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?

@jjg2022 that's awful! I'm so sorry they refused to help you.
Thankfully, it was a bit quieter in hospitals than now due to the first covid wave.
I was told to come in when I had attacks for pain management. One was so bad that I had to have IV paracetamol, codeine, morphine and was given buscopan. Only then did the pain ease.
I'm in the north west.

Yes it's the same thing and I don't know if it will help but it helped me - definitely worth a try

@jjg2022 Not trying to be a party pooper but Make sure you check your travel insurance if you go! Quite often they won't cover an emergency if it's something you have already had identified! I was lucky in my case as I hadn't had gallstones confirmed or any tests for them - now we aren't in EU I'm not sure we can rely on EHIC 100% either - maybe others know more about that.

I had my gallbladder out in 2020, my first ever attack happened after I had lost around 2 stone in lockdown. I went to a&e a few times, that tried to tell me it was just acid also 🙄. The only thing that ever touched the pain was oramorph. It was amazing stuff! I got some on prescription after a while so I didn't have to keep going to a&e. Eventually even the oramorph stopped working though and I developed pancreatitis and got admitted after a trip to a&e, luckily ended up having my gall bladder removed under emergency surgery. Been pain free ever since!
Hope you can get seen soon OP. In the meantime I'd definitely ask for Oramorph if you can, honestly was a godsend during an attack xx

I managed to get some sleep but I've still got this jiggly pain quite low down in my right side. Is it related? It's not excruciating just jiggly and annoying. Should I be worried? I'm freaking out.

I always had my attacks in the night and after it subsided I often woke up with a dull ache the next morning. Can't remember exactly where the pain was though x

There are, I've discovered over the last couple of years, lots of seemingly unrelated symptoms of GB disease, I get what feels like tight muscular pain all the way down my right side as far as my groin (I actually paid for a full gynae scan at one point) but apparently an inflamed GB can press on a nerve which runs all the way from the back of it to your groin area.

Ditto tingly feet.

I second buscopan as soon as you feel a pain coming on. It's an anti spasmodic so helps a lot I find.

Drinking peppermint tea helps me enormously but I have to remind myself to do it.

When my baby was 10 weeks old I had my first flare up but didn't know what it was. Happened a couple more times but then on Christmas night it was awful. I have 5 flare ups in 5 days, and got to a doc who said I was jaundiced and sent me to hospital. A week later they took out my gallbladder via keyhole surgery.

One of the reasons they took mine out there and then was because I'm only 38. Given you're only 30 it's awful that they're not taking you seriously.

Is getting a loan an option? The only reason I even suggest that is because I know how awful the pain it is and I was also looking after a new baby.

You have my sympathy.

Unfortunately not.
I'm trying to get through to my GP just to know what's actually going on as she never even called me to speak to me about the results of the scan. The receptionist I spoke to was very vague and said yes you have gallstones. You need a referral and that was that so I'm none the wiser!

Oh wow. Yes I'm constantly in pain even with just general aches and pains. I also get tingling in my right side groin/hip.. I thought this was from my section but maybe not

I'm just over the boarder from you in Derbyshire and ive been waiting over 2 years for removal so far - mine always used to occur at night but now they flare up any time day or night - keep bothering your GP they can prescribe you pain killers and keep bothering the surgical department to get you bumped up, i have buscopan, paracetamol, tramadol and ibuprofen as soon as it starts and they last about 40 minutes now and i can cope but Tramadol makes me woozy and sleepy so maybe not great with a newborn. I was told to look out for pale poo (white essentially), dark brown cola like urine, yellowing of skin, constant pain (not in waves) for over 5 hours - all signs of total blockage and time for emergency surgery. I had my surgery booked in for early june time and the bastards cancelled it!!! i used to go to A&E but with wait times now by the time your seen the pain has subsided and there is no point unless signs like above - just keep bothering the GP s they can log it and send the email to surgical team ad get your pain meds sorted for you. Don't bother with 111 i used to work there they will send you to A&E in an ambulance because they cant rule out heart attack - if you refuse as you know its gallbladder you get a call back from a nurse who will tell you to take painkillers, the abdominal pain pathway they follow doesn't really cover gallbladders even though so many call up about them is for appendicitis and other problems. They also wont contact surgical for you unlike GP and its that you need to hurry them along to get you listed as urgent.

