Diagnosed with Sphincter of Oddi

Yesterday I was diagnosed with Sphincter of Oddi and I have some questions about all of this. It has been a long road to get diagnosed and in the middle of all of it I have had a severe shoulder injury. I am scheduled for surgery on my shoulder May 5th. My gastro doc said I need to have an ERCP to cut the sphincter muscle.

Here is my question...My shoulder is a workers comp injury and they are giving me grief about trying to change the surgery to have the ERCP first. If I choose to do the shoulder first and the ERCP once that has healed, will I be causing more damage to myself (aside from the ongoing pain)? I realize I will continue to suffer the attacks and pain from the Sphincter problem but is it damaging my system? The shoulder is equally painful so I am just not sure which one to do first. If I choose the ERCP WC may try to close my claim ...Ughhh if only things could be easy LOL.

Also, the doc can't determine if it is type 2 or type 3 SOD, he said if it is type 3 I may not get any relief from the sphincterotomy which means I live with this pain for the rest of my life. Poor doc, all he could do was say "I'm sorry, I can't promise this will fix you" he really seemed to feel bad. All I could do was cry. Just very tired of feeling like this...never knowing when and where the attacks will happen, it sure takes a toll on me and my emotional well being too.

Thanks for any help, sorry this got so long, just frustrated I suppose.

[jhcanderson]

What led them to the conclusion of SOD? What were your symptoms and what tests were done? I have had a scope shoved down my throat, ultrasounds, CT's, X-rays, CBC's, pancreas and liver enzymes checked and they still don't have a clue to my pain. Besides a duodenal ulcer, that is only superficial and even they acknowledge the ulcer shouldn't be causing that much pain. The only thing I can say about the WC deal is those guys know the system and would like nothing more than to screw innocent people any chance they get. After all, if your injured you're costing them money. So please play your cards carefully. I would think shoulder surg first then SOD asap following. That way you know your shoulder gets covered by comp.

[mnkyluvr68]

Last May I had severe pain between shoulder blades that went through to my chest. ER did cat scan ( check for blood clot, EKG, blood work etc... told it was a muscle strain. Continued with same problems and 3 more ER visits and countless Dr visits. Was seeing a Chiropractor as well since I had been told it was possibly a rib out of place. Finally my Dr suggests a Hida Scan where they find that my Gallbladder was not functioning. 2 weeks later had Gallbladder out. It was October by then.

Thought this would solve everything...no such luck. 3 weeks after surgery while at work I had a horrific attack of upper abdominal pain (sternum) that went into chest, couldn't breathe, sweating, it was excruciating. ER again and they said my EKG was abnormal so they kept me. second day my liver enzymes were high so I stayed for 4 days, they ran every test imaginable to check my heart, nothing wrong and doc said EKG was just my normal EKG?? Was sent home with no answers but told to monitor liver. Levels went back to normal quickly.

I have continued having those abdominal attacks and they still go into the chest and back. I am now having a burning pain in back of throat and between shoulder blades along with the usual pain. I have had removal of gallbladder, endoscopy and ultrasound x 3, Hida scan x2, cat scan and MRI of abdomen, chest ct and MRI, stress test, blood tests 2x month checking liver, pancreas, cbc and h pylori. Everything has come back normal except the liver enzymes when I was in the hospital and the Hida scan. There are two types of Hida that I know of, the one for the gallbladder and the one I just had which does the test in reverse order and checks the sphincter.

Hope this helps and thanks for the advice on the WC thing. I think you are right, I will continue with the shoulder first.

Good luck :-)

I was finally given the diagnosis yest after the results from the Hida came in.