Gallbladder - Pataskala,OH

I went through EXACTLY what you said. My Dr. and I went through every test in the book. What we decided was ther it was a form of IBS. It was stress & anxiety related (I worry about everyone and everything). I started taking Paxil in small doses and it made a big difference. I still need to avoid fatty and rich foods. This has helped to dramatically minimize the nausea & the "fluttery" pain in my abdomin. Best wishes!!

Yes! I have! After both of my pregnancies. And they took my gall bladder out a year and a half ago...and I still have problems. I'll be anxious to hear what others have to say.

I can say that I have found that when I eat really, really healthy (rarely..but need to get better at it...) that I feel a ton better.

Yes, I have. The smell of certain foods cooking made me really nausious. I thought I had hearburn a lot and I suffered front and back pain.
The first set of pictures showed nothing (done in August) the second set 5 months later (the day after Christmas) showed "a few pebbles" but the specialist they sent me to decided to do surgery when he got back from his vacation around the 26th of January. By the time it was January 10th I couldn't even take the pain/antinausea medication because I threw it up. When he got back and his partner talked to him and they moved my surgery up by 8 days and did it on the 18th. When he went to do the 30 minute surgery it took an hour and a half because the "rocks" that were blocking the ducts which hadn't shown up in the scans.
I would talk to the doctor again before you get to the point I was at where I was throwing up water.
My daughter had no stones at all, turns out when they were going to "laser a kidney stone" they thought they had found with all the scans her bladder had folded over on itself and wasn't working properly and they were telling her she had a kidney stone for 3 months, she was 27.
P. R

Hi D.,
I am also 40 and had my gallbladder removed several years ago. What you are experiencing is stones in your duct. When these stones get lodge, it creates a massive amount of pain. The being sick is caused from the types of food you eat. With gallbladder problems your diet is very important and you are limited to the certain types of food. My daughter is 17 and had her gall-bladder removed as well. She became so ill that she ended up in emergency surgery. If you can control what you eat, which means no, dairy products, fast food, fatty foods, certain lettuce, no french fries, pizza, onion rings etc:

It’s best to learn what your body will accept. The time it takes between attacks and which food caused the attack. Then you know which foods you can eliminate from your diet. When I had gallbladder problems I could not eat outside of my home. Anything with butter and oil will make you very nauseas. Ice cream is out of the question. You will find having gallbladder problems is a good weight loss program. However, left untreated it can cause other serious problems with your Pancreas. Ask your family doctor what would be best for you. I have had several doctors with my daughter when she was going through her problems and they disregarded my claims. She was hospitalized and we almost lost her due to pancreatic failing. Find a good doctor…… Good Luck!

Hi D.,

My sister had the same after her second baby.
She had to change her diet and stopped having more discomfort. If I remember correctly, she cut off most cheeses, greasy foods, spicy foods etc.

After a while, it returned and she decided to have it removed and has had no further complications.

Amy

I had symptoms similar to yours and my doctor discovered that the walls of my gallbladder had thickened to the point that it could no longer pump/squeeze as it should. My gallbladder was removed and I haven't had any problems since.

When I was 7 weeks preg. I had a gallbladder attack and I had abdominal pain and vomiting and nausea. Could not keep nothing down. I was sick every morning kept telling me it was morning sickness. They did an ultrasound and I had very tiny stones they could barely see them. They had to remove the gallbladder. While I was in my first trimister which was very dangerous. but everything work out fine. I hope this helps and good luck with finding what is going on.

I am not sure if pregnancy can cause gallbladder trouble but I do know that it is common for a women your age to experience trouble. I work in the medical field and one way we learned how to remember the people at most risk was to remember the four F's-----female, forty, fatty and fertile. Does not mean you have to have all 4, I see you have three though. Kinda silly but works. In my experience it is true also, I do alot of work with the gallbladder. Hope this helps.

