Pain after gallbladder removal no stones Its not all in my head!

[swtbtrcup]

I am miserable.  I have been miserable for over 6 months.  

It took 3 months to diagnose gallbladder disease.  I had a HIDA study with a function of 22.   2 months later I finally had emergency surgery to remove it.   There were no gallstones present but it did come back showing Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses and gallbladder disease.   I was in the hospital for 5 days.   I am still in pain.   I have had another ultrasound and a colonoscopy.   I am going nuts.

The pain is very similiar to what I felt before they removed my gallbladder.   It is there almost 95% of the time.  Im not kidding.   It feels like its at my right shoulder blade.   Its like a feeling of pressure.  I have noticed that sometimes it will go away and I will get diarrhea.   I rarely get diarrhea and I used to have it alot.  The pain usually returns within an hour.   I still have spasms when I eat certain foods. My GI is sending me to another GI.  I guess I am a difficult case.  Pain pills do not help at all.   I have been on Lortab, meperidine and Darvocet.   All I have been told is that I dont have stones and that my liver enzymes are elevated.  The originial GI said to me "Alot of people have pain afterwards and they deal with it".   I dont think he understands that with this type of pain and discomfort you can just deal with it.   I requested an ERCP and this is when I was told to see the new Dr.  That isnt until January 11th.  

Any help is appreciated.  I have a 2 yr old and an 8 mo old.   I have to be able to care for them.  I've even been told that it could "just be in my head".   I wish it were that easy!

[zazaa]

Hey I have a question for you? I also had the HIDA scan and my results were 20.  The doctor never mentioned stones to me either, but suggested the gallbladder be "yanked" out. To me, it sounds like something else could have been done, since there were no stones? I'm no doctor, but it seems like they just want you "under the knife" right away. How are you feeling now, and do you wish you could of gone a different route? And have you had any attacks before your surgery, or did you just go for it?

[CalGal]

I do wish you luck. But please don't wait until March if possible because if the problem is SOD it could impact your pancreas and that's not good, and it could prove to be deleterious to your health overall.  I understand you're desire to breastfeed, but your health could suffer and that wouldn't be good for your baby in the long run.

If you're used to pushing docs, you already realize the 'how dare you' response. Sucks, doesn't it. But it really doesn't matter if you get better in the end. Seeing a doc is a dialogue, not a monologue as some in the medical profession seem to think.

[swtbtrcup]

Thanks.   I knew about these possibilities before surgery.   I have mentioned SOD as well has bile duct problems but Im treated like how dare I know about these things.... I should just trust the Dr.

I am still breastfeeding so I am limited on what I can take.   If I have to wait until March then I will because I just feel that my daughter should have breast milk for her first year.  

Im used to pushing doctors.   I wouldnt have my kids if I hadnt pushed for help in that area.

Wish me luck haha.

[CalGal]

There can be unfortunate problems following GB removal even if you didn't have stones. Sludge can be present, or small particulate matter can be 'made' after the surgery and can cause problems. Talk to your doc about SOD - sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. Here's a link: http://hopkins-gi.nts.jhu.edu/pages/latin/templates/index.cfm?pg=disease1&organ=3&disease=12&lang_id=1

It can be caused by spasms that have nothing to do with sludge, spasms resulting from sludge, etc. Don't let any doc tell you to live with it!! Many docs don't want to admit there's a problem, although I'm not sure why, unless they didn't inform patients of possible problems before surgery. You're not the only one going throught this unfortuantely, but the problem is you're going to have to find out quite a bit about the possible postcholecystectomy problems in order to try to help yourself. And you're probably going to have to be a bit pushy with the doc, so set your mind to it.

If you want an ERCP done, make SURE it's done with manommetry! And also discuss the pro's and con's of doing a sphincterotomy with and without manommetry. The statistics showing followup problems of having a sphincterotomy without elevated pressures (can only be seen with manommetry) are not good. You also want to talk about the use of botox to relax the sphincter.

If the problem is with the sphincter and higher pressures, many narcotic meds actually raise the pressures and cause more problems. Ask the doc to add some anti-spasm meds to what you're taking and see if that will give you a hand. Stay on low-fat foods, too. And make sure you don't have any indications of low-grade pancratitis.