Personal experiences of gallbladder issues please

[Ksksks]

Hi guys

Could you all please tell me what your personal experiences have been with gallbladder issues. Where was your pain located? , how long did pain last, long-term (daily) or infrequent bursts here and there? Any other symptoms? Trigger to it starting in the first place?

Aged 34, a few weeks after giving birth so initially diagnosed as associated with that.
Seriously bad aching across back and below my ribs, slightly worse on the right. Always accompanied by diarrhoea, sometimes vomiting. Attacks would last two to four hours, but I would feel off for much longer.
Usually occurred an hour or so after I had a meal after a long gap. (With a tiny baby I would tend to wolf things down when I got the chance.)

Pain on rhs above stomach, vomiting, and then pale poos. Once had lots of dark brown blood in my urine after having lots of pain. I am sure I have had gallstones but after each attack I went low fat and lot rid of the pain. By the time I have had an ultrasound it all looks (and feels) fine.
Heated pad helps with the pain.

Thanks guys I'm having burning feeling in stomach, pain under ribs that goes round to back sometimes worse on right side. Seems to be on and off all day but haven't watched whether that's due to what I've eaten. I've had colonoscopy and endoscopy as was also previously diagnosed with colitis after issues started when pregnant. Things just haven't got better and bloods came back fine so now Dr want to check my gallbladder

I did t know it was gallstones until I had THE attack but looking back, for me the pain presented in my back, just over to the right around bra band level. It tended to be a bit achy during the day but would then flare badly at night time and I couldn't sleep because it was impossible to get into a comfortable position. Eventually after about 2-4 hrs and neurofen it would ease enough to get to sleep.

THE attack started the same way but was agony, I was rocking in a feral position then shifting to hands and knees, then stretching and just could not ease it, after about 6 hrs I started vomiting continuously. That was when I decided I needed help. Unfortunately it was 3am on a Sunday morning, my DH doesn't drive, no family to ask for help and all the taxis were fully booked for hours so I made the somewhat stupid decision to drive myself the 10 mins to A&E. It was fine, I was able to stop to throw up a couple of times and get there safety but definitely not my wisest move.

Couple of hours in A&E surrounded by drunks with glass torn hands and police officers before I could be seen. They tried me with oramorph but I was immediately sick so they moved onto injectable morphine.

Got a CT scan as they thought it might be kidney stones, it wasn't but they accidentally caught a view of a massive stone in my gallbladder. Temperature also went sky high at that point and blood results came back showing infection, so I was put in an ambulance and sent to a different hospital in the area that does general surgery.

Admitted on IV antibiotics to try to reduce the infection, that didn't work so on the 3rd day they took me to surgery to take the gallbladder out, had to stay in another 2 days with a drain fitted as the infection had created lots of goop that needed to be washed out and more antibiotics.

Finally went home after 5 days with 4 new scars, 10 days of horse pill sized antibiotics, a big box of codeine, a gallstone in a jar and missing one troublesome gallbladder.

Then I had to figure out how to release my car from the hospital car park where it had had a 6 day holiday 😂

I was 32 at the time and the first episode of pain I had was 3 weeks after giving birth. It was at 1am in the morning and it lasted about 20 seconds. The episodes then came pretty much daily after that and lasted from minutes to an hour each time. It started off as a stabbing but short lived pain in the upper right quadrant (just under the rib cage) but as the episode duration and frequency increased the pain changed. Each episode had waves of pain and relief and it was like I could feel my gallbladder and ducts contracting trying to pass each stone. I think I passed multiple stones during each episode of pain.
I was prescribed Naproxen and Oramorph and used a lot of hot water bottles to help with the pain. It wasn’t until months after my diagnosis that I realised making myself sick stopped the pain. I also slept on my left hand side as this can help the ducts drain. I still do despite it being gone.
I didn’t have any specific triggers and towards the end (a week or two before surgery to remove it) even water or an ice lolly would cause pain. This caused my surgery date to be brought forward.

