Gallstone stories?

[Rainbowbaby234]

Hi for those who suffer with gallstones or have undergone surgery to have your gallbladder removed, can you share your experiences?

I’ve been experiencing discomfort for months under my right rib cage/around my back throughout the day. The pain also radiates to my right shoulder. At night time the pain can intensify and takes my breathe away. I had a c-section 1 year ago and I’ve read many stories of gallstones PP. I’m also the only female left in my family not to have my gallbladder removed! I’m feeling nauseas a lot of the time with the pain and I know something isn’t right.

Though this has made me panic. Is it not picked up on nhs blood test?

This is what my scan showed and they said not to have the op.

It should have been picked up yes. I’ve had a meeting with the practice and made a complaint. They have apologised etc and lots of “with hindsight’s” money was picked up at a company medical. Have you access to the nhs app you can see your blood test results? I’ve only just managed to get mine as their service wasn’t working. I’ll show you my lfts

Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) 183.3
Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) 133.1 *

Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) 64.2*
Gamma GT (GGT) 209.2*

Bluey don’t panic just ring gp tomorrow or pop in and get a print out of your blood test results. Also ask for permission to see them on the nhs app.

Ah I’m no expert but looks like your stones aren’t in the neck like mine are n

I got mine out 6 years ago. Before then I was all about the green traffic light system on foods.

If I got an attack, as soon as I felt it start I would lie face down over the pouffe and jam the edge into under my ribs with a bucket on the floor if I wanted to puke. It was uncomfortable but it made the pain manageable and I never needed to go to a&e.

I started getting attacks about 7 or 8 years back. At first I dismissed them....I mean everyone gets stomach pains from time to time. Plus they'd ease up and I'd be fine....till the next time! But they started intensifying in severity and frequency till I got a really bad attack one night. My husband called 999, and we're not ones to do that willy nilly. However thus was during the pandemic and they were really busy so they called me back later with a HCP to triage it, by this time it had eased off and mindful of how stretched services were at that time I cancelled the ambulance and made a GP phone appointment.

While I was waiting on the appointment I googled my symptoms (I know! But I'm a HCP myself and generally sensible) and everything pointed to gallstones. The one minor difference was my pain was central rather than to the right but even so most sites reported the pain could be central. Anyway my GP while acknowledging it sounded like gallstones was dubious because of where the pain was but agreed to an ultrasound which showed a gallbladder full of stones.

Following this there was a few hoops because the hospital was dubious because of where the pain was and I kept pointing out even the NHS website said the pain could be central but after further scans they agreed I needed the op. I was actually prioritised and had the surgery fairly quickly given that we were coming out of covid and the waiting lists as a result. By the time I had the surgery I was having intense attacks roughly fortnightly. The pain itself would be about 2 hours but I felt like I was hungover for want of a better word for a couple of days.

On the day of the surgery, the surgeon said while he agreed I had gallstones he wasn't convinced it was the cause of the pain, because of the site, and I'm like 'tell it to the hand'. After the surgery he came to see me again. It's standard practice to count the stones. Most have about 4 or 5. The surgeon lost count at 200, and said he wasn't surprised I got pain! Trust your gut (yes I'm being ironic!!!)

I recovered well from the surgery and no after effects.

I had my gallstones removed in the early 2000s. Whenever anyone asks how did I know, I had pain that was worse than contractions. I couldn’t pin point where the pain was!
I was lucky we had private medical, at the time, so it was 4 weeks between seeing the GP and having my gall bladder removed! I was back to work in a week (I’m self employed).
Gall stone pain is the worst ever!

Gosh yours were high. I have the first 2 tests but not the last two.

I had my gall bladder removed last year after months of tests on my ovaries, lady bits was almost about to beg for a hysterectomy until one more sonographer spotted gallstones the size of olives. I have to be quite careful what I eat now in terms of fat as everything tends to turn to bum thunder. I have 3 small scars but would recommend the surgery for sure.

Bluey yours all look in range.

My scan and repeat bloods are tomorrow. My attack was across the whole top half of my abdomen and I was severely struggling to breathe - we called 999 but drove to a&e as I’m pregnant and it was a hour wait.
It happened about 3 times in 2 hours with general pain inbetween but the episodes of feeling unable to breathe were excruciating - seems some people can manage things at home whereas others are calling 999/ending up in A&E.
I wonder if the more severe attacks are due to the stones being lodged in a duct or size/amount of them?

petrified to have another attack so currently managing with diet but il be asking for removal as I never ever want to experience that again!

