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Gallbladder seems fine but PCP recommends removal
Had a full GI work up: CT scan, Hida scab, ultrasound, endoscopy, blood and stool tests. A few years ago I also had an endoscopy, colonoscopy, x-rays, and blood and stool tests. Results of all the tests do not show any problems with my gallbladder, and also no gallstones. There is some family history of gallbladder issues.
I have acid reflux for at least the past few years and, per my GI at the time, slow motility in my digestive tract. Per my current GI I may have IBS also. Most of my symptons were diarrhea, stomach aches/discomfort, and soft and black stools. Prilosec has made these symptons bearable and has helped relieved them to some degree, however still have some of the above symptoms and gassiness. In truth, I never really felt that I had classic traditional heartburn or had problems eating certain foods, such as I could eat spicy foods and not have much change in my symptoms.
However, in the past year I have developed additional painful symptoms:
Alternating pain between my right chest muscle and right under my right rib, like a throbbing or someone grabbing me under the rib - this initially started off as pain in my right upper back, but now it's rare to have the pain in the back. The pain definitely tends to happen after eating, but also when laying down to sleep and when waking up in the morning. Pain killers, such as Advil and Vicodin do almost nothing to relieve the pain, however once I tried Vicoprofen and it helped a little, but this is a very potent drug and it felt very addictive as I enjoyed its effect on me, so this drug is out. I also have nausea, a bitter bile taste in my mouth, a feeling of fullness due to the nausea, some heartburn. Fatty/Oily foods tend to inflame the pain the worst, but eating in general tends to aggravate it. The pain is debilitating as I can't concentrate, am ultra sensitive to any noise or stimuli, and in general am not able to function.
My PCP says I have classic gallbladder symptoms and wants to remove the gallbladder. A GI and a surgeon that removes gallbladders will remove the gallbladder if I insist as I'm at my wit's end, but they think it could be musculo-skeletal, which my PCP says doesn't make sense as I get the pain after eating. After discussing this with the GI and surgeon, they agree that musculo-skeletal doesn't appear to make sense either.
I will be seeing another GI for a second opinion, but at this point I'm ready/willing to have gallbladder removal surgery. Thoughts or suggestions on this? Thanks so much!
I have acid reflux for at least the past few years and, per my GI at the time, slow motility in my digestive tract. Per my current GI I may have IBS also. Most of my symptons were diarrhea, stomach aches/discomfort, and soft and black stools. Prilosec has made these symptons bearable and has helped relieved them to some degree, however still have some of the above symptoms and gassiness. In truth, I never really felt that I had classic traditional heartburn or had problems eating certain foods, such as I could eat spicy foods and not have much change in my symptoms.
However, in the past year I have developed additional painful symptoms:
Alternating pain between my right chest muscle and right under my right rib, like a throbbing or someone grabbing me under the rib - this initially started off as pain in my right upper back, but now it's rare to have the pain in the back. The pain definitely tends to happen after eating, but also when laying down to sleep and when waking up in the morning. Pain killers, such as Advil and Vicodin do almost nothing to relieve the pain, however once I tried Vicoprofen and it helped a little, but this is a very potent drug and it felt very addictive as I enjoyed its effect on me, so this drug is out. I also have nausea, a bitter bile taste in my mouth, a feeling of fullness due to the nausea, some heartburn. Fatty/Oily foods tend to inflame the pain the worst, but eating in general tends to aggravate it. The pain is debilitating as I can't concentrate, am ultra sensitive to any noise or stimuli, and in general am not able to function.
My PCP says I have classic gallbladder symptoms and wants to remove the gallbladder. A GI and a surgeon that removes gallbladders will remove the gallbladder if I insist as I'm at my wit's end, but they think it could be musculo-skeletal, which my PCP says doesn't make sense as I get the pain after eating. After discussing this with the GI and surgeon, they agree that musculo-skeletal doesn't appear to make sense either.
I will be seeing another GI for a second opinion, but at this point I'm ready/willing to have gallbladder removal surgery. Thoughts or suggestions on this? Thanks so much!
Misha,
I'm curious after the barium x-ray test that you have coming up as to whether your doc will give you the Xifaxan med to take. If you like I could send you a couple of the chapters in a PDF format from the book that I bought from Amazon about the use of Xifaxan for treating IBS. Maybe you could show this to your doctor. If you're interested, I'd need an email address. Thanks!
My Gastro doc has let me go off of the PPI's that I've been on for the past 11 months to see if that makes a difference as to my RUQ pain. I just stopped them on Monday. I have the upcoming endoscopy on Sep 2, 08.
I just started to take a general multi-vitamin plus an additional one for calcium and vitamin D.
I'm curious after the barium x-ray test that you have coming up as to whether your doc will give you the Xifaxan med to take. If you like I could send you a couple of the chapters in a PDF format from the book that I bought from Amazon about the use of Xifaxan for treating IBS. Maybe you could show this to your doctor. If you're interested, I'd need an email address. Thanks!
