Atypical GB symptoms - Digestive Disorders Message Board

carol thomas · 05-01-2004, 04:43 PM

Hello!

Has anyone had the following symptoms with gall bladder/gallstone disease? I know I have gallstones, seen on ultrasound last year, but the HIDA scan was totally normal. The stones are there, but gall bladder wall was not thickened as of last year's test.

All-over sharp, stabbing abdominal pains that reached a plateau and eventually (after 3 hours) abated, ending as quickly as they started? They started in center of stomach, near navel, then encompassed entire abdomen. This happened one time only, almost a year ago.

Intermittent and very brief periods of nausea without any vomiting, and totally unrelated to foods/time of day? This has happened on and off over the past year or two.

Odd gnawing pain at mid-center of abdomen, made worse by rubbing the area and spreading over to right upper and lower quadrants and lasting several hours, relieved somewhat by sitting? This was not like the sharp pains described in the bad pain incident above. It was like a bad stomachache but only on the right side, from rib area down to groin.

I have never heard of gall bladder pains referring to LOWER right quadrant. Anyone else ever have that? It seems ridiculous.

Brief, intermittent little stabbing pains in right upper quadrant of abdomen.
I believe that is fairly typical, correct?

I have never had the bad back pains under right shoulder blade that many describe.

Anyhow, I am on the fence about the surgery since I have such vague symptoms and only had that one big total abdominal incident last year and then this weird right-sided stomachache of several hours' duration the other day.

Two gastro docs and one surgeon (of course) say "have the surgery now!" My internist says I can wait until I get worse (IF things get worse) and make a decision then. I'd have the surgery now except that I've heard such awful stories of the many, many people who have long-term or lifelong diarrhea afterwards. As one with a frequently jittery digestive system anyway over the years, I am extra hesitant. On the other hand, I don't want to be desperately ill before agreeing to surgery.

Do you folks who've had definite gall bladder disease think any of my "atypical" symptoms sound familiar at all?

Thanks!

JanPRe · 05-02-2004, 07:02 AM

I had the same symptoms, yet the opposite as far as test results. My ultrasound showed no gall stones yet the HIDA scan showed I had a problem so I had the GB removed laproscopically in Feb, 04. I have felt better as far as that is concerned, however,the surgeon said he felt I also have an ulcer because I still get these pains in the center of my chest. I went back to my GP who said I have GERD and has now given me meds for that. Now, I am ok some days and not ok other days. It doesn't seem to have any pattern as far as foods I am eating so I am at a loss and it's driving me nuts.

As far as having the surgery or not, speak you your dr again, maybe after you speak to the surgeons. Mine told me that it is possible that a stone can get stuck in the main duct (can't remember the name of it) and cause more problems. You'd have to have open surgery and recovery is longer. He also told me at the time that I was a good candidate for the removal and that I could wait and see if it got worse, but I felt so miserable that I decided to do it. I am glad I did. Now if I can only find out what this other problem is... BTW - the pathology from the GB showed no stones at all but the HIDA scan showed it wasn't working as it should.

carol thomas · 05-02-2004, 08:52 AM

For JanPRe --

Thanks for responding. Sorry to hear the surgery did not take care of ALL of your problems, but happy to hear you are feeling better after the gall bladder removal itself.

So, regarding my "odd" complaints, are you saying you actually had abdominal discomfort that traveled from upper-middle gall bladder area all the way down to the area of appendix, i.e., just above the groin next to the hipbone? I get these odd pains at center of abdomen, to right side of upper abdomen, but then the whole thing travels up and down to the lower quadrant.

At times I can tell there is a bulge (that moves around) in the right lower quadrant. I assume that is the large intestine, and I know that isn't really unusual (it's particularly noticeable when I'm lying flat on my back), but I wonder about the actual discomfort in that area.

I've just never heard anyone say gall bladder pains traveled or "referred" that far "south." I had a pelvic exam very recently and GYN doc said ovaries are very tiny (I'm postmenopausal, so that's good news) and I doubt these pains are from the appendix as I had my first colonoscopy exactly one year ago and it was totally clear, including appendix.

I've wondered about GERD myself since sometimes I have pains in center of upper abdomen. Perhaps many of us have more than one problem? My understanding is that if gall bladder is known to be a player in ones problems, they advise taking it out and THEN seeing what else might be wrong based on further symptoms. It's just so hard to tell with the digestive system what is going on and where. Yet one doesn't really want to end up like a swiss cheese from a bunch of different surgeries.

Your GB surgery was recent, but did you have a quick recovery and have you had reasonably good digestion or are you one of the unlucky ones who has sudden problems with diarrhea? It seems people are either fine in that regard or they suffer a lot, judging from what I've read on these boards. One young lady I know (age 26) had her GB out after one bad incident three years ago (and they found stones on ultrasound) but she is disgusted at how hard it is for her to eat anything at all, even now. She frequently wishes she hadn't had the surgery at all though she has no "pains."

Let me know what they say about your GERD, okay? I've known of people with that alone, and they, too, are quite miserable. I will see my GB surgeon Monday and ask him about all of this. And yes, you're right, the big fear doctors relate is that a stone will get loose from the GB and get stuck in the common bile duct or another one, or occasionally in the pancreas, which is extra bad. That's when people get really sick and surgery becomes an emergency.