Has anyone had gallstones...?

[minties]

Even if nothing shows on te scan it doesn't mean you don't have them. Mine didn't show and I paid for scans. It wasn't until I had an emergency scan done at hospital that they finally showed their stoney faces! Even then the wand had to be jammed right under my ribs and I had to get into a funky position on the table before they showed. I had 14 stones all over a centimetre wide and 40 odd stones that were mostly smaller in the bile duct. My duct was so packed that it was stretched to the point of tearing and the bile was not going through.

 

[MemmaJ]

So No gallstones seen on the scan...
She was very thorough and checked all the other organs too, nothing untoward seen anywhere.
Now I just feel like a complete idiot!

 

[Teri7489]

Please don't feel like an idiot - that pain is coming from somewhere. My initial scan showed no stones and no wall thickening. My second scan showed some stones (which BTW was only days later) and it was the MRI that picked up the stone that was stuck causing the excruciating pain. It could well be stones but just aren't showing well. I hope you get answers soon x

 

[Pixie19]

I had gallstones after my first baby. My gallbladder attacks felt like a heart attack. I couldn't breathe or talk and would sweat, they were pure agony! I went to the doctor and he thought it was most likely indigestion. After a bit of googling it was my husband that suggested gallstones. The doctor said for someone of my age (I was 22) and because I wasn't overweight that it was highly unlikely, but he sent me for an ultrasound on my liver anyway just to rule it out. I did in fact have loads of stones in my gallbladder. I had surgery to remove the stones and diseased gallbladder within 3 months. Been fine since, although I do occasionally get a swollen feeling liver.

 

[Scout]

I had been having attacks for a couple of years...it felt like a heart attack. Nothing showed up on ultrasound at all. I had a few of them too. Finally I was sent for a hida scan where they inject some dye and watch how it travels thru the body and found out I had tons of sludge and my gallbladder was barely functioning. When I had it removed the surgeon said it was very diseased. So, it won't always show up on an ultrasound.

 

[MyFavSurprise]

I had attacks for years before going in to be seen, I thought it was what everyone called indigestion :/ I ended up meeting my birthmother who told me in ran in the family and her mom and her had both had theirs out and I started to research it. It started when I was still a teenager and not heavy, and it got worse after my first son was born. When I was younger I used to go for a walk and it would help the pain but later on it was so incredibly painful, my mom tried to call 911 because she thought I was having a heart attack and I insisted it was just indegestion! While on all fours on the bed, crying and sweating. I always wanted to throw up but it wouldn't really help when I did. Finally I started having the attacks without eating, one night I was shopping with my son and I felt it start, I headed to the car and made it just in time to set him in his seat and throw up in the parking lot. I went in asap and they found stones and gave me a medicine to break them up and told me to schedule an outpatient surgery. So I started taking it and the next night had the same pain but something felt very different and I went back in...a stone had lodged itself in my pancreas and I was turning yellow, they said I could have died if I didn't go in.. I was admitted and they took care of me and didn't let me eat for a week while the pancreatitis got better, and then they did an endoscopy and finally the surgery to get it out. The best thing I ever did was get rid of that awful organ lol.

Bottom line, don't let them make you feel bad or dumb, I have been in for other things since and when I know something is wrong and they wont listen I have a bad habit of crying and it always freaks the doctors out lol, they usually do more to try and figure out what is wrong. When they say "there's no more tests we can do" they are usually full of crap. Make them figure it out before it may get worse, my surgery was way worse to recover from with the added pain from the pancreatitis.

If you keep getting this pain, keep bugging them too, don't give up.

There is something they call the 5 Fs of gallbladder..
Fair: more prevalent in Caucasian population
Fat: BMI >30
Female
Fertile: one or more children
Forty: age ≥40

But if you have an immediate family member that had them then that replaces the being over forty, plus it is all a guideline for likelihood not like if you dont fit the part then you cant get them. My grandpa had his removed too and he is skinny and definitely not a female!

Good luck!

 

[izzlesnizzle]

I'm due to have my gallbladder taken out next week. I'm so scared. Can anyone tell me what to expect afterwards? No horror stories though please. Have read horror stories online and almost backed out of having it done.

I've suffered for 15 years and been fobbed off as gastritis by several gps each time. Been in a & e a couple of times over the years and no one got to the bottom of it until I had a scan for something unrelated and it was an incidental finding that I've got 4 large stones and multiple small ones.

 

[minties]

Mine was no horror story to remove. Keyhole surgery, I had 3 small holes. Went home a couple of hours after surgery and sat around a bit that day but felt good. Was back to looking after the kids as normal the next day - just took it easy. It was a very fast healing procedure and pain was minimal.

The only 'horror' is my main scar has ended up shaped a bit like a cock and balls!

