Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction?

[tinkers03]

I had my Gallbadder out at 21 in 2006.  Ever since then I have had very similar pain, only more severe.  Before I moved to another state, my previous dr. had diagnosed me with sphicter of oddi dysfunction and told me to go ahead with an ERCP.  Hwever, now that I have moved to my new state, nobody wants to do the ERCP here. I keep doing test after test. most of wich come out normal.  My gastric emptying test is slower than normal.  I just had an MRCP done which came out normal so now they do not want to do anything.  Now I am stuck with this pain and I continue to keep losing weight.  Within the past 6 moths I have lost over 20 pounds.  Which is alot since I am only 100 pounds. to start with.  I can't afford to lose any more weight and I feel at a loss.  Should I start all over again with another gastroenterologist?  I'm always full, nauseated, or having diarrhea.  Not how I want to live the rest of my life.

[Jaybay]

It's not necessarily SOD when you have these symptoms after gallbladder removal.  Trust me, you don't want to have an ERCP if you don't have to.    There is a risk of getting pancreatitis from the procedure - small, but it happened to me.  No. Fun. At. All.

One other thing to consider is adhesions (scar tissue) caused by an infected gallbladder or the tissue trauma from the surgery itself.  They can wrap around intestines or bile ducts/ pancreatic ducts or other nearby organs and cause these kinds of symptoms.

The first problem is that adhesions don't show up on imaging studies.  The second problem is that while surgery can be the cure in the short-term, more surgery can cause more scar tissue.  The third problem is finding a doctor who even believes that adhesions can do this kind of damage.

The more information you can give your doctor, the better your appointment will go.  Keep a daily journal of your symptoms including what you eat, what happens after, how long it lasts, and whether or not prescribed meds help.  Sometimes journalling can result in your seeing a pattern that you hadn't noticed previously.

[Twinstacey]

wow I am in the same boat as you are.  It is so frustrating to hear that so many people on this website seem to have alot of the same symtoms as I do with upper abdomen pain, weight loss, nausea,diarrhea and yet when our GI doctors do every test they all come back normal so the doctors do not want to proceed to the ERCP even though we are all still having pain.  I find it odd that so many people seem to have these symtoms of SOD but yet very little doctors are specialized in SOD to understand, diagnose or treat it?????? I wish there was more I could do to cure myself but I do not know what else to do since all the doctors want to do is just call it irritable bowel and give you anti depressants and send you on your way.  If there is anyone that has advise I am willing to listen.

[abdsufferer]

Sorry to hear that you're having to fight for medical support. I've had similar issues, though not  as long. From what I've read, you need to get a SOM (Sphincter of oddi manometry) test to confirm SOD. From what I've heard, there are very few places in the US that have the equipment and skill set to perform this test.

I think if it were SOD, the MRCP should have shown a dilated common bile duct (>=10mm). Check out http://www.episod.org/ for more information on the SOD study being performed and locations where they are actually able to perform these tests.

I hope you find the solution. I'm in the same boat and no doctors want to help relieve my pain.