What would you do? - Digestive Disorders Message Board

cheshireman · 05-11-2007, 07:12 AM

Hello all.

Sorry this is a first post question. But I have read these boards a lot before asking

This may well be a long post, sorry about that, but I feel I need to speak to someone.

For the last 6 years I have been having gall bladder type attacks. It just seems a little unusual because of the pain location. The pain will start like trapped wind but in my back. About three ribs up in the middle of the right hand side of my back. The pain will increase rapidly and intensively until I sweat and squirm with a wave of spasm like pains. The pain will at this point radiate up to my shoulder blades and even round to my chest, neck and down to my stomach. These pain attacks will last about a minute or two, ease off, then come back again for another attack. This roller coaster of pain can last from 30 minutes to an hour before slowly fading away. Afterwards, I will feel the need to belch a lot, and can have mild indigestion. I will also feel 'sore' for a few days. The pain can then go away for weeks at a time if not months. I did think about heart pain, but this has been dismissed by everyone, despite no checks other than stethoscope!

I have found no pattern to the onset of these attacks. I can eat as fatty a meal as I like with no effect. I have had attacks whilst in the sea, driving a car, before, during and after meals and never in the middle of the night. There seems to be no pattern that fits in with most attacks I read about.

I am also a little confused about the area of pain. Nearly everything I read about indicates some pain in the back, but mostly frontal pain. Mine is 80% back and shoulder pain.

I had a scan about 2 years ago which IMO, was not done very professionally, and was a general abdominal scan with little time spent on the gall bladder. This showed up clear....apparently. The attacks continued every 2 months or so until I had a really bad one last year leaving me permanently sore for a few weeks. Back to the GP's again for another scan referral and endoscope. The endoscope showed nothing but a little scar tissue from years of Ibuprofen use for back pain!

The second scan however, has shown a 7mm polyp and 'irregularities' in my gall bladder, but no stones. The specialist said that based on my clear scan of two years ago and my recent polyp discovery, I should have my gall bladder removed.

Now this is where I get confused. I don't want surgery unless absolutely necessary of course. But the obvious question that I didn't ask the specialist was that since his decision for removal was mainly based on the the clear scan of two years ago compared to my recent scan, what caused the pain for the 4 years prior to my first scan? I would guess that if the first scan was done with a little more care, then it too would have shown a polyp.

So to my questions really. Firstly, does this sound like gall bladder pain to you? What would you do? Would you go ahead with removal, or seek a second opinion? My instinct is to be put 'on watch' and have another scan in 3-6 months to see if it is indeed growing. There seems to be little information or consensus about polyp treatment as opposed to stones. Most information says that anything less than 1cm should just be a watch approach.

So sorry for this epic post, especially since it's my first! But I am a little scared by the prospect of organ removal, unless it is absolutely essential. Reading about all the post operative problems just makes it worse!

Thanks for reading.

Seraph · 05-11-2007, 07:35 AM

Your pain episodes are consistent with passing a smallish gallstone. You can have quite bad attacks of gallbladder colic without having stones that are large enough to appear on a scan. My husband had horrific pain and when he had his GB removed, he had a small handful of tiny gravel-like stones. It would be entirely up to you if you don't want surgery, but a full-blown gallbladder attack will bring you to your knees. My husband had three major episodes, and raced off to surgery rather than risk such terrible pain again. He was in hospital for 3 days after keyhole cholecystectomy, and was completely recovered by the third week. There are ways to dissolve gallstones without surgery, you can look them up or ask your Dr. Where is the polyp they saw? Is it in your bowel?

cheshireman · 05-11-2007, 08:08 AM

No, the polyp is actually in the gall bladder along with some 'irregularities' (cholesterol deposits he thinks) The specialist says that the polyp may well be getting stuck in the duct acting like a stone.

Titchou · 05-11-2007, 09:26 AM

have you had a HIDA Scan? They don't seem to want to do them in England but it would show if there is any lowered ejection rate that might be contributing to this. All things being equal though, I'd have it out.

cheshireman · 05-11-2007, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titchou

have you had a HIDA Scan? They don't seem to want to do them in England but it would show if there is any lowered ejection rate that might be contributing to this. All things being equal though, I'd have it out.

Not heard of that before I found these boards. I guess If I was to go private over here, it would be available. Of course there are benefits and limitations of our National Health! But it does sound an expensive procedure, so I can understand the reluctance.