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Pain after gallbladder surgery, trouble breathing

I had gallbladder surgery 5 weeks ago, I am having a constant, sometimes severe pain in the upper right stomach area. Under the rib cage, through to the back, unable to take a breath at all, and in the last couple weeks, i have an involuntary breath intake. I just suck in a quick breath  involuntarily. I have been researching the posts that sound like my symptoms, and have found simular, but not the breathing.  IMy Doctor has treated me like I am being a problem, but has finally agreed to schedule a MRI. I would appreciate any advise before going any further, thank you so much!!
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Avatar universal
what did you find out? i just had surgery April 14, 2015. It hurts when I take a deep breath across my abdomen and up by my diaphragm and i can't seem to control when i take a deep breath.
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Avatar universal
I had surgery 10th jan 2014 and have suffered with involuntary breathing pain and aching under ribbs and around my waist and occasional pain across my tummy   I have just had mricp scan which has show two pool collections I am about to see consultant in two weeks he has wrote in letter about having the area  sucked out  as it is not enough to have a drain in so I am waiting to see what they are going to do next diane b
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5285867 tn?1365993292
Be careful of your diet. I had my gallbladder out and nothing but problems. To much bile equals Bile Reflux Gastritis. Diet change! No fats, no junk and get rid of the dairy and do vitamin D3 pills instead. You can read my column on Bile Reflux Gastritis. If I can help let me know. Loony56
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Avatar universal
Did this resolve foryou?
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Avatar universal
I had surgery about 7 months ago, and am starting to get the same thing. I know my body can no longer store bile, so i have to be careful with food that is high in fat; but recently breathing has become a bit difficult. Any suggestions?
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Avatar universal
I had surgery about 7 months ago, and am starting to get the same thing. I know my body can no longer store bile, so i have to be careful with food that is high in fat; but recently breathing has become a bit difficult. Any suggestions?
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Avatar universal
I had surgery two weeks ago and have the exact same pain you are referring to. Did the pain go away for you yet ?
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Avatar universal
my husband had this surgery dec 10 and atleast once a day he starts coughing and has to use inebulizer (sp) to help it.  When we're not home it takes a little bit but it goes away. He had a ct just to make sure there wasn't a blood clot, but dr just said it was a thickening in a wall, but didn't say much else. He never had this problem before surgery just wondering why it's doing it now.
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Avatar universal
You have responded to an old, outdated thread from 2008.  The people who originally posted these comments may very well have moved on.  Rather than reply to an old thread, we recommend that people start a new topic to discuss the subject anew.  To do that, please click on the green "Post a Question" button at the top of the page.  This will get your post the attention it deserves.  Thank you.
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Avatar universal
I have the same thing with the involuntary breathing several times throughout the day.
I seem to breathing fine otherwise.
I have been a little nauseated after I eat things like multiple grain cheerios with skim milk.
Upset stomach feeling.
I have been having regular bowel movements since day three.
No diarrhea no vomiting , just tired alot and this breathing thing.
And alot of gas no matter what I eat!!!!!
I'm 10 days out  from surgery, I had the sils laproscopic where they only use one port through the belly button.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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1391211 tn?1279963348
i have the same sytoms my doctor explained its probably my diaphram that's irratated or bruised.which aids in breathing.I'm only two weeks out and experiencing pain(swollen type discomfort) in both sides now.let me know what you find out.
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Avatar universal
I had laproscopic gallbladder removal 9 days ago.  I have the exact symptoms that CalGal lists above.  I frequently feel a need to take deep breaths and when I do I have pain under my right side rib cage at my waist.  Yawning also causes the pain.  The pain is also in my right upper shoulder at times.  I mentioned this to my doctor at my followup visit today.  He stated it takes 6 weeks to recover from major surgery even if laproscopic, but didn't address the specific problem.  When I spoke to his nurse about the pain on day 4, she mentioned the phrenic nerve possibly being irritated.  Hoping it goes away within 6 weeks.
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Avatar universal
The phrenic nerve which controls the breathing response runs from the neck to the diaphragm and it runs into the area on the right side above the gallbladder. That nerve can get irritated during the surgery and it's possible that it coud be responding. In addition, if you're having problems fully inflating your lungs, the partial pressure of CO2 will build up and signal back to your brain and the response will be to 'kick in' to up the O2 you take in by either trying to get you to breathe more deeply or more often. If it can't get you to expand you chest walls and inhale, you'll probably kick in with 'extra' breaths.
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Avatar universal
DID you also have the deep  breathe pain? And the involuntary quick breaths? Eating hasn't really been effecting the pain as I expected it to.It's more pain caused by the amount of everyday things I am trying to continue.
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Avatar universal
Steflow, while your waiting to do (hopefully) and MRCP, please follow a low fat diet. In some, the pains can be caused by a problem with an inability to be able to handle fats the same way you did before the surgery. And it can cause a lot of discomfort in some, along with some pretty rotten diarrhea.

You may also want to look into a condition called sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD), which is (basically) spasms of the common bile duct or sphincter (muscular opening to the duodenum) that can be triggered by sludge or irritation to the CBD or the sphincter. While you're waiting, ask the doc if he'd agree for you to try some anti-spasm meds such as bentyl at a fairly high dose and see if that helps. If you're taking any kind of narcotic-based meds, discontinue them. If the problem is SOD, most narcotics tend to raise the pressure in the ducts and make things work.

Don't let a any doc brush you off. Discomfort can be a real concern after GB surgery and you may have to push quite a bit to find out what's wrong. Read about SOD so that you can go in armed with some information - it may not be what's going on but it's better to be armed with knowledge than go in 'blind.'
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