in one night because I didn't go down to surgery until 6pm in the end, woke up at 9pm too late for discharge

2 weeks off work and then absolutely fine for me. Tiny scars now have to look hard to find them almost 4 years on!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I got to the stage where I was vomiting every day and in severe pain (I used to drink slightly sweetened black tea as it didn't taste too bad coming back up!). Was admitted to hospital finally at this stage, had scan and gallbladder was absolutely stuffed full of stones of all different sizes. Stayed in ten days (nil by mouth and on a drip) as my liver function was very poor, then put on a very low fat diet, and admitted to hospital ten days later for surgery. That was 11 years ago. Although I occasionally get phantom gall bladder pain (according to my doctor), I have been absolutely fine since.

[wfrances]

i only had 1 attack ,but my gp referred me straight away and I had the op within 2 months.

[Twunk]

Oh I would still vomit - sorry wasn't clear - I meant I had pain relief (diclofenac) via a suppository.

I had one attack (when 8 months pregnant) that lasted all night - from about 11pm to midday the next day. I just walked up and done for most of that time :-(

I then had such a bad attack when my DS2 was 2 months I ended up in hospital at 3am. At 9am I had a scan and there they all were. Gallbladder was removed 1 month later.

[Badvoc]

I am speaking to the dr today ledkr...had mine out 2 months ago but still getting pain so am going to beg for a scan today. Won't happen :(

[LEMmingaround]

Is your doctor mad??? of course its bloody gallstones - FFS, its even been confirmed on ultrasound - albeit in the past. Did you get the refferal?

[Ledkr]

Oh dear, two weeks??? I had four off in the summer now 6 for my gynae op, pity they couldn't have done it at the same time.

badvoc I hope you are ok and dr listens.

I went at the wrong time yesterday so will be going again today and hope to get a referral to the "gall bladder man" who do you see?

[Ledkr]

Lem, my dr is incompetent. I am changing as soon as my current episode is over as too complicated with sick notes and stuff.

[Badvoc]

Got an appt at 10.50...will keep you posted.
I think it's a general surgeon you need ledkr.

[Badvoc]

Soooo....dr sending me back to hospital where I had the op for a scan. Seeing dr on Monday. Hope to get scan soon after.

[neversleepagain]

Not every one needs two weeks off, I had my surgery at 11am, went home at 6pm and looked after newborn twins and did night feeds alone that same night. Carried on as normal the next day.

[Badvoc]

Yep...I rested for 12 hours and then ended up having to look after ds2 who had a nasty d and v bug for the rest of the week!

[Kundry]

Ledkr - it's day surgery and you'll be signed off for 2 weeks. On day 1 I couldn't believe they could be so cruel as to send me home but I was completely fine after a week. You see an Upper GI surgeon or 'gallbladder man'.

Badvoc - glad you are seeing your surgeon again. There is a small chance that you have a stone stuck in one of the ducts that are left and they will rescan you. If it isn't that, then it's something else and they need to start investigating again from the beginning. Best wishes, it sounds miserable.

[Badvoc]

If it is another stone what are my options? Another op? :(

[Kundry]

Sorry - don't know as I'm not a surgeon It's possible they might be able to do it with an endoscope, otherwise it will be another op.

Potentially it's not gallstones at all - there are numerous causes of abdo pain and if you see gallstones, you'll naturally blame them when they might have been quietly minding their business the whole time and something else was causing the problem IYSWIM.

[Lottiedoubtie]

It's likely if there is another stone it's in your bile duct, they may be able to hook it out by going down your throat

But it avoids surgery.

Only a scan can know for sure though.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I'm jumping on board here.

I had scan results back and I have a gall stone (I went to GP with pelvic pain which I thought might be menstrual related though I'm peri menopausal)

Came back with the results of a stone so I've got my Choose and Book to do.

Does anyone get backache because of this? I have a constant backache ( result of RTA) but it flares up from painful to really painful.
Will this be due to gallbladder?

[Squirrelsmum]

I hope by now you've had it sorted Ledkr, I have the same thing and find vomiting is the only thing to ease the pain, my scan showed one large stone, I haven't been back to the doctor yet though. I find fatty food or even too much food sets it off, I had oh so yummy pizza for dinner last night and as expected was up half the night because of it. That is 4 attacks in the last month, the last one before then was mid last year.
70isalimit yes I have horrid back pain during an attack which feels like my ribs are being crushed and the rest of the time it is just a dull ache that twinges after I eat.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

What size of stones have been found?

