I'm so confused regarding gallbladder tests - Gallbladder Message Board

LAwoman75 · 01-30-2008, 07:12 PM

32/female/160 lbs. (have lost 40 lbs. in the last year), on oral contraceptives, RUQ pain that radiates to back, nausea usually combined with burping

Ultrasound was normal, don't know blood tests results, HIDA came back with 95% ejection fraction, now dr. wants to do an upper endoscope to rule out ulcer, even though I don't really have any ulcer symptoms. He said if the endoscope is normal, he's referring me to the surgeon to get my gallbladder removed. Prior to seeing him, my urine was checked and was clean.

????

I've put a call in to my step brother who is an internal med dr. to see what he thinks of this and what he thinks of my very high EF% from the hida. Last week, I had NO appetite and felt like my meals were sitting in my stomach forever without digesting, and now I could eat a horse and still be hungry even with the nausea. What's up with that?

I just don't know what to think. I know that lots can be missed by these tests, but I still would feel better with something more definitive before having gallbladder surgery.

mizzaj · 01-30-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAwoman75

32/female/160 lbs. (have lost 40 lbs. in the last year), on oral contraceptives, RUQ pain that radiates to back, nausea usually combined with burping

Ultrasound was normal, don't know blood tests results, HIDA came back with 95% ejection fraction, now dr. wants to do an upper endoscope to rule out ulcer, even though I don't really have any ulcer symptoms. He said if the endoscope is normal, he's referring me to the surgeon to get my gallbladder removed. Prior to seeing him, my urine was checked and was clean.

????

I've put a call in to my step brother who is an internal med dr. to see what he thinks of this and what he thinks of my very high EF% from the hida. Last week, I had NO appetite and felt like my meals were sitting in my stomach forever without digesting, and now I could eat a horse and still be hungry even with the nausea. What's up with that?

I just don't know what to think. I know that lots can be missed by these tests, but I still would feel better with something more definitive before having gallbladder surgery.

Hey LAWoman75,

Did you lose weight from dieting, or just from having no appetite? The reason I ask is because I heard that weight loss can contribute to gb problems, as can oral contraceptives. So it's good that your doctor still wants to take out your gb, even though I understand your hesitation about not wanting surgery until you have more definitive results. All I can think of is that you might have small stones or sludge that just haven't appeared on the ultrasound. But it's good that you're getting the Upper endoscopy--I guess it's possible that you could have gastritis as all these symptoms seem to overlap, so it's good to rule them out.

As for feeling like you could eat like a horse this week-- I have heard that gb symptoms come and go. Before I put myself on a low fat, small meal diet when this all started almost a year ago, I ate my normal, fatty meals, and sometimes it would bother me, and other times it wouldn't. And when it wouldn't, I'd assume that what I had was just temporary....hahahaha was I wrong. But maybe that's your situation-- the coming and going of the symptoms...even with the nausea.

Even with my ejection fraction being as low as it is, I STILL worry that if I get my gb out, it won't help. That's my biggest fear. I've lost 35 lbs in the last year just from eating so much less because I didn't want a repeat of the symptoms I first had almost a year ago (it got so bad once that I fainted outside a restaurant and was taken by ambulance to the ER-- that was traumatic enough for me to change my diet right then and there-- ever since then I've had mostly steady, constant symptoms.)

It sounds like your doctor knows what he/she is doing. I would ask for a repeat ultrasound if you're worried. Discuss with your doc the possibility that you could have small stones that aren't showing up on the ultrasound, because apparently small stones can cause more problems than the bigger ones. Maybe if the doctor confirms that this could be the case, you will feel better about getting gb surgery.....

What did your doc say about the high ejection fraction, by the way? Is that indicative of anything negative in and of itself?

Good luck...I'm glad well have each other on here....I don't know what I'd do without these boards!

-AJ

LAwoman75 · 01-31-2008, 05:20 AM

AJ,
I've lost the weight from dieting. Some of my symptoms do come and go such as the nausea, but the right side pain is there daily but varies in strength at different times of the day. Usually when I first get out of bed in the morning, I don't feel anything there but the minute I began drinking my coffee, it starts up again and can linger throughout the entire day and into the night. I only spoke with the nurse yesterday and she said the dr. referred to my hida as normal, so I asked her about the numbers being high and she said she had no idea how to read hida results and didn't know what that meant.

I will ask him when I see him again. The nurse will let me know tomorrow if he definitely wants to schedule the endoscope, she said she can get in there for the 15th for that procedure. While googling as much as I possibly can to learn about the high hida results, it seems as though some doctors consider it normal while others consider it bad. Some studies also said those with scores above 90% usually benefit from surgery, but other than that, there's not much info out there on it. It seems rather uncommon to get scores that high, so it may indicate a problem or maybe I have a supersonic gallbladder.