pain after gallbladder removal

[bettyblue79]

hi, i had my gallbladder removed in august 07 and have had moderate to severe upper abdominal pain more often than not since. i had had numerous xrays, and upper G.I and small bowel follow through, and a cat scan. nothing has shown up. i go back and forth between constipation and being regular with bouts of diarrhea. i have lost my job due to this as i cannot work when the pain hits. i was given demerol and have been off of it and am struggling on my own, as i know it slows bowel function down. i eat fibre and am vegetarian, drink more water than i think possible and am at a total loss. i seem to feel the pain more when sitting upright and laying on my sides. i had no luck with internists and my family is stumped. any ideas? i feel like i'm crazy sometimes. i was a healthy active girl before this. thank-you

[shurely]

I can understand your frustration! These problems started for me over four years ago. I haven't even been back to the dr. since I had my gallbladder removed but I did ask my family dr. about it (during my son's visit) and he actually said "it's all in your head"! Needless to say I'd like to make him think! I keep saying whats the use? I still have a prescription for Levbid that my MD prescribed before ever finding anything to start with! If it wasn't for it I couldn't stand the "attacks". The only problem is the side effects of it for me are terrible and it doesn't seem to help as well as it used to. I only take it when it starts hurting and then it takes at least 30 minutes to help. What makes me mad is knowing that its just covering up the problem and still I have to worry about when I'll have another one you know? I just thank God that its not constant! Yeah, I know what you mean about IBS. It evidently covers alot of territory! To be fair though, this seems to be a very hard to diagnose problem. Its just hard to be fair when you think you're dying! My family keeps telling me I need to go to the dr. I tell them that it evidently won't kill me or it already would've. (At least I hope it won't!!)

[bettyblue79]

well, i am so frustrated, she said it was IBS again, that was the first diagnosis back in sep. i am so mad they lump it all into "IBS" so i'm still in pain, and no answers. more fibre, i eat so much fibre it's crazy. how are you doing? what do you do to cope with your pain?

[shurely]

Sorry about your problems. I have almost the same problems. I had my GB removed 9/07 and still have the same 'episodes'. Please let me know what your dr. has to say. Good luck!

[bettyblue79]

thank-you so much, i will look into that, i go see my doc tomorrow. i appreciate your response. :)

[CalGal]

You're not nuts and it's not in your head. It could be that you're struggling with ongoing 'gallbladder' issues. Bile is an intestinal irritant. If you're 'bile-dumping' it will irritate your GI system and you'll end up with diarrhea. If the bile is being retarded (a muscular opening at the end of the bile duct not functioning properly so that you spasm) you could end up with constipation. And if you're really having blocked bile, the constipation will result in a whitish or grayish stool - and you should make sure to tell your doc about it.

You need to check into a condition call SOD, sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. It's unfortuantely far too common in some after gallbladder surgery. It can cause severe pain as well as a bunch of other symptoms.