Thomas, the fear of when the next attack is going to come is horrible. I've only had two, and they were within a week of each other. Last I had was a little over a month ago, I believe.

Hopefully I'll be in the clear between now and my appointment!

My mom's an RN in the OR that I will have surgery if it is my gallbladder, so not a worry at all for me.

Thanks for the prayers, y'all!

Hey guys,
whenever you started having gallbladder problems, what were your symptoms? This weekend I had an unbelievable pain rip through my upper "stomach" area, not far below the breast bone all the way around to my back (on the right hand side). It took my breath away and I couldn't move or breathe in deep for like 30 minutes without it hurting bad. Finally the awful pain subsided and now I am just sore. Does this sound like gallbladder? My mother and my daughter (when she was only 15) have had to have theirs removed b/c of it being severly diseased. So far I've never had any problems?

Thanks for any info!

My attacks were searing pain just below the breast bone on the right hand side. Kind of below the upper right rib cage. It did radiate around to my back when severe. I could not breath deeply and I actually had trouble standing upright. After the attack, the area remained tender. GO TO YOUR DOCTOR! If it is your gall bladder and it is left go too long, they will not be able to do the surgery with the laparoscope and you will have a much more difficult time and recovery.

Thanks Thomas J! I did have trouble standing up yesterday when it was happening. It hurt so bad I fell back in my chair! Goooood GRIEF! Of all times! Of course it's never a good time is it? Thanks for the info...I will get it checked out!

KT

My grandma is gallbladderless.

It was brought on my her allergy to wheat/gluetin, which she acquired late in adult life.

Interesting... is this something that you need to watch out for now also?

I guess it is genetic.

Something triggers the gene...can happen whenever - at birth, or like my g-ma when she was frickin 60 years old!

Wow... thats amazing.

Thanks for sharing your personal story with us AG. It will certainly keep me on my toes going forward!

60 - that's not too bad. My father had his removed about a week before his 80th birthday. I think it's amazing and wonderful that people are strong enough later in life to be able to handle these things.

No I'm saying the allergy became active at 60.

She could eat wheat all her life, now she can't have regular bread, pasta, stuff like that. She can't even lick postage stamps because there is traces of the gleutin stuff...

She has to be careful or gets extremely sick.

She could never go out either, but more and more places are carrying gleutin free menus now.

Eeek! Sounds awful.

I know it's genetic! My daughter was sick for over a year when she was a sophmore and had lost about 30lbs. All these doctors all over the state kept saying it's this or that...I kept saying it's the gallbladder. But when my mother had her gallbladder taken out and the surgeon told me it was "diseased", I asked him if this could be hereditary and he told me most definately! So I said...buddy let me tell you about a case! So I took my daughter to him (he said her file was thicker than anybody else's there and she was his youngest patient) , he took her gallbladder out and said it was even more diseased than my mother's was!!!! YIKES!!!

Mine was like someone was stabbing a knife in me right below my breastbone in the center all the way through my back. I couldn't walk upright, I couldn't catch my breath, I felt really, really badly like I need to burp and vomit all at the same time. I could NOT get comfortable, and I could NOT relieve my pain either time. It eventually (hour or two later) went away.

I go to see the Dr in a week.

Since, I'm still queasy a lot, and occasionally have burning where my severe pain was. I burp CONSTANTLY and also have some back pain. Go back and forth between constipation & diarrhea. It's pleasant.

Gee Beth, I hope you feel better soon! I have had a couple of attacks in past years, was diagnosed with many stones, and my doc has told me to have the surgery as an elective procedure vs. an emergent necessity. It sounds like yours would be more along the lines of an emergent need. Good Luck, and keep us posted!

OK, just after I turned 40, I had my GB taken out. My pain would start at about 2 or 3 am, and last for periods of probably 20 minutes, and it would happen a couple times a night towards the end. I went to see a Dr. and he did a ultrasound and discovered I had gall stones. I had been having diffuse pain in my abdomin for about a year or so, off and on, until finally it reached a point where I couldn't take it anymore. I was diagnosed with gall stones Wed. and had an appt. with the surgeon for Monday but had an intense attack Wed. eve and drove myself to the hospital Thurs. morning and they removed it later that day. I originally thought it was an ulcer for months because of how the pain was, but it wasn't. If you have symptoms, don't hesistate to be checked out.

Good Golly Moses! WorldPrez...hope you are feeling better soon! And Ops...I hope you are able to get your problem taken care of quickly too! Gosh I'm sorry about that! Seems like everybody is having GB problems lately.

I haven't had an "attack" of whatever it was since Monday. My side stayed sore all the next day, but today I feel much better. I'm not really hungry or anything though? Maybe mine will stay out of site for awhile and I won't have to have anything done....

