weight loss, nausea vomiting bile after gallbladder removal

[mother of four]

hi, i am a 42 old female, i experienced gallbladder attacks in oct.2004, was extremely sick, vomiting, lethargy, the ultrasound showed i had alot of gallstones,(30-40) had it removed by laparscopy, had no problems for 2 weeks, then i experienced nausea 24/7,and then intermittent diarrhea, had a colonoscopy, which was normal, then i had an endoscopy which showed a copius amount of bile in my stomach, was put on welchol and nexium (had some ulcers) did okay for a couple of months, then in june of 2005 i lost 32 lbs in a 3-4 week period, i had no appetite whatsover,severe lethargy,intermittent diarrhea, a feeling of fullness. I  had a cat scan which showed a mass in some fluid down by my rectum. I also had a vaginal ultrasound which showed some debri in my cervix. So the gi doctor told me it was female so i went to a gyn and she wanted to do a total hysterectomy because she thought i had ovarian cancer, the ca125 was neg. my insurance did not cover her so i went to a cancer center and they did a uterine biopsy and she told me my female organs were totally normal. so now i went back to the gi doctor, he did a test that i had to have electrodes on my stomach and i carried a camera on my side,( i cannot remember the test name) came back normal, had a lower gi, normal, was tested for celiac disease, normal, lupus,normal every test that i have had is totally normal, i went to another doctor, she repeated the cat scan, the mass is gone but the radiologist saw another mass in my uterus and he assumed it was a tampon, 100 percent cannot be a tampon because i never wear tampons because they bother me too much! i understand that you are not a gyn but i thought you needed to know everything. i have lost a total of 46 lbs to date , extremely nauseous, which i take phenegran for and it does help, there are days that i have an okay day but 80 percent of my days are terrible, i cannot function, very nauseous and i just want to lay down, i feel better if i lay down, when i vomit its always bile, and lots of it, and it is a wicked wretching, not like a normal puking, and i get very sick, almost disoriented, i feel malaise, i feel like i have the flu 10 x over, i sleep for hours and then this syndrome? goes away and then i can funtion again, i have been so sick for 5 months now, i was fine until i had my gallbladder removed, some stomach pain, but nothing that would double me over , the pain is all over my stomach , sometimes in upper right quadrant, sometimes left side, i want the docter to do a ercp but he said that is not necesary, i was told that sometimes your cystic duct closes and thats when i get sick , feel terrible and then when it reopens i feel better. i sometimes feel bloated, have gas and belching . i went back to the surgeon who removed my gallbladder and he said he found nothing wrong, 3 doctors want to put me on an ani-depressant! please steer me in the right direction, you are my last hope, do i stop looking and give up? thankyou so much

[oatmealEATR]

So, Whatnext! you like my name, huh? (smiling) Yeah, I thought it was appropriate. I still have oatmeal/toast for bkf but sometimes I will have pancakes and 2 pcs of bacon. Still can't seem to gain any weight. Prior to surgergy, I was 160 (was at 145 when I checked out of hosp in April 05, now I'm at 130). Doctor called over Xmas break to say my add'l bloodwork showed iron low and I should buy iron pills. I hear they can constipate you so I think I'll try to get it naturally or take a multi-vitamin. I'm still on Nexium and haven't had any pain attacks. I do have to take them every morning and when I'm late taking them or late eating breakfast, it's like somebody is twisting my insides. I eat 6 or 7x a day (have good appetite; have to snack a lot on fruit, lots of water). I thankfully have never had the vomiting, reflux, or diarrhea. BMs are still 1x a week, but that's how they were b/4 GB surgery. Sorry that we are all going thru this, but IT IS nice to know I am not alone! Later (I'm hungry again, think I'll fix a cup of o'meal!)

[Depressed Veteran]

Hello.

I am thrilled and depressed to read this column.  I had my gallbladder removed on the 19th of Dec 05.  Life was GREAT (even through the severe pain) for the first few days, I started vomiting, nausea and belching sporadically around christmas eve, spent Christmas Day in bed (barely made it up to see my baby boy (8 y.o.) open his gifts, then right back to bed.  Couldn't drive etc.  FINALLY a day or so later felt soooo great.  Ate McDonald's for the first time in god knows how long with NO symptoms!  Was WONDERFUL!!!  

I should mention that in September I had this "attack" of severe belching and nausea for about four hours.  Then the next day it started NON_STOP until the gb surgery.  They (the dept of veterans affairs-my only healthcare) put me on morphine outpatient, 15mg pills.  they didn't help the severe right side pain very much but slowed down the belching.  The docs said they didnt think taking the gb out would help.  I was THRILLED to throw it in their face when i went for my 10 day checkup and felt like a new person with NO BELCHING or VOMITING!!!  

About 3 days ago the burping (non-stop) and farting, and vomiting started AGAIN!!!  I am throwing up bile, i also had hot/cold sweats, severe runs, extreme fatigue, fullness etc.  but no right sided pain.  I looked up symptoms of vicodin/morphine withdrawal and most of them are present. SOO I am assuming part of this is from no longer taking the pain meds they had me on (at doses high enough to knock out a full grown horse) and then them stopping them suddenly!  GOtta love the VA!  I made an appointment with my son's doc for Monday b/c i was so sick again today that I couldnt get my son to school or get myself to dentist.  I am losing weight, vomiting bile.  I do not have any insurance other than thru the VA.  It took 2 MONTHS to get them to do a gb ultrasound, after I paid over 100.00 to a private doc and three civilian ER visits, all of whom said i needed one ASAP.  

does anyone have this burping thing???  with the vomiting?  HELP!!  I do NOT have the money to get private tests done and the VA is non-cooperative.  The drug withdrawal is over (for the most part- I think).  ANY IDEAS AT ALL PLEASE EMAIL ME at ***@****.  

