In desperate need of advice

[suddenlysick82]

I am a 29 year old mother of 4.Within the past couple weeks I noticed eating was becoming painful and I could not stomach more than a couple bites of anything and I'd get what felt like a severe burning nausea.After 2 days without eating my husband insisted I see a dr.I end up waiting 10 hours in the er,and when I'm finally seen they realize my alt level is 410 and ast level is 811.Apparently my bile duct is blocked and they want to do an ercp.The procedure was unsuccessful as the sedatives had no effect and I began to hyperventilate while vomiting bile.They somehow managed to put a stent in place,but insisted my gallbladder had to come out,though I was told by a different doctor my gallbladder was not the issue that they needed to get the stone out.So,I have been out of the hospital 1 week today and the stone and stent are still in my bile duct and I am still in pain,the surgeon said I'll need another ercp to remove them,but I am now terrified to undergo the procedure again.My question is will I die if I just leave everything as is?Why didn't they just remove everything else when they took my gallbladder??Any advice is much appreciated...I need to feel better to care for my children,and I don't know what to do.I also experience a stabbing pain under my ribs on the right...could the stent be moving??

[ChitChatNine]

How are you feeling?  Welcome to our community .. I hope you are feeling better as of this writing.  Please stop back and update us ..

C~

[rabbitti]

thats what I thought and why I haven't gone yet. It's just hard to find a doctor in florida when you don't have insurance. Also very expensive. I've been seeing a doctor at my local clinic and he wont be back til September. I'm going to try and hold out until then. Thanks.

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

Rarely is a visit to the ER for a chronic problem appropriate. You need a thorough and thoughtful evaluation by a qualified Internist. This will not happen in an ER. Their job is to rule out immediate, potentially life threatening problems and refer any others out to appropriate physicians to be dealt with electively.

[rabbitti]

thank you so much for taking the time to answer me. No one has ordered any blood work and unfortunately the doctor covering for my Dr while he's on vacation simply told me to go to the ER. I have been on 2 rounds of steroids and 3 rounds of antibiotics though and no success at relief. The strangest thing is that some days I am perfectly fine so I don't know if a visit to the ER would solve anything. I did have a chest xray and it showed nothing. I have been monitoring my diet carefully and that seems to help a bit as long as I keep a bottle of malox handy. Next attack I suppose I will try the ER. Thanks again.

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

Have any imaging studies been done other than the ultrasound? I would be amazed if a "mildly enlarged liver" from any reason would explain the symptoms that you are complaining of. CT scans of the chest and abdomen would be in order. Thyroid test would be a good idea. Are your liver function tests normal? There are a multitude of anatomic, infectious, inflammatory, metabolic, or neoplastic causes of your symptoms. A good internist would be the best qualified to help sort these out.

[rabbitti]

for the past 2 months I have been having what feels like "contractions'" in my upper back. It feels as if a vise is appling pressure. The pain usually lasts about an hour and is at its worst in the morning when I wake up. I was 1st treated for upper respitory infection but the condition seemed to worsen. An ultra sound came back showing a "mildly enlarged liver." Yet no one will tell me what that means. I am NOT a drinker. The pain has settled behind my right shoulder blade and my stommach looks as if I am, 7 mos pregnant. I am 52, experiencing menopause and everyday the pain gets worse to where I can not move my neck without extreme agony. I am loosing hair and the top of my head has broken out in a rash. My eyes feel as if they're going to pop out of my head and still all I get from doctors is that "it's nothing" I am not crazy and after reading these posts I see a lot of people have been having similar symptoms. Is there any sure way of testing that will reveal why my liver is showing enlarged and causing so much pain?? It is also hard to breath at times and very tight to wear a bra. Thank you

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

True that. This is very serious stuff.

[Sarsi]

I hope you can get it worked out quickly too.....

It can be serious indeed, are your Drs treating it as serious?

[suddenlysick82]

Thank you,I hope this all works out because I'm feeling worse every day and none of my family members are taking this very seriously:(

[suddenlysick82]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions...I suppose I'll have to just deal with my fear and get another ercp done:(

[Sarsi]

I totally agree with what Christopher R Watters has said....

You can't just leave things alone if you have a blocked bile duct, as it can be fatal!!
If there is still a stone present, another ercp or surgery is really your only option....

I really hope that you feel better soon :)

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

Generally, unless you have both a stone in the common bile duct and acute cholecystitis surgery is not done until the duct is cleared. One of your doctors was right. The problem that you had was because of the stone in the bile duct. The gallbladder needed to be removed but this was not going to make things better at the time, merely to prevent another episode in the future. The other reason we wait until after they clear the duct of stones is that if they fail we must do it with a common bile duct exploration. Although some surgeons do these laparoscopically it is more commonly done as an open operation.
Bottom line, I think your surgeon jumped the gun a little if a stone was known to be present in the common bile duct and the gastroenterologist had been unable to remove it and all that was done was to remove your gallbladder. The repeat ERCP can certainly be done under general anesthesia but needs to be done.