Gallbladder removal

After 6 months of Drs telling me there was nothing that could be done for my severe pain, a Hidascan showed my gallbladder wasnt functioning and it was removed.  The surgeon said the problem was that my bile ducts were fused shut, and that I should be healed.
And I was, at first.  I went from drinking smoothies to eating basically anything I wanted, excluding citrus and coffee, a small price to pay.
Now, about a month later, all my symptoms have returned, even when I'm careful with what I eat.  Abdominal pain that keeps me from sleeping at night or eating much, nausea in the car.  My doctor convinced me that I might have a little reflux, but that's it.  I'm only 20 so my body is fairly healthy.  Any ideas?

[Nanny]

Has your doctor done any other tests or bloodwork to eliminate pancreas or bile obstruction problems?  Either of these problems could cause the symptoms you describe. Many people develop pancreatic problems AFTER gallbladder removal.   I would suggest that you see a gastroenterology specialist for further testing.  I don't believe reflux would cause these types of discomfort.

[gardenmaniac]

what was your emptying percentage on the HIDA scan and what were your other symptoms before having your gallbladder taken out? My daughter had a 2nd HIDA scan done today...she is 19....the surgeon said her ejection fraction of 32% was "on the fence" & he wasn't sure surgery would help her..about a 60-40 chance.

no one seems to know the reason why your gallbladder stops working when you don't have any stones..did you have stones?

The first time, back in October, the GB didn't visualize, so they had to give her morphine. then they had her drink Ensure, took pictures then for an hour. Today, the gallbladder DID show up without the morphine and they gave her the CCK in her IV & took photos for only a half hour (different hospital)..I asked the tech how long the results would take...she said 3 - 5 working days...then she was looking at the pics on the computer & said "i think you can call on Wed or thursday for results"...so I have no idea what that means..could she see that the GB had emptied so well that it was a no-brainer? or could she see that it had not emptied at all??? My daughter thought the before & after pics looked the same..the tech also said "wow..you have some really well respected doctors here..I wonder why they are having you do this again.."..I don't know....it feels like when you are back in school and having a term paper graded...one guy thinks it is an A and the other thinks it is a C...not like Math..either the answer is right or wrong...sure would be nice to get a nice black & white diagnosis!!!

[Marlasinger3]

My emptying rate was 18%, which instantly ordered gallbladder removal.  My technician told me that the speed of the procedure doesn't have anything to do with the results, she said everyone was different (even though mine took about 30 minutes to go through instead of the average hour).  They also said it's hard to tell anything from watching it on the screen, that you have to compare the pictures to watch it progress.  I've learned through all my different tests that half the time technicians don't know what they're talking about anyway.  One girl told me she saw things on my ultrasound that weren't there, so take it with a grain of salt.
My gall bladder problems were caused by my bile ducts being fused shut... what caused that I have no idea.  They said there were sand-like particles starting to form stones in my gallbladder, but that was likely due to my not eating for months and the gallbladder not recieving the bile properly.
I went to the dr today (had to go back to my gen. pract. to get the Hidascan) and they said that I was having problems other than my gallbladder, that I needed to go to another GI.
It seems like a process of elimination, when the medicines didn't work, they went for surgery.  When surgery didn't work, they have to find some new reason for the pain.  I've gotten to the point where it's going to be one of those things I live with.
Good luck to your daughter, maybe she'll have better results.

[gardenmaniac]

Hi..

Got the results of my daughter's 2nd HIDA scan today..the first one in October was 32%..the one she had done on Monday was 8%. Waiting for the surgeon to call back. She is 19.

I know you have been having problems since having your GB taken out. In my daughter's case, the GB is getting worse..so we can only hope that taking it out will fix things. I have read probably too much on the internet, all the people out there that feel no better or worse after surgery. Sometimes it seems no one is better, but then you realize that the ones that feel better, probably stop posting.

i know how sick of tests everyone gets..I hope you find some relief!

[janeygirl]

Where in Kansas can you get SOD testing?

[janeygirl]

I have been reading some of your forums and just want to tell you all that you are not crazy and your pain is real. I have been through the same story as most of you and can tell you that doctors like to play process of elimination. I had my gall bladder taken out in June because the hida scan showed that the gallbladder was not working properly. Before that I had been treated for everything from depression to ulcers, I have neither one of those. I am depressed, I am tired of being in pain and no one taking me serious. I was in the ER on the 6th of November and put in the hospital on a Morphine PCA pump for two days for pain. It is now the 7th of December and I have just been told that they want to send me to a specialist to have a ERCP and sphincter of oddi manometry test done. This is the kicker, I can't get in to the specialist until February 26th and that will just be a consultation. I live 3 hours away from this specialist. So I need to take a day of of work to just go and listen to another doctor tell me what they think might be wrong. This is my thought, I probably have had sphinter of oddi dysfuntion for quite some time, this is probably what caused the gallbladder to go bad, because I never had any gallstones and now the sphincter is continuing to cause me pain. I still have not been diagnosed with this problem. I am hoping that someone soon can figure out what is wrong. I am tired of living in pain all of the time. Please let me know if anyone has had this sprincter of Oddi manometry test done and what the outcome was. Janey

