Gallbladder pain is no fun!
Good morning guys… It was another sleepless night for me. I once again experienced a fairly severe gallbladder attack. I am totally at fault, I know, because yesterday I threw caution to the wind and had some high fat foods. That Ukrainian food was NOT worth the suffering later, trust me.
I’ve had probably seven (I believe) attacks in my lifetime now. I’ve had four in the past month or so — I think it’s time I made my way to the emergency room during my next attack. I’ve been told by doctors that gallbladder attacks and gallstones are difficult to diagnose unless you are having an attack. Which makes sense, I guess, because I’ve waited for months for an ultrasound appointment in the past, only to have the technician say that she saw a little enlargement of my gallbladder, and my liver seemed a little inflamed also, but they couldn’t specifically say that the gallbladder was infected, or the stones were causing the incessant pain over many hours of the attacks I’d had a month previously.
I was told to present myself at an ER during an attack, as it was the only way to truly know.
Awesome.
Except, I have an extremely busy job with many tasks that are time-sensitive, and choosing an attack-night to spend in the ER doesn’t really work for my schedule. And of course, it’s almost certainly not going to get me into surgery should I decide to have the gallbladder removed, any quicker.
And, of course, I feel bad for Barry, who’s kept up by my moaning, squirming, thrashing about in bed, and can’t really do anything to help me. He tries.
But, I’ve found a few things that do help me when I’m having an attack, so I thought I’d share them in case they might help you:
- as soon as I feel the pain coming on, despite how nauseated I am, I take 2 extra-strength ibruprophen — these tend to lessen the attack, and ease the pain somewhat
- I try to stay calm and breath through the pain (It actually does help, because when the pain gets severe in waves, I usually panic a bit)
- laying on my left side bundled tightly in a blanket in the fetal position helps
- having the tv on, even if I can’t really hear it properly, takes my mind off of the pain to a degree
- sometimes, walking up and down the stairs helps with the severity of some of the pain
From the reading I’ve done, my attacks are pretty typical:
- nausea (and sometimes vomiting)
- pain (shooting for me) from just under my ribcage on the right/middle side of my breastbone that takes my breath away
- pain between my shoulder blades
- belching
- fever and chills
I’m pretty much at the end of my rope with this. I’m now at work, and I’ve only had two hours of sleep. It’s going to be a difficult day concentrating, I’m certain.
YOUR TURN: Have you had gallbladder issues? Or, have you had the surgery to have it removed? If you did have it diagnosed, did you have to wait for a full-on attack to get it resolved? I’d love to hear from you.
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My sister had her gallbladder removed not long after she gave birth to her son. Apparently, post-pregnancy gallbladder issues are somewhat common. Anyway, she said the pain was far worse than the birth process, and I think that says a lot. I sure hope you get yourself to the hospital next time this happens – especially if these attacks are becomming more common. Take care!
Been there, done that, never went to the ER, feel for you
I found a hot bath to be one of the only ways I could deal with the pain when it was really bad. My last attacks would last literally for days – less acute than the middle of the night ones, but eventually the pain just sorta stayed. Not fun.
My GP referred me to a surgeon (who, it turned out, we had just had at our place for a wedding consult – that was strange
. I got in for an appointment within a week or two, the ultrasound was (as usual) somewhat inconclusive but I called my surgeons office when the attacks started getting longer and I had surgery within about 3 days. Apparently if you ultrasound many gall bladders you will find stones or not and it doesn’t seem to correlate much to actual attacks. My surgery was pretty much based on symptoms, not ultrasound.
Sorry you are going through this, not fun. Good news is surgery was a breeze, if that helps
Xo!
I used to have (I believe) chronic appendicitis, for about a decade, before I finally had to have it removed. Same deal – it was never diagnosed because I never went to the hospital while I was in the middle of an attack, and they couldn’t tell anything on an ultrasound in between attacks. So I feel your pain.
It sounds very similar to what I’d do for it, except I’d also use a hot water bottle on the affected area to help dull the pain a little. Feel better. And, work will appreciate you taking a little time off now to avoid countless sleepless nights translating into somewhat reduced efficiency!
I was able to take something and then go back to sleep while having an attack but on my last attack I was in a lot of pain (worse than child birth), so I went to the ER and they said it’s coming out. I’m not sure if mines family genes related (I’m the 4th person to get it remove) or was it linked to my pregnancy..
Hope you are able to get yours removed sooner than later.
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I had repeated attacks over a 2 year period–I went to the ER on the air force base twice, they never did an ultrasound but pumped me full of morphine (that did nothing for the pain) and told me to see my doc within 48 hours. A MONTH later she finally saw me (and I had one more attack that sent me to the ER), ordered a HIDA scan…that showed nothing.
Cut to a year later…major attack the day before we were supposed to leave on vacation, went to an ER at a civilian hospital, where they pumped me full of dilaudid (I love that drug now) immediately did an ultrasound, and within an hour I was in the OR getting it taken out.
Major, major relief. Worth missing the vacation, too.
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I had abrupt and acute gallbladder attacks over a two-month span in which I groaned aloud. No fun. A friend told me she’d rush me to the ER whenever I had an attack and felt it prudent to get to the hospital. That happened on my birthday. Ten seconds after they pulled out the ultrasound machine, I was looking at my hot dog sized-and-shaped gallbladder on the monitor. I was operated on within the hour. 14 hours later, I went home. Post-op and 3 years later, nothing has changed, except that I have a cool scar, there’s no pain, and I can easily eat dairy after being significantly lactose-intolerant for most of my adult life. The word “surgery” can be alarming but as operations go, this is minimal, you can do really well without your gallbladder (your liver learns to produce bile on demand, rather than storing it in this nonfunctioning sack). Just take it really easy on fried and/or oily things for a couple weeks before and after. I eat everything without worrying. Totally worth it.
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Thanks so much everyone for sharing with me – I really appreciate the feedback. Based on your recommendations, I’m not fooling around with this stupid pain anymore – the next attack is going to see me heading to the ER.
I had one last night again, but I’m so damned exhausted after no sleep two nights in a row that there’s no way I could possibly consider spending hours in a waiting room. That’s just torture. Of course, the hospital scene here at the moment is crazy (thankfully, it’s just a few months until the ER is open at the new hospital a block from me) but in the meantime, there’s an extreme shortage of urgent care beds in Calgary.
But, I promise I’m heading in next time, despite the thought of writhing in pain in an ER waiting room for hours.
Tanya, one more thing: In the ER, they take you in order of urgency. I arrived in a wheelchair because I couldn’t walk due to the pain, I was holding my stomach and howling. Scale of 1-10, I was a 9. I’d never been in that much pain in my life. Don’t be afraid to ham it up. They took me within 10 minutes to get assessed. They don’t mess around with acute, urgent pain like that. You’ll get shoved to the front of the line during an attack.
View Dee´s recent blog entry: Good Deeds