Gall bladder pain? How do I tell? - Gallbladder Message Board

robcaryh · 08-30-2005, 06:23 PM

Howdy all
I unfortunately can't see my doc for a week so until then I am sweating it out thinking i have some God awful disease.

I am a 34 year old male. About 40lbs overweight. For the past 2 years or so I have noticed a dull sort of pain directly under my rib cage in the right upper part of my abdomen. It goes sometimes as far as my sternum and as far right to just past the mid clavicular line.It feels almost as if it is directly under or even my ribs themselves. At times while turning sideways in a chair it almost seems as if I can feel a lump or swelling directly under my bottom rib at the mid clavicular line. Once in a great while I may feel a throb on my back at the same level but it has only happened a few times. Consistently though it is in the area of my right upper quadrant below the ribs,only once in a while does it go farther left or right than that.

I dont have any of the clay color stool symptoms nor nausea and vomiting.

Does this sound like a gall stone or gall bladder type pain? I am scared to death thinking I have cancer or something till I can get to the doc I am trying to ease my nerves.

Thanks for any help or info
Rob

kehorner · 08-30-2005, 08:39 PM

The pain sounds like gallbladder pain. Given that you are overweight, that is a risk factor for gallstones. I didn't have any of those other symptoms, really. I had pain and nausea, but mostly pain. It's not an emergency (as long as the pain doesn't get suddenly worse), but you should see your doctor asap for an ultrasound. Good luck.

Oh, and try to lay off the fatty foods. Basically, try to avoid anything with any amount of fat and see if that helps with the pain. You can try tylenol or ibuprofen, but I found that they didn't help me at all.

robcaryh · 08-31-2005, 03:12 PM

Thanks for the info. I havent noticed it being worse when I eat certain foods but I am going to try and keep track now. The pain isn't horrible,mostly a dull throb at times. Been there for about a year or so. Bad gall bladders run on my mothers whole side of the family so it is looking more and more like that's what it is. I will be actually thankful if it is only my gall bladder,I have myself with some god awful tumor or something.

kehorner · 08-31-2005, 04:33 PM

Yup, gallbladders are easy to fix. Just two weeks out of your life, and you're good as new. I had the same dull type pain. Never really any attacks, just worsening and lessening of the dull constant pain. The ultrasound showed stones, and the hida scan (a radioactive test they do to test function) didn't even work right because there were so many stones. I think the acute attacks happen when a small stone gets caught in the duct, but the dull chronic pain happens when the gallbladder is just full of stones and inflammed. The surgeon was quite impressed with both the size and number of my stones. Some of the stones were so big that he actually had to extend the incision a little bit so he could get them out (so three of my incisions are 1/4", but the fourth is almost an inch long).

robcaryh · 08-31-2005, 04:51 PM

Maybe i have just been lucky with the attacks so far. I haven't had any more than the dull throb once in a while. Been that way for a little less than 2 years. I can live with it totally right now if that is what it is. I was worried instantly that I had a liver tumor. I will be relieved if it's jsut a gall bladder.