About a year ago I went to me doctor with a burning sensation in my stomach in the morning, large ammounts of gas, cramping pains in my stomach, and explosive diahreaha after eating certain types of food(this would come on very quickly). Since that time my primary care physician and my Gastroenterologist have had bloodwork, an upper Endoscopy(and biopsy to rule out celiacs disease), stool sample tests done and everything seems to be coming back normal. Lately it seems like the diahrea occurs when I eat anything with even slight ammounts of fat. I went through an Ultrascan and a HIDA scan a few weeks ago but both those results came back fine according to the Gastroenterologist. I am going in to the specialist in a few weeks to go over the results but am wondering how accurate are Hida scans at detecting GallBladder problems? All of the symptoms I have been experiencing sure seem like GallBlader problems. Is there anything else I could be missing? The doctor recently gave me some pancreatic enzymes to help digest fatty foods and those seemed like they were working until I decided to be brave with what I ate on saturday(a lean steak) and ended up back in the bathroom with diahrea and cramping. The doctors have also had me try Nexium, Achiphex but those didn't seem to have any impact on my symtoms. I feel so frustrated at this point as I am only 24 and this seems to be controlling my life.
Hey there AZ so sorry for your suffering! When you had the hida scan did the tech inject you with CCK and did you have a gall bladder "attack" (SEVERE pain) after it was injected? This is another way to tell if the GB is inflamed or diseased, not just the ejection fracture numbers. I had 2 "normal" hida scans, but still ended up having surgery and found out my GB was severely inflamed and covered in scar tissue. I've posted many, many times on this board about my gall bladder symptoms so you might want to read through various posts related to gall bladder to get a complete picture of my symptoms/course of action.
You may also have IBS too, because I do and it can be real difficult to differentiate the symptoms. I don't think I read in your post where you're having the typical upper right quadrant pain which is the hallmark of gall bladder problems. Diarrhea right after eating can be a gall bladder or IBS problem. Is there urgency to your bathroom trips and is the diarrhea explosive and/or yellow or light tan in color? These could also be indicative of gall bladder disease. Some people (in addition to all the other symptoms I've listed) will also feel nausea, fatigue, and just a general dull achiness in the upper right abdomen.
Hang in there - you might want to research Habba syndrome which is a condition affecting people with severe diarrhea shortly after meals even though their GB is still in. If you were having explosive urgent diarrhea after meals without a GB, this is called bile salt diarrhea. You could also research this to get more insight. If your diarrhea is daily and/or debilitating, you might do well with Questran or Colestid.
Keep pushing your doctor for some answers. You really need to find out why this is going on.
I'm checking on the gallbladder too and I have my HIDA scan tomorrow. I have already had 2 EGDs, barium x-rays, small bowel follow through, abdominal ct scan and abdominal ultrasound. My disomfort is mid upper abdominal discomfort and pain under the right ribs. Recently I started feeling the pain in my pain between my shoulder blades or just under my right shoulder blade. The worst symptom of all is being nauseated all the time and I have not found anything to help it go away except for emetrol which lasts temporarily. Lately, I just feel flat out sickly. I also never sleep and I think it's the discomfort that keeps me awake.
Thanks for all of the responses:
"Is there urgency to your bathroom trips and is the diarrhea explosive and/or yellow or light tan in color?"
Yes, I constantly feel like I am running to the bathroom because everything happens so quickly. The stool kind of alternates between yellow and light tan and I can't remember the last time I had a normal bowel movement. The diarreha is also kind of oily which I was told was the fat my body isn't digesting.
"Some people (in addition to all the other symptoms I've listed) will also feel nausea, fatigue, and just a general dull achiness in the upper right abdomen"
I also have all of these symptoms. I just don't feel like I have as much energy to dop thinks as I did even last year.
I go back in to the Gastroenterologist on the 23rd so hopefully I will be able to find out a little more then. When I did the Hida Scan I was in severe pain and felt absolutely awful so maybe there is something wrong with the gall bladder. I'll have to look in to that Habba syndrome. Thanks again for all your help and support. I'll post back when I find out more,
Hida Scan Accuracy 
