Is it crohn's as doctors diagnosed or really Gallbladder or both?
Posted , 2 users are following.
Is it crohn's as doctors diagnosed or really Gallbladder or both?
During my operation to take my appendix out, the surgeon mistakenly thought I had a mass in the intestine that possibly was cancer so he took out the illium valve between the large and small intestine. Turned out it was just an infection in the illium valve (puss) that could have been treated with antibiotics. (He didn't perform a biopsi to see if it was cancer/ perhaps there was not time. Just took it out. I got a terrible infection with temperature that IV antibiotics (Cipro and Flagel) didn't seem to cure. Finally, Vancomyacin took care of it. I had so many antibiotics a subsequent x-ray to the intestinal wall indicated damage from anti-biotics. Immediately after the operation, this extreame yellow loose stool occured all the time with a dumping each time I ate. Later I got C-diff twice but they got cured with Flagel antibiotic. (I started taking flora) I tried all different diets to no avail. I was given steroid prenazone due to inflammation and strictures/blockages and it seemed to make everything normal until I was weaned off of it and symptoms came back. I had a second resection after being diagnosed with crohn's disease. The Surgeon that perform the second operation said there was no inflammation in the small intestine except the strictured area. (that the intestine near the site of the first operation had gotten so inflammed it had to have another resection (typical for cronh's). I wondered if the first surgeon didn't do a good job? Well since there was little inflammation the second operation, doctors decided to have me go without the crohn's medicine which can have side effects. Things went pretty good for about 8 months, then this pain occured in my middle back area just under the rib toward the right side. (attacks have occured 6 times now in the last three weeks) It started after I was having physical theropy for a bad back: they hooked me up to a machine that had a harness that fit tight around the mid section and it pulled up to 70lbs to stretch out your entire body vertebrae. I wonder if it put pressure on the gall bladder because that area was tender for a while. Historically, oddly enough, the same exact pain occured the day after each operation and lasted for three days the first time and a day the second time. Now I started to get the same pain back when I eat fatty foods or like in the case last night, ate olives, cashue nuts. Last couple times it was pork. Couple times it seemed to occur when I over did cutting grass or physical labor. I've had 6 attacks last three weeks. The pain level is about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 each time. It starts after about 3 or 4 hours of eating either a large meal or meats that are a little on the greasy side. It takes about an hour to get up to maximum pain level but stays there for about 4 to 6 hours each time. Then just disapates on it's own entirely within a few minutes. I went to my GI doctor and they said it sounds like Gall bladder and took an ultra sound and blood tests. I knew from previous tests I did have Gall stones. I didn't get the results back yet but the tech said she didn't see any in the ducts. The blood tests were all normal except my biliruben was 1.6 (normal high is 1.2) so it is elevated. Note my sister and grandmother had gall bladder problems. My Dad and sister also score high on biliruben tests (if I speeled it correctly). I never thru up or got a temperature. Sounds like the gall bladder is contracting when I eat fatty foods and pressing against the gall stones. If I avoid all greasy foods and eat very carefull. (Oat meal, ect). I have no attacks. Trouble is I start to lose weight and that's not good for a crohn's patient. (If it is crohn's). I was advised by a friend to avoid having it out unless complications occur. The runs are about 5 times a day and the color varies from light brown to
yellow. (looks like urine). Blood and stool tests didn't show any problems if I read the results correctly. I will keep you guys posted after my next appointment. I'm wondering if the gall bladder was the problem all along or do I have crohn's? Anyhow as I write the pain is starting to ease up after 4 hours once again. No more nuts or fattening meast for me until I figure this out. I guess I may need an operation to prevent attacks and lose too much weight. I am 6'1 and 180 lbs. I used to be 230lbs before all this started. I would get some IBS before the first operation but looking back I suspect the dairy contributed to that. One other interesting note: I do have a slight allergy to wheat. I also suspect a iodine allergy because I got hives on my legs and arms after contrast was sued for the MRI after the second operation. Also, I developed an allergy to adhesives/tape.
