Gallstones

[jjg2022]

Recently been diagnosed with "quite a few gallstones" had an ultrasound which found them and the blood tests.

Doctor just said she would refer me, but very vague: so what happens now?? The pain is unbearable and I'm getting flare ups once or twice a week. I'm only 30 and 15 weeks postpartum. I never had this type of pain ever before in my life. What's the treatments other than removal if any? I'm quite worried because the pain is excruciating and comes on very suddenly and then peaks and when it does I can't do a thing. Not ideal when you've got a little one:

Any recommendations/personal experiences?

Can you go private? They should be able to arrange further tests and operation much sooner. I'm scheduled to have mine removed in a couple of weeks. Thankfully had private insurance through partner's work. Meanwhile, no caffeine, fizzy drinks, alcohol or spicy food, and try to keep each meal under 3g of fat. Try to eat little and often. Or going to A&E during a flare up might speed things along.

I can't go private unfortunately.

I've tried to eat better (or not eat at all) it seems no matter what I eat it causes flare ups. I had a really bad one that woke me up in the night last night and it lasted hours but subsided eventually.

I had a bad flare up last week too and I went to a and e and he basically said "what do you want me to do, we know it's gall stones, unless you present with symptoms of infection or are seriously unwell there is nothing we can do!

Sent me on my way with some shitty cocodamol which I can't take because they make me ever so sick 🙄

I'm so frightened of it the pain returning I don't think of much else throughout the day.

It is terrible pain, I know, I had my gallbladder out years ago. I paid for private insurance so it was all dealt with swiftly. But in the meantime, do not eat anything fatty, as that will irritate your gallbladder. I hope you won’t be waiting for too long. Assuming you can have laparoscopic surgery it doesn’t take long to recover. Good luck.

Apart from changing your diet (which doesn't really help from personal experience as anything that activates your gallbladder can cause pain) there isn't much you do can do apart from have it removed. You have my sympathy, I suffered with gallstones and 10/10 pain for 2.5 years on a waiting list for surgery before it was finally removed via keyhole surgery. Hopefully waiting lists near you aren't as bad, I'm in the Midlands.

I am carrying some extra weight (put on 3 stone with my baby) 15 weeks ago. I think because of that I will have to have open surgery ☹️
I just don't know what to do with myself ☹️

@jjg2022 I am quite overweight, especially around my middle, and open surgery was never mentioned. Keyhole surgery was a breeze and I was home a few hours later.

Eat as close to zero fat as you can manage, avoid spicy food, avoid ice cold drinks, avoid citrus fruits. That should help reduce the likelihood of attacks - I managed my gallstones that way for almost 3 years and lost tonnes of weight!

If that's not working present at A&E every time you have a bad attack. The only thing that eased my attacks was IV paracetamol and that's what I repeatedly requested for help. Oral painkillers didn't touch it because my digestive system would shut down, I'd frequently be throwing up too which wasn't pleasant. I'd often be sat in the waiting room with the IV, I didn't care - I just needed the pain relief. Generally the doctors were helpful when I explained why I was there and what I needed.

My attacks became so frequent even with diet management that they added me to the urgent list for my gallbladder to be removed. I honestly didn't realise how ill I was getting until it was removed. I thought the only symptom was the pain/vomiting, but actually it was draining me every single day.

You need to be the squeaky wheel, don't let them railroad you into thinking you're exaggerating the pain. You know it's agony, you know you can't live like that. Insist on help. Best of luck.

I am carrying some extra weight (put on 3 stone with my baby) 15 weeks ago. I think because of that I will have to have open surgery. I just don't know what to do with myself

Even after losing loads of weight because of my enforced diet, I was still obese and had mine done via keyhole. I must have been at least a size 18 and 14 stone (5 stone overweight). Even if they want to go for open surgery, that's still less difficult than you being in agony on a frequent basis.

I'm Nottinghamshire and was told the list is huge ☹️ unless emergent surgery because of complications

Deep sympathy OP, worst pain ever.