My Gastro doc has let me go off of the PPI's that I've been on for the past 11 months to see if that makes a difference as to my RUQ pain. I just stopped them on Monday. I have the upcoming endoscopy on Sep 2, 08.
I just started to take a general multi-vitamin plus an additional one for calcium and vitamin D.
Jim,
On my 3rd day of Align, not sure if I have any improvement or not at this point in time.
For the website you mention, it looks like a promising and hopeful medical center for IBS. I always find it interesting that a lot of these websites sell related products, which of course makes sense in many ways, but it does make you wonder about their intentions. But anyways, I've had tests for bacteria, parasites, food allergies and so far very little 'positive' test results, so far only the SIBO test has resulted in positive. I'm wondering if there are other tests for other types of bacteria and parasites.
I've taken B vitamin supplements for awhile, but my sense is that it made me want to urinate frequently and urgently: my experience is this when I took it, since I've been off of it this problem has diminished greatly. I do detect a slight issue in my hip bone, but part of what we're experiencing is age related as well, so it's difficult to truly distinguish what's what. I think that also what we experience, as my GI doc that I saw this week explained to me, is that IBS people tend to be more sensitive especially in the gut area, meaning that we're probably more sensitive in general, such as to cold and heat. We can choose to accept this as normal for us or not, but ultimately if all the tests come back negative, it proves that we're healthy and have an issue that we need to manage, for example if we wake up on the wrong side of the bed and have a muscle ache, then that's just what that is and we just need to accept that that's what we have and need to adjust accordingly, which in this case would be stretching the muscle or whatever helps to deal with the ache. If the gut is sensitive, we can't truly feel it until we eat something, so it's hard to deal with and accept this.
I admit that it's frustrating to not have an 'answer', but medical science in many cases does not have any answers. I find the ibs website that you mentioned providing a ray of hope, but I'm also very skeptical of it. If there really were solutions out there, I believe that these would have been propagated throughout already. I suppose it depends on what we define as a solution. Ultimately our experiences are valid for each of us and we each need to find the answers that work best for us.
On my 3rd day of Align, not sure if I have any improvement or not at this point in time.
For the website you mention, it looks like a promising and hopeful medical center for IBS. I always find it interesting that a lot of these websites sell related products, which of course makes sense in many ways, but it does make you wonder about their intentions. But anyways, I've had tests for bacteria, parasites, food allergies and so far very little 'positive' test results, so far only the SIBO test has resulted in positive. I'm wondering if there are other tests for other types of bacteria and parasites.
I've taken B vitamin supplements for awhile, but my sense is that it made me want to urinate frequently and urgently: my experience is this when I took it, since I've been off of it this problem has diminished greatly. I do detect a slight issue in my hip bone, but part of what we're experiencing is age related as well, so it's difficult to truly distinguish what's what. I think that also what we experience, as my GI doc that I saw this week explained to me, is that IBS people tend to be more sensitive especially in the gut area, meaning that we're probably more sensitive in general, such as to cold and heat. We can choose to accept this as normal for us or not, but ultimately if all the tests come back negative, it proves that we're healthy and have an issue that we need to manage, for example if we wake up on the wrong side of the bed and have a muscle ache, then that's just what that is and we just need to accept that that's what we have and need to adjust accordingly, which in this case would be stretching the muscle or whatever helps to deal with the ache. If the gut is sensitive, we can't truly feel it until we eat something, so it's hard to deal with and accept this.
I admit that it's frustrating to not have an 'answer', but medical science in many cases does not have any answers. I find the ibs website that you mentioned providing a ray of hope, but I'm also very skeptical of it. If there really were solutions out there, I believe that these would have been propagated throughout already. I suppose it depends on what we define as a solution. Ultimately our experiences are valid for each of us and we each need to find the answers that work best for us.
My GI doc had given me some samples of Align to take when I saw him in July. I've just finished my 3rd week of them. I haven't really felt any change however.
As to IBS, one theory as to the cause: it's either bacteria, parasites or food allergies. Here's a link: http://www.ibstreatmentcenter.com/
Since you've been on PPI's for about five years, do you take any vitamin supplements to offset any deficiencies in calcium, B12, etc which can be caused by the PPI's? I've noticed that even though I've only been on the PPI's for 11 months, I can definitely hear the difference in my bones, especially in my legs when I get out of bed in the morning or when I get out of a chair and even when I'm swimming. (by the way, I'm 58). I had never heard some of these sounds before.
As to IBS, one theory as to the cause: it's either bacteria, parasites or food allergies. Here's a link: http://www.ibstreatmentcenter.com/
Since you've been on PPI's for about five years, do you take any vitamin supplements to offset any deficiencies in calcium, B12, etc which can be caused by the PPI's? I've noticed that even though I've only been on the PPI's for 11 months, I can definitely hear the difference in my bones, especially in my legs when I get out of bed in the morning or when I get out of a chair and even when I'm swimming. (by the way, I'm 58). I had never heard some of these sounds before.
