Gallbladder is gone so where is this pain from?

Hello Everyone:    I seem to be in a pickle.   I had my gall bladder out twice.  Once in Nov 2016 and lastly in July 2017.   The first surgeon only did a particle because he could not see clearly.  After the removal of the Gall Bladder I have not felt healthy at all.   For a long time now, I feel sick in the morning but generally I am not actually sick.   Right now my right side hurts with a dull pain that never really seems to go away.  I have seen so many doctors and surgeons and naturopaths and I am getting fed up.  Some think the right side is scar tissue or adhesions but presently I am leaning to a bad liver.  I am trying a cleanse solution that my naturopath gave me and I am hoping it gives me some relief.  Boy o Boy.... taking out this gall bladder has messed with my life.   I am tired of feeling sick and having a sore right side.  No doctor really takes this seriously and it is frustrating like hell.  Any advice would be helpful. 

I had been suffering with Gall Bladder issues for the last 5-6 years. Everytime I went in they said it was heart burn. Until Recently in the end January the pain got a lot worse and found out that I had gallstones. Within a weeks time 2/5 /18 a general surgeon removed my gall bladder. While I was at the hospital they stated I had elevated Liver enzymes but just brushed it off. Well here is 6/14/2018 and I suffer from nausea every single day, horrible stomach cramps, fatigue, and horrible pains in my side where I hurt with gallstones. The doctors stated my blood work came back fine but I will soon go for an endoscopy to check for ulcers. I feel your pain and it completely sucks, I have lost 30 lbs just from this. GI specialists will check for Celiac, bile leaks, stones in duct, or maybe even like me possibly ulcers. I go 7/12 for the endoscopy so I will let you know of that result and maybe my case can help you as well. 

Same exact except surgeon said resection was difficult due to my weight, why didn't he tell me to lose weight and come back?   I had no stones but chronic cholecystitis a s

It didn't even have to come out, and i lay in bed every day afraid to move for fear of the pain, it seems to get real bad when i try to lay on that side, this has literally taken over my life, and they did MRCP, and normal, so im not a candidate for MRCP because i have a HX of pancreatitis , not from alcohol (i have several other issues going on so i guess its not important for them to figure me out...   Been everywhere and dr even told me im in a "crappy" but the other word position and he cant imagine (ER Doc) we dont do scopes in ER....  ya but im in pain     all day.....  im so scared, yes im a guy but this is scary

oh yeah and liver biopsy showed stage 1 fibrosis so im extra scared   

I wish that you get positive results and the doctors figure out how to provide you with some relief.   Feeling sick totally sucks !!!!

Wishing you better doctors Chad and I hope we all feel better soon.  It is very scary when you don’t feel well and you don’t really know why and no one seems to be really helping    

Good luck !!!!!

Robert I as well had my gallbladder removed and life has been hell since. Gerd, heartburn,burn, bloating, constipation, pain. I am on three different meds, plus a probiotic and I am considering a digestive enzyme. I am about to see a naturopath bit where I live they cannot order testing or write scripts. So you have to go to your GP for this. Now to make things worse with no advance notice my gastro is moving away with no notice. I have to go and find another, if I can find one who is taking new patients. Wish you luck

So glad I found this sight. Sorry to hear about all your experiences but I am in the same situation. Had my gallbladder removed 4yrs ago due to inflamed not stones. Surgery mess up was back in ER 3day after surgery do to bile leakage. Was so sick, nausea and pain thought was going to die, actually if did not go to ER and waited out I was in such bad condition, potassium was way off put me on heart monitors. Had a stint go through pancreas as passage for bile was in hospital 6 days. Have been doing ok until about 6 months ago. Started with nausea and stomach bloating, now

all the time, sometimes wake up in middle of night feeling so sick, eat crackers & water & walk around. Pain in middle of stomach between navel & ribs and bloating with pain. It's getting worse so going to see my doctor. I think it's my pancreas from what I have researched and location. Worse thing ever did was have gallbladder removed. Wish I knew all this stories before my surgery but was in pain and you just go with what the doctors say and have removed.

is your gerd and heartburn better? are you still taking medicine?

