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Gallbladder Attacks / Removal

L

LouLou

New member
This was my post to JBUCCA but I thought I'd start a seperate thread. I feel a lot of CF'ers might be suffering from this problem since I have very little pancreatic problems yet had to have my gallbladder removed...

It definitely sounds like a gallbladder attack. Symptoms are (but you don't have to have all of these to have an attack): extreme pain on your right side - sometimes radiates around middle. Can come in waves like contractions. Feel like you're going to die then boom the pain is gone. Can cause lung cramps on right side. Sharp pain in right shoulder. Attacks are just about always in the middle of the night to start out. Vomiting. Order an ultrasound - this will diagnose whether you have a problem. Pancreatitis (a life threatening disorder) can be caused by ignoring gallbladder attacks. What happens is the gallbladder attempts to pass the stones. They end up in the pancrease with causes pancreatitis.

Gallbladders are removed from CF'ers all the time. I was reluctant to have mine out - thought I should try to flush it with oil and lemon, a technique I learned about on the web. Wasn't a big fan of operations - never had been put under. After the attacks became more often went to a gastroentochronolgist who suggested only 2 general surgeons to go to. He said it was not a procedure you wanted done in the ER so to seriously consider scheduling the operation. Any botched stories are done by people inexperienced in doing the operation. I talked to him about changing my diet to avoid surgury. He said once the body makes stones it always will. I guess that was the kicker, I knew even if I got the sludge/stones out of me they could come back. I met with the surgeon - liked him and scheduled surgury. Due to my CF and not wanting cross contamination I chose to go home the same day. They allowed it since it seemed I had a good support system - hubby by my side - and I proved to them I could walk down the hall and back. Recovery from the lapiscopic surgury (4 small holes) was 4 days but I took a week off just to be sure. The scars are very minimal. Please ask me any questions you might have.
 
L

LouLou

New member
This was my post to JBUCCA but I thought I'd start a seperate thread. I feel a lot of CF'ers might be suffering from this problem since I have very little pancreatic problems yet had to have my gallbladder removed...

It definitely sounds like a gallbladder attack. Symptoms are (but you don't have to have all of these to have an attack): extreme pain on your right side - sometimes radiates around middle. Can come in waves like contractions. Feel like you're going to die then boom the pain is gone. Can cause lung cramps on right side. Sharp pain in right shoulder. Attacks are just about always in the middle of the night to start out. Vomiting. Order an ultrasound - this will diagnose whether you have a problem. Pancreatitis (a life threatening disorder) can be caused by ignoring gallbladder attacks. What happens is the gallbladder attempts to pass the stones. They end up in the pancrease with causes pancreatitis.

Gallbladders are removed from CF'ers all the time. I was reluctant to have mine out - thought I should try to flush it with oil and lemon, a technique I learned about on the web. Wasn't a big fan of operations - never had been put under. After the attacks became more often went to a gastroentochronolgist who suggested only 2 general surgeons to go to. He said it was not a procedure you wanted done in the ER so to seriously consider scheduling the operation. Any botched stories are done by people inexperienced in doing the operation. I talked to him about changing my diet to avoid surgury. He said once the body makes stones it always will. I guess that was the kicker, I knew even if I got the sludge/stones out of me they could come back. I met with the surgeon - liked him and scheduled surgury. Due to my CF and not wanting cross contamination I chose to go home the same day. They allowed it since it seemed I had a good support system - hubby by my side - and I proved to them I could walk down the hall and back. Recovery from the lapiscopic surgury (4 small holes) was 4 days but I took a week off just to be sure. The scars are very minimal. Please ask me any questions you might have.
 
C

coltsfan715

New member
Hey there,
It is nice to know that this is a CF related thing and I am not just bizarre. I had to get my gall bladder removed about 2 yrs ago.
I had been having attacks for several years, when I had gone to the doctor about them the said they were anxiety attacks and gave me Xanax.

When the attacks started they always hit in the middle of the day a few hours after I would eat (I didn't associate them with eating at the time). I would get sharp back pain which would immediately turn into tightness and what felt like constriction around my entire rib cage. I would be gasping for air cause I couldn't breathe without extreme pain. I did feel like I was going to die - I would just sit in front of the toilet - most of the time on my hands and kees cause I couldn't get comfortable any other way. I always vomitted after a period of time and right after vomitting I felt better. The length of the attack varied, I learned that I got immediate relief from vomitting, so I sometimes forced myself to vomit to relieve the pain which ended the attack quicker. The shortest attack I had was about 30 minutes the longest was 2.5 hours.

After about 1.5 yrs passed from my appt (and diagnosis of anxiety disorder) I started getting the attacks at night (about 2-3 am). I knew something was not right ... cause I do not have anxiety when I am sleeping. I also started getting an itching foot sensation. It was close to unbearable, not really painful but uncomfortable. I would get this faint itchy/tingling feeling in my feet and it would last for hours on end. The only thing I found that took it away was ICE cold water. I got that alot in the middle of the night too, it would wake me up out of a dead sleep.

