Questions about Sphincter of Oddi

[auntfufu]

I have some questions about Sphincter of Oddi that I hope some one out there can help me with.  I have read some of the remarks listed below, and am wondering if that might just be my problem instead of the pancreas.
I have a pain in the right side of my stomach and sometimes I swear that I can feel something burst in there.  This pain is very intense and it doesn't happen all the time.  Sometimes this pain radiates all the way to my back and clear across the top of my stomach.  Sometimes the pressure is to bad I have to throw-up.  My intire stomach bloats up and is very tender to the touch.  Leaning up to the counter to prepare meals or wash dished is very uncomfortable.  After a bout with the pain the next day I usually have very watery diaria and it is real yellow.
Then I will have relief for a while and then it starts all over again.  I get naseous (sp) with this alot.  This has been going on for quite some time.  I had my gull bladder removed 9 months ago.  Could that have caused this problem? I have had a endoscopy and they did find mild gastritis.  Can this problem cause gastritis?  What is the main cause of this problem?  Do you think that my symtoms sound like I could have this problem?
So many questions I could ask, but I better keep it to the basics.  I have not seen a GI.  Honostly, hadn't even thought of it until I found this sight.  Why can they find these problems doing the same tests when my family doctor can't?  I guess I'm asking for some guidence.  I get the feeling that my doctor doesn't believe that my symtoms are real.  Please Help!!!!

[susanrdh]

Hello,

    I do not know if I have a similiar situation to yours but let me explain.   I had my gallblader removed 2wks ago today and since 4 days post-op have had severe nausea & abdominal pain almost exactly like what I had prior to the surgery.    I've gone to the ER once already and had a repeat ultrasound & blood work which were negative.    One GI specialist did mention SOD to me and that he wanted to send me for a repeat HIDA scan as well as an ERCP w/special measurements.    I was up for 3 nights in a row w/SEVERE, stabbing pain beneath my ribcage and such nauseousness.   I did not know what to do.    I did seek the opinion of a 2nd specialist who disagreed w/the repeat HIDA scan and also felt the ERCP was too risky for the chance of pancreatitis starting.   The 2nd Dr. stated I could have an ulcer or that my pain could be musculoskeletal in nature.    I had an endoscopy done today which showed marked inflammation along my stomach w/no signs of any ulcers.    The tissue was sent to be biopsied and I am very concerned about this.   Why would there be marked inflammation?    I was feeling better today and told my Dr. this and he told me I was going in the right direction.    I did receive a call from him a few hrs after the exam and he stated he doesn't think my abdominal pain was GI related but more musculosketal in nature.    I did have bronchitis 2 months ago that lasted 3+ wks.    But if this pain I've been experiencing is musculosketal then why do I have such nauseousness along w/it?    And the pain I've noticed both last week and 1 month prior to that was at the time of my menstrual period.    Any comments??    I'd appreciate your input.    Feel free to email me at:  ***@****    Thanks.

[Steph67]

Glad to hear all of your liver tests are ok auntfufu!  I see your name a lot on this message board.  Would you be kind enough to read the message I posted today (5-13-02).  You seem to have great insight into GI disorders and I would appreciate any advice you could give.  Take care and THANKS!!  :o)

[susanrdh]

Hi,

Would you be kind enough to email me privately in regards to the Sphincter of Oddi problem.   I was told by one GI specialist that I may have the problem.    I had my gall bladder removed exactly 2 wks ago but still am experincing great abdominal pain on my right side just below my ribcage as well as nauseousness.    This pain comes about usually 2+ hours after eating.   My email adress is:  ***@****   I look forward to hearing from you.    Thanks,   Sue

[Steph67]

auntfufu, have you had tests done on your liver?  Sometimes tiny red spots with "spider legs" especially on the abdomen can be a sign of liver disease.

[Lor]

I was just treated a month ago with SOD. The test to determine it is the ERCP with menometry. It measures the pressure in the bile duct. I had all the symptoms you do. For me the pain was unbearable. The pain seems to go along with eating. Either you can't eat or you can't go on a empty stomach (which is what I had) For me some of my worst attacks came with my mestrual cycle. Funny most women dread that time - I did even more. I never knew when they would happen I got to the point where I just stopped going out. Which is hard with 2 very active kids. I had been to so many Drs who always came up with the same thing either IBS or reflux. I took 15 different meds trying to stop the pain. Nothing helped.
It is associated with gallbladder removal. About 10% of us get this. My story my be different than others. My pressures had been high for years. The bile duct wasn't opening enough to let the bile out, so it would back up into my gallbladder. When my gallbladder finally failed the attacks started becoming more frequent and a lot stronger. When I had it removed the pain started that day and was everyday and several times a day mostly starting in the middle of the night. My liver started showing signs next. Then my pancreas even though the tests came back ok. The stomach pain was undeniable. I went ahead with a sphincterotomy - I have had no pain since. I did get pancreatitis from it (ERCP w/menometry has high risk) and still am dealing with the after effects of the pancreatitis. I would do it again in a heart beat knowing what I know now. It should only be done by a Dr who does these daily and is very experienced. I had mine at the Borland Groover Clinic. Look up SOD at borland-groover.com

[auntfufu]

Thank you

[Nanny]

I forgot to comment about the red areas, that look like little spider veins.  I've noticed those in the past year, too, I have them right around my ankles and they are just noticable.   I attributed that to old age (I'm 50), but who knows!  No one else has noticed them, (or has been too polite to say anything), so I really haven't been too concerned.

