Gallstones help!

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Hi, looking for some advice and to see if anyone has a familiar story as I am
clueless.
I’m currently on a surgical waiting for an mri scan. I woke in the early hours of Sunday feeling dreadful and was sick, then had a fever and pain in my back between my shoulder blades and a fever.

I put it down to food poisoning as we had been out for a meal and I’d had a chicken dish that i didn’t finish as it wasn’t nice at all. So I was in bed on Sunday and went to work on Monday feeling ropey.
On Tuesday I went to work and in the afternoon had a wee that was really dark orange colour but put it down to me having had Pepto Bismol, anyway I went home that evening and DS1 said I looked a funny colour, when I looked in the mirror I was yellow!! It was so shocking, called 111 and they said go to a&e.
So I’ve been here since then, I had a CT scan and the consultant said it shows I have a 13mm gallstone blocking my bile duct which explains the jaundice, he wants to put operate via my throat to remove it but wants me to have a mri scan first, there is a wait for that though, he thinks Tuesday so I am stuck here in the meantime.

I’m so worried, he said that I would need my gallbladder removed further down the line but has anyone had an experience where they haven’t needed it removed after having gallstones?

My family history is surrounded, my dad and his brother have had a gallbladder removed and both my gran and grandad on my mums side had trouble!

I also had a blocked bile duct - had it removed 18 months ago. I've had no issues since - my dicky digestive system is better than it was before

Definitely get the GB removed. I was left with a pancreas disease and later had a major pancreas surgery as those blooming stones caused damage. So get the GB out as soon as possible. The GB surgery itself was a really easy recovery, and most people go back to normal eating afterwards. Don’t be tempted to delay surgery as you’re feeling better as the sooner its out the better in my experience.

So nice been back at work a couple of weeks and have niggling pain now and then but not too bad, then on Monday I felt really poorly, by Tuesday I was calling 111 and was back in hospital, I have an infected gallbladder, I’ve never felt pain like it, so, so bad along with fever/chills. It was very frightening, they but me on a drip and did bloods, then sent me home with antibiotics and painkillers, they can’t remove it because it’s infected. So more time of work and quite a long recovery process. I feel so bad, to top it all of I should have been at Harry Styles last night!

They can, that’s what they did for me. I was admitted through A&E, put on IV antibiotics which did nothing so on the 3rd day they took me into theatre and whipped it out. They had to do a wash out and put in a drain because it was very infected and disgusting so I had to stay a couple more days till the drain could be removed.

Had mine out last March. The best thing as I had approx 200 lacerated stones on the the mri scan apparently. Every one a potential 8 hour attack. I feel for you, but I’ve been absolutely fine since the operation. I suffered for many years with cramps and shoulder blade ache not knowing what it was. If ever you have an attack which I hope you don’t again then laying on your left, surround the area with a heat pack, sip peppermint tea. But if it’s blocked then obviously more serious and won’t pass itself.
like you, family history of gallstones. The surgery lays you up for some time but I’ve personally been able to return to eating normally without the fear of an attack. Best wishes OP x

@InfoSecInTheCitythat’s interesting, they were adamant that they can’t remove when infected. I am feeling slightly in less pain that yesterday so I’m hoping the antibiotics work but if I don’t start to feel better soon I’ll go back to a&e

@totallyoutnumberedThanks for the tip about peppermint tea, I can only bear to lay on my left so I’m getting quite uncomfortable in one place all the time, I think I’ve got lots of little ones so im also worried about repeat attacks

They really don’t like to remove it when infected as it’s a much more risky operation and can result in having to have drains and stuff and a much more protracted recovery. So unless it’s a really emergent situation they will treat the infection and remove when it’s calm. At the time I was annoyed as I just wanted it out, but when I actually got it removed it was very straight forward with an easy recovery so I’m glad it was done then in the end.

It’s a minor operation. I went home the same day and just eat normally. Nothing to worry about (and no scar)

I had mine out after spending a week in hospital with an IV and Cholecystitis. I only had 2 attacks but had suffered with back pain for a couple of years that I just put up with as it was sporadic. No after effects of the surgery. I did find out that due to having obstetric cholestasis in my second pregnancy many years ago, I may be more susceptible to gall stones.