I’ve has that same dull pain for 11 years. I’ve had 2 CAT scans and 2 ultrasounds. Nothing! My bloodwork is always great. i get annual checkups. I’ve decided today to try to lower the fat in my diet and see if that helps. I’m tired of the pain. It comes and goes but i have it probably 60% of the time. The pain didn’t start till about 5 years after I’d had the gallbladder removed. Started in 2010. I guess i feel that if it was something bad, it would show up on the tests and i would already be dead after all these years. Good luck.

Hi Rebecca

I had my gallbladder removed in 2018, Since then I have these phantum pains like I'm having a Gallbladder attack all over again. Its a pain in my right side that hurts all the way up under my right breast, up to my shoulder, this burning sensation in my chest with this hot feeling on my right side going across by breast to my rib cage/back and hurts when i take a breath and the burning goes all the way down into my stomach like its following my GI TRACT. I do believe diet plays a role in this. But i also think there is a medical issue as well. I was diagnosed with gallbladder disease I had gallbladder pain since I was in my early 20's. I always knew it had to be my gallbladder but they would do tests and say everything was fine! Finally after so many test and then I’m coming back to normal I had a HIDA scan done where they inject a dye and followed it all the way through my digestive tract through my liver it dug through the gallbladder which the test only last for about 45 minutes mine took almost 2 hours just to see that my gallbladder was only showing a pen died and would not light up with the guy on the screen like it was supposed to. That’s when they realize there was something significantly wrong with my gallbladder! The surgeon decided that I needed my gallbladder taken out right away. After the surgery I found out that it was gallbladder disease and mine was full of sludge and my gallbladder was inflamed. I was told I inherited this disease! But no one in my family has ever had any gallbladder issues. So I’m not sure how that is! But my son who is in his 20's has started to exhibit the same problems and receiving the same results that nothing is wrong! And he has severe severe pain. Well I’ve been doing a lot of research about this and I begin to think that it was my liver duct clogging up because it can have the same symptoms, then maybe it was my pancreas duct as well. but I’m not really sure that’s what the problem is. So then I started researching about people having their gallbladder out and then having these phantom pains still and this is what I came up with. there is a condition called Sphincter of the Oddi Dysfunction! it is a Muscular valve in your digestion tract that helps remove bile and Digestive juices from your Pancreas and it mimics Gallbladder pain. So maybe you can discuss and ask your Doctor about this. This condition is more common in women and people who have had their Gallbladders removed suffer with this condition. Also I have my appointment with my GI Dr. in a couple weeks and I am going to ask him about this. All weekend I've been having this pain and I cant take it. Well i wish you luck and hope they can help you and you get relief,

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=181&ContentTypeID=134

What did you find out from your gi doc?

I am having the SAME EXACT symtoms as you since I had my gallbladder removed and I have been researching the same condition! Do you have any update on what your GI said? I'm trying to get my GI to lean more towards focusing on my gallbladder removal but she doesn't want to listen...

omg, I just had surgery at Emory for this exact thing you are explaining! My pain has been going on for years finally in 2019 gallbladder removed still pain, finally had the ercp as well as the mrcp which I knew I shouldnt have due to chancing of developing pancreatitis......It did, I ended up in Emory Hospital 5 days then home to recover before they would do the other surgery which i am still post op! People please dont wait if by chance this is your problem drs told me there is a high percentage(usually in women) that turn into Liver cancer if not taken care of! Mine ended up being a Choledochal cyst in my common bile duct near liver!4x's the size shown on imaging, surgery was only supposed to take 2-3 hours but it took 8 hours and stay of 7 days in hospital once again! The cyst caused so much inflammation and pain. Before finally being referred to Emory I was told every time I went to the doctor that I had reflux! Good luck to you all! I recommend Emory University

hi exactly what issues were you having? i just stumbled on this site trying to find answers. I had my gallbladder removed last Oct so just short of a year ago. Ive been having pain that resembles the pain i had with gallstones. Also I get terribly nauseous when i get hungry. I plan to bring it up again at my next appointment with my primary care dr later this month but i do feel it will get brushed off. I am doing my own research in the hopes of getting it locked into since i will have a "starting point" for my doctor.

hi,

any results from your appointments? hoping it turned out well.

hello, I am KEN/8/9/2I had my op same time as u 11 year ago and have suffered since with pain nearly all the time. My op was open surgery after op i was sent back to recovery ward but while i was unconscious Nurse took my b/pressure and found it was dangerously low 30/60 i was rushed back to operating table and opened up and it was found my Bile Duct had been punctured and causing bleed and blood pres. to be dangerously low. To try and stop bleed, packing was put in , stitched back up and sent back to ward. Next day back to op table opened up again packing taking out fortunately bleed had stopped (meanwhile surgeon had phoned my wife to say we are doing our best for your husband???) stitched back up for THIRD time!