Well I am not and have not had a baby recently but yes I have the gall bladder attacks, whith nausea, and gas. No stones showed , and the test showed that my gallbladder was working at 100%. I have been watching what I eat----no fried or greasy foods and it has helped. Some times it feels like a bunch of bees are stinging me in the region of the gallbladder.doctor seems to think I have a virus that just keeps hanging on.

check out gallbladder cleance and look for Stefanie Relfe. Her cleanse has really helped me. Ultrasounds dont always show stones, but the majority of the population have stones. You dont want to have another attack I am sure, worst pain I had EVER experienced! Good luck, you reallyy should check it out!

I had twins, then about a year after started having the severe attacks, however in between them were the symptoms that you are having. I went through multiple tests they were thinking it was irritable bowel... and infection in the bowel. I went through multiple tests for Esophageal problems, and then finally they did an ultrasound of the gall bladder and found that it was full of stones. Then... I was scheduled for removal. (this was about 6 months of pain and testing till they found what was wrong.)
I just need to watch a few things that I eat that can bother me, but other than that, much better. Hope this helps.

It's called a sluggish gall bladder. Very small stones can be found when removed. Intense pain can be caused when stone gets lodged creating blockage.

The next step is usually aHIDA scan, which evaluates the function of the gallbladder and the bile ducts. This will check the EF(ejection fraction) and is much more specific than an ultrasound. Ask your doctor about it. Many people have a negative ultrasound but positive HIDA and need a cholecystectomy(gallbladder removal).

I had problems for 8 years before my stomach doctor sent me to have a HIDA Scan. Ultrasounds showed nothing. My gull bladder was not functioning and I had it removed. I was having attacks every 45 to 60 days. It was terrible. I was in 29.

My biggest food that cause it was lettuce.

Good luck

I was in my late 40's when I had your symptoms. I didn't have stones either. Mostly the nausea and discomfort but with some intense pain, just not frequently. I was fortunate to have a doctor that believed my pain and symptoms and operated. I had a polyp on the back of my gall bladder and that's the reason for the test to come back negative. This most likely would have turned cancerous. I was blessed and very thankful.

Go to your family doctor and ask to have some test ran. I suffered from the nausea and everything for 3 years after I had my daughter. The ultrasounds will not show how your gallbladder is handling certain things. They can do an IV and put dye into your system and see how it reacts. If they determine that surgery is a must then I would recommend Dr. DeSanto. She has done both my surgeries . I also had my thyroid removed. Hope this helps. E.

Could Aloe vera juice help to calm your discomfort? You can find it at health food stores.

I went through this 3 weeks ago! The nausea, discomfort, and then it started to radiate up to my right shoulder blade. Dr. was convinced it was gallstones. Ultrasound showed nothing.

Went to my chiropractor and was telling him about it and learned that birth control pills can cause these attacks. He suggested stopping my pill for a month just to see. He expained to me that the hormones are such a tax on your liver, that they are capable of turning your bile to sludge and therefore mimic gallstones. Well, I came home and told my husband and we decided to give it a try. I have been off them 3 weeks and feel WONDERFUL! I haven't been sick, in pain or anything... any chance you are taking the pill??

I had an attack and then the transient pain you are talking about, but I did have stones. I have had two friends however after turning 40 have similar symptoms as you describe and no stones. I know that one of them did have her gallbladder out and has not experienced a recurrence of that kind of pain. It is worth avoiding the foods that usually cause gallbladder problems to see if that helps. Wish you the best - Gennie

D.,
Try eating a low fat diet. Fat seems to make it worse.
Hope this helps,
R.

I ahd a gale bladder that was putting bile back into my system have them do a scan of it and see if its working ok i was 32 when they had to remove it so dont let them tell you you are to young for that to happen

When I was 19 weeks pregnant with my son, I had an gallbladder attack. The pain was very intense in my right upper abdomen. It started out in my back and then moved to my front and brought me to tears, after about three hours of the pain only getting worse. The only thing that releived it was morphine and demerol from the ER. I also had nausea and vomited 3 or 4 times during the episode. It turned out I had 3 gallstones and had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder. It was a terriying experience, being my first pregnancy. My son is now 3 1/2 months old and strong and healthy.

You may need surgery someday to get your gallbladder removed. I hope you don't have many more attacks before then. And Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

A. M.

Yes I had similar issues that went on for 2 a;most 3 years. Have a hideascan done to check it's function before it gets worse since it sounds like that's what is wrong.

