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Original poster

My GP thinks I have gallstones...

40 replies

TigerFeet · 04/06/2008 13:51

Bugger, bollocks and arse

I have been throwing up a lot recently, sharp pains and aches on the right hand side of my abdomen, indigestion, rambunctiuos belching etc etc so off I went to the doctor and she reckons it could well be galltones. She's referred me for a u/s scan so I suppose I'll just have to wait and see.

I know it's fairly common so if anyone could tell me their experiences I'd be grateful, particularly wrt how long you had to wait for a scan, how long you had to wait for an op, how long you were out of action for??

Ta muchly.

OP posts:

mellyonion · 04/06/2008 14:00

hi.

i had gall stones when i was 28...

i was rushed into a and e when my dd was 10 weeks old...... i felt like i had been stabbed in the lung....(not that i ever have been, but its what i imagine it to be like! ) i was diagnosed with gall stones on the wednesday and had an op to remove my gall bladder on the monday...reacted badly to the general anaesthetic, but was still home by the friday. all this was done as an inpatient though.... so fairly quick.

i had keyhole surgery and have 4 tiny scars on my trunk. i was told to take it easy for a few weeks, but was really ok in myself afetr a week or so, just a bit fragile. i continued to bf my dd though, and she stayed with me in hospital too...(just to demonstrate how able i was to lift etc after the op.)

my neighbour is in her late 50's and had to have the full open abdominal surgery and that took her months to recover from, but i don't think she was in great physical health to start with...

i'm wittering now! its not a great situation tbh, but its fine in the grand scheme of things... hope you're feeling ok soon.

lizandlulu · 04/06/2008 14:01

hiya, i had my gall bladder out just over a year ago.
i had been to see the doctors a few times complaining of pains and feeling sick, but she said it was just indegestion. she thought i was too young for gall stones (26 at the time)
new years day last year i was in so much pain and couldnt stop the being sick/retching/bringing up bile (sorry tmi!) so went to the hospital.
one of the gall stones had moved and blocked off my pancreas, which if i had left it any longer before i went, i could have died!
so i had to stay in hospital for 4 days.
the doctors said i needed to have my gall bladder removed and i had to live on a fat free diet until i had the operation.

i had it done privately as my dad paid and we was terrified the pancreatitis would come back.

i had it done within 3 weeks privately, but if i had waited for the nhs i would have been about 6 months.

the op itself was ok, i felt groggy for a couple of days, but able to get about by the end of the week. i went to work in the second week, just answering the phone, nothing strenuous.

but feel so much better for having it done.i hope you get it sorted.

bundle · 04/06/2008 14:04

I have a gallstone (note - singular!) which is about 1cm, detected on ultrasound after much wriggling (it was hiding..) and my gallbladder itself wasn't inflamed or enlarged - I think the appt took a couple of weeks to come through.

I am - ahem - "conservatively" managing it - ie I don't want surgery, so have reduced the amount of fat in my diet and ((touch wood)) have not had any symptoms for over a year now.

Previously my symptoms had been excruciating pain and vomiting - though this only happened 3 times in about 18 mths.

Having said that the op is pretty routine - it's usually done laparoscopically (keyhole) and you're up and about quite quickly.

Original poster

TigerFeet · 04/06/2008 14:06

I feel a bit of a fraud tbh - I have a friend in RL who had an awful time with it, she was jaundiced and hospitalised and ended up having open surgery ro remove the gallbladder - I am nowhere near as ill as she was.

I am 34, not that old really, it would have been lovely to have been told I was too young for gall bladder problems

OP posts:

McDreamy · 04/06/2008 14:07

I was investigated for gall-stones a couple of weeks ago. I had a scan but none found but my blood test for Helicobacter Pylori came back as psotive so I'm currently on antibiotics for that. Hope you find some answers soon.

Original poster

TigerFeet · 04/06/2008 14:07

bundle - has the low fat diet helped? I have been advised to stick to a low fat diet and I am going to find that really, really hard

OP posts:

bundle · 04/06/2008 14:21

I think so, haven't had any symptoms since. Although - ahem - I haven't exactly been "off" fatty stuff - just avoid really rich creamy sauces and cheese just before bed etc.

maybe it's ta-da - disappeared!

JackieNo · 04/06/2008 19:12

Tigerfeet - I was about to post on this thread when we had a fire drill at work, so I had to leave it. I had my gall bladder out when DD was about 1.5. Quite soon after she was born, I started getting loads of pain - the first time I thought I was having a heart attack. It was excruciating. Eventually (after about a year) went to the docs, had the ultrasound, and yes, I did have gallstones. As DH had private health insurance that covered me too, we used that, and I went in and had the gall bladder out. It was fab - I had one of those 'dose yourself up with morphine' things immediately afterwards, but was up and about very soon after. They kept me in for 2 nights, but then I had 2 weeks off work, sitting around, no lifting etc. They gave me painkillers to take home, but I didn't need to use any of them. At the end of the 2 weeks, I was moving a few paving slabs around so that I could paint a wall outside. When I said that to the consultant, he said 'I'll pretend you didn't tell me that', but it was fine. Obviously I'll never wear a bikini again . But the scars are pretty small and hardly noticeable, and if I had a bikini-worthy body, I probably wouldn't mind showing them. I just got the jar with the gallstones out of the desk drawer (no idea why they live in there - there isn't really an obvious place to keep things like that though, is there), and there are about 12 stones that are maybe 2mm across, and 15-20 that are half that size. (sorry - this is a really long post).