Had mine removed in February after a hellish 6 months with gallstone attacks pretty much every day, pancreatitis caused by a stuck gallstone, and losing 4st in 3 months due to not being able to eat anything without pain.

Surgery was easy, recovery quick and have felt brilliant ever since. Nothing I can’t eat, although too much cheese makes me very gassy!

That was the same for me. I’d had multiple occasions of back pain in the night that stopped me sleeping but I blamed it on a desk job, bad posture and being overweight. It was only when I had the back pain ramp up to so bad I was vomiting and accompanied by a fever that I made my way to A&E. One great big stone and a rotting gallbladder.

The left thing helped me a bit, but often kneeling on the bed on all fours with my bum right up in the air and my forehead on the bed really helped a lot. Sometimes I'd stack up pillows to wrap over and read a book like that as a distraction.

I also kept having my operation pushed back due to infections - avoid eating anything more than 3% fat AND less than 1% saturated fat - I found it helped prevent infections by keeping my gallbladder calm.

Thanks for all your advice, it means so much. I’ve tried peppermint tea and that really helps, any ideas for foods that you were able to eat in the early days, I’m not really eating because I’m so scared, just having watermelon and lime juice so far.

Back in a&e again, the antibiotics finished yesterday so I booked a gp appointment to check he felt that they infection had cleared and he wasn’t happy it had so he sent me to a&e and midday, still in a corridor now, they doctor I saw here said he will give me another week of antibiotics and to go and see him on the ward on Friday and he’ll take it from there, don’t really know what’s that means. Still in pain and discomfort

How are you today? It was only iv antibiotics that got rid of my infection!

Why do they remove the gallbladder and not just the stones? There must be a reason but I don't know what it is

Once your gallbladder starts making them, it never really stops. You'd be back in pain and having them removed over and overs and long term gallbladder inflammation can damage the liver. I was on the verge of liver failure when I had mine removed as repeated infections had caused adhesions.

Given that removing the gallbladder is generally a complete cure, and barely more invasive than removing the stones, it seems silly to go for the worse treatment. Most people have little to no side effects from removal, and those who do can easily manage them with some diet changes.

There is a treatment they can do that uses pulses of sound or shock waves to break up the stones so they’ll pass but it’s generally considered temporary. I think if they’ve go it into you and cut into the gallbladder it’s generally as invasive but less temporary to just remove it.

When I went into hospital to have my gallbladder removed, my MIL confidently explained to my DH that they don’t remove gallbladders just the gallstones. She was very convincing and when DH came to visit me after my gallbladder was out, he questioned the doctor. 😂

My MIL was a bit bonkers about quite a few things but DH always believed her.

I had mine out last year. I thought I only had 2 or 3 flare ups with mine ( heavy chest pain/ top of stomach). Found I’d really bad gallstones during a ct scan for something else. Was put through to have I removed urgently to a private hospital through the nhs. They told me it was extremely bad. I told the consultant it wasn’t giving me much bother. Turned out the back pain I’d been having for 2/3 years was the gallstones. Simple op, out the next morning. Very straightforward. Tiny little incisions as down via keyhole and I returned to work in 3 weeks

I still have a lot of pain and discomfort but I feel less unwell generally, I’ll just have to see what Friday brings, it seems so odd that I just go on to the surgical ward and wait around for the consultant but that’s what he told me to do, not entirely confident he’ll see me. I know they won’t remove it while the infection is still there but something needs to happen.

So despite my doubts I did get to see the consultant, he did more bloods which are improving so sent me home with a sick note til Tuesday.

He said he would put in his notes that I get moved up the list for gallbladder removal but don’t know how long that would be.
Also said that it could happen again, another blockage, another infection. Is this what has happened in anyone else’s experience, I feel that there is so much infection there and so many gallstones that it’s inevitable that I’ll get another complication before they can remove it.