Then shortly after the attacks started at night I had abnormal bloodwork results. My liver functions were elevated - these ended up correcting themselves within a few weeks - they took my blood every week until they were back to normal. They eventually returned to normal, but not before I had been sent for a CT scan, which came back normal - no gall stones. I had 3-4 other tests run and ultimately had to have some test done where they inject a radioactive dye in you and you have to wait a few hours for it to work its way through your system, but it was supposed to highlight your gallbladder .. among other things .. and show how it was functioning. Well every other test had shown normal results and only at my insistence that something was wrong did they run this last test - I am happy they did - because my Gallbladder did not even show up on the test. The were completely confused. They found my gallbladder on an ultrasound and marked my stomach with a sharpie directly over top of where it should be -- then back to the other room and still they found nothing. At that the specialist I was seeing referred me to a surgeon because I had a "non-functioning" gallbladder and it needed to be removed.

Scheduled surgery for 2 weeks later (about 5 months after the start of tests and 2 years after the start of attacks). The surgery went fine and when the doc came out to talk to my parents .. he laughed and said I don't know how she has lived with the pain she has most likely been in. My mom asked what he was talking about and he said my gallbladder had been full of stones (somewhere in the 200+ range). I went home from the hospital that day and haven't had an attack since.

<b>To Add A Little Note</b>: In the last month before I had surgery I was varying my diet to see if the attacks would stop because the doc said fatty foods can cause attacks. I didn't notice a change with the food types I ate, but I did notice an immediate change when I stopped drinking Soda - or any caffeinated beverage. I stopped about a month before surgery and didn't have a single attack. I take that back I had 1 attack ... within 3 hours after I had a Pepsi the one time I caved to my caffeine addiction in that month span. That was huge for me because I was having an attack everyday by the time I stopped drinking soda.

Hope that info is helpful. Also if you think something is wrong don't just let it go. Every doctor I saw gave me the you're to young, you're not over weight, you don't fit the stereotypical patient with gallbladder problems routine. Especially after the tests started coming back normal. They all thought I was crazy when I kept saying something is wrong .. find out what. When my gallbladder was finally out and I DID have gallstones like I had kept saying, "I think I have gallstones" - I made sure to tell every one of my docs. Each one said something similar to Wow, well you were right there was something wrong or I guess you do know your body.

Sorry for the long winded post,
Lindsey
 
C

coltsfan715

New member
Hey there,
It is nice to know that this is a CF related thing and I am not just bizarre. I had to get my gall bladder removed about 2 yrs ago.
I had been having attacks for several years, when I had gone to the doctor about them the said they were anxiety attacks and gave me Xanax.

When the attacks started they always hit in the middle of the day a few hours after I would eat (I didn't associate them with eating at the time). I would get sharp back pain which would immediately turn into tightness and what felt like constriction around my entire rib cage. I would be gasping for air cause I couldn't breathe without extreme pain. I did feel like I was going to die - I would just sit in front of the toilet - most of the time on my hands and kees cause I couldn't get comfortable any other way. I always vomitted after a period of time and right after vomitting I felt better. The length of the attack varied, I learned that I got immediate relief from vomitting, so I sometimes forced myself to vomit to relieve the pain which ended the attack quicker. The shortest attack I had was about 30 minutes the longest was 2.5 hours.

After about 1.5 yrs passed from my appt (and diagnosis of anxiety disorder) I started getting the attacks at night (about 2-3 am). I knew something was not right ... cause I do not have anxiety when I am sleeping. I also started getting an itching foot sensation. It was close to unbearable, not really painful but uncomfortable. I would get this faint itchy/tingling feeling in my feet and it would last for hours on end. The only thing I found that took it away was ICE cold water. I got that alot in the middle of the night too, it would wake me up out of a dead sleep.

Then shortly after the attacks started at night I had abnormal bloodwork results. My liver functions were elevated - these ended up correcting themselves within a few weeks - they took my blood every week until they were back to normal. They eventually returned to normal, but not before I had been sent for a CT scan, which came back normal - no gall stones. I had 3-4 other tests run and ultimately had to have some test done where they inject a radioactive dye in you and you have to wait a few hours for it to work its way through your system, but it was supposed to highlight your gallbladder .. among other things .. and show how it was functioning. Well every other test had shown normal results and only at my insistence that something was wrong did they run this last test - I am happy they did - because my Gallbladder did not even show up on the test. The were completely confused. They found my gallbladder on an ultrasound and marked my stomach with a sharpie directly over top of where it should be -- then back to the other room and still they found nothing. At that the specialist I was seeing referred me to a surgeon because I had a "non-functioning" gallbladder and it needed to be removed.

Scheduled surgery for 2 weeks later (about 5 months after the start of tests and 2 years after the start of attacks). The surgery went fine and when the doc came out to talk to my parents .. he laughed and said I don't know how she has lived with the pain she has most likely been in. My mom asked what he was talking about and he said my gallbladder had been full of stones (somewhere in the 200+ range). I went home from the hospital that day and haven't had an attack since.

<b>To Add A Little Note</b>: In the last month before I had surgery I was varying my diet to see if the attacks would stop because the doc said fatty foods can cause attacks. I didn't notice a change with the food types I ate, but I did notice an immediate change when I stopped drinking Soda - or any caffeinated beverage. I stopped about a month before surgery and didn't have a single attack. I take that back I had 1 attack ... within 3 hours after I had a Pepsi the one time I caved to my caffeine addiction in that month span. That was huge for me because I was having an attack everyday by the time I stopped drinking soda.

Hope that info