[mpeters]

My Daughter is only 10 years old. She is having Gallbladder problems. She hs had 3 HIDAS, a meckel scan, a colonoscopy, upper g.i. , lower g.i. several ultrasounds and a CAT scan, Everything shows it is the Gallbladder. She is Being scheduled to have it removed as we speak. My problem is HOW DO I GET THE D.R.'S TO MOVE THIS UP? She is in such severe pain that her life has basicly stopped for 6 months now. She is so far behind in school and she can not seem to do anything. When she has her BAD episodes we are 1 hour away from the hospital that the BAD episode is over by the time we get her there. They are talking about NARCOTIC PAIN RELIEF for her if she continues with this severe pain. HOW CAN I PUT HER ON SOMETHING LIKE THAT? HOW DO I GET THE DOCTORS TO LISTEN AND MOVE UP THE SURGEY DATE? I AM LOST AND DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Marlasinger3]

Call your surgeon and tell them to meet you in the emergency room.  I was so ill I was throwing up the sip of water that I took my pain meds with and my surgery wasnt for another week and a half.  I called the surgeons office and they told me just to go ahead to the emergency room.  This may have worked because I live in a big city and the surgeons office was across the street form the hospital.  I arrived at 1PM, and had surgery at 8 that night.  Sure that sounds like a long time of waiting, but they hooked me up to an IV of pain meds.  I thought it was better than waiting another week.  Hope you read this.  GOod luck!

[krisg]

My first "attack" happened a couple hours after my gallbladder surgery.  I thought I was having a heart attack.  The dr. kept me an additional day in the hospital and said "I heard you had a bad night."  He had no idea, (and neither did I at the time) what was going on.  I had these attacks at night for the first 2 years post op. I thought it was just the way my body was handling things since the surgery.  It always woke me out of a dead sleep and the pain and profuse sweating would keep me up for hours until it would finally calm down.  I always thought it was some sort of weird flu or something.  After 2 years of this and my regular dr. telling me it was severe acid reflux, I finally had one of these attacks during the day and landed in the hospital on a demoral pump for pain.  The gastro dr. there thought sod.  He sent me to a specialist.  The specialist did an ERCP w/manometry.  I awoke only to have the specialist tell me I am fine and my pressure is fine and just take levsin and elavil for my irritable bowel. (I was irritable alright!)  Anyway I followed the regimen for 2 more years and kept having to take more and more of the levsin to try and calm these attacks down.  I figured I was going to have to take this the rest of my life.  Well, this year as I was packing for our family vacation I started to not "feel right".  Then the stomach pain and chest pain started and I ended up in the ER room again.  The nurse popped a nitro pill under my tongue and made me drink a gi cocktail and boom, ten minutes later the pain was just about gone.  I thought (oh, it was just a fluke)  Everything is ok now.  Then 4 days later I was falling asleep and the pain woke me and I headed to the ER again.  I had a couple hours of an "attack" and then was sent home on morphine and percocet.  I then went back to the "specialist", and he said there was nothing he could do for me except put me on the same pill popping regimen I had been on already.  I was in tears and he stood up and said "I don't have time for this, I have other patients to see".  My point is keep searching until you find a compassionate dr. no matter how far you have to travel!  I would go to the ends of the earth to find a dr who would take me seriously.  This pain is horrid!  I now have traveled 1000 miles (back to my hometown in PA) to a gi dr. there on a recommendation from a friend.  He turned out to be compassionate and believes my pain is real.  He is trying to set me up with another "top" specialist in philly (PA) to have a sphincterotomy done.  I have been on donnatal since july and it seems to keep the pain to an 8 and helps me to get through without going to the er again.  I am in pain everyday and look forward to being painfree someday. So even some specialist might miss something and not be able to diagnose you properly.  Just because they are a specialist doesn't mean they have all the right answers. I also discovered that my liver enzymes are high (more than 2x the upper limit) when I have these attacks.  I only found this out by researching my medical records from all the er visits.  If you ever have another bad attack and need to go to the dr or hospital have them run a metobolic liver panel with your blood.  That will tell if the enzymes are high or not.  They don't normally run this test only a cbc, and that does not show liver enzymes.  If you have elavated liver enzymes on 2 or more occasions then you probably have sod (if all other tests show nothing).  Sorry for the long post, hopes this helps.

[concernedmotherhelp]

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[liz8289]

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