Gallstone pain or fatty liver?

[EffOffStomachPain]

Looking for advise from anyone who has experienced this or similar.

On Friday 1am woke up with upper abdominal pain. I don’t usually suffer with indigestion but assumed it was this. I tried Rennie, Gaviscon, milk, peppermint tea. After a few hours of sitting up it disappeared, only for it to come back when I laid down. Pain peaked at around 11am when it was so severe I could barely breathe and couldn’t stop pacing. Called 111 who told me to go A&E. ECG showed heart fine, when stomach pressed on the right side pain was worse, so doc and consultant said they were 90% sure it was gallstones and sent me home with painkillers and instructions to come back next day.

Next day, ultrasound shows gallstones and blood test shows high liver enzymes. Stomach isn’t as tender to touch on the right as yesterday, but still feeling constant upper abdominal ache. New doc thinks it’s not the gallstones but I have fatty liver disease (I’m very overweight).

Two days later, today, I still have that same constant ache. It’s so uncomfortable, painkillers don’t touch it and only relief is provided by hot water bottle.

Sorry this is so long, I wanted to give all the info to avoid drip feed. I feel like the pain isn’t caused by fatty liver, and that it’s gallbladder giving this pain. I have two small children and can’t cope with this for much longer.

I had fatty liver for years and the pain was never that bad; I'd describe it as discomfort rather than pain. I've never had gallstones though so I can't compare.

I had my Gallbladder out4 weeks ago & one of the indicators that it was infected was my liver enzymes being elevated.
At A&E they weren’t too concerned but said to go to my GP in 2 weeks to get my bloods done again. They were so high that the GP rang me the next day to say that if I got a temperature, vomiting, diarrhoea etc to go straight to A&E. I have health anxiety & my temp was up & I’d had nearly daily attacks so I went to A&E. More bloods done, liver higher & so I was seen by a surgeon & I had a MRI to see what was happening, they thought that a stone might be in the bile duct. There were lots of little stones & they booked me in to have it out 2 weeks later. I was sent home with penicillin, hard core pain relief & strict instructions to stay on a fat free 800 calorie liver shrinking diet until the op.
I can absolutely see the difference since it’s been removed. I realised I’ve been in various levels of pain constantly for nearly 18 months.
Keep going back & ask for more scans. Good luck. It’s bloody grim x

Did you manage to reverse the fatty liver? I’ve got a lot of weight to lose but I’m hoping it’s reversible

@inmyownlittlecorner They said my ultrasound showed stones but no blockages, which is why they’ve gone for the fatty liver diagnosis but that doesn’t explain the pain. I’m going to GP this afternoon

Please make sure you get seen. I ended up being admitted with pancreatitis which can be very serious. I didn't realise how potentially dangerous it can be and my symptoms ( apart from the already diagnosed gallstones ) were pain as you describe and elevated liver bloods. I have since had my gallbladder removed and never felt better. This is after years of chronic pain and being fobbed off with ibs and other non diagnosis. Hope you get seen soon . I've never known pain like it.

@nogooddeedgoesunpunished thanks for your post. Blood tests showed no sign of infection. Would that be the case with pancreatitis?

I had a fatty liver for a few years - it didn't hurt at all, I only knew from medical tests which I had for something else. I did, however , get gall stones and ended up having my gall bladder out, so yes I'd agree that your severe pain would be caused by the stones. Most likely one of the stones was passing through the bile duct and that caused the pain. The bile duct can't expand , so when the stone tries to pass through it, you get a lot of pain.

Your best suggestion at the moment is to eat a very low fat diet for the time being. When you eat fatty foods, your gall bladder contracts to squirt bile into your small intestine to digest the fat. If your gall bladder has stones in it, the stones can get pushed down into the bile duct causing the pain. Avoiding fat will give your gall bladder a rest and avoid the cycle of stones being pushed into the bile duct.

Fatty liver can be reversed if you lose weight, by the way.

I have nash (non alkoholic liver disease)
dull ache.
had to diet for 3 months (did 5:2 and low fat after some research).
liver enzymes back to normal but I still have a dull ache if I overdo it.

the liver is an amazingly robust organ which can recover.

you need to give it a break:
low fat and calorie concious diet, no alkohol, no paracetamol for at least 3 months before repeating the blood test.

good luck!

I've had pancreatitis twice - you'd definitely know if you had it! It would show on liver function tests as well.

Gallstones can cause the type of pain you describe. I think it would be work asking for an MRI - my gallstones were small and didn't show on an ultrasound but an MRI picked them up.

Look up biliary colic - this could be what you describe x

Sorry just reread- I'd say it's definitely the gallstones. I sympathise - the pain is horrible.

I'd go to a&e and get some decent painkillers and see about getting on the waiting list for removal x

I’ve already started slimming world so a low fat diet is doable and I’m confident I can lose weight. I have two young children (2 and 3 months) so rarely drink but will cut it out completely, as well as paracetamol. I just want this pain to go, I feel awful and so sorry for myself 😭

I had gallstones and suffered for 5 years before I had surgery. Was told to try a low fat diet despite only being a size 8. Was also told to take Buscopan when it caused pain as it would stop the gallbladder from going into spasms and would help the stone move out of the bile duct. Both things worked to a certain extent but in the end surgery was the only thing thing that stopped the constant pain.

Like you I have fatty liver and also developed gallstones. Gallbladder attacks were a pain unlike any other I’ve felt; I honestly thought I was dying a couple of times, the pain was that intense. I was blue lighted to a and e at one point.
I had my gallbladder out earlier this year and obviously no more attacks but the dull uncomfortable pain I had had for ages also disappeared. So my money is on it being the gallbladder, definitely get it removed if you can. It’s made such a difference no longer having that pain.

Thank you @newestbridearound. How did you feel after a gallbladder attack? Is it usual for stomach to still feel sore a few days after? I’ll update on what doc says this afternoon but I’ve got private health insurance through work so if still in pain I’ll use that to get it removed.

I would say I probably had about 5 proper ‘attacks’ (don’t think that’s the actual term! But you know when the stones would get stuck). A couple were very short and as soon as whatever was going on righted itself it was fine. Three of them were horrendous though, the longest lasted about 8 hours, and yes I felt very sore and tender for a while afterwards. Also not helped because in an attempt to help the pain I was rubbing my stomach frantically So I probably bruised it a bit too.

Hopefully some diet changes will help but as my gp said when I was diagnosed ultimately they aren’t going anywhere, so you either try to live with them or just get the thing removed. I was terrified of surgery but the pain made that decision easy! Hope you get some relief soon

I always felt bruised after an attack & exhausted.

Apologies, I've been in the cinema and just come out. I think other posters have answered this but it would show in your blood tests. Hope you get sorted soon

Saw GP this afternoon and she agrees that it’s likely gallbladder is causing this pain. Just need to get hospital to agree to remove it

I've had my gallbladder removed this year, the attacks were very painful but managed on a low fat diet they were infrequent.

Unfortunately I still have to be careful about my diet