Re: gall bladder problem?

[Guest guest]

Hi Jen, it good to hear your post sounding a bit more uplifted. It

could very easily be your gallbladder. The stones and sludge may

not have shown up the last time or maybe there were no stones at

that time. Gallbladder colic has pain that is as debilitating as cp

attack, it can be on the r or luq and often can circumvent the

thorax where as pts think they are having a heart attack. Thats why

so many people end up inthe ER with gallbladder pain, its awful.

However, before you jump into surgery make certain that it is the

gb. Ask your doc to schedule a HIDA scan. Thats the test of choice

to determine gb problems. Since you already have pd a lap chole,

the surgery to remove the gb, may not necessarily help. I'm not

trying to discourage you but all my problems started with a lap

chole and all they saw on my us's was small stones and sludge too.

I would have eventually had to have it removed because of the pain

and it still would have eventually led to cp because of my

physiology. So I guess in a way its better to have this while I am

younger and stronger.

I guess what I am trying to say is yes your pain could have been

your gb all along, but just to make sure ask about the HIDA scan.

Please let me know what they say and what choice you have made.

Warmly,

Chrissy

[Guest guest]

Jen,

I had pain that I thought was probably my gallbladder for at least 3-5 years

prior to having anything show up on tests. I had an ultrasound at least once,

maybe more and also had a HIDA scan, which shows how well the gallbladder is (or

isn't) functioning and it was normal. Finally in May, 1998, I had an ultrasound

that showed stones and then the HIDA scan showed my gallbladder functioned at

only 13%. I had it removed the following week and in 3 days felt better than I

had felt in a couple of months. My pain was (and still is) under the right rib

and through to the back. I had my first 'documented' case of acute pancreatitis

in January 2000. I had my first ERCP in Feb 2000. That ERCP showed sludge in

the common bile duct and a poor flow of the bile. The GI doctor did a

sphincterotomy to allow the bile to flow better. He told me then that the

gallbladder had probably caused damage to my pancreas long before it was ever

removed. I won't go into my LONG story, but I ended up being diagnosed with

chronic pancreatitis in June 2003.

My suggestion to you would be to ask to have a HIDA scan done so they can tell

if your gallbladder is functioning. If it is not functioning well and you also

have stones and sludge, I'd find a surgeon that would remove the gallbladder,

despite the fact that your pain is on the left side.

As to your question as to why the stones didn't show up previously - I have

found that medical tests are often much less reliable than the medical personnel

would have us believe. I also think that often things are not working totally

right in our body long before it becomes severe enough to cause changes that

will show on film.

Personally, I've had lots of times that there were various things wrong that

just didn't show up on film. I had a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder at

only 35 years old - not very common for someone who is not athletic - but I do

have lupus, which causes a lot of inflammation. The MRI didn't show the tear

but when the doctor did the shoulder surgery, he found that there was a tear

that needed to be repaired. My husband had an MRI of his knee and it didn't

show a torn cartillage. However, the ortho doc was convinced there was a torn

cartillage based on symptoms. My husband had arthroscopic knee surgery and

there was a torn cartillage exactly where the ortho doc thought there was,

despite the fact that it didn't show on MRI. I had a hernia that was visibly

evident with every cough. The surgeon did a ct scan just to see if there was

anything else going on in that area and to see if he could determine how large

the hernia was prior to surgery. The ct scan showed no evidence of a hernia.

However, the surgeon (and my other doctors) said there was definitely a hernia,

but it was still rather small. I'd had hernia surgery previously to repair one

large hernia and a small one that we didn't even know I had in the same area.

That surgery was every bit as bad (in regard to pain and recovery time) as the

abdominal hysterectomy I had 11 years ago. I didn't want to wait til this new

hernia got larger and risk such a painful recovery again. I had the surgery and

the hernia was exactly where the surgeon said it was, despite the ct scan saying

there was no hernia.

Essentially, my point to all of this is that a lot of times things have to get

pretty major before they will show up on tests.

I hope that they will find that your gallbladder is at the root of your

problems, remove it, and you never even have to think of the word pancreatitis

again!

W

[Guest guest]

Hey Jen,

I was reading your post and I do have to tell you something. Don't think it's

great that there going to remove or thinking about removing your gall blader

because I had mine removed at 20 and the pain started about 6 months after and I

too was admitted countless times and I to took every test there was until they

all knew what it was but I was too young and this is a disease that effects

older men so they said. Well after they did a EUS thats when they found out what

it was and they said its too late to do anything right now. And all of this

started because of getting my gall blader out. And to this day the docs think

that Im a big drinker or they just don't believe me. I went to one pain doctor

and brought him all the proof in the world that I have CP and when it was

diagnosed and by who and so on and on and he tells me that those tests are not

really good to tell if I want to find out I should get a CT scan. I looked at

the guy and said to myself are you for real? He then said if you want to know if

you have CP then you should get a CT scan. I looked at him and told him I have

had so many CT scans that I light up. And all of them are inconclusive and he

started with no that cant be and so on well anyways i drifted a little bit but

make sure that is the last option before they take the GB ok? I couldnt belive

that Pain MD though.

Gio