I haven't had gallstones personally but my dad is going through it right now. About a month ago, he had stomach pain and what seemed to mimic indigestion. Then he started vomiting. He was vomiting for around 24hrs and within 48hrs he said the pain was unbearable like nothing he ever experienced. He had been in contact with someone who had Norovirus so we called NHS111 who told us to take him to A&E.

An 11.5 hour stint in A&E and they suspected something going on with the gallbladder/pancreas. His bloods were all over the place he was admitted and a CT Scan showed gallstones & sludge and an inflamed pancreas. They discharged him after 2.5 days he was still in bad shape. The diagnosis was Acute Cholecystitis, Pancreatitis, Gallstones.

After a weekend home we had to take him back to A&E and it transpired he should never have been discharged in the first place. I was not impressed and neither was the Dr in A&E. They kept him in for 6.5 days the infection had cleared and inflammation markers back to normal. They did actually mention that his bloods were totally fine and they sent him home with Paracetamol and told to wait for an MRI appointment. It's been 4 weeks since he's been discharged he still gets pain, struggles to eat, is very weak and not really much better aside from a lack of infection. No sign of an MRI either.

We heard about the long waiting lists so booked an appointment with a private consultant who is also on the board of directors for the NHS in my area. The consultant managed to get hold of his notes and bloods from the day he was discharged and his blood test showed abnormal liver function and indicated a gallstone was blocking the bile duct which explains why he is still so unwell. The NHS didn't follow this up or investigate further. The consultant took another blood test which we are waiting on the results for as the NHS have failed to follow things up properly.

If his bloods still indicate there is a blockage he will need to be transferred back to the NHS for an endoscopy, which his private consultant has said he will personally arrange that. Then he can continue to have the MRI if needed and then surgery privately. Going privately, does feel as though we are now going to get to the bottom of things so he can finally recover properly. It is really hard to see him suffering like this.

My advice to anyone suffering with this is to go privately if you can. All the hospital has done in my dad's case is pile him with fluids and antibiotics without treating the issue properly.

I was bumped up the list as my gallstones were acute so private is great if you’re not an emergency. If you’re an emergency they are duty bound to assist. The NHS follow up care is also second to none and I have used my private healthcare a lot over the last 30 years.

Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case for us. During the whole experience we have been given nothing but conflicting and incorrect information.
The care he received was poor quality and not one single Dr ever mentioned a blockage or an endoscopy.

He was told to go home and wait for an MRI appointment as an outpatient. I checked and apparently there is a 30 week wait in my area.

The NHS let us down badly and going privately was a last resort. The consultant is one of the Executive Directors for our local Health Board and he was seriously unimpressed with how we’ve been treated.

We do probably have grounds for complaint considering everything that has happened but that’s not our concern at the moment. The NHS in my area is notoriously bad. I think the level of care depends on which area you are in.

I've had multiple small gallstones for around 20 years and don't suffer all the horrendous problems some people do. I eat pretty much what I like, within reason, and other than three attacks in the past two years (which were manageable) I'm okay.

The GP was going to refer me to a consultant but that was two years ago so I think the referral has got lost! I will just leave it unless I get more frequent attacks (I know what caused the last two, so hopefully can avoid them in future).

Saw the surgeon today and I’m having my gallbladder out next week. As well as the gallstones in the neck of my gallbladder I have a thickened gallbladder wall and a 5mm polyps on the gallbladder. Plus very high liver enzymes. No pain at all so I’m having it whipped out while I am well. Scheduled for keyhole surgery and hope to be home same evening. Anyone recommend what to wear post surgery please as I think the incisions will be on my bra line and knicker line. Thanks !

My incision (one of them) is just below the bra mark, but tbh, post surgery didn't bother for a couple of weeks. Mostly wore loose fitting clothes as the incision that got me was the one on the belly button, so joggers hiked up Simon Cowell style did the trick.

For a variety of reasons, needed to get back to work, so only took 2 weeks off, but if my boss wasn't such a jerk I had to do it over, would definitely take more time off as I was quite tired going back so soon.

Thank you for the tips!