Gallbladder - or all going on in my head !!!
Posted , 9 users are following.
Hi everyone,
I've been experiencing what can only be described as gallbladder symptoms over the past 3 weeks (I know it's a short time and many people have these symptoms for months).
3 weeks ago, I'd eaten a bacon and egg sandwich for dinner (after not eating all day) and that evening I had horrible heavy / pain in my urq, which radiated to my back / shoulder blade, felt really sleepy and horrible - managed to sleep but the following morning I wasn't feeling much better, still in pain and nauseous. A few days later, I took the kids to the beach and we had ice-cream...oh me ..... same feeling again - pain, heavy in the right side, felt really tired again. Went to ER the following morning, they said it was most likely my gallbladder, took some bloods and told me to follow up with dr the following day.
Went to the dr, all the bloods werre normal (apart from a slighty raised amalyse), which would indicate gallbladder. So Dr ordered bloods to be done again, all of which came back normal (amalyse had fallen back to normal) and an Ultrasound. I ended up paying private to go for the scan as I was freaking out, the pain wasn't going and I was really nauseous and couldnt eat much, I had myself diagnosed with all kinds.
The Ultra Sound came back normal. Inbetween times I had a couple of yellow oily bm (sorry if tmi), but that seems to have settled now.
After the clear scan and normal bloods, Dr put me on Sertraline as he thinks it's anxiety.
I've to be 4 weeks on Sertraline and then go back to him, as he's sure the symptoms will settle !!!
I'm not so sure .... I'm fairly sure there's something not right .... the pain is there pretty much all the time ..... worse if I eat something really fatty.....
It goes from under my ribs on the right side, to my right shoulder, to inbetween my shoulder blades.....sometimes, it's so sore and my shoulder blades and muscles are so tense I feel like someone is squeezing my throat .....
I know that the side effects of starting sertraline can cause all kinds of stomach upsets, anxiety etc.... aswell ...... but I feel like I'm in hell ..... dr just thinks cause everything came back normal and because I suffer badly from anxiety that it must be in head.....
0 likes, 23 replies
adrian333 shelly96144
Posted
matt57085 shelly96144
Posted
I'm going through the same thing and have to say gp's are useless. My doctor also wanted me to take another anti anxiety med at first but i refused. Yes i have anxiety issues and it took him nearly six weeks to arrange an ultrasound which came back clear as have all my blood tests, so in his eyes it's not my gallbladder. It then took a further 2 months for him to refer me to a gastro which i had last wedk and now waiting for a ct scan. This has gone on for nearly six months and looking back i should of refused to leave the gp surgery until i got the correct referrals as i've lived in dail pain for nearly 6 months but have not felt normal since October last year.
PUSH PUSH PUSH your gp!
I swear once you have anxiety on your medical records you could go in with a broken neck and a gp would blame it on your anxiety!
lynda20916 shelly96144
Posted
Sounds like gallstones to me. Keep at them till they send you for an ultrasound, and if that doesn't show them, ask for a CT scan. You need to be insistent! If they won't do the tests, get a referral to a gastroenterologist who will. In the meantime, eat low fat and low sugar, and small frequent meals. Drink plenty of water.
Early gallbladder symptoms wax and wane. I imagine GP's often think and say that, "it's in your head." Makes treating all sorts of diseases easy, because it's not their problem.
Best of luck to you, and please let me know how you get on.
Beenthruit shelly96144
Posted
It sounds to me like gallbladder attacks. Your symptoms are very similar to those I had. Ultrasound doesn't always pick stones up, especially if they're very small or there's sludge. So many gastric type illnesses have similar symptoms. It could be that your gallbladder isn't ejecting bile as it should and there aren't any stones. Either way, they'd probably want to remove your gallbladder.
Do you feel it could be caused by anxiety? Nobody knows your body like you do yourself. I think doctors are too keen to diagnose anxiety when they can't find a reason for something. The average GP sometimes doesn't know enough about gallbladder issues. My own GP admits she knows very little. Let's face it, they are only human and can't be experts on everything.
I think you should ask for a referral to a gastroenterologist who can run all necessary tests and give you a diagnosis. If it is a gallbladder issue, you don't want to be waiting months for surgery as delay can cause other more serious problems.
shelly96144
Posted
Thank you everyone for your replies.
It's been a bit of a learning curve for me with Gallbladders. I'd always assumed that if you had a gall bladder problem, you had severe pain, got strong pain meds from the hospital, the pain passed after a couple of hours & you were fine until the next attack. I had no idea that gallbladder problems and pain could be there permanently, I'd never heard about a low functioning gallbladder.
