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Gallbladder pain/no stones. Discomfort and pain for months. Miserable.

Posted , 8 users are following.

Jaydroid
Jaydroid

Hi guys, first time on here but I needed somewhere to find advice because I'm finding it hard to cope with.

I first had a twinge in my gallbladder region back in May at the same time as having pain in my lower abdomen. I got it checked out and the GP said it was likely to be IBS and spasms in my gallbladder. Prescribed buscopan and told to eat high fibre. I did this for a few weeks and things calmed down to the point where I was able to eat whatever I wanted again (with just odd twinges) which led me to believe there might not even be a connection between eating and the pain.

It calmed down for a good while. I was on a PPI for a month for the lower stomach pain, during which time, both pains left more or less. I finished the month's course and within a few weeks the gallbladder pain returned. It's difficult to say whether the ppi's were anything to do with it as the pain started a few weeks after stopping. This time however it was more painful than ever before and resulted in 111 referring me immediately to a GP and booking me for a scan with suspected gallstones. A burning/stab pain in my URQ that wasn't relieved by any pain killers. The attack lasted around 6 days before calming down. I had the US scan about a week later and the immediate response from the sonographer was that everything looked healthy. No sludge. No stones, which surprised me as I was convinced that it was going to have to come out due to the pain. Since then (about 5 weeks) I've been in constant discomfort of one sort or another. one day it will calm down to a discomfort, almost like a tight muscle feeling. Then the next, it can flare up and make it impossible to concentrate on anything else at work. Today is one of those days.

I have a follow up appointment regarding the scan, with my GP in a few weeks, but I don't know whether that will shed any light as everything looks normal. I'm finding it incredibly frustrating as a low fat/ low sugar diet doesn't seem to control it and just adds to the misery because I'm eating miserably for no reason. It's wholemeal bread, salad, wheatabix etc every day.

I have a further five weeks before I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist. But I'd really like to know if anything might be being overlooked. I'm trying to just put up with the pain, which is incredibly difficult at times. But It worries me that I might be overlooking something more serious, simply because I'm fed up with seeing GPs who can't easily diagnose the problem. I keep reading things about pancreatitis, chronic cholecystitis, acalculous cholecystitis, gallbladder pain from mono in patients with gilbert's syndrome (which I have), gallstones that don't show up on ultrasound scans, low functioning gallbladder. Sorry for the long description, I've gone from a super healthy, super fit, 6'5" guy in my late 20's, who was in the gym and playing competitive sport 5-6 times a week and running half marathons and obstacle races, to being unable to train because of the pain and discomfort, losing nearly a stone within the last three to four months as a result.

If anyone has any ideas or experience with pain without stones that was constant for a long while, I'd love to hear on where I'm headed with this?

0 likes, 25 replies

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  • sarah87162
    sarah87162 Jaydroid

    Posted

    Not all stones show up on ultrasond. They are more likely to show up on an MRI scan. Fortunately mine did show up on ultrasound so I had my gallbladder removed.

    It also sounds as if it could be IBS.

    I would try a low fat diet for a bit. No hard chesse, full skimmed milk no spreads such as butter or flora and no red meat. I know that all sounds boring but it may help.

    Take care and keep in touch

    Sarah

    • Jaydroid
      Jaydroid sarah87162

      Posted

      Thanks Sarah, it's more or less the diet I've been following, except I've taken quiet a few more things out as well (only the odd sweet thing, only milk is watered down skimmed). Sadly, it doesn't seem to eliminate the pain and most food causes ome discomfort. Low fat is less uncomfortable but still generall causes some discomfort. Red meat's been off the menu for a while. and my lunch tends to be lean turkey in wholemeal bread with salad, nothing else.
    • Jaydroid
      Jaydroid kathrine41964

