epigastric pain AFTER cholecystectomy

[harleygirl1964]

I am a 45 year old female that is one week two days post lap chole due to a non-functioning gallbladder.  Hide-a-scan effraction rate was 13%.  I was previously having right upper quadrant pain, nausea and some epigastric discomfort.  Since my surgery I have had two VERY severe episodes of epigastric pain which radiates to the left and right side of my rib cage.  The pain moves up to the chest and back and it is hard to breathe.  I rate this pain when it comes as a "20".  I get nauseated, both times made my self vomit (which helped only for a few minutes) and break out in a cold sweat.  The whole episode lasts 45 minutes to 90 minutes.  The first ejpisode I related to eating fast food chicken.  This last episode came on about an hour after eating a hamburger.  I have never felt pain like this before I had this procedure and am wondering if this is normal.  I truly though I may have been having a heart attack.  Has anyone else had these problems?

[wendyccr]

I haven't experienced this kind of pain as much as I've experienced nausea since my cholecystectomy a year ago.  I have left out fatty foods and creamy foods, eggs, and spinach, and alcohol.  Every once in a while I have something fatty, but not often at all.  My doctor thinks I've lost the good bacteria in my system, so he's put me on probiotics twice a day with yogurt.  It's all I can do to choke food down or even the yogurt for that matter.  The probiotics helped tremendously the first week, but the nausea has reared its head again.  I've been taking them for three weeks now and they cause major constipation.  Fiber is now the pill of choice while taking these.
The nausea is so debilitating and I worry that I will get stuck with it for years to come as I've seen other people have posted on here have.  
Please keep me posted on what you find out and I'll do the same for you.  Good luck!

[CalGal]

Harleygirl, you may want to consider starting and sticking with a low fat diet for some time to come. Many people have problems processing fats after GB surgery and it could take quite awhile for things to get back to normal.

If the pain persists despite a low fat diet, you may want to ask your doc to check to see if any small stones or sludge could have escaped into the bile duct during surgery.