[nona2706]

When i had my gallbladder attacks it would start about an hour after any type of food touched my stomach. It got so bad in the 2 months before my removal operation that i was on morphine. 20mg of slow release twice a day as well as diclofenac twice a day and tramadol 100mg slow release twice a day. The only thing that really helped was being blue lighted into hospital and given liquid morphine.
The first 2 times i was in hospital i was diagnosed as having reflux and a stomach bug and sent home. Third time i got a lovely doctor who took one look at me stuck me on the morphine and said in his professional opinion i had gallstones. I was admitted and had an ultrasound while in hospital and as the lovely sonographer put it a nice wee collection of stones.
2 Months later i had the operation and was told i had 89 small stones and one large sticky stone which did cause a slight bit of trouble when it was being removed but i was up and moving around the ward within the hour.
If i were you the next time you have an attack go to hospital and demand proper pain relief.
Hope all goes well if and when you have your operation.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

What's the current diet advice WRT gallstones?

Part of the of the diagnosis I think:

I'm a non smoking, non drinking vegetarian (have been vegetarian for 35 years)

The symptoms I had (for about 6+months before)
Pain (like labour pain) a 'pushing' feeling, D&V, backache (though I thought the D&V and back was work related)


Now I realise the pain was the stone.

I had a blood test done, my cholesterol was a bit high, so I cut out crisps, only have cheese once a week (this is difficult to cut down fat on a vegetarian diet) and just started on statins.

TIA
(My GP didn't offer any advice, but I could ask them)

[tb]

Don't forget to take it easy for a couple of days once you're home after a gall-bladder op. I didn't, and was dancing - 2 days later I had the worst pain ever - I'd developed 2 hernias across my middle, where something had popped between a gap in the layers of muscle.

[Sandthorn]

Oh god, this thread has taken me back. I had my gallbladder removed when I was 28, after about 2 years of attacks of increasing frequency and intensity. By the end, I was eating almost no fat, but the attacks were triggered just by the process of eating. The pain was just awful (apparently it's a lot like having a heart attack), but the worst was the 24hours of nausea and vomiting afterwards.

My own GP was pretty useless for most of it. He said it was indigestion for about 1.5 years, despite me describing the pain in graphic detail. It was only when I was freaking out at some weird symptoms the evening after an attack that I called my godmother (a retired GP), and she diagnosed me over the phone with jaundice caused by gallstones. When I went back to the GP and asked for a referral, he actually said "You did mean it was painful!"

Anyway, what I learnt is that although some GPs will try to persuade you to manage it with diet, the specialists I saw said that very rarely works in the long term, and that it's too dangerous (loose stones can lodge in the liver or pancreas) to just put up with attacks indefinitely. Except in emergency cases, the op is almost always done by keyhole surgery. I was up and walking to the loo within 2 hours of surgery, because I couldn't bear the though of a bedpan

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Whingey alert:

I have heartburn (bought some Gaviscon now as drinking milk doesn't help)
I have pain when I sit down but on the left and centre at the moment.
I also get a stab/throb on the right side fairly constantly.

Today my back across my shoulder blades felt like a constrictive stitch (after running type not sutures type)

And I'm having raging flushes - not sweating, just a feeling on sudden heat, like standing in front of an oven. Have to drink loads of water then I pee at 3am, I'm not good at waking in the small hours after it's taken me ages to get to sleep, but I roll out of bed and totter to the loo.


I'm off to have a nice soaky bath .

[InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream]

Tips: indigestible food sets mine off, such as thick cheese sandwiches, cold lamb, half cold burgers, that sort of thing. I have found when I start getting twinges that if I drink a glass of wine that can stave it off. ( I think alcohol breaks down the fats in your stomach that are causing your gallbladder to pump out loads of bile). Also Apple juice helps, and a very hot hot water bottle on the area.
And go to sleep sitting it up- the bile duct often blocks when you lay down, causing the full on attack
Good luck, it's horrible. But I haven't had a full on attack for ages- I manage to stave em off with the above