Hope all you GB sufferers are feeling lots better soon!

Thanks Kaytee. I had my surgery January 2007, and I felt immediately better then, and haven't had a problem since.

I am so glad I got it out.

Best of luck.

A week to go before my appointment. I'll let y'all know as soon as I find anything out!

Kaytee you really should still get things checked out. If it is gall stones, they lodge in your bile duct causing bile to back up in your liver. This is what causes the pain. If the stone does not dislodge you can have serious problems and complications. You do not want to mess with your liver. The problem is you never know when, where, or how severe the next attack will be. My surgeon told me "We can take it out Friday with a procedure that is planned, minimally invasive, and you will recover quickly OR you can wait a week, a month, or a few months and we can do emergency open surgery in the middle of the night which will take you 6-8 weeks to recover." The choice was very easy for me.

I was only 20 years old when I had my gall bladder removed. It wasn't just stones, but severely diseased and filled with what they called "sludge". The pain was horrible (I thought I was dying and actually could not breathe and could not stand or sit upright during the first attack), but I only had a handful of bouts of pain before the doctors figured it out and I dropped out of school for the rest of that semester of college to have the surgery and recover. Of course, back then, there was no laser/laparascopic option, so I have a 10 inch scar and it was about 2 weeks before I could breathe normally without pain and about 12 weeks before I felt completely well again, and I was young and very healthy and in very good shape! This was in 1990, less than a year before the "new" surgery was being tested and started to be in wide use.

Gallbladder disease never gets better on its own, it only gets worse. The surgery nowadays is simple and easy, comparatively. I urge anyone having the symptoms described here to go get checked out... living with horrifying pain is no way to live.

While waiting for surgery, one thing I found that helped tremendously with the attacks of pain was drinking liquid charcoal. Somehow, it counteracts the bile/acid and helps ease up the pain. I got mine from a chiropractor who was also a PhD in nutrition, and at that time liquid charcoal was widely available at health food stores. Tastes awful but would ease up the pain. Also, with a diseased (or stone filled) gallbladder, while waiting for the surgery, it's best to eat small, frequent meals of lowfat, low cholesterol foods and eliminate as much animal product from your diet as possible - you'll feel tremendously better.

Thomas J you are right...with our family history of GB disease I need to get it looked at. I will do that real soon and see what he says. Thanks for your info!!!

Curlean...I have a question for you. My daughter was 15 when she had her GB removed and she had the same exact stuff you are speaking of. She is now 18 and still battles with nauseau and stomach complaints. They said she has Stage 4 Gerds too. Do you find that you felt alot better right away or did it take time? Some days/weeks she feels good...others she is awful. She is on Nexium and this other meds that coats her esophogus. Can you give me any insight on your situation?

Thanks a bunch!

Hi kaytee,

I felt a lot better right away because I wasn't having the extreme pain attacks, however I'd say it took a good 18 months for my digestive tract to truly be "normal" most of the time. To this day, if I eat a huge fatty meal (i.e. Thanksgiving and Christmas if I don't behave myself), I really suffer. However, I've never had GERD or had to take Nexium or any of those type of medications. I do sleep with the head of my bed elevated 4 inches higher than the foot, because gravity helps prevent the reflux. If I eat healthfully, I do fine, and I eat 5 or 6 small meals spread throughout my day, which helps a lot because the bile doesn't have a chance to build up too much if it's constantly doing its job!

I hope your daughter gets to feeling better. If it's 3 years out, I'd say she should go see another digestive specialist and get a new set of eyes looking at her situation. Maybe Prilosec would be a better choice for her if the Nexium isn't helping. Maybe she needs to eat smaller meals more frequently or lower her fat intake. Good luck!

echoing what Cerulean says about another consult - what about Crohn's? Unfortunately, that ailment tends to hit in adolescence and early 20s, and it's sounding like her entire digestive system is somehow affected by something. Good luck!

They have checked her for Chrone's and thankfully nothing has showed up. Actually for a whole year she has been back and forth to a handful of doctors including some of the best at Children's Hospital in Bham with a battery of specialized test, but nothing has been determined why she stays so sick all the time. We were hoping that once the Gallbladder was removed it would be smooth sailing! It has been better than it was as she is now gaining weight and not sick every single day...but still I thought by now she wouldn't still be on meds & still dealing with all this!

Thanks for the advice guys! Hope everybody's day is good! TGIF!!!!!!!!

Have they done the procedure where they put a tube down to see the bile duct? I was told that there was a possibility that a stone could be lodged in the duct or that the duct could have a blockage even after the surgery. The doc says it's rare but that it does happen.