I don't think this is going on in my head....but I do suffer very badly with health anxiety, and starting up on Sertraline does cause awful side effects. I have the dr in 3 weeks time. He wants me to wait until then to see if it helps. It's going to be a long painful 3 weeks. I've lost weight aswell, probably around 9 / 10 lbs over the past 3 weeks (though I've drastically cut my food intake and everything that I do eat is low fat).....(I used to be quite a heavy drinker aswell, liked my wine in the evenings, I'm ashamed to admit it - but this all kicked off after I stopped with my bottle of wine in the evening) ..... I feel so ashamed and so angry that I've probably done this to myself. Thanks everyone for listening. X
lynda20916 shelly96144
Posted
Please let us know how you get on. Lots of us have reason to "repent"
for things that we did. But, there's no reason to be ashamed. You accept and move on and get some help for yourself...No one can predict how the body will react. And, there are genetic tendences, too. Finally, there is the matter of bad luck. We're here to listen and offer support! xx
shelly96144 lynda20916
Posted
lynda20916 shelly96144
Posted
You're welcome. Take heart, just remember that you're usually the one who needs to take the lead in your healt care! One of my favorite sayings is, "Pray to God, but Row Towards Shore."
Beenthruit shelly96144
Posted
No need to feel ashamed Shelly. There are plenty of people who drink more and don't get gallbladder issues. As Lynda said you have also to factor in genetics and luck.
The typical gallbladder sufferer was always said to be 'fair, fat, forty and fertile'.
Many people get gallbladder disease worldwide. South American Indians, Japanese, and Asian peoples cannot be considered fair, yet suffer badly from it.
Many slim people also get gallstones. Out of five close friends and family who've had cholecystectomy, two were always slim and one of those hated butter, cream and cheese. There is even a theory that having a dodgy gallbladder affects the digestion of fat, causing it to be stored elsewhere on the body, so can a bad gallbladder actually cause weight gain?
Age is supposed to be a factor yet many young people and older people suffer from gallbladder issues. I am 67.
I had hysterectomy twenty-five years ago, so can hardly be described as fertile.
So being 'fair, fat, forty and fertile' aren't necessarily risk factors.
The important thing is that you've stopped drinking, so avoiding liver complications. I had to have a liver resection five weeks after open cholecystectomy. I've never been a drinker: one glass of wine with dinner on a Sunday was my limit and often not even that. I've not touched alcohol since the first gallbladder attack last year.
lynda20916 Beenthruit
Posted
shelly96144 Beenthruit
Posted
Thank you so much for your reply.
Yes, I'm so glad I've stopped drinking. I also know loads of people who drink ten times the amount that I did and they're carrying on quite the thing .... it doesn't seem to bother them.....
I'll go with the theory about the gallbladder affecting the digestion of fat and it being stored elsewhere in the body.
I've tried for the past few years to lose weight...no amount of running / healthy eating / cutting calories / switching to low fat etc.... was making any difference....(aside from my evening wine, I always thought I was fairly fit....ran 6k 4 times a week, went on my cross-trainer a couple of times a week, tried to get in 10k steps everyday)....but no matter what I did .... not a lb would come off. I always put down to my age (I'm 46)....now I wonder.
Thanks again for your reply. xx
lynda20916 shelly96144
Posted
Hi Shelly,
You might have a fatty liver. When you get your ultrasound, ask them to check. When people suffer from a fatty liver, it becomes difficult for them to lose weight. The liver doesn't digest fat any longer. Instead it stores fat in itself and in the body. Fatty liver is caused by the intake of too much sugar, including cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup--not fat, believe it or not!.
shelly96144 lynda20916
Posted
I had wondered if I had a fatty liver - but they said no.
x
Beenthruit lynda20916
Posted
Hi Lynda
Thanks for asking.
I'm doing ok I think. I feel well: probably better than I've done in years. I have a check up arranged for September so I'll have a better idea then.
I've stopped taking Omeprazole now and all seems to be fine digestively. Still eating fairly low fat diet as I find too much fat in one meal is just too much to cope with, but I can eat fats in moderation.
Right side is still tender but I was warned it could take me a year to get over both surgeries. I still tire easily, yet, conversely, I seem to be energised and I've been tackling jobs around the house that I've been putting off. No lifting still but I only have to try to lift something and I can tell it's too heavy - sort of tugs inside.
Realise now that having gallbladder out and finding cancer at an early stage may have saved my life but at the time it looked very bleak. I just take it a day at a time and value time spent with my husband and family.
lynda20916 Beenthruit
Posted
So glad to know that you're doing so well! One of the signs is that you're "noticing" things that need to be attended to, and taking care of them! I did the same thing.
It's amazing that sometimes getting the worst news you could possibly get turns out to be a good thing for you in the long run! Keep on getting well! xxx