Forgot to mention as it progressed I had right shoulder/back pain. A really dull, heavy aching to the core feeling.

First attack was pain in between shoulder blades. Just could not sit still it hurt so much. No idea why but I went to the bathroom and just started pacing. Then leant over the bath swaying from side to side, like when I was in labour. Vomited and the pain subsided. All subsequent attacks have been rhs, top of rib cage. So far have worked out eggs, oil, hummus, Mayo and spicy food set it off. Intense pain, followed by violently throwing up (so much so my chest aches for days). Waiting for ultrasound appt to diagnose.

My first attack I had to go to my local inner London A&E (where all the stabbing victims get sent) on a Saturday night at 3 in the morning. That describes the level of pain I was in - absolutely no way I could tough it out til morning, despite knowing how busy/chaotic it would be in A&E. The triage nurse asked why I was there, I said "it feels like my whole abdomen is on fire".

I was at work had a few bits of tummy trouble before but literally curled up that day in agony
an ambulance came to work was took to a&e 13 hour wait on morphine
bloods showed something then took straight to another hospital by ambulance and then operated on straight away
gall bladder gone apparently had infection of gallbladder caused by stones etc
out 4?days later
still in pain now 6 months on and been in hospital again awaiting ct and a camera down my throat as can’t eat or drink properly and bloated . So in more pot sun and discomfort than when I began
good luck
I’ve found it a mine field

@Pinkfluffysox yh ive had the camera top and bottom and all clear so now doctor wants an abdominal ultrasound and has mentioned gallbladder. This all started in pregnancy digestive issues but the rib pain and stomach pain has been not long after giving birth. It's just so worrying, some days it's so bad I can just about function xx

Ohh bless you
I’m taking omerprazole every morning and night just changed to esomerprazole and it’s helping
I too have such bad pain in my right side around ribs it literally can stop me functioning and my gall bladders gone now
…. I do hope they sort you but do carry on and persist as only you know your own body … hopefully it’s just stones that should show up but good luck .. did you give birth or have a section as all mine started after my hysterectomy and I sometimes wonder if it’s connected ie I got told everything moves around and then just falls back in place etc xx

As pps, took me a couple of years to realise it was a gallbladder attack. Usually at night, starts round my back around bra band area, moves to front and circles my torso going up through shoulder and into jaw and bottom gums.
Dull ache on and off under right ribs every so often but attacks since taking digestive enzymes with every meal are fewer and longer in between. Now I know what an attack is and when it's coming, as soon as I get that tightening round my back I go for 2 buscopan and a peppermint tea.

God it was the worst pain ever !!!! Started about 9 months after second baby. Came on suddenly - the first time I thought I was dying. A few hours after eating anything with any fat in it I could be bent over on all
fours in utter agony . Bottom of rib cage waves of achey agony. Terrible. Went private and whipped it out !! Night and day

@Pinkfluffysox i gave birth natural via induction but yes all triggered in pregnancy. Only diff this time with this pregnancy was that I had gestational diabetes xxx thankyou I pray so too xxx

I had occasional stomach pains, which initially I thought was just one of those things. However in 2019 I had a severe one....on hindsight it was triggered by eating high fat food as I'd been to a wedding.

Mid 2020, with the NHS crumbling under covid, I had a bad one after a chippy tea. It was so bad my husband called 999, but I was triaged an hour or so later by a paramedic and it had started easing off so mindful of the stress the NHS were under I said I was OK but they said to contact my GP, so I made a phone appointment. By this time I'd googled my symptoms and diagnosed myself, which was confirmed by various mri scans and eventually had it out mid 21, which given covid etc wasn't bad.

