Sever Upper Abdominal Pain

[May2011Mommy]

I was hoping that someone could give some advice to help settle some nerves. I am reposting this from the 3rd Trimester forum since it might be more appropriate here.

Around the my 22nd week, I started to have menstrual like cramps and what I considered spotting. I went to the hospital, they monitored the baby, and they said that everything was fine. They said that the spotting was really my urine (it was dark) and I needed to drink more water and that the menstrual like cramps were normal. My response: I guess I need to drink more water.

Around the 24th week, I had severe upper abdominal pain. It started when I left a restuarant and got more intense as I was driving home. When I got home it was the most intense pain I had ever felt in my life. I started sweating, crying, took off all my clothes, rolled around on the bed, crawled on the floor, screamed, squatted, did I mention crying, anything to make the pain go away. The pain was smack in the middle of my ribs and it was a constant gripping pain. It almost felt like concrete was drying because the pain felt like my stomach was hardening. 40 minutes of the pain passed and I thought I might have been in labor and so I called my cousin (who had recently had a baby) and had my husband ask what contractions were like and if I was having preterm labor. She said that contractions come and go and I was not in "normal" labor. Then all of a sudden, like magic, the pain was gone! We still went to the hospital, they again monitored the baby, and they told me it was indigestion. My response: This was not indigestion. I couldn't believe that they would pass it off as indigestion. This was the most intense pain I had ever felt in my life and they wanted me to believe that it was due to gas? Because I have a family history of gallbladder problems, I asked the nurse if my body could be trying to pass a gallstone and she told me that my pain was not in the right area to be a gallstone attack.

Note: My sister is also pregnant and she had a similar pain and it turns out that she has gallstones and she was having a gallstone attack. She will be getting her gallbladder removed after she has the baby. Also my mom had to have her gallbladder removed (though she wasn't pregnant at the time of her attack).

Around the 27th week, I had the pain again for 4 hours. Same thing with taking off clothes, sweating, had to turn on a fan to get cold, crying...the only difference is that the pain didn't go away suddenly. I fell asleep while the pain was still there. I woke up and felt like my body had been run over by a train, my ribs and stomach were sore.

When I went to the OBGYN they told me that it might be my gallbladder/stones and so they ordered an ultrasound to check. And she also prescribed me vicodin to use while the pain was there. Before my ultrasound I had another attack and used the vicodin and went to sleep pretty fast.

I had the ultrasound and guess what....there are NO gallstones and everything looks clear and good. I spoke with the OBGYN again and they are still convinced it's my gallbladder. I was pretty stubborn about it and said that they shouldn't be prescribing me such a strong pain reliever and not be 100% sure about what's going on with my body. So they referred me to a gastroenterologist.

This gastroenterologist said that they pain I am feeling is consistent with gallstones. He checked my ultrasound and again confirmed that there appears to be NO gallstones. They drew some blood and are checking levels with my pancreas and liver. And I will be getting the results next Tuesday (in 5 days). He said that he doesn't think there is anything the matter with those organs and that I probably have sludge or tiny tiny tiny stones that the ultrasound cannot pick up.

I had another attack last night and it lasted 4 hours! Today really really really sucks because my stomach and ribs are sore. And my stomach still seems to be in "mild pain". I have gone to the hospital, my regular OBGYN, and now a gastroenterologist and no one call tell me 100% what's going on with my body! I am really frustrated!

My age: 23
My height: 5'5"
My current weight: 211
My prebaby weight: 200
Due Date: May 7th
Weeks currently pregnant: 31w 5d

Any insight would really help me out! Thank you!

 

[Helly]

I'm really sorry I've never heard of a pain like this before. I would suggest next time it happens just go to labour ward or ER so they can see it happening and hopefully you would get faster answers that way. Have you vomited with it?

 

[Maybump2]

Hya,

I had sludge, the stones are so small that they hardly appear on US.. you would think that as they are so small that they shouldn't cause as much pain but they are actually worse than stones which are easy to remove.. i had 10 attacks after my first baby that lasted roughly 10hrs each and felt like somebody had hung me on a meat hook in between my shoulders... the pain was way way worse than labour!!!! (So that bodes well for you )

I had a stone that was missed after my gallbladder was removed that then blocked my liver and caused me to go jaundace... i passed that somehow and since then everything has been fine but you have my full sympathy... when i read this before gallbladders were mentioned i thought "Gallbladder" so i would agree with your gastroenterologist and OBGYN.

My "Sludge" didn't really show up on US but when they removed my gallbladder the surgeon said it was full of sand type sludge.

Hope you manage to get through it if it is, and you get some kind of confirmation to put your mind at rest.

x

 

[Maybump2]

Forgot to say, the pain after an attack is caused by the gallbladder contracting to try and empty out, the ache can last for a few days as it's having a proper work out - Have they suggested managing it with diet?

 

[May2011Mommy]

The gastroenterologist used the same descriptive words like "sand". So maybe it is my gallbladder. I don't want it to be my gallbladder, infact, I wish it wasn't anything....but I would like to have peace about it.

Did you have stones or just the sludge?

 

[May2011Mommy]

They did mention doing a low fat diet.
And oh no, I have not vomitted.

 

[Maybump2]

I don't think i had any stones, i was on a low fat diet and was breastfeeding at the time, i lost quite a bit of fat! Although one attack came on after i ate tuna on dry toast so i'm not sure it stops them completely but i think it does help.. you would need to speak to a nutritianist as you are pregnant though..

I know what you mean, you don't want it to be your GB but at the same time it's better than not knowing.. Is this your first baby? If so, i can vouch for the fact that childbirth is easier! the pain isn't consistant and comes and goes and it doesn't last as long!

I was put on diamorphine during each attack and still breastfed, it just made my son a little sleepy if i did it too soon after the attack, but the pharmasist gave me lots of paperwork explaining the safety and i got some advice from the LLL... i imagine being pregnant you could get advice from the pharmasist who dispences your drugs as to safety, most of the drugs they prescribe during childbirth should be safe, but i'm sure it depends on how far along you are... i would think 31wks should be fine but i'm no Dr..

I vomited due to the pain a few times... and passed out once... and nearly threw myself under an ambulance ) My heart goes out to you, it must be awful having that kind of pain whilst pregnant

Have they said they will remove it after the birth?

xx

 

[May2011Mommy]

I just met with the gastroenterologist today and they told me that my pancreas and liver levels are fine and that they are sure it's sludge in my gallbladder.

I am so glad to hear that this pain is worse than childbirth. lol. I am undecided about pain management during labor and if I can live through an attack, I am sure I can live labor without management. Like I mentioned in the original post, they did prescribe Vicodin and I have used it 2x but it doesn't seem to help.

Oh, I hate throwing up and I can't imagine how horrible it must have been to throw up and have an attack.

They said that if I am still having the pain after 2-3 months after the baby is here then I can come in to do more tests.