Hope for people with undiagnosed gallbladder issues
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hello,
I wanted to come here and provide some hope for people who have been experiencing gallbladder issues and have had negative tests. I was in pain, I had attacks, nothing was showing. It took an endoscopic ultrasound to diagnose me. Tiny stones and sludge everywhere and blocked ducts. They then did an ERCP to clear the ducts - removal will or will not follow. We'll see. The only advice I can give is that in spite of negative tests, you can still have stones, ultrasound can be negative, blood tests can be negative, MRI can be negative and MRCP. EUS and ERCP are really the only tests that can tell for sure. keep advocating if you know something is wrong with you, it's not in your head...
0 likes, 10 replies
frank09383 alicki73
Posted
sanya11314 frank09383
Posted
You hit my spot here, I do not like abbreviations, when I don't know what each letter stands for.
May I help out:
ERCP = Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography
endoscopic: via scope inside (endo) body
retrograde: different than usual, backwards, probably due to usually bile coming out of duct, but dye is inserted into duct.(?)
cholangio: chole= bile, angio= vessel: bile duct
pancreat: involving pancreas (bile duct and pancreatic duct end in one and the same opening in duodenum, where the canula plus dye is inserted)
graphy: to describe, to represent
with the endoscope docs get into the bile duct, inject dye and is therefore clearly visible on x-ray, how it looks, narrowed, or stones.
sanya11314 frank09383
Posted
On the tip of endoscope is an unltrasound transducer, which is brought into the digestive tract, so the pics are higher quality than from outside of body being simply closer to them.
sanya11314 frank09383
Posted
ah great, I posted the MRCP definition as a reply to alicki73.
sanya11314 alicki73
Posted
Did you have the nuclear med function test,
scintigraphy called 'HIDA' (Hepatobiliary Iminodiacetic Acid scan)
it would be one step before invasive tests and would have maybe shown the problem?
Just asking out of interest to have another idea.
sanya11314 alicki73
Posted
MRCP = Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography
non invasive MRI, that looks at gallbladder, biliary/pancreatic duct (you might get a contrast agent into vein, but that's it)
MRCP picks up gallbladder stones in 98%. Meaning: not in 2%, very unlucky if not.
sanya11314
Posted
This was for frank09383
alicki73 sanya11314
Posted
Hi,
Sorry i didnt explain the abréviations. Yes MRCP is great but wasnt sufficent in my case. We didnt do a HIDA scan because where i live in Europe, They prefer ERCP over HIDA.
M point was to mention that if you re in pain in that area, you re not crazy, there is Something but Sometimes it takes invasive tests to find it. dont let a doctor tell you otherwise.
Best
Alicki
sanya11314 alicki73
Posted
Yes, that's so right!
stephie_09935 alicki73
Posted
Hi I've sent you a private message hoping you can give me some advice on my gallbladder issue!