Muscle or rib pain (costochondritis) get worse by pressing on the spot. This spot is on the chest (over the lowest rib or higher).
Align and other probiotics help ONLY in intestinal infection (food poisoning) and in antibiotic-associated-diarrhea. Not in IBS, Crohn's, or whatever. This is my opinion after thorough research of probiotics.
The only food to provoke gb issue, would be a high-fat food, like chocolate, cheese. Pain would appear within an hour after a meal.
30% of persons diagnosed with IBS have one of food intolerances.
Align and other probiotics help ONLY in intestinal infection (food poisoning) and in antibiotic-associated-diarrhea. Not in IBS, Crohn's, or whatever. This is my opinion after thorough research of probiotics.
The only food to provoke gb issue, would be a high-fat food, like chocolate, cheese. Pain would appear within an hour after a meal.
30% of persons diagnosed with IBS have one of food intolerances.
Boron, saw my GI today, who has as one of his special interests IBS. He was very very nice, understanding, and helpful. Talked to him about my whole history, as well as biliary dismotility and fructose intolerance. For the time being he recommended staying on Levsin a few times/week, or as needed if I have a severe inflammation. He also recommended thinking about some chronic medications,which are older depressant meds, for the future if I find that I have severe attacks. He also provided a sample of Align probiotics to try, which contain Bifidobacterium infantis, also suggesting that I can try Florestor (sp?) probiotics. He definitely does NOT think that GB surgery is a good idea, and thinks that it may make matters worse. He didn't think that I have a biliary motility issue nor a fructose issue, partly because my symptoms appear to be getting better, but he was very open to revisiting these topics.
I shared with him my eating ice cream yesterday and he doesn't believe I need to try eating any fried, greasy, fatty food to try to trigger RUQ pain. So far no probs from eating the ice cream from yesterday. He believe that my right chest muscle pain is probably musculo-skeletal, which I've heard before, and that this can be looked at separately. My only notion with this is that the RUQ pain started at the same time as the right chest muscle pain, these two pain/discomfort points usually have alternated with one another, but seem to coexist with each other at this point. Anyways, that's the update for now, will let you know how the Align stuff works.
I shared with him my eating ice cream yesterday and he doesn't believe I need to try eating any fried, greasy, fatty food to try to trigger RUQ pain. So far no probs from eating the ice cream from yesterday. He believe that my right chest muscle pain is probably musculo-skeletal, which I've heard before, and that this can be looked at separately. My only notion with this is that the RUQ pain started at the same time as the right chest muscle pain, these two pain/discomfort points usually have alternated with one another, but seem to coexist with each other at this point. Anyways, that's the update for now, will let you know how the Align stuff works.
I'm not sure how a biliary pain could be triggered with food, since fat causes contraction of gallbladder, but opens a sphincter of Oddi, not contracts it. So, this is one question for GI: With which food trigger biliary pain (not gallbladder pain).
Gb/biliary disorders can cause: nausea, RUQ pain, biliary reflux (from duodenum into stomach) - what can trigger or aggravate GERD.
Bloating in gb disease would occur only, if a stone was preventing a bile flow into intestine, so fats weren't absorbed in the small intestine, reach the colon, where bacteria would ferment them and produce gas.
So, bloating ( lower abdominal bloating) obviously is from bacterial overgrowth. I personally don't recommend treatment with antibiotics, since these can lead to more problems (Clostridium difficile...).
Misha, since you're lactose intolerant, it's posible you're also FRUCTOSE intolerant. Treatment is with a diet. You can try to exclude some fruits (appleas, pears, mango, prunes), all fruit juices, honey, foods with sorbitol and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) for few days to see if it helps. I think you should temporarily exclude sucrose also, just to starve those bacteria. I think this is safer approach than with antibiotics. So, this is another thing to discuss with your GI.
More about fructose malabsorption and low fructose diet:
http://www.allhealthsite.com/212/low-fructose-and-fructose-free-diet/
Gb/biliary disorders can cause: nausea, RUQ pain, biliary reflux (from duodenum into stomach) - what can trigger or aggravate GERD.
Bloating in gb disease would occur only, if a stone was preventing a bile flow into intestine, so fats weren't absorbed in the small intestine, reach the colon, where bacteria would ferment them and produce gas.
So, bloating ( lower abdominal bloating) obviously is from bacterial overgrowth. I personally don't recommend treatment with antibiotics, since these can lead to more problems (Clostridium difficile...).
Misha, since you're lactose intolerant, it's posible you're also FRUCTOSE intolerant. Treatment is with a diet. You can try to exclude some fruits (appleas, pears, mango, prunes), all fruit juices, honey, foods with sorbitol and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) for few days to see if it helps. I think you should temporarily exclude sucrose also, just to starve those bacteria. I think this is safer approach than with antibiotics. So, this is another thing to discuss with your GI.
More about fructose malabsorption and low fructose diet:
http://www.allhealthsite.com/212/low-fructose-and-fructose-free-diet/
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