I have always had on and off stomach problems which I suspected were brought on by use of NSAIDs for endometriosis. Over three years ago, I started having pain in URQ which wrapped around to back. I was getting referred pain in my quadratus laborum and after massaging the area, I experienced extreme rebound tenderness. I had so much bloating that I looked (and still do) pregnant after eating, my stomach gets hard under the sternum and I get woken up at night with palpitations which is relieved after burping.
I had endoscopy, colonoscopy, abdominal US, abdominal CAT scan w/o contrast, abdominal MRI with contrast, and a HIDA scan in 2007, all normal.
Now I am experiencing these symptoms all the time with no breaks in between and additionally I feel faint from the pressure in my abdomen. When I bend over and stand up or have a bowel movement - any pressure on my abdomen - I feel like my head is being squeezed and starting to faint. This happens fairly often in the past two weeks. I had a cardiac workup last year and was declared healthy (holter monitor, stress test). I also have trouble swallowing things - but again my endoscopy was normal except for some gastritis (biopsied).
I should also mention that in the past my WBC frequently fell below 4000 and I attributed this my body working overtime to rid itself of sinus infections (I can't take antibiotics because of my stomach!) Oh, and I didn't get attacks from eating greasy food - just from medication (ie claritin, etc).
So I go to a different GI and get a small bowel series and another HIDA scan. Last week I failed the scan with a 4% ejection fraction. So I know that my gallbladder is not working. But if I have no stones, what triggered it?
My questions: Can antibiotics or drugs cause or irritate GB disease as I notice taking any meds now irritates it. Can GB disease cause enough problems to irritate the vagal nerve? Or palpitations at night? Can I expect this to not get better on its own and be facing a surgery? Should I get another cardiac or neurology workup before surgery? I am so uncomfortable.