0 likes, 3 replies
james13344
Posted
Your stool studies were negative for infection, parasites, and inflammation. Your complete blood cell count and inflammatory markers are normal and the chemistry panel was normal with the exception of mildly elevated total bilirubin which is not clinically significent.
Your recent untrasound shows cholelithiasis with contracted gallbladder. There is no specific evidence of acute cholecystitis or bilary obstruction. Therefore based upon this, if your pain is persisting, I recommend that you have a HIDA scan w/CCK for further evaluation. I also recommend that you complete your colonoscopy at Cleaveland as recommended. End of letter.
So based on this letter from the medical office, I suspect I need further testing to catch what the problem is or perhaps the issue is my crohn's disease. Not sure. The attacks start 3 to 4 hours after eating, lasting 4 to 5 hours then suddenly stops over about a 15 mintues period if I eat any nuts or meats. I will switch to vegitarian to see if this stops the terrible pain in the upper right back just above the kidneys and the slight pain below the right ribs near the gallbladder. All the pain stops after the attacks so I am suspecting something with the gallbladder rather than crohn's. Time may tell.
This all seemed to start after I was getting back treatment where they put a harness around my waist (near the gallbladder) and pull me apart with 65 lbs of pressure. I had to hit the emergeny off button due to a sharp pain which slowly went away at the time. I suspect it may have brused the gallbladder due to the pressure. (or perhaps even brused the area where surgions reconnected the large and small intestine together (where they took out the illium valve) from the previous operation. (possibly some stitches broke loose because they are to dissolve after one years time.) In either case, something may need to heal before the pain stops. If eating meats agrivates the area, (gallbladder or intestine). It may explain why the pain comes. In the case of an injured intestine, the pain may stop after the food moves past that area (I doubt it though because any foods other than nuts or meat do not affect me).
In the case of the gall bladder, I am guessing the symptoms which are characteristic of gallbladder are caused by some yet unfound cause. Perhaps the gallbladder was bruised? Possibly it was injured from the pressure when the harness compressed my stomach area. (Or the gall stones may have scratched the inside of the bladder when it contracts and causes pain until it is released. (like holding glass in your hand and making a fist.) The pain may not be stopping until the galbladder gets the signal it no longer needs to release bile. The last theory is my thought after reading information on the MD websites. There is no pain whatsoever between the attacks. I wonder if there is such a disease where your gallbladder releases too much bile. (perhaps a disease in the nerves). Last but not least, I did work a job that exposed me to TCE chemcials for a while. They are known to cause regular bladder cancer. Perhaps that applies to the galbladder as well? I doubt it because there are no inflammation indicators and the white blood cell count is low.
I think the symtoms are too characteristic of gallbladder problems to be crohn's.
Then again, I have never experienced pain from my chrohn's in the past. Perhaps this is a new developing issue?
It's a mystery to me. One interesting note is the last attack was a pin level 3 to 4 which is an improvement over the last 5 attacks over the last three weeks where the pain level was 5 to 6 out of a scale of 10.
Jaydroid james13344
Posted
Unfortunately, I can't offer too much insight, as I am just going through gallbladder issues myself. Doctors carried out an ultrasound and no stones showed up (although I'm told that sometimes they don't show, despite the sonographer telling me that it would definitively pick anything up).
I've seen a number of GPs so far and they've all alluded to my gallbladder being the source of the problem.
The reason I'm posting is that my gallbladder symptoms are very similar to what you are describing.It's tough to know for sure as we're all just hypothesizing something that we can't see, so we end up having symptoms that could be any number of things, which is hard to cope with, especially as the symptoms vary so much.
I also have been having attacks that hit around the six on a 1-10 scale. I was having on off rumbling for a while before a really painful one about a month ago left me in constant discomfort of one sort or another ever since. My pain is also worsened about three to four hours after a meal, which makes eating a constant battle. The only saving grace is that quite often, immediately after eating is when it's at its calmest.
I also have high biliruben levels and have had a high white blood cell count.
All I can say is that I'm experiencing all the same gallbladder issues and the doctors are focussed on that being the cause of the issues and haven't mentioned anything else.
I hope neither of us have Crohn's.
james13344 Jaydroid
Posted