Upper Abdominal pain & question re: thyroid test

[AliChapman]

Hi.  I'm not sure where to begin.  For the past few months I have been having horrible upper right sided abdominal pain.  I've had a gallbladder ultrasound and HIDA scan done, both showing everything to be normal.  My gallbladder was said to be slightly enlarged but no gallstones are present.  During the HIDA scan, I was in horrible pain during the second hour of the test, after they injected me with the hormone to stimulate & "squeeze" my gallbladder.  I continue to have a constant dull pain that radiates throught my back and under my rib cage on my right side.  Occassionaly, the pain becomes so bad that it wakes me up at night and can last up to 2 hours.   Two weeks ago, I ended up in the ER because I was experiencing SOB, uncontrollable shaking, chest pain, abdominal pain and dizziness.  My resting HR was 133 and my BP was high 167/99.  They ran several tests, including chest x-ray, EKG and abd/pelvic CT scan.  Incidently, I was found to have Mitral Valve Prolapse and a moderate amount of free fluid surrounding my uterus and ovaries. I was sent home 12 hours later and instructed to F/U with my primary MD.  The following day, I woke up and felt the same.  I saw my primary MD and he put me on Tenormin for my Tachycardia and referred me to a G.I. Dr. for my abdominal pain.  I saw this G.I. Dr. on Thursday and he seems to think that I may have Celiac Dz.  I'm still waiting for my blood work to come back. One of my question to you is, is it still possible to have gallbladder Dz even if an ultrasound & HIDA scan come back normal?  The abdominal pain is almost always in the same location, under my rib cage.  Also, I forgot to mention, when I was in the ER, the only slightly abnormal lab was my Total T3 of 1.88  (the range they gave me was 0.60-1.81).  Do you think this could be the cause of some of my problems?  My Free T4 was at 1.17 & my TSH was 2.950, which are "normal".    I feel like I'm being tossed around and not getting any answers.  I thought maybe you could give me your advice or suggestions.  Thanks  

[Thypatient]

Just wanted to add that on all the tests I had, u/s, MRI, plus an endoscope test, no stones were ever seen.  Yet after the surgery the surgeon told me he did indeed find stones.

Good luck.

[chigirl29]

You could have an autoimmune inflammation of they gallbladder.  There has to be a test for that.  It would cause the organ to swell.

My pancreas was inflamed once and the doctor said I might have pancreatic cancer.  I was terrified an only 23.  I'm not dead so I didn't have the cancer.

Ask your doctor about a gallbladder specific antibody test--if there is one.

[utahmomma]

My gallbladder ultrasound and HIDA scan were normal - as were my son's.  We both had inflamed gallbladders - my son's had actually formed adhesion on his liver.  We both feel better without the stupid little things.

Followup with a good GI.  Sometimes there are things that can't been seen on the scans that are still causing problems.

[Thypatient]

I’d keep on this one if I were you.

  “…is it still possible to have gallbladder Dz even if an ultrasound & HIDA scan come back normal?”  I have the experience of saying ‘yes.’   Drs knew I had gallbladder problems but had to put off an operation until my other operation and recovery was over.  Over a year later, my dr wanted to pursue the gallbladder issue and sent me for a u/s.  It showed no problems.  Radio dr called me back when he compared this u/s to one done a year before.  Barring some miracle, improvement let alone total healing is impossible.   A more thorough u/s showed things were not so good and to boot, a follow-up MRI showed a tumor on the inside wall.  I’m not trying to suggest this is your diagnosis but only want to illustrate what can happen.

I had a lot of what you describe that are, in general, symptoms of gallbladder disease.  I understand how you feel; it’s excruciatingly painful.  I feel much better since that surgery.  If you go over to the gastrointestinal board, I’m sure you’ll relate.

I can’t really interpret your thyroid test results or if they are related, but I can say my other operation was thyroid/parathyroid surgery.  Sometimes I wonder if things were somehow connected.

Take care.