I was overweight when I had mine done and it was keyhole so don't worry too much about having to have open surgery, tbh.

Low fat diet and keeping hydrated are the only things you can do at home, surgery is the only solution.

I ended up with an emergency gallbladder remove as it got very infected, absolute agony, vomiting constantly, fever. Even then they admitted me and tried IV antibiotics for 3 days before deciding the only option was to cut it out.

I'm obese by the way and had laparoscopic so don't assume you'll need an open surgery. I had to have a drain fitted and stay a couple of extra nights as the infection needed to be washed out.

It is an absolutely crippling pain, I know - you hardly dare even breathe. I used to get attacks in my early forties (30 years ago), and found a hot water bottle helped. I try to avoid doctors, so I completely cut out alcohol for two years and ate a very low-fat diet. This seemed to work wonders - and although I did go back to moderate drinking I remained permanently on quite a low-fat diet. Of course I may just have been lucky but it's worth trying!

I'm eatiNg lean meat whole grains etc and ive always been a massive water drinker. It seems everything seems to trigger it

I was told the waiting list was 2 years and so paid privately out of pocket £7k. Also a neighbour did have complications and was still told the wait would be long, so he also paid privately.
You shouldn't have to do it but it's a quality of life thing.

Do you or partner have access to private medical insurance at all through work?

I have gallstones and am currently "managing" them with mainly digestive enzymes before each meal and lots of peppermint oil and apple cider vinegar.
The digestive enzymes have literally changed my life. Been taking them for about a year and have only had one of the "heart attack but on the right hand side" vicelike attacks since. Before I was getting them much more often. I can eat almost anything in moderation now, even with fats.
Good luck- they're horrible to deal with and I didn't realize quite how many of my other aches and pains and vague symptoms of malaise could be down to the gallbladder until I spoke to the gastro.

How do I get these enzymes?? I've never heard of it x

I don't unfortunately. I never thought I would need health insurance in the UK. And absolutely cannot afford to pay private being on maternity leave and only having one main source of income from DP.

I had gall stones when I was 21, the pain was the worst I've ever experienced. I turned yellow so went to hospital and started eating healthily and it all went. They still wanted to do surgery and I said no. And it hasn't been back since even though I've eaten a lot of crap since then! I don't get it.

Seconding the advice to present yourself every time you have an attack. It sounds horrendous, my cousin ended up having her gallbladder removed.

out of interest, are you fair? My cousin hit every one of the five F’s

@CookPassBabtridge really?!?! They told me if I go yellow its an emergency!

I like Solgar. I get them from Amazon or Holland and Barrett. They contain the enzymes that work during digestion when your gallbladder, because of stones or sludge, doesn't do its job properly.

Yes, if you show ANY signs of jaundice, get to A&E at once. It's a sign of pancreatitis, which can be very serious. That's what happened to me 😢

@PAFMO I'd be interested to hear what these digestive enzymes are as well if you don't mind!

I had my GB removed a long time ago but still have some grumblings there where it was!
Can totally sympathise op it's the worst pain in the world. Have they given you an estimate of waiting times? They said up to 18 months for me but then it was done within 3 months using a private hospital on NHS - this was pre covid though.

It's so painful so you have my sympathy! I thought I was going to die when I had my first flare up and had no idea what was happening.

My surgery is booked for next Tuesday. Been on the waiting list for 3 years (thanks to covid). But because it's now causing problems with my liver I am finally having the surgery.

My doctor said if I had made more trips to A&E and called NHS direct often I may have been seen quicker.

Top tips are cut down any fat in your diet, look for triggers (mine is eggs, alcohol and fatty food). Hot bath or hot water bottle as soon as you feel a flare up coming on. Drink a lot of peppermint tea.

Cocodomol would make me sick if I took them mid flare up but not if I took them when I first felt the flare up coming.

Keep an eye on your symptoms, it could turn into pancreatitis which is very dangerous. Also keep "making a nuisance" of yourself at the doctors in the hope that speeds things up.