Mom, 37, sever chest pains off & on since gallbladder removal in May

[Mominpain2008]

I am a 37 yr old female, who had always been healthy, until I had my appendix removed in January of this year, then my gallbladder was taken out in May.

Since May, I have had problems with nausea, abdominal pains, diarrhea, throwing up (most of the time dry heaving), and extreme fatigue. I have however gotten better since they have taken me off certain medications. BUT the worst part is these severe chest pains I have had off and on!!!! I was taken by ambulance 5 days after surgery to the ER, thinking I was having a heart attack. The paramedics agreed after using their EKG machine. However, after several tests done, liver enzymes were raised, the Doctor only came back with reflux. My Doctors thought it was also due to my surgery that week. But I have had about 6 attacks since. The chest pains start in the late afternoon and last for hours. i am in extreme pain. My PCP along with my GI did some more blood work this past week but everything comes back normal, except my liver enzymes were slightly rasied again. I had a chest attack the night before. Anyways, I am a mother of 2, one is a toddler and I am sooo tired of being sick and the Doctors having no answers!!! I am too young to feel terriable all the time and I want to enjoy my kids. I was wondering if anyone out there has had any chest pains after their surgery??? As I type this, I have moderate chest pain in the upper right side of my chest and midddle, coming from my esophagous. Just wondering if anyone might have any answers??? Thank you and God bless. :)

[tasia579]

Girl i feel your pain! I had my gallbladder removed august first of this year and have been going through **** ever since! I have to watch every thing i eat and all i drink is water. Recently i was diagnosed with anxiety and acid reflux disease. on top of that i started getting panic attacks from the pain in my stomach and chest. I am on aciphex for the acid reflux and klonopin for the anxiety. I  lost almost fifty pounds in two months from not eating. I got to the point where i was scared to eat any thing! I am doing better now, i am still taking my meds and i started eating again. I had an endoscope done to look down my throat and check my tummy for any problems. It wasn't that bad and when i woke up i didn't feel any discomfort from the procedure. maybe you should have that done to find out what is going on. It helped me out allot, i felt like i was going insane! I have four children and i couldn't take care of them, i had no energy and i was so depressed. you get surgery to make yourself feel better but when it doesn't turn out that way it get's scary! I have heard that each person's healing time is different but from what i gather it takes about a year to feel like normal again. Hang in there I personally know how scary and tiring it all can be!

[CalGal]

Morningpain, since your liver enzyme levels are raised you may be experiencing spasms of the common bile duct or sphincter of Oddi which can feel like a heart attack and cause problems with liver enzymes. You need to have it checked because problems with the common bile duct or sphincter can result in problems with the pancreas and pancreatitis. This is NOT something that the doc should be allowed to gloss over in any manner.

If your gallbladder contained sludge or stones, some of that substance could have 'escaped' into the bile duct during the surgery and it could be what's causing the current problems. Talk to your doc about checking you pancreatic enzymes and ask about having an MRCP done.

[Mominpain2008]

Thank you! My Dr. did mention Sphincter of Oddi last week at the appt. My gallbladder did contain sludge, that is why it was taken out. I have a call into my PCP right now to have them refer me to another GI for a second opinion. Because my current Dr. has not seemed to be to concerned.

Thank you again for your message. I think I will also put a call into my surgeon. To ask him if he has any ideas.

[tasia579]

Hi this is tasia579
I am currently taking medication for acid reflux which i was diagnosed with after my gallbladder surgery. The medication has helped a little but i dont want to be stuck on pills forever. I had an endoscope done a week ago and the surgen said that every thing looked good. my throat was a little red but that i was healing nicely from every thing. I wish i could take comfort in what they tell me but after my surgery i dont! I was just wondering if you knew of any thing else that might help with my stomach. I was diagnosed with anxiety also because of everything i have been through since the surgery which was almost three months ago. please help with any advice if you can i would greatly appreciate it!

