RUQ pain

[KeyD]

For about the last two years now I have been getting sudden, sharp, grabbing pain in my RUQ. It is the same pain I had before my gallbladder was removed in Oct 2007. The pain occurs every 4-5 weeks, is sudden, lasts about 5 minutes, and tends to occur 4-5 times per day for a couples of days and is then gone until next time. For the last month I have also been getting "little grabs" in the same area that last just a second, I've been getting these daily. The doctor I went to told me to ignore it since it occurs infrequently.

[CalGal]

SOD can be difficult to diagnose and the only true procedure to know whether or not a condition IS SOD is via ERCP with manometry. Docs can go round and round with patients who are showing a variety of 'wierd' symptoms. Unfortunately, a lot of the patients are 'diagnosed' with acid reflux or other conditions when the LFTs don't come back as elevated. It would be nice if everyone with SOD had instantly elevated LFTs, but that doesn't always happen. Keep on 'top' of your doc until you can get an answer.

In the meantime, you might also want to consider an MRCP.

Please consider a low fat diet, it can help. You may also want to talk to the doc about the variety of anti-spasm meds (bentyl, elavil and some forms of calcium channel blockers) that are available. There's not always a one-to-one correlation, but if they cut the pain it may 'suggest' that you are having spasms.

Note any changes in bowel habits. Looser and looser stools can indicate 'bile dumping' while a change to constipation could suggest a spasm that retards bile output. If the constipation is accompanied by 'whitish' stools that is very suggestive of lack of bile output and biliary spasms.

[KeyD]

Thanks for your input. I am going to have LFTs rechecked but I want to wait until my next "attack" The Dr said that as long as my LFTs are normal that it's not SOD but I thanks for the web site, I'll check it out.

[CalGal]

Forget about the 'infrequent' aspect - it is something you should keep an eye on. Make sure you get your liver and pancreatic enzyme levels checked. If they're elevated checking things out further.

You may want to consider reducing the fat in your diet if you haven't done so. After a gallbladder operation, you will not be able to process fats as you did previously and 'normal' or elevated fatty intake could result in some problems.

Pain can indicate that 'something' could be happening. Somethings could include SOD - see this: http://hopkins-gi.nts.jhu.edu/pages/latin/templates/index.cfm?pg=disease1&organ=3&disease=12&lang_id=1