side pain

[grams178]

I am having right side abdominal pain for 10 years now.. Dr could not find out what it is, and finally an extra came back and said that I had gall stones... Had my gall bladder removed and after 6 weeks, the pain returned.. My pain starts or is under my ribs, but radiates into my back, directly in the same spot, but the back instead.. this is driving me nuts... It feels like I have something swollen inside my body.. I have a hard time sitting up because of it at times, and feel most comforterable standing of laying down to stretch the abdominal out.. I am at a loss.. Dr is tryin me on Nexium to see if it could possibly be stomach acid.. I apparantly have GERD and IBS.. which I have a hard time believing as I never seem to have symptoms of either of them.. I am 54 and a woman.. no surgeries before gall bladder.. I am at a loss..

[grams178]

Thank you so much for your wisdom and advice... I will try a low fat diet, (as I should anyway).. I was not aware that I could see the status of my gallbladder, and will ask for that as well.., When I asked the surgeon about it, he said there were tiny stones, nothing severe..
My pain that I have is never severe, but always seems to be there.. Its like an annoying tooth ache.. I did go back to the Dr and he now thinks it might be acid in my stomach causing the pain and gave me Nexium to see if that makes the pain go away... This has been going on now for 9 years... I have been on that pill for 4 weeks now and sometimes I feel like its subsiding a bit.. but then I wonder if its in my imagination.. very frustrating.. but I will take your advice.. I will also go to the link you gave me and read it.. thankyou once again for taking your time to help me out..

I will keep in touch with you to see if maybe my gallbladder was removed because of a wrong diagnosis..

blessings...

[CalGal]

One of the typical symptoms of on-going issues after the gallbladder is removed is continuing pain/discomfort - or a feeling like a 'gallbladder attack.' The attacks can last from minutes to hours and when prolonged, can elevate liver and possibly pancreatic enzyme levels in the blood. In some cases the issue is due to SOD, sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.

Here is a good link: http://www.hopkins-gi.org/GDL_Disease.aspx?CurrentUDV=31&GDL_Disease_ID=7AB086B0-AB01-446E-B011-2E67CAFEF96D&GDL_DC_ID=320F4EDD-0021-4952-83D7-8B0C67B47BFF

You may want to consider following a low fat diet to see if it's of help since you may not be able to process fats the way you did before the surgery. Check on the status of what your gallbladder looked like when it was removed - get all the written reports and read them. You're looking for the presence of stones or sludge. With the pain, if it gets severe, have the doc do liver and pancreatic enzyme levels tests within 24 hours of severe pain and see if the levels are elevated - it may indicate whether or not you're having spasms of the common bile duct or SO.

If you're diagnosed with IBS because you're having changes in bowel habits it could be due to unregulated release of bile after the surgery - can and does happen unfortunately. A low fat diet could help.