Theresa

[Theresabu]

My daughter is 18 yrs old.  She was admitted into the hospital in Jan of 2006 for nausea and vomiting. Complete workup done with all tests being normal at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. At the time she had an ejection fraction of 46% with minimal sludge in her gall bladder. She was placed on donatal and elelvil for the nausea which has never gone away.In mid November 2007 she started with high abdomen pain again for about a week and started vomiting again and continues to do so now.  Nothing is staying down.  She was hospitalized on January 31, 2008. Tests were done for motilitiy and came back normal.  Gall bladder test again on this past Friday now they tell me the gall bladder is not functioning with "0" ejection fraction.  They put her on a fat free diet, liquid diet for 6 months to see if that helps with a diagnosis of Biliary Dyskanesis.  She is miserable.  She is a senior in highschool and really wants to return to school but is unable to.  Children's Hospital does not want to take the gall bladder out right now because it may not help.  What do you think.  Very frustrated mom and very sad and sick daughter.  Theresa

[rrr517]

My daughter is 19 and had her gallbladder removed Oct 2007. It was functioning at 3%, so the doctors removed it the next day. The doctors were reluctant to even test for the function because she is "too young". We were persistant and our instincts were correct. She felt great for about 2 weeks post op until she started having bile reflux,acid reflux and occasional nausea. We are seeing a specialist soon regarding these symptoms.
So what I'm saying is that my daughter is doing better without her gallbladder. We just need to continue until her other problem is diagnosed. These girls are too young to be feeling so miserable without any answers.
Trust your instincts and be persistant!

[sewfun53]

I agree with all. I had gallbladder disease and it was terrible. GET IT OUT. Won't hurt her life in the least. My Mom had a small stone blocking the duct the GB and pancreas share and was sick like your poor daughter. Change docs, do whatever you have to. She doesn't need a gallbladder and surgery isn't that bad.

sewfun53

[Sickboy61]

I agree, "0" ejection fraction means either a total blockage or her GB has totally stopped functioning.  In either case, it sounds like they are saying, "gee, we don't know what's wrong, let's wait six months to see if she gets better".  With the symptoms she has and the possibilites that are mentioned here, that is NOT a viable alterative.  

Go see another doc.

[Jaybay]

Oh your poor daughter!  Fire that quack and find a real surgeon to get that gallbladder out NOW!  The time for fiddling with low fat diets is over.  Nothing is going to "jumpstart" a gallbladder that isn't working, and it's not working for a reason.  

[Sickboy61]

"0" ejection fraction?  At 18 years of age?  Sounds like it could be a total blockage of the of the cystic duct by a stone.  Did they do an ultrasound to check for stones?

Even if they don't think that taking out the GB now "might not help", I can't see a gall bladder sitting there with bile that never moves out as a very healthy thing.  

The other thing it could be is Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.  But with that, the GB would possibly still be ejecting bile into the bilary tract but it is not being released into the duodenum.  Has your doctor mentioned this as a possibility?  With a potential for what could be a total blockage, have the doctors suggested an ERCP?

As a general question, is your daugher overweigtht or recently lost a lot of weight?  Does she take birth control pills?  This are factors that could lead to a higher incidence of stones.