Gall bladder issues

[KPO1]

Hi, I’ve recently had 2 attacks in 2 months. I have been referred to have my gall bladder out but waiting lists are so long now. Having a lot of back pain , does anyone else find this? Like the stomach pain is more manageable than the back pain? I have lots of acid too. I have adjusted my diet, quit drinking and taking omeprazole but nothing seems to help.

feeling pretty low and just wanted to reach out x

I'm dealing with this, I've had over 20 attacks since May. Been referred to hospital and earliest appointment is March 2023.
I agree on the back pain; mine is in the middle between shoulder blades and is unbearable.
I take painkillers as soon as I feel the pain start and then use a hot water bottle to help with the pain whilst the painkillers kick in.

Sorry you're going through this. You need to contact your GP or put of hours every time you experience a flare up. I have just been discharged from hospital having had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder and the main reason they agreed not to leave me on the waiting list was the fact that I was so symptomatic - I have been off work almost every other week since August.

In my experience there is no relief and you just have to wait it out. It's awful and I'd encourage you not to sit on the pain - if you can get yourself to hospital when you're in pain it might work in your favour given how often this is happening. Don't downplay it at all.

What pain killers do you take if you don’t mind me asking? . I’ve recently started codeine but not sure if they agree with me.

I work for the nhs and unfortunately the waiting lists for what they consider "non-urgent" surgery are massive as cancer patients are always prioritised as their surgery is often needing to be done to stop the spread it's a matter of life/death.

We take loads of calls from people who've been added to the waiting list but can wait - in some cases 2 years or more if it's not deemed life/death

HOWEVER

I totally understand it's extremely painful for people. A lot of our patients end up going private as they can't bear the weight as they're in so much pain.

It's a dreadful situation

I had mine taken out privately in Turkey. Life is so much better now

I used to have gall bladder attacks, I've cured them through herbal remedies.

I have 2 separate suggestions.
Firstly, when having a gallbladder attack, I take a remedy made up by a Nautropath in a shop, go and get one made up with a naturopath this is my recipe. I usually take this with camomile tea and it works pretty quickly and it stops the attack in about half an hour

The ingredients on my bottle are Koromiko
25, barberry 40, aniseed 15, crampbark 20

Secondly, then to keep attacks at bay by reducing the stones, I used to take these drops as pasted below for about 2 years, I had scans done 2 yrs later and the stones were much reduced - I took it twice a day in drop form with water.

"BioTrace Piedra is a herbal extract derived from Phyllanthus niruri, a herb indigenous to the Peruvian Amazon.

Phyllanthus niruri is commonly known as Chanca piedra meaning ‘stone breaker’ due to the herb’s traditional use for kidney and gallbladder support."

I didn't get back pain when having an attack but I got intermittent back/neck/arm pains at other times which I did not at first link to the gallbladder but which always came before an attack (maximum a week before).

Painkillers didn't touch any of the pains, front or back, though admittedly I very rarely tried taking them for the random back/arm etc pains as they weren't that bad.

A hot wheat bag held to my belly made the abdominal pains a bit better.

I was lucky that we had private cover through work and had mine removed earlier this year. Best thing I ever did. My pains were enough to make me cry and keep me awake at night but not enough to make me go to A&E. Initially attacks only came about once a year. Then it went to about once every six months. Then to once a month at which point I consulted the doctor and got diagnosed. The pains went to once a week while I was being diagnosed. I got them back to about once a month and milder once I knew to avoid fatty food while I was waiting for surgery. The shortest time I would have had to wait for surgery even going private was 6 weeks but I opted to wait 12 weeks as the timing was better and the attacks were tolerable with dietary adjustment.

Does anyone find they get headaches with the gallbladder pain? Wonder if it is linked.

I'm awaiting a call from the GP later on today to discuss this under right rib and back pain- pretty sure that is what it is.

I have this health care policy but it only works if the waiting list for the NHS is over 3 weeks for diagnostics and 5 weeks for surgery. Which I think it will be.

I'm worried about the prospect of surgery though as I've had a lot of open abdominal surgery in the past and I've been told keyhole would not be an option in future. I would need to discuss it with them but think it would likely be open surgery which seems like a bigger operation.

I'm wondering about something called ursodiol which seems to be an oral treatment to dissolve gallstones. Anyone tried this?

Thanks and to all going through this, it's not pleasant.

Just been to the GP who thinks maybe gallbladder, pancreas and / or adhesions from previous surgery.

They have booked an ultrasound, and amylase and liver function tests.

How are others doing?