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

[Deb G1]

My son and I both have had our gallbladders removed and had several ERCP's & stents. I am managing and my son is having complications. He is experiencing upper right pain and burning, with sharp pain& nausea, he has a hard time eating. We have been in Washington state where he spent a month in the hospital with no results, we are currently at the Mayo Clinic boy are they slow at getting anything done. As I write this we are back in Washington doing more tests all negative. If anyone has any ideas or a better place to go for medical help please e-mail me at ***@****. We are exhausted and frustrated and almost giving up. We get the run around when it comes to managing his pain NO doctors will give him pain medicine they all keep sending us to other doctors and pain clinics.They are afraid of loosing their lright to pratice medicine if they treat him. Any idea where we can seek relief from pain till the doctors maybe some day find the problem???

[oatmealEATR]

I can relate to not having a gallbladder or gallstones (removed April 05) but still experiencing gut-wrenching pain.

All was fine for six months from April 05-Oct 11. While at work Oct 12,I had excrutiating pain just below my sternum that felt like when they discovered I had gallstones (a bunch of 'em). Two days later, at work, another attack where I ended up going to ER. They didn't know what was causing it after having an ultrasound, blood/urine tests, so they gave me pain meds, a prescrip for Protonix and sent me home. I called my GI and asked to see him. He had no idea, but I told him I was not leaving until he scheduled an MRI. He said it 'wasn't necessary' but I was insistant. Well, I convinced him to schedule it two wks later. Had the appointment on Oct 19. The next morning (again while at work..hmmm) I had an attack. I went to my car in the parking lot and waited it out. But I thankfully took my cell phone and hydrocone (pain) pill with me. I called my GI's office while having the attack and screamsed/insisted he call me back with my results of the MRCP since I was in the midst of having another attack! The nurse finally calls me back 1.5 hr later and they say they couldn't find anything!! No stones in my bile duct, nothing. They said if I hadn't taken the protonix to start and come in for followup appt (which is in 2wks). So far, 2 wks and counting, I haven't had an attack. I have had any probs since Oct 20. Thank God!

[JANIEL]

I just want you all to know that I am happy and sad at the same time that there are people out there with the same problem. I am sorry you are going through this.  It lets me know that I am not crazy. I feel bad for my husband for dealing with me, but it is so hard to talk to someone who doesn't understand. He keeps telling me to go on an anti-depressant to help me deal with this.  I am scared to, but I know I need to do something. How do they make you feel?  Does it help any? I cry all of the time about this and have no one to pick me up when I am down. Kind of on your mind all of the time, huh?  If any of you would like someone to talk to my email address is nellie_1032***@****
Hope it is not too bad for you today.  Keep your chin up.

[victoras ruff]

I too can identify with you except that I don't have four children to raise, just one in college.  My heart and prayers go out to you.  I had gallbladder out in 2002 and now have pain every time I eat.  My gastro dr has tried repeatedly to give me med for depression which is maddening.  I take 120mg of morphine a day and have an intestinal feeding tube.  I have grieved so much to not be able to eat normal.  And want so much to get rid of the pain.  My hope though is in my creator, Jesus Christ.  He has promised that all things will work together for the good for those who love him and are called to his purpose.  I know that in pain and weakness our spirit can still be strong and we never know what impact our suffering is having, such as the development of character and insight of our children.. Keep on fighting.  Our bodies have wonderful capabilities of coming back after damage, for nerves it can take years.  Is there anyone out there who can write who has been through this and doing well now?  Vitoras

[diamond79]

Karin, I also thought that removing the GB would solve all my problems as well---well that's what I was told by the gastro dr. I was ready to do just about anything to feel "well" again even if that meant jumping off of a cliff or drinking a bottle of poison! Unfortunately, through this experience I have come to lose trust in dr.'s. I went back to my family dr. just last week and he told me he is going to do a "wait and see approach". My impression was he wants to wait till something happens (probably emergency wise) then treat me that way...nice huh?? Well here I am back to square one. I did get a hold of my mother-in-law who is going to see if her dr. will see me for a second opinion (or should I say 4th or 5th opinion).
I'm thinking my next step is to go to a veterinarian and see what they say...probably alot more then the dr.s around here LOL!
Anyhow, sorry to ramble on...it is good to be able to talk to someone else going through a similar situation.
Hope you all find answers and feel better soon,
Donna

[mother of four]

thankyou to janiel and donna for your comments,this has been a nightmare. i thought having your gallbladder was a pretty simple procedure and once you had it removed all your problems are gone. boy was i wrong. no one can tell me what is wrong, i feel like you donna that the doctors are just going to throw me out because they have not found out anything at all. they just want to put me on an anti-depressant and don't callus we will call you. i work in the veterinary world and sorry to say this but i have more confident in the vets that i work with, they will do whatever it takes to find out what is wrong with an animal. i would like the surgeon to do an exploratory but he said they do not do that anymore with all these fancy tests that they have that is pretty much obsolete. well  also have similiar tests in the veterinary world and these ultrasounds or cat scans may come back normal but in my opinion there is  nothing is better than the naked eye, if we can not figure it out we will do an exploratory on this animal and 99 percent of the time will figure out the problem. i guess i am not sure how demanding do i want to be with the doctors, i think they should run a ercp and just see if my cystic duct is closing. the surgeon did tell me that he left my cystic duct. i had it done laparscopic and was not cut, sometimes i think it would of been better to have been cut so they could of done it right. i have had 4 c-sections and i would think their would of been alot of scar tissue, which would  of made the laparscopy harder in my opinion. anyway thankyou both for your input, at least i feel like i am not alone , i hope you both find help as i hope i do thanks again, karin