If you need any more info about SOD, I can email you some other articles if you're interested.  Just email me at ***@****

Nanny

[Beaker]

Hi, I have SOD and have been through the Mill for the past 8 years.  I finally found a doctor who is a specialist in Biliary Problems.  I had a sphincterotomy on December 12th of last year and I feel like a new woman.  Of course I am not allowed any meat other than chicken and fish, or I will pay the price.  It isn't really all that bad, except I hate fish.  You do need to stay away from foods that are high in Fat.  I would try to find a gastroenterologist who's speciality is the Biliary Tree.  One thing they will want to know is when you had your attacks were you amylise and lipase levels high.  The only way you are going to get them to listen to you is to have high levels.  Dr. Martin did a sphincterotomy and put a stent in my pancreatic duct and clipped my bile duct.  I had a choleocystectomy in December of 1994 and was in pain before and after the surgery.  I went to anyone who would listen to me and even I began to think it was all in my head.  I had to argue with the one doctor who told me to read this book and come back and tell her where I was in the book.  When I did, she told me I was wrong.  I guess when she said I would have to have an ERCP to prove I didn't have SOD was the straw that broke the camel's back.  She told me I would have to go to someone else because she doesn't do ERCPs.  I was just inside the door of her waiting room when I said, "Are you dismissing me as an Patient?"  The look on her face was priceless, of course she said no.  She goes back into the exam room gets my chart and comes out and says, there just may be something to this SOD.  She said she just read my last ERCP report and I did have elevated levels.  I looked at her and said, you had my files for over 2 months and you just read my last ERCP?  Why did I go to all the bother of signing all of the releases for you to get my records, if you had no intention of reading them.  Her waiting room was packed.  In her defense, she did get me to Dr. Martin at Universith Hospital.  Now you know why doctors call their businesses Practices!  I cannot remember the exact name of the book but part of the title was the mind/gut connection.  It is lumped in with the IBS business.  This disease is suppose to be very difficult to diagnosis, but if you have the right doctor who takes the right test and ask the right questions,it just isn't that darn hard.  The pain I had that sent me to the ER was right above my stomach and on my right side, below my breast.  My lipase was 888 the last time I was there.  They should of kept me but go figure!  Doctors look at women and see the 3Fs, Female, Fat, Fourty/Fifty.  If someone told me not to eat meat 8 years ago and the pain would go away, I would have done it.  I am not Stupid, just FFF. LOL!  I don't know if any of this info will be of use to you, but I hope it will.  Good Luck!

[auntfufu]

You have a great sence of humor.  And yes, you did help.  I too have had a very hard time getting the doctors to believe me.  Even had one tell me that I wanted something to be wrong.  Can you believe that.  Anyway, It feels good knowing that I'm not alone in fight to find out what is causing this pain.  Thank you for your help.  the 3f's was a good one.

[auntfufu]

When I had my gull bladder removed they took a byopsy of a lump they found on my liver.  It was scare tisue.  So at that time they did do a liver panel and all checked okay.  I wonder if I do have a bile problem if that can cause liver damage as well.

[auntfufu]

Thank you so much for your help.  It is very interesting how the two can be so much alike.  Thanks again.

[Nanny]

Usually only a gastro or pancreatic specialist would able to recommend, read and understand the appropriate tests necessary to diagnose Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction.   It can not be seen in an ultrasound or basic CT-scan.  It is a complicated dysfunction and often difficult to diagnose. Specific tests to measure the pressure in the sphincter are used to diagnose this.  Pancreatic and SOD problems are really beyond the training levels of a general practioner.  

I have several friends with SOD in my pancreatitis group, since the problems are interrelated.  They describe the pain as being very sudden, violent pain in the upper abdominal and upper sternum.  Pain strong and sharp enough to cause them to break out in a sweat, totally dehabilitating while it lasts, often accompanied with vomiting.  Diarrhea usually follows after the SOD attack.  The attack diminishes within an hour or so.  Chronic pancreatitis attacks, while strong and excrutiatingly painful when a flare up occurs, are usually not so high in the sternum,  are usually less severe and last of much longer duration, often taking days to subside.  Vomiting and nausea can also accompany this, so you can see where the two conditions are difficult to differentiate due to the similarity of physical symptoms.

Hope this helps.
Nanny

[auntfufu]

I just thought of another symtom that I feel needs to be shared.  I have these red blotched that when you look at them real close they almost look like spider vanes.  I have them on my cheeks, my chest and am starting to get them on my stomach and my arms.  Is this a sign of anything.  Or am I just getting old.