I'm definitely going even if I don't eat for 3 days which is the duration of the trip lol

@ShmackAttack exactly; I've been to a and e twice now. Once they ignored my symptoms and sent me for a chest x ray lol I explained that it wasn't chest pain.. came back clear so they told me it was either acid or a pulled muscle lol the second time I explained it was suspected gallbladder (I'd had bloods by this time which showed in my liver and amylase) and that was the time they said can't do anything.. I'm trying to get through to GP but bar walking down there and speaking to nichalant receptionist I'm having no luck.

I mean if they give me some good painkillers that actually work I can cope for a little while. I just hope they don't become more frequent, I've totally had enough, I've no energy to do things. I can barely even do housework. All my energy taken up on looking after LO and I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be this exhausting. He's a good baby. I just want to eat and not worry about the repercussions. Or just to not be scared of food. I mean yes. I'm about 18 stone so I could do with losing some weight but not like this. It's torture!

UPDATE
Spoke to GP. They've referred me to a consultant at the local hospital, that's all I know. Ignored request for pain relief. Gave me the usual, look out for signs of jaundice etc. Said to just wait it out until I hear from consultant. I'm at my wits end. It's a bit better this morning but I just generally feel rough!

good news on the referal - every time you have one bother GP tell them you cant stand the pain - mine were great and handed out painkillers knowing what its like - but i didnt have them for the first 6 months or so just the usual paracetamol and ibuprofen - get some buscopan it does help i think you can get it over the counter. Unfortunately the best recovery is rest and sleep which i manage as my son is in school and i can wfh at any hour but will obviously be more difficult for you with your baby

I know it’s been mentioned before - but when I had issues with my gallbladder, Buscopan really helped.

@ShmackAttack @Shelaydownunderthetable I'm going to go down to the pharmacy at my big Tesco and get some buscopan tomorrow (pay day) I'm willing to try anything at this point, couldn't even manage to have a weetabix with skimmed milk this morning! Or a banana because I just feel so bloated and rubbish!

That's shocking! They should prescribe you Oramorph. That's standard practice. I'd put a complaint in.

I've not read the full thread but...

Keep shouting about it. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. I was told a two year wait but when I said 'I actually can't cope' and got signed off work they bumped me up and it was out 6 weeks later.

Keep telling your GP (or a different GP) that the pain is unbearable. I was prescribed tramadol. I couldn't tolerate taking it all the time, so I took a dose an hour before I ate, and then carried on every four hours til bedtime. I was only eating once a day (I know, not the advice) because it didn't matter what I ate I'd be in agony three hours later, and I couldn't cope with 24/7 tramadol to cover the other meals in the day.

I lost 2 stone in two months, and then some more taking me to around 9.5 stone by the time I had surgery (I've put I back in since I've been able to eat again).

My attacks lasted about 8 hours, conveniently the length of an A&E wait at my local hospital. I was really tempted to go up and get myself booked in for stomach pain, wait a couple of hours, then eat something, just so an actual doctor could see me when I was in pain.

Good luck, you have my sympathies, it's awful.

@SouperNoodle I know! And the messages was relayed from the GP to the receptionist so I haven't actually properly spoken to the GP!! They just don't have the time apparently!!
If I had childcare for my LO I would go down a and e and kick off but I don't want to take baby with me because I just don't feel it's the place for him, and I'd be too worried that people would be judgey sitting there with a little baby for hours x

hi i know this is an old thread bit did you ever get sorted x

Hi did you ever get your gallbladder removed? I'm going through similar and it's also infected x

Buscopan is an anti spasmodic I think so it relaxes the bile duct and allows the stone to pass into the gut. Cocodamol worked for me to stop the pain.
I tried to avoid surgery as I had heard about side effects from the surgery E.g chronic diarrhoea but last April a stone got lodged in my pancreas and I got pancreatitis. And the pain of that was horrible, much worse than gall bladder pain, added to that I was throwing up bile (sorry if that's TMI). By the time I got to hospital I was really dehydrated and had to go on a drip whilst I waited for surgery. Pancreatitis can kill you so I found out afterwards so I'd kick up a lot of fuss.

Hi there, I’ve been recently diagnosed too and interested in non surgical treatments to remove the stones. From what I’ve researched online, shock wave therapy is used in some countries but not always effective, especially with multiple stones. It seems the gallbladder is unable to purge the tiny fragments which can then irritate the GB or lead to infection in some cases. Gutted it is not more effective as would much prefer to ditch the stones and keep my little green pear shaped organ!

Can I ask if anyone reading who HAS had their gallbladder removed suffered any side affects? Like the IBS type symptoms? Or difficulty digesting/ digestive pain?

Has anyone attempted a gallbladder flush? ( Not backed medically as a treatment but anecdotally some people have had success with flushing their stones from online anecdotes)