Upper right abdominal pain

[onedaymore]

I had my gallbladder removed in February of 2007 as a treatment for chronic cholecystitis. The upper right-sided pain resolved for a few months following the surgery, but returned with a vengeance in July of 2007. Along with the return of the pain came a few new symptoms: intense nausea with vomiting and blood in the stool. Since July, the pain has increased to the point where I am unable to work full-time and spend the majority of my time in bed.

I have been through nearly every test imagineable (colonoscopy, EGD, CT scan, small bowel enteroclysis, celiac/SPRUE, thyroid, HIDA) since July, and most have come up normal or haven't had results that could fully explain what is going on.

I also have had incredibly tender ribs (not the cartilage, but the bone itself). I have a bone scan scheduled for next week.

The only test that has not come up completely normal has been the EGD, which showed three pre-ulcerous erosions. I am still waiting on the results of the small bowel enteroclysis, which will most likely be normal (though I vomited blood right after the procedure).

My gastroenterologist says that he is running out of ideas. I'm getting a bit desperate to get rid of the pain and nausea. I have a history of tests showing normal results when it is not the case (the HIDA scan was normal prior to my gallbladder removal, albeit on the low end. When the surgeon removed my gallbladder, it was clear that it had not been working for a long time, and the bile duct was congenitally deformed and didn't allow for any bile to move through it. The surgeon was baffled as to why the HIDA showed it was functioning when it clearly hadn't been).

Any ideas?

[onedaymore]

My GI says that SOD is very, very unlikely.

Small bowel enteroclysis found nodules. My GI doesn't seem worried about it.

[CalGal]

The only definitive test at the present time is an ERCP with manometry. And that test shouldn't be done without the manometry.

[onedaymore]

How would they test for that?

[CalGal]

You might want to consider SOD, sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. It may not be the answer to some of your symptoms, but it may be the basis of your right-sided pain: http://hopkins-gi.nts.jhu.edu/pages/latin/templates/index.cfm?pg=disease1&organ=3&disease=12&lang_id=1