I was in hospital 10 days, I did a lot of swimming and was fit person, now when i go swimming i swim my 50 lengths ok but a day later I am ill for at least 3 weeks I may have been too much so reduced my swim but still have ache pain all the time - could be scar tissues???

Saw my surgeon for 6 month check and told him I could not swim without feeling ill a day later, his response was do something else. have had so many scans no further forward. I now put it all down to a bungled operation I was also in intensive care with Pneumonia/. Better to have the operation there"s always someone worse than u BYE GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

Hi . .. cant believe that these gallbladders cause so much pain and distress , i know what your feeling had my G.Bladder removed end of may been having flare ups for 17 months i was always at A&E why they leave us so long to get it removed ill never know ...... when they finally did remove it i came home next day back in hospital thought i was dying throwing up and never felt pain as bad in all my life turns out i had a bile leak absolutley horrendous and im still recovering .... went down to surgery for another op to fix the leak i was so poorly had peritonitis was in hospital 2 weeks blood transfusion antibiotic drips saline drips omg thry messed me up big time so to all the people who are suffering i feel for you im still taking anti sickness for nausea and still have pain where that gallblader was lets just hope that in time it will subsid

ptHello,I am so glad I found this site. I am literally crying because every dr I have seen does not seem to care or want to take me on as a patient. Seems a lil odd to have so many people with so many issues and this is not disclosed upon surgery removal. This seems to be a bigger industry for an easy paycheck $$$$$ for the Drs. Then aftercare has been super s****y excuse my French but that is putting in lightly. Like I said as soon as I tell them complications from gallbladder surgery which was removed in 2019 every Dr has said I can't help you. They send you to the GI DR and now you have to go through further testing with still no real results or explanation as to why I am so sick. I have been super sick from this since the removal. Prior to this I had symptoms and yes, the gallbladder attacks were a nightmare, but they were all temporary and much more manageable than the removal and aftereffects from not having a gallbladder. I have had everything to dull pain in the middle of my breastbone and extends all the way around to the right back side. It never goes away. EVER! I have uncontrollable bowel movements, highly embarrassing at work. Bloating, gas, constipation, chronic diarrhea, severe pain always, itchy skin, noticed my eyes are diminishing, Chronic Fatigue, especially in the morning, severe Gerd and acid reflux. I get really sick to my stomach at night and into the wee hours of the morning seem to be the worst. However, the sick feeling never goes away. I am so tired of walking around feeling hungover or flu like symptoms all the time. I feel like I cannot process food correctly and it feels like it poisons my system. I can no longer enjoy food or drinks the way i used. I was a huge foodie. I lost about 20lbs due to this sickness. I have been able to put on a lil weight, but I think that is due to the age I am at (50). I currently weigh 150 but I can lose almost 10 lbs when i get a severe flare-up. I also throw up in my mouth daily and used to throw up at least 5 times a day. That has minimized a bit but the nausea never goes away. I have also started recently noticing a very bad taste in my mouth and now a bad smell. I have spent thousands in dental and have seen the ENT but to no avail they cannot seem to find out where this smell is coming from. At this point I just want to give up crawl into a hole and never come out. The Dr's all think you are full of s**t and really do not care. FMLA is a lining nightmare to get from gallbladder surgery. All the drs tell me they do not do FMLA for Diarrhea and to just deal with it. All the other symptoms are thrown right out and i am always told oh well deal with it. Is anyone else experiencing this. I NEED HELP! Any suggestions would be great! Wishing everyone good vibes and great health.

Hi, Can you please tell me what ERCP or MRCP is?