[CalGal]

Morningpain, here is a link to a good site for information about SOD: http://hopkins-gi.nts.jhu.edu/pages/latin/templates/index.cfm?pg=disease1&organ=3&disease=12&lang_id=1

[CalGal]

Tasia, if you are suffering from acid reflux, then medications may not be the only thing you need to do to try to bring your stomach back to normal. Take a look at a good GERD diet. I know it can be boring, but a combination of meds and diet may change things around for the better faster than just using the meds alone. Many foods can provoke acid production. If you can limit their intake you may be able to tamp down the problem.

Make sure you ask if the redness was due to acid reflux or bile reflux. If acid, the pills and diet will help. If the problems is due to bile your doc needs to take another look at what's going on.

[Mominpain2008]

They did have me on nexium for a while, and it seemed to help. But it tore my stomach up. I guess I need to watch what i eat. Also, I have noticed if I have wine it causes the pain. Do u know if wine does cause severe acid reflux? And, do u know a good website for gerd diet?  

Also, I did have an endoscope too like Tasia. That was before the gallbaldder surgery. He did mention I have a heiatial hernia (not spelled right). So I am not sure if that has anything to do with the chest pains???

[tasia579]

Hi this is tasia579 again.
I was thinking the same thing about the bile reflux. I go to see the surgen on Tuesday to go over the results on my endoscope. Hopefully i get some good news but i will ask him about the bile reflux, do they have to do another test for that? If you have bile reflux what do you take for that? I am taking aciphex right now and it helps but i am also taking klonopin for anxiety as well. I wish I could go herbal but not at this time i already tried that. I still felt sick and was exhausted! This all started when i had my gallbladder removed and now i wish i would have researched more about the after effects! I have lost fifty pounds and i needed to loose the weight but not so quickly! I am feeling better and now maybe it is just a matter of waiting to heal from every thing. It just scares me sometimes because the doctor's didn't really tell me any thing or symptoms to watch out for after the surgery. Thank you so much for your advice and if you have any more to give i really appreciate it!

[tasia579]

Hi this is tasia579. Sorry to hear about all the stuff you are going through. It is even harder when you have kids, i know i have four. I had my gallbladder removed over three months ago and i am still dealing with stuff! About a month ago something nasty hit me in my stomach. I dont know if it was the surgery or a virus but i got so sick i couldn't eat. All i wanted to do was cry and try to sleep. I started having panic attacks from the pain and it just went down hill from there! I went to the e.r. and in and out of the doctors office. I took five different acid reflux meds, three of the meds made me worse! Now i am taking aciphex for acid reflux and klonopin for anxiety. I did an endoscope to see if there was any thing else going on, I am gonna see the surgen on Tuesday to go over the results. Hopefully everything will go well! I am so tired of feeling blah and my tummy hurting. I have a little chest pain but the doctor said mine is from anxiety. The doctor told me that basicly i had my surgery for my gallbladder and then freaked out, because of whatever happened a month ago. I just hope to get off the meds soon, taking medication on a daily basis can cause problems as well. I hope that things get better for you and you feel better soon!

[CalGal]

Morningpain, try gicare.com for a representative diet for GERD. Alcohol is on the completely avoid side of the 'diet list.'

[CalGal]

Tasia, bile reflux can be difficult to handle, but you may want to ask your doc about using a bile-binding resin along the lines of questran. You've got to be careful because any bile-binding resin can 'sop up' the fat-soluble vitamins that you need. And it can also cause constipation as well.

[tasia579]

Hi this is tasia579.
Thanks for the suggestion for the bile reflux. When i went to the e.r. a month ago they did a ultrasound and they said that the bile duct was working correctly, so hopefully they were right! When i did the endoscope the doctor told my husband that all he saw was a little redness in my esophagus and a little bump in my stomach lining and they did a byopsy to check it. But other than that he said everything looked really good. He said that the bump looked like a little ulcer that had healed over. I am gonna see my surgen on Tuesday to go over everything and that is when i will mention the bile reflux. thank you so much for your help and advice!