Gallbladder Attack!

[Kooshdakhaa]

I may have had a gallbladder attack this weekend. I woke up about 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning with intense pain in my right side. I thought it must be gas, but in perusing the Internet I noticed mention of gallbladder and after reading up on that I thought it might be a gallbladder attack. Called a nurse hotline and after hearing my symptoms she thought I should go in. So I went to the ER.

They did an ultrasound, EKG, and blood and urine labwork. After waiting around forever, doctor comes in and says the gallbladder looks fine, none of the test results point to a gallbladder issue. It could still be the gallbladder, but for now she was sending me home with some pain pills and to get rest. She said I should see a doctor next week though. I got the distinct feeling they thought I was just trying to get some pain pills, which really irritates me.

So I went to a doctor this morning who is doing more labwork to see if anything's changed, but he said we should wait and see if the pain goes away. If not, or if it comes back, he will inject something in my veins so we can get a better look at the gallbladder.

Anyone had any experience with this? I think the worst part of this whole experience is the doctors not being able to tell me what's wrong with me. Not yet, anyway.

 

[Gracie]

Oh yes. I have had this happen many times. But I tohught I was having a heart attack. It hurt SO BAD but it hurt in my chest. Pain would start in my jaw and then BAM!!! My whole chest would be agonizing. They did an ultra sound and discovered I had a HUGE gall stone...too big to pass, so all it would do is roll around and when it rolled around, it caused the pain. So they took my gall bladder out. Which in turn caused chronic diarheah which I FINALLY got under control after learning how to eat foods that didn't just run out of me.

I'm surprised they are doing the ink test when an ultra sound would suffice.

 

[Gracie]

Your gall bladder is under your rib cage on the right side. For some reason, that never hurt me. It radiated in my chest wall. Many trips to ER and being hooked up to machines, etc...pain....final way of making it go away was beign careful not to upset the gallbladder with certain foods, drinking LOTS of water and eating lots of vicodin...then eventual removal of the gall bladder.

Doc said sometimes people have pain in their side..some in their chest.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Thanks, Gracie. My pain was right where it should be, under the lower rib cage on the right side. The ultrasound did not show anything wrong with the gallbladder, though, so they think it might not be the gallbladder. Of course, they don't tell me what else it might be, either. I think they thought I was just trying to get pain pills, I really do. Idiots. My dog gets Meloxicam for her arthritis, which is a human prescription pain med, if I was after pain meds, I'd just take those. I also have a prescription for Tylenol 3 with codeine from having a tooth pulled last Tuesday. I never even got the prescription filled.

I have one more of these attacks and I'll probably just get the gallbladder out. But who knows, maybe I'm lucky and it was just really bad gas.

You say an ultrasound would suffice? But I had one of those and they told me that the gallbladder looked fine. But they said sometimes the ultrasound doesn't show everything, or something like that. So I guess we're just waiting to see if I have another attack, and if I do, they'll do the ink test. It's more precise than the ultrasound, apparently.

 

[waltky]

Yea...

... kept having pains that were thought to be gallbladder related...

... so, had the gallbladder removed...

... then still had the pains, radiating up my back on the right side...

... turned out to be kidney stones...

... quit drinking milk and haven't had a kidney stone since.

 

[Noomi]

Last year I had severe pain my right side, under my ribcage. It was so bad I had trouble breathing. My doctor sent me straight to hospital for tests, and after an ultrasound and xray, they couldn't find anything wrong. They gave my medication for a gallbladder attack and it worked, so I still think that that is what it was.

Ultrasound won't show anything. If it happens again, demand more tests, because there is obviously something going on.

 

[editec]

I may have had a gallbladder attack this weekend. I woke up about 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning with intense pain in my right side. I thought it must be gas, but in perusing the Internet I noticed mention of gallbladder and after reading up on that I thought it might be a gallbladder attack. Called a nurse hotline and after hearing my symptoms she thought I should go in. So I went to the ER.

They did an ultrasound, EKG, and blood and urine labwork. After waiting around forever, doctor comes in and says the gallbladder looks fine, none of the test results point to a gallbladder issue. It could still be the gallbladder, but for now she was sending me home with some pain pills and to get rest. She said I should see a doctor next week though. I got the distinct feeling they thought I was just trying to get some pain pills, which really irritates me.

So I went to a doctor this morning who is doing more labwork to see if anything's changed, but he said we should wait and see if the pain goes away. If not, or if it comes back, he will inject something in my veins so we can get a better look at the gallbladder.

Anyone had any experience with this? I think the worst part of this whole experience is the doctors not being able to tell me what's wrong with me. Not yet, anyway.

Sorry to read it, Koosh.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Yea...

... kept having pains that were thought to be gallbladder related...

... so, had the gallbladder removed...

... then still had the pains, radiating up my back on the right side...

... turned out to be kidney stones...

... quit drinking milk and haven't had a kidney stone since.

Well, guess what waltky? The doctor I went to yesterday morning called me today. Well, first his nurse called, but I had so many questions she couldn't answer, the doctor ended up calling me. He consulted with another doctor and they are beginning to think this has nothing to do with the gallbladder, but are suspecting kidney stones!

Part of the reason is there is blood in my urine. Microscopic, not visible to the naked eye. He wanted me to get a cat scan! I balked at that, so we decided I would come back for another urinalysis in a week or so, and if the blood is gone, we won't do a catscan. But if the blood is still there, or if I have another attack, we will do a cat scan.

Your post comforts me, because at least my doctors have not pursued the gall bladder problem in error, like what happened to you!

Well, at least you don't ever have to worry about gallstones, waltkey. Just trying to find an upside to your misdiagnosis!