My niece who 3 weeks ago underwent surgery to remove her gallbladder is still having some issues that she is not sure what to do about.
Everyone is beginning to think she is nuts and should be put away for awhile. It all started with pain in the left arm, heavy chest...all the classic symptoms of a heart attack right?. She has had a stress test, EKG, cardiac cath and everything came back with flying colors. Nothing in particular would set this pain off. Was told that it is acid reflux. She has been on a couple different meds but they help for a couple of days and then it's back again.
Did a test on the gallbladder and the medicine that they inject during the test (not sure of the name) but it immediately set off the pain. Ok, so gallbladder comes out. Pain is back again. Can't find anything wrong with her. She has been x-rayed, poked, probed in every imaginable way possible and they have no clue.
Anyone of you had any of these similiar problems that I could possibly relay to her. She's going nuts but for all the right reason.
Have a Pulmonary/lung Dr check her for Costochrondritis. One of many side effects from having surgery. DD has/had it after one of her surgeries and they're watching for it to 'return' after this one.
Butterfly may be on the right track but here's my thoughts. Post gallbladder surgery for the most part they tell you that you can go back to a normal diet. NOT. You still need to maintain a VERY low fat diet for quite a period of time (possibly years). I would guess it took me 3-5 years before I could ingest anything beyond the smallest amount of fat (the gallbladder disgests fat and when the gallbladder is gone the fat is not processed until the rest of the body catches up - for lack of a better description). It sounds to me like many of her symptoms are those of having excess fat in the diet. A 'low fat' diet per the doctors I had was 10 grams of fat/meal. I maintained a 10 gram/DAY diet for a very long time and had no post- surgical issues. I've gradually increased my fat content but since it is an overall healthier diet, try to really keep my fat intake to a bare minimum. Still use Butterbuds instead of butter on most everything that I would have previously used butter; eat low-fat versions of most foods where available; have 2 slices of bacon (at 2 gr/ea) instead of the 'normal' 4 - that kind of stuff. Any kind of gravy is pretty much a no-no. Although I can tolerate a very small amount, I've learned to do without except on rare occassions. It definitely takes time before you can go back to a 'normal' diet.
Just my 2 cents. Trust me I know the pain associated with this issue. I suffered for about 10 years before I figured out the issue. And I have an extremely high tolerance for pain. To the point when I finally did end up going to the hospital the staff was taking bets on how quickly I would be back. They all lost! I never had to go back once I knew the issue and could manage my diet until surgery. The surgeon told my DH that he was amazed. He had to scrape my gallbladder off my liver it was so bad. Changed my diet until I could have surgery, maintained that for a LONG time after and haven't looked back. Then again, I also eliminated refined flour and sugar from my diet so that takes a lot of things out of the mix as well.
Suggest she try a VERY low-fat diet and check out Butterfly's suggestions. None of it can hurt.
My gall bladder came out after some drama (many of you will remember!) a few years ago. I have NEVER been able to go back to an 'ordinary' diet, and a few months back suffered from the exact same symptoms that caused all the kerfuffle in the first place! All pointers are to a small stone forming in the bile duct... There's only one thing you van do at this point: Shake a fist at the gods and shout BUGGER! loudly! ;)
Bile is made in the liver. It is used in the gut to break down fats so that their nutrients can be used by the body. Bile is stored in the gall bladder and released into the gut when triggered by fats in the food intake.
Stones form in the gall baladder over many years. They are normal, really...
What causes the pain and disruption are not gallstones on their own... MOST people have stones in their gall bladders by their mid 40's. And most of them never know it because they never cause any problems... Problems arise when small stones get ejected from the gall bladder when it is triggered to release bile for digestion, and cause blockages and inflammation to the bile duct. Once they move into the intestines, they can cause irritation all along the gut to the exit!
When the gall bladder is removed, the storage and release when required mechanism is removed, and bile is released as it is made by the liver, rather than just when it's needed. This can disrupt the digestive system for life, if you are unlucky!
Common triggers for gall stones creating mayhem are weight loss, child birh, the taking up of physical exercise, and other abdominal surgey. Common triggers for attacks once the damned thing had woken up are heavy or fatty meals, eating late (too close to bed time), bouts of vigorous activity, excess coffee or beer intake, and sheer bloody mindedness!
My surgeon warned me that IN WOMEN, gall bladder and heart attack symptoms can be very similar, and that his women patients had told him that the gall bladder pain could be much worse than either childbirth or a heart attack. On a scale of 1-10, I put my last attack at 12! The really hater is that once it is over, you can feel (and be!) perfectly OK again, and wonder how such agony can signify so little! At the time, you think dying might be a soft option.
I've hard those symptoms before, for about 18 months my friend, next door neighbor, fellow quilter and guild mate, suffered, complained of a hard spot sort of between her breasts, pain, and started turning yellow. Liver you say? How about blocked bile duct? It was a blocked bile duct, blocked by a tumor as big as a grapefruit, and hard as a rock. An operation was done, Pancreatic Cancer, stage four! She has elected not to do radiation and chemo.
We have made her a quilt, everyone signed a square. We make soup. We visit when she's feeling good or having a good day. I give her flowers, she loves flowers/gardening. We don't know how much time she has, I nearly have a heart attack each time I see an ambulance on our street...
She was a leader/pusher in our guild, got everyone moving...
Bonnie, in Middletown, VA, where it is still freezing, but having none of that white stuff, yet...
Hi Cindy, I had similar symptoms after my gall bladder was removed (and I second everything that has been said about restricting one's diet afterwards). After my primary doctor kept telling me it was stress- related (and sent me for conseling), I saw another specialist who did an ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography) and found a blocked bile duct. In my case, it wasn't a tumor, but an old gall stone that was still in the system a year after my gall bladder removal! It was an easy fix and I haven't had any symptoms since. mirabelle in nevada
Good thought but she had this pain BEFORE the surgery and that's why the gallbladder came out. They said that it was the culprit. Well here we are 3 weeks later and the pain in back minus the gallbladder.
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