[MomofTellBoboApsiWeeAJ]

Good News for us our PCP is listening to us, and sending us for a CT scan and to another GI dr whos speciality is cases like my daughters, where they don't stop until they get you fixed. Our PCP expects the new GI specialist to do a ERCP on my daughter, I will keep you informed for anyone else like me who has this kind of problem, the sad thing is all of you like my daughter who are waiting to get help yet. I am sorry some Dr.s are such jerks, I hope someday you all get well, its hard to live when you are in such pain.

[princesscelena]

27 Fm mother of 7 year old boy. Had Hiatal Hernia surgery in Sep 03 to relieve acid reflux. lost 20 lbs in 3 months. Then in May of 04 I wake up nautious and vommiting, diareha then ER. take out GB fine for 2-3 weeks. June - Aug 04 lost 70LBS!!!! I went from 220 to 105 in less than a year. GI said it was physcological, she said it was very physcical, he dont know then. They have given me every med on the plant. I still have no appetite and vommit bile every morning! I stopped going to the Dr in Apr 05. They gave me everytest under the sun. I have swalled every color dye(with little sucess everytime), had every hole scopped, i found a few homeopathic solutions to cope with appetite and pain. no more significant weight loss however i can tseem to gain any either. I still vommit alot and would lik this to be resoved someday. Anyone have any ideas?

[MomofTellBoboApsiWeeAJ]

HI I am writing this for my 16 yr old daughters, She had her gallbladder removed october 21, 205 she had been suffering with the pain of that since about Feb 2005 it took them all that time to figure out it might be her gallbladderfirst she had an endoscopy which showed no sores in her stomach and definetly NO BILE she was given a sono on 10/20/05 and they found nothing, they did the hidi test and found her gallbladder to not be working right, once the dr did the surgery came and told us me and my husband her GB was working at only 9% we thought thank god this is over now, well 2-4 weeks after she starts having severe pain in her abdomen right where the rib cage meets,the pain travels to her back and chest, she has squeezing chest pain, and her heart starts beating fast,  if feels as if her back was breaking and someone stabbing her in the abdomen with a knife, is this how it is for you all? also Took her back to the GI dr yesterday 1/4/06 I have the tape they did of the endoscopy and it shows bile in her stomach, but yet they refuse to do anything about it the surgeon NOT the GI dr gave her meds for ulcers, she has NO ulcers, and then we took her to the ER last nite where they wanted to give her Xanax for anxiety, saying she is only having anxiety attacks, I am going to go see our PCP tomorrow and demand one or maybe all of these tests CT, MRI and an ERCP my child needs help and I won't stop until she gets it, Why do you think these drs won't help us????? also correct me if I am wrong, if you have bile in your stomach do you have a bile leak since it should be dumping into your small intestines and not resting in your stomach, My 16 yr old is NOT going to be on pain meds for the rest of her life, I am going to demand they fix this. Also can any of you tell me will or would the Stent work for the leak?? Any advice is greatly appricate, also Have any of you thought to check into a personal injury lawyer, I know I am going to!!!! Please email me if you think you can help us ***@****
thank You
Laura

[chaquita4ever]

I am a 19 year old female who just had her gallbladder out about a month and a half ago.  It took awhile for doctors to diagnosis me.  I complained of persistant nausea, sharp pains on upper right abdomen, and diarreha.  At first the doctor thought it was IBS and/or GERD and I was put on meds for both.  Neither seemed to work so they did an ultra sound- found nothing; then they did a hida scan- produced the pain but my GB was emptying fine.  I visited a general surgeon and he recommended to have my gallbladder out.  11/21 I had surgery.  It turns out my gallbladder was two times the regualr size and it was full of sand.  On top of that my omentum was twist from my gallbladder down to my rectum.  Recovery was slow but no problems from the surgery.  I was completely fine; I ate what I wanted, just like the surgeon said but a couple days for Christmas I flew out to visit my father in Texas and on the flight I had severe chest pain and I couldn't breath very easliy.  I was given oxygen on the flight.  An ambulence met me at the gate and took an EKG and my blood oxygen level, which were both normal.  Fearing a blood clot, I went to the ER.  A chest xray and CT scan was done- they concluded I had pulisery (painful inflamation of the lungs) but I didn't have any symptoms for it.  Christmas day I had severe lower abdominal pain and I went to the ER.  They found fluid in my right ovary- said it was a ruptured cycst.  The doctor gave me some vicodin for the pain.  After I took it the chest pains came again, I went back the ER- another CT scan (I had to drink iodine this time, came back normal) However the doctor thought I could be suffering from several esopigal distress or acid reflux due to the GB removal.  He gave me Protonix and some nausea medication.  I have had one eposide since then, and the last two days the nausea has increased.  I can't eat anything spicy or fatty.  I'm suppose to see my family doctor Thursday.  I'm kinda scared though.  I'm so young, but I'm having so many medical problems.  I know that God has a purpose for my life and he keeps me positive a strong in this time.