Dear D.,

Whatever you do don't let them talk you into removing your gall bladder. It isn't a useless organ that you can live without.

Try warming it with a hot water bottle for 30-45 minutes before you eat. Stay away from all processed fats (margarine, Crisco, hydrogenated anything) and use oils that are liquid at room temperature. The problem with a gall bladder is that the bile can get thick and when it is supposed to be pushed into the intestines, it will not go. But bile is need to properly digest your food and get all the vitamins from it.

By all means try this before you even think of getting rid of the pain by having the bladder removed. Doctors make a lot of money taking this part out BUT they don't tell you what they were supposed to have learned in med school - losing the gall bladder makes you lose 40% of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E & K. The problems from being short of them takes a long time to show up and there will be no way to prove that what they did was responsible for you medical problems - cancer or whatever.

There is one other thing you can do. Dr. Merkle can help and there is a chiropractic manipulation that can help improve the functioning of the gall bladder. His number is ###-###-####. He doesn't know S. so just say a net friend gave you the info.

God Bless,

S.

I had my gallbadder out when I was in my 20's well before my first child. However, I do know that the pain can be really bad and exacerbated with pregnancy. I did have stones. You mentioned that your ultrasound did not show them...did your docotr suggest a test called a HIDA scan which checks the emptying of the gallbladder??(I now work in a surgeons office and we take care of this problem)..So, I know more about it than I ever thought I would LOL!! But this is the next test we recommend when patients have a negative ultrasound. You don't necessarily need to have stones in order to "need" your gallbladder out! Hope this information helps you... and btw...there is really nothing over the counter to take for the pain! Sometimes pain meds will help too!

hi i went three years with the ultra sound showing no stones. then i got pregnant and got these pains that were worse than labor pains. but still not stones. i had my child almost five years ago and he was born in june in feb i had my gaul bladder taken out. i had one of the pains and went to the dr ( it happened as i was driving to the dr) luckily my mom was with me. and they drew my blood that was the only way they found it. i told my dr i am drinking a bottle of wine just to make the pain go away. they thought it was anxiety attacks. but they were to bad after a while. they would last hours and i felt like i was not all there they hurt so bad. it was frusterated that it took so long to figure it out. they say pregnancy brings it on also. if i was you i would go to a dr that specifically deal with it( if you have not already) i think my dr was dr robert collins i liked him a lot and he is right by anderson hospital if you close to there. have not had problems since

I had my gall bladder removed 4 or 5 years ago. My ultrasound also showed no stones. My doctor sent me for another test. My gall bladder did not function properly. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the test. But I had to lay flat for 30 minutes or maybe an hour. They gave me a dye through an iv and took numerous pictures as the dye traveled through my system. I had outpatient laproscopic surgery on a Wednesday and was back to my secretarial job on Monday.

PRESCRIPTION FOR NUTRITIONAL HEALING by Balch

Dear D.,

I hate to tell you this but gallbladder problems are quite common in your age group. Do you fit this profile: Fair, fat, forty, fertile? Even though you don't have stones your gallbladder may not be working well. Don't put up with misery. Find a physician who is willing to find out the cause of the problem and help you get relief either with medicine or surgery.

Happy Mother's Day!
L.

I had my gallbladder out 5 years ago this coming October (3 1/2 years before my pregnancy and delivery of my son in July of 2007). I never really had the intense, transient pain (maybe one or two episodes.) Mine was definitely more of a discomfort and nausea feeling. The best way I can describe it is a feeling of constant uncomfortable distension in my belly area right below my ribcage. I didn't fit the "normal" criteria at that time (forty, fat, fertile - although I am fair-skinned, which was the fourth "f"). My ultrasound was inconclusive as well - no "noticeable" pronounced or measurable stones. Upon the recommendation of both the general surgeon and my family physician, I ended up having it out - laparoscopically. When I got the pathology report back, it said that although I really didn't have any "stones" per se, the fluid in my gall bladder was like a thick sludge. I felt SO much better after it was taken out. Hopefully my experience has helped a bit. Best wishes!