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Avatar universal

Spastic gall bladder?

I am a 39 year old female, slightly overweight, for the past month I've been having pain in my upper right abdomen, just under the rib cage. It started out as chest pain, so I went to see my Dr. He set me up for a few different kinds of tests on my heart. Ended up going to the ER because the pain became so severe. First thing they thought of was gall bladder or kidney stones. But all the tests came back ok. They came to the conclusion that I have a spastic gall bladder and sent me home with Reglan. I've been reading some of the other posts on here with people who have similar pain in their abdomen. Unlike a lot of them I don't have vomiting. I have mild nausea and cycles of constipation and diarrhea. I feel tired and sluggish a lot more then usual.  The Dr's didn't seem to think it was a big issue and no further testing is being offered to help me figure out what's going on. If this is the development of a bigger, more serious problem then I'd like to catch it early before it gets worse. Any suggestions or info would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.


This discussion is related to Pain in upper right quadrant under rib cage.
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Avatar universal
Hello, If you need a hida scan you have to get a referral from either your primary care doctor or er physician. Once you are scheduled for a hida scan the night prior to your test you will not be able to eat or drink or take medication after midnight. ER will not do hida scan because of that they will only do ct scans and ultra sounds. I am having a hida scan done this morning to check my gallbladder. During this scan it takes one hour to take pictures and they will inject you with a dye. This will help to get clearer pictures of your gallbladder.
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Avatar universal
In my humble opinion... Spastic gallbladder is
Just Mumbo jumbo that translates to "it's diseased, get it removed."
I say this cause mine was spasming after every meal (one of many
Symptoms that led me to seek the HiDA scan that revealed my 13%
Ejection fraction. AKA malfunctioning gallbladder. The spasming is
The damn thing TRYING (but failing) to do what it's supposed to.
What is the point if keeping an organ that is failing you and causing discomfort? Do what I did. Persist in your request for HIDA scan.  My primary
Doc felt pretty silly that I KNEW The rigt tests to pursue when he had concluded that I was fine based soley on a useless ultrasound result.
Be proactive. It could save your life.
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Avatar universal
I was told as well that I have a spastic gallbladder roughly 3 years ago. I found out when I past out at work from the pain. I have terrible heartburn and get awful cycles of consti[ation/diarreha. My whole family has some sort of stomach issue (IBS, colitis, etc). I was never really explained what having a spastic gallbladder was. But all I know in the past 2 months it's gotten worse and I've also gotten kidney stones. I thought the doctor was just making some crap up to get me out of his office.
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Avatar universal
I have had the exact same problems! Just finished my hydascan and it came back normal except the pain during it.  found out today that it is spastic gallbladder and they will be removing my gallbladder immediately. I would get a second opinion!
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Avatar universal
I developed what the Docs thought was Spastic Gallbladder last fall and had my gallbladder removed. My hyda-scan turned up a 77% which is 2% over the normal range for a healthy gallbladder. 4 months after surgery my pain is back. The docs now think it may be the valves from my pancreas and liver that are spastic. Definitely have them do a hyda if they have not done so yet, and f it comes back normal have them scan your pancreas and liver valves too. If your doc is just treating the symptoms, try and find a new doc. I know the pain yo are going/went through and it is no way yo live. I hope they find out soon for you!
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611999 tn?1298758291
You can have gallbladder disease with no stones.  Mine was functioning at only 22 % with no stones so it needed to be removed.  I would ask about getting the hida scan to see if that is your issue.  I would have bad pain as well in that same area as well as  upset stomach a lot.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
No they didn't. I went to the ER so I'm kind of doubting they were that thorough. I had never heard of a spastic gall bladder so I didn't know about any other tests. I will be following up with my Dr. and will be asking him about further testing. It's kind of surprising how fast the on set of the pain has been. Just a few weeks back my Mom had to have emergency surgery to have her gall bladder removed, it was packed with stones. When I started having similar syptoms we thought for sure it would come back that I had gall stones. I was relieved to find out that I didn't, but disappointed at the same time because I still have no real answers to the pain I'm having.
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611999 tn?1298758291
Did they perform a hida scan to check out how well the GB is functioning?
Helpful - 0
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