      Posted

      Most days is either lean, wafer thin turkey or wafer thin ham without dressings in wholemeal bread with salad. Wheatabix for breakfast in water with a dash of semi skimmed milk and a very fine sprinkle of sugar to take away the edge. Evenings tend to be skinless chicken and rice with salad or similar (pasta with tomato chicken etc and salad) or beans on wholemeal toast, again, without dressing. basically, everything as low fat and sugar as I can get it). Any time I try to slowly add even slightly more, the pain increases again. But because it changes daily, and the pain is more or less ever present in one way or another, it makes me sometimes think I'll just test out how I am with something more fatty or sugary. Usually this ends up being predictably painful within the next 24 hours.
    • Tom_Peters
      Tom_Peters Jaydroid

      Posted

      Maybe relevant to you and others. The surgeon who is considering removing my GB wants extra information due to some internal complications peculiar to me.  He's ordered up a CT scan of Abdomen and Pelvis.  It seems to be the real McCoy for this stuff:  https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003789.htm   This post will probably be delayed by the mods who check posts with links.
    • jane3315
      jane3315 Jaydroid

      Posted

      Hi, Just reading your post and thought I would just mention. I found tomato to be the worst offender in causing me pain before I had my GB out and also meat. I couldnt tolerate it atall. I also had to go totally fat free  as even soya milk was too much for me to cope with. I know this sounds bad but  it may be worth you  trying to cut out these things just to see. I know it seems like you wont be able to eat anything and believe me it got like that with me but once your GB is out you can start to get back to normal. I found porridge made with water with some maple syrup on was very good and kept me going when really hungry.
    • Jaydroid
      Jaydroid Tom_Peters

      Posted

      Thanks Tom. If I'm able to request it with a GI specialist, I will.
    • Jaydroid
      Jaydroid jane3315

      Posted

      Thanks Jane. I'm actually willing to try anything if it means I can have a shot at lowering/getting rid of the pain. This sort of advice is very much appreciated as my diet prior to all this was incredibly varied. I've always eaten relatively healthily, with the odd binge here and there, but I've been in training for one event or another for years so my diet would be pretty good compared to a lot of people's. I don't really drink either. I've never been fussy though. So narrowing down what causes pain from such a large array of food stuff is difficult. Especially as i'm already eating next to no fat or sugar. I'll take the tomatoes out and see how things go....
  • Jaydroid
    Jaydroid

    Posted

    Hi guys, I thought I'd come back to this as someone might find it of use at some point and when I was researching, I'd always come to dead ends.

    Basically, after months of discomfort I finally saw a specialist. I had a CT scan and numerous x-rays and a colon transit study carried out. The tests were moot in the end because the Gastroenterologist more or less diagnosed me in his first meeting with me, after feeling the various areas of my stomach. He just needed confirmation.

    He diagnosed right sided faecal loading. For some reason, solid stool was building up on the right side (where it should be liquid) and on the left, where it should be forming to a solid, there was nothing, then the stool was building up again in my lower stomach, both the areas that I was having pain. The specialist explained that when it backs up, the areas that cause the most discomfort are the areas where the intestine kinks at a 45 degree angle at the top left and right of the stomach, just beneath the ribcage (near where the gallbladder/liver would be on the right). Then air and gas can cause further discomfort as it trys to pass the mass.

    Because the original multiple GP visits gave an early diagnosis of gallbladder issues and told me to eat high fibre and low fat, I was essentially doing the exact opposite of what I should have been doing, by making everything back up even more severely. 

    After my first appointment with the GI specialist, and with a new idea of what might be going on (although without any prescriptions pending further tests) I started eating more normally, with a bit more junk (I had a Mcdonalds as soon as I left out of frustration after months of brown bread, salad and ham kept me in discomfort, making me think I had stones that weren't visible) In the weeks following, the pain eased until I was feeling very little pain at all. After all the tests, I have been given a course of Movicol to ease the compaction and see if that sets things back on course. But things have been better the last few months and I hope they stay that way.

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