surgery for scar tissue pain?

[Sarsi]

Hi!

For the past 18 months I have been suffering almost constant upper abdominal pain just under my ribs.

I have had all the usual gastro tests (endoscopy, ct, ultrasound etc) and everything has showed normal.

I had my gallbladder removed in Dec 09 and now my gastroenterologist thinks that the cause of my pain is scar tissue around the wound site from my surgery and my diaphragm muscle gets very inflammed and painful....

My question is that if it is scar tissue, only more surgery can fix this? Would seprafilm be helpful in my case? I've heard that its used more in open surgery in the bowel though....my pain is around stomach/liver/pancreas.....

Please help

[drayco]

My son is going thru the same exact thing that you are going thru...we have not had any luck finding him any relief.....if by chance you have found a solution, please post about it.  Thank,

[Sarsi]

Thankyou for your thoughts

I have an appointment back at the hospital with the GI in Feb and the head doctor in that department has asked me to see him personally......so hopefully I can get some answers!

I am just so tired of being in pain! I just want to get on with my life again!

It might be worth a mention that I was actually admitted into hospital a couple of months ago with an infection in my bile duct......and have been investigated for sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.....but they have pretty well declared that they won't do an ERCP as I pose a risk of pancreatitis?!?!?!? and my pancreas/liver enzymes don't show up as abnormal enough for them to warrant this test......

So I'm hoping that the scar tissue is actually the cause .....

[remar]

I'm not a Dr or in the medical field in anyway, but from your results it looks to me like you do have something going on with your liver.
A high white blood cell count means an infection. The billirubin has to do with your liver. And you also have inflammation.
If your current Dr won't help you then you have to see someone else. You can always take your results with you to show them. They of course will probably want to do more testing. But at least by taking your test results they have a place to start.    Remar

[SassyLassie]

I would consult your physician about this and see if he/she has any ideas.

[Sarsi]

Hi

without posting pages of information, all of my bloods consistently show normal apart from a slightly high levels of white blood count, bilirubin and some inflammation (just above normal levels)

The pain I suffer is not related to food....I can get pain both when I'm hungry and been fasting and/or after eating........yes, of course I understand that a low fat diet after the gallbladder removal is recommended.......

Thankyou :)

[remar]

What about any blood work? Has your Dr checked your liver enzymes? It could be scar tissue but before having any other surgery I would ask for more testing. Did your Dr tell that once you have your gallbladder removed you have to watch what you eat? Stay away from fried and high fat foods or it can cause stomach problems and pain.