I had my surgery in 1999 and have been fine all this time. In January, I started to have vague pains around the area of the gallbladder that go around to my back. I've seen quite a few doctors since then and all thought it was the gallbladder so I've had the following tests: chest x-ray, CT scan, ultrasound, upper endoscopy, HIDA scan. All tests were normal. The GI doc I saw who is the one who ordered most of these tests said he doesn't know what's causing the pain and said to avoid fatty foods for a month and see what happens. I've been doing that but have not noticed a difference. If anything, it seems to be getting worse.

I thought maybe I have an obstruction, but I'm not having any trouble going to the bathroom so I don't think it's that. Plus that wouldn't last 6 months anyway. I also thought about adhesions, but I would think that would have been seen on at least one of the tests I've had. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm due to go away for two weeks at the end of this month and this is making me quite nervous that it's been all this time and I still have no answers.

Thanks-

Polly - those symptoms sure sound like gallbladder to me. PM ToddL and ask him about the tests he had done. I think I recall he went through the same sort of thing - and it WAS his gallbladder - a sludgy one.

I hope you get to the bottom of this soon.

kathy

i had those type of chest pains as well. it ended up being pancreatitis. they put me on a liquid diet, then iv fluids for a week in the hospital, then another liquid diet. it was a 3 week process for me, and boy was i hungry by the end of it.

i really hopeyou get better soon, and definately check out the pancreas. even if its a little irritated, it can cause a lot of pain. thats how it was for me.

Gallbladders can be tricky fellas and sometimes there is nothing to see until they get really, really bad (sort of like when you just KNOW that your kid has an ear infection, but you have to wait until there is something for the pediatrician to see before you can get treatment).

Your symptoms are also consistent with pancreatitis, but I would hope that they would have done blood tests to rule this out. It is not as tricky to find.

Adhesions, that's another story. Unfortunately, there are no diagnostic imaging studies to confirm or rule out problematic adhesions. If you see anything, it is the result of adhesions causing a major obstruction. However, the imaging will not show an adhesion. So,it is definitely possible.

Jan

Thanks everyone. Jan, yes they did do blood tests and ruled out anything to do with the pancreas. I also don't have gallstones. The pain has been worse today (right after I ate lunch it started up) so I'm going to call the GI and see what to do. I had the HIDA scan about a month ago so it's possible something has happened since then. I just hope I'll still be able to go on my trip.

Ultrasound is 95% sensitive for gallstones, but it's not perfect. Last August I ended up in the hospital with gallstone pancreatitis after ten years of what turned out to be gallstone-related pain--it had been written off as "IBS" after two ultrasounds (by two different techs, read by two different radiologists at two different hospitals) didn't show the stones. But my gallbladder was packed full of them when it was removed! The pathology report said they were "too numerous to count."

My GI's take on this: "If it feels like biliary colic, it probably is."

Good luck with it.

Charlotte, Wow, I can't believe you had that pain for 10 years! It's also strange how none of the tests picked up the stones and unfortunate the doctors rely so heavily on these tests that aren't exactly perfect. Did the pain go away after you had the gallbladder removed?

I called the GI yesterday but the person I spoke to said the office was closed so I will call back again today.

ME EITHER. The pain was on and off--initially a couple of times a year, but in later years up to three or four nights (and it almost always was at night) per month. Finally I woke up one morning with the worst case of it I'd ever had (that turned out to be what distinguished it as pancreatitis rather than just the gallstone pain) and went to the ER.

The surgery cured it!

That's interesting. The pain I have is always during the day. I have no problems at night and sleep all through the night. I spoke to a nurse at the GI's office just now and she said she wants me to come in today so I'm going there later this afternoon. They seem baffled about what to do with me since all the tests have been normal, so that concerns me.

I'm glad the surgery cured everything for you. I don't really want another surgery though and I doubt they'd do one at this point since the tests aren't showing anything. I have a feeling I'll have to wait until things get really bad before they'll do anything (like what happened to you).

Just wanted to post an update. I saw a nurse practitioner yesterday who said she thinks my small intestine in going into spasms for some reason. She gave me an antispasmodic drug called hyoscyamine and said to try it. She said if that doesn't work then we'll investigate further.

I had a similar problem at little over a year ago with all the tests coming out stone free with some sludge. I even had a gallbladder removal operation scheduled for last may that I cancelled not long before. What helped me was eliminating fat and overly processed foods from my diet, lots of water and juice, and (I'm not sure how related this is but) I saw a chiropractor for awhile. It took about two months but it got loads better.

The antispasmatics didn't work for me at all.
good luck with everything.
-sara

Sara- Thanks for posting that. Good thing you cancelled the surgery! Believe it or not, I've been thinking of seeing a chiropractor. Sometimes the pain I have shoots down into my right leg which made me think it was a bone or muscle problem. I thought seeing a chiro might help and now that you've said it helped you, I'll give it a try. I also have started to eliminate fatty and processed foods. Thanks so much!

Polly, I'll put my bet on it being a bulging disc in your spine causing your pain. Good luck and I think you are on the right track.