Pendulum · 04/06/2008 19:18

My mum just had the op. She was more or less asymptomatic (stones picked up in routine health check) and she wasn't sure for a while whether to have the surgery as she felt fine. However the doc convinced her it was preferable to have the keyhole surgery before she had an acute attack requiring more drastic opening up.

Anyway, she was remarkably well after the surgery and was running my DD's birthday party a few weeks later. I think it helped that she is quite fit and has a good diet.

She is really pleased that she had the surgery and has noticed that she can enjoy foods that she had started to avoid, thinking they were too "rich" for her 58-year old digestion!

MissingMyHeels · 04/06/2008 19:23

A friend of mine has just followed a detox plan to soften and pass her gallstones - all went well and are now gone. Bit painful I believe though.

NervousNervous · 04/06/2008 19:38

I had gallstones last year and they told me the only way to cure it was removal of the gallbladder. I was hospitalised with the pain and they told me i would have to have it removed as it became inflamed. Just so you know from a first hand experience point of view, the op and recovery is very painful. I had a c section in march and would have that again and again as opposed to my gallbladder op. It is worth having it done cos it can cause so many problems. I suggest you cut out fat and have the op when you are able to. I would struggle now with a new baby so just cut the fat out for now to avoid any complications.

NervousNervous · 04/06/2008 19:47

also found out had the stones in sept 06, after waiting a few weeks for the scan, then had the op in jan 07 - through my choice, i only had it in jan cos i was having severe pain, i was putting it off you see.

NervousNervous · 04/06/2008 22:47

sorry just reading through, the nhs were very good for me they given me the option to have the operation within 4 weeks of the initial scan.

I think to sum up: if you have them, have the op straight away so you avoid any complications. your consultant will stress it is in your interest and health to have it removed asap. Good luck and hope you don't have them lol

Dior · 04/06/2008 22:51

Message withdrawn

JackieNo · 04/06/2008 22:54

Have to say, the pain with me bore no relation to how I ate - it could come on in the middle of the night, it was completely random.

Dior · 04/06/2008 22:56

Message withdrawn

NervousNervous · 04/06/2008 23:08

just to reassure you, once the gallbladder is out, you can eat a normal diet with as much fat as you please

lizandlulu · 05/06/2008 09:17

jackieno, that is just how my pain was. it would just come randomly. it didnt matter what i ate at all. which is why i didnt think it was indegestion, there was no one food type i could put it down to.

CantSleepWontSleep · 05/06/2008 09:33

iirc I only had to wait a week or two for a scan.

I haven't had an op though, and have no intention of so doing unless they start to give me more regular problems.

lucyellensmum · 05/06/2008 09:39

get em out!!! is what i say. Sounds just like gallstones to me. I had a terrible time, it was post pregnancy and the pain was ten times worse than chilbirth. Some people can have gall stones and never experience any problems. Don't take any chances. I had mine for ages im sure as i was experiencing the same symptoms as you for a long time.

I think i waited about 3 months to get mine out, although got the U/S fairly quickly.

In the meantime, reduce the fat you eat, i had to litereally go on a NO fat diet as every time i ate fat i was in agony. the reason for this is that the gall bladder stores bile and ejects it into the stomach when you have a lot of fat to digest. The contraction of the GB moves the stones around and causes pain. You also have to watch that they dont get lodged in the bile duct - you'll know if they do, you'll go a lovely shade of yellow and feel sick sick sick, oh, this would be a good time to go to the emergency doctor! Probably wont happen though.

Surgury, providing they can do keyhole, they can in 80% of cases, is a piece of piss - Upon recovery most patients ask for a giant cream cake . I recovered from my OP in a week, but it was complicated by a tummy bug that i caught from DD, we all had it and it was evil - not a good week in our house But the surgery caused no problems and ive had no pain apart from the slightest niggle of indegestion since.

lucyellensmum · 05/06/2008 09:41

Sorry tiger but you are just about the right age - are you blonde?

LyraSilvertongue · 05/06/2008 09:41

My GP also thought I had gallstones.
I had the scan yesterday and nothing showed up.
It's a bit worrying as, if it's not gallstones causing the pain, then what is it?

lucyellensmum · 05/06/2008 09:43

cantsleep, why dont you want the OP? Its much better to get them out whilst there is no inflammation and potential complications that will then result in full on gastric surgery compared to keyhole

lucyellensmum · 05/06/2008 09:45

lyra - plain old indegestion? How dull! They would have checked for any nasties in the pancreas and liver whilst they scanned the gall bladder so it really probably is indegestion. Maybe get a subscription to gaviscon

mellyonion · 05/06/2008 10:04

lucyellensmum....

my gall stones blocked my bile duct...i'd not been ill at all before with it... just collapsed one day...turned a great shade of yellow...i looked really well, like i'd been on holiday for a month! then my eyeballs went yellow, and i didn't look so great!!!

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