 

[izzlesnizzle]

Mine was no horror story to remove. Keyhole surgery, I had 3 small holes. Went home a couple of hours after surgery and sat around a bit that day but felt good. Was back to looking after the kids as normal the next day - just took it easy. It was a very fast healing procedure and pain was minimal.

The only 'horror' is my main scar has ended up shaped a bit like a cock and balls!

Thank you for the response. That makes me feel a bit better! Can I ask if not tmi have you had any gut/ digestion issues after the surgery? I'm so worried I'm going to have constant diahorrea and unpleasant symptoms. I've read way too much online!

 

[fxmummyduck]

Mine was no horror story to remove. Keyhole surgery, I had 3 small holes. Went home a couple of hours after surgery and sat around a bit that day but felt good. Was back to looking after the kids as normal the next day - just took it easy. It was a very fast healing procedure and pain was minimal.

The only 'horror' is my main scar has ended up shaped a bit like a cock and balls!

Wow, I can't say my recovery was as quick! My surgery wasn't a horror story either, but I stayed in the whole day as I always react to anesthesia, it makes me very sick.id say a week I felt better, but I still couldn't pick my lo up for 3-4 weeks. Don't rush your recovery, it's important the internal stitches have time to heal properly. I had 3 incisions and a hole for a drain but it wasn't terrible.

I did get a bit of diarrhea, I found eating very small amounts but often was the best. And avoid fatty/greasy foods as this would upset my stomach.

Honestly though the surgery is nothing compared to suffering with gallstones, you will feel SO much better, for just one week of feeling a bit rough. Very much worth it if you ask me!

 

[minties]

I did still have pain, but that was due to stones being stuck in the bile duct.

I had my gall bladder removed in 2013 and haven't had any tummy troubles at all. I also lost 40kg on a high fat, low carb diet so eating lots of fat doesn't hurt me. My mother and grandma had their gallbladders removed at young ages, I don't think they have ever had tummy troubles.

I don't know if I'm just some sort of super surgery healing freak? I thought the surgery and recovery was a doddle. I have also had 3 c-sections and pick my kids up generally (carefully) about 2-4 days post surgery. Have no choice in the matter really, my son was only 23 months when my first daughter arrived. When I had Emma this year I had to start driving my son to school again on day 5 and I think being so active helped me to recover in super speedy time.

I don't think I have a high pain tolerance or think I'm tough or anything, I cry if I stub my toe. Everyone experiences things so differently. My midwife did say that she's had ladies who'd had vaginal births and one stitch who have been bedridden for weeks, then ladies who have c-sections and are up and walking and stuff the day of. Pain is pain and it's not fun, but in my experience the gallbladder removal was much better than I thought.

The removal of the stones from the bile duct during a later procedure was excruciating though and was the worst pain of my life, I wanted to die!

 

[MemmaJ]

The pain is still ongoing but it's more of a constant, dull pain now, with waves of worsening a couple of times a day (usually towards the end of the day).

I had some bloods done (LFT's) which apparently have come back 'unremarakable' according to the GP receptionist, and a note was put on them to say see GP again if symptoms persist.
Needless to say I haven't...

I have my booking appointment next week so I plan to speak to my midwife about it and see what she recommends.

 

[Lemonade]

I hope you manage to get some answers. My gall bladder pain ranged from mild twinges, to horrendous, heart attack style, attacks. Honestly on a par with, or even worse than the worst moments of my labour.

My symptoms starterd when my daughter was two weeks old. I was 29 and not overweight! I think I am lucky that my GP took me seriously (also lucky that my DH is a doctor and guessed what it was first), I was diagnosed via scan two months later and they were removed just under a year after that. It could have been earlier but I wanted to wait until I stopped breast feeding before I had the surgery. The surgery was a doddle for me too - I was out of hospital by 3pm the same day, holding my one year old the next day and out and about the day after that. I also had a c-section with a super easy recovery, but gall bladder surgery was 20x easier than that.

For what it's worth, it's a more than a year since my gall bladder removal and I still occasionally get pain (not the worst kind of attacks though) and have been readmitted to hospital 3 times since. Nothing has been seen on ultrasounds or MRI since my removal though, so I also believe that they can't always see what is causing the problem....

 

[izzlesnizzle]

So I had my surgery yesterday. I was done in the afternoon and out by 8.30pm. I'm feeling quite tired and a bit sore today but nothing on the scale of my c sections.

I was terrified before the surgery but so glad I went through with it and not to have to worry about having the attacks any more. When it flared up it was awful. I'd have five days of extreme pain, fever, vomiting and constant burping. It was horrible. Apart from a bit of pain today I'm able to get up and about and move around. The kids have been very sweet and my 22 month old seems to know I'm not very well today and has been giving me lots of kisses and pointing at my tummy saying ahhh.

Thanks for the reassurance beforehand, it was really helpful as I was so worried about the surgery and thanks to the op as I hijacked your thread!

 

[fxmummyduck]

So glad the surgery went well, hope you make a quick recovery