My symptoms were....
-severe stomach pains, mainly between my sternum and my belly button, though its normally more to the right. This lead to more than one doctor raising their eyebrows saying "its not the right place for gallbladder pain" to which I'd reply "tell that to the websites like NHS/BUPA etc which says it can be, and to the MRI reports saying my gallbladder is fit to bursting with stones."
-the pain was off the scale but would ease off after an hour or two, but would leave me hungover for a day or so. Between episodes I was fine, but they became more frequent...towards the end they happened every 2 or 3 weeks. Inially they were about every 3 months.
-I ticked practically every box for a typical sufferer, being a middle aged, overweight woman. They're also more common in women who've had kids (I haven't) or those who have lost weight very quickly (eg those on very low calorie diets for several months).

Because I'm a fat cow, I had to do slim fast for 2 weeks prior to the operation to shrink my liver.

I was seen as a day case. On the day of the operation the surgeon said "Yes you've got gallstones and we'll do the op but I'm not convinced that's causing the pain as it's usually to the right" and I just said "yeah, tell that the writers of the NHS website etc etc." After the op, he came and said they started counting the stones but lost count at 200 (there's normally 4 or 5) and said it was small wonder I had pain. I just silently rolled my eyes and wanted to say 'told you!'

The op was done by keyhole under GA and I left the same day. I was a bit sick that day and was sore for a few days but recovered well and was back at work in a fortnight and have been fine since.

Hth.

@Spidey66 youve made me feel a little calmer as I wasn't eating great after lo was born and lost weight very fast and ate rabbit food when pregnant as had diabetes xxx

Seemingly happens to many women during or shortly after pregnancy - I read its something to do with a shift in hormones which causes stones to form (don't quote me on that).

I was 5 months postpartum when mine started. First 2 times I thought it was trapped wind as was pain in my back which kept me awake as couldn't get comfortable.
The first proper attack started as a burning pain in my stomach and then spread round my back. It felt like I was in a vice being pressed along my bra strap line. Had a number of attacks before I figured out my trigger food which I have cut out and has stopped any further attacks (5 months since last one). Had a number of attacks which made me really sweaty and vomit. Have to take paracetemol and lie on left until the pain passes. Hot water bottle helps too!
CT scan showed 1 large stone!

@BabyMomma2021 thankyou it appears to effect everyone different xxx

It’s common in those who lost weight quickly though. Think those who have lost 4 stones in 6 months.

But funnily enough also common in overweight people!

This is really helpful. I've had niggling pains under my bra line on the right side for a few months now. I started projectile vomiting in March then it disappeared. The last fortnight I have been regularly sick at night with the pain intensifying. I've had diarrhea too. I'm not sick during the day. I have type 2 diabetes and I'm older and overweight so I pretty much diagnosed myself. Last night was a bad night with pain, but couldn't be sick. A phonecall to the doctor is on the cards.

You are absolutely right about the increase in oestrogen causing stones or exacerbating stones already there causing them to flare up. I wasn’t allowed to go back onto the combined pill after diagnosis / the birth of my baby and could only have the progesterone only pill.

No pain just discomfort. Bloating and nausea and a very light head. Massive and quiet weight lose. Also liver enzymes elevated

Currently awaiting tests to see if it's gallstones or tumor.

Elevated liver enzymes. Feeling very bloated and nauseous with light headednes. Slight discomfort on right side. Weight loss. Hopefully gallstones and not worse. As ultrasound picked up enlarged gallbladder and dilated bile duct no stone picked up. But been feeling rubbish for a few weeks.

I had mine removed eventually but the pain was like no other I have ever felt. Mine was more central than to the right of below the ribs. Pain would come on very quickly, I did not get back pain, nausea, diarrhoea or vomiting, just excruciating pain and came over very hot. This would usually last an hour or two at a time. The relief once the stone passed was instant, and I was left feeling winded and often hungry.

The crux came when I got a stone stuck in the bile duct and was very poorly for 48 hours and ended up jaundiced in a&e. Look out for that because that can be really nasty.

The only time I was ever sick was when my gall bladder became infected just prior to removal.

On going dull discomfort. Very bloated and nauseous. Dizzy spells and high liver enzymes.