Could this still be gallbladder pain despite clear scan results?

[TheChiffchaff]

I had some kind of infection in February which they never got to the bottom of.
Upper right abdominal pain, nausea and back pain. It cleared up eventually but has come back.
I'm convinced it's gallbladder but the ultrasound and CT didn't show anything.
It seems to coincide with fatty food.
The pain has been worst in the centre of my back. I seem to get it for a few days then I'm fine but it comes back again.

I’ve just come out of hospital where they found gallstones, I had very similar symptoms to the ones you are describing. I had a ct scan initially and they saw them immediately, I then went on to have an mri as I had a couple blocking my bile duct so possibly the ct scan hasn’t picked them up?

The pain is on my right under my ribs and between my shoulder blades/across that part of my back.

I hope you find some answers soon

I recently had an ultrasound which showed no gallstones but I get pain whenever I have a very fatty meal. I will be speaking to a GI doctor about it so will see what they say.
I believe that you can have a dysfunctional gallbladder without gallstones.

Sounds like it. Sometimes it’s more sludge and grit than gallstones so may be difficult to show in imaging? I’ve been told the size / amount of gallstones doesn’t coincide with the amount of pain - you can have a tiny one and be in agony or lots of big ones and have no symptoms. Not sure how true that is. I had mine out over ten years ago, and don’t regret it.

I had 3 ultrasounds before they found gallstones.
I kept insisting that it had to be. They ruled out everything else through colonoscopy and other tests. . As usual my GP did t listen until I pushed. ( I'm not in the UK so changed GPS in the end. ) Sounds like you have all the symptoms.

I didn’t know I had any gall stones but found in the weeks leading up to a gall stone escaping and blocking my liver that my digestion was slow. It felt like my food was in my chest. I had emergency ercp surgery to get the gall stone out. The ct scan in an and e diagnosed the gall stones however I’ve gone private. The ultra sound I am told picks up little stones a lot more as it’s targeted. I get the pain you have. My next advice is to have a very low fat diet until you get a diagnosis you are happy with. I am getting the gall bladder removed next weekend via robotic surgery; I feel lucky to have access to private health care though I am currently shitting myself right now ( from fear).

Sorry, I just read you’ve had an ultrasound.

How long do your symptoms last?

GP was very dismissive because as far as she's concerned it was ruled out.

I had my gall bladder removed . I had what they term as slush which blocked the bile duct and made me very ill . The pain right sided under the lower rib area , excruciating and took my breath away . It would be hard to see on a scan . I had abnormal blood results maybe ask for bloods to be done .

I only found out I had gallstones after I had a blood test for pancreatitis first. It felt like a red hot poker going under my sternum all the way through to my back.

My symptoms last for a few hours, usually at night time (after the big meal that’s caused it). But at its worst it was a grumbling pain that was there all the time, for several days, interspersed with sharp pains. That has settled down a bit with reducing the fat in my diet a little bit. I was fortunate to have private health care so I will follow up with that doctor about my blood results etc. I also had a FIT test (poo) as well, which is worth doing for any gastrointestinal symptoms.

I get nausea after eating fatty food, then upper right abdominal pain, then over the next few days back pain and diarrhoea. I've had CT and ultrasound which didn't identify anything. GP has now referred me to gastro which has a very, very long wait. I could afford a private consultation but probably not any tests.

@TheChiffchaff I had exactly these symptoms and it was gallstones for me. My GP dismissed me saying my symptoms were not consistent with gallstones. The next time I had an attack in the middle of the night I turned up at a&e, I did feel like I was dying and I didn’t know that I was actually turning yellow!

I would go a&e when you next have an episode, they took me seriously. It could be that you do have stones in you gall bladder but you could be passing them and that’s why they didn’t see them in the scan.

@TurquoiseDreamCatcher thanks for that. Did you actually have a scan and nothing visible? I had a CT and US so as far as my GP is concerned it's not my gallbladder. She might be right of course but I don't really trust her as she was in a rush and very grumpy.
The waiting time for first gastro appointment is nearly a year...

What were your blood results like? Gallstones attacks tend to result in deranged liver results (mine were sky high).

I feel ur pain. I have been issues for several years. I have been backwards and forwards to the doctor's. The scans reveal nothing. I am having to dig my feet in. I will be making a nuisance of myself. I will probably be going down the private route- not got much extra money either.

My gallbladder was absolutely packed and was ready to burst which is why I had turned yellow. On reflection, I had few years of abnormal liver results and I was to cut down alcohol but I’m tee-total, so it didn’t make sense. Apparently men are more likely to be checked for gallstones than women!

My gallbladder was full of really small stones but other people can have large stones that get stuck in the tubes before passing.

Liver results were fine. It's definitely digestive but not stomach. I've had gastritis and various stomach inflammation before and this is different. When it was my stomach, years ago, it was acidic and spicy food that triggered it. I had to eat bland food. This is different because I can eat anything spicy or acidic, it's grease or fatty food that triggers it.

Have they looked at the pancreas? Just because from my experience the the liver, gall bladder and pancreas all linked.
I am currently in private hospital after gall bladder removal yesterday. I was lucky employer has private access to healthcare for me and my family.
I hope you find an answer but do cut out fatty foods in interim. Jacket potatoes and boiled veg with lean meat are your friend x

I had my gallbladder out in April. I had five stones. And I didn’t get the pain that everyone else did. Just a dull ache. It can also be a texture thing. I could eat apple crumble and custard but I couldn’t eat crackers that had barely any fat at all.

start making a food diary. Everything u eat and the pain. My first initial scan they couldn’t see anything. My next scan they thought I had polyps and the third they showed me the stones moving around when I turned over.

Don’t give up. Keep moaning at people.

@DoesthislookgoodOnMe pancreas looked ok on scan, however by the time I had the scan I was much better.
I'll start a food diary. Ironically I don't eat much fried food normally but I don't exclude it. On the worst day I ate a plate of gorgeous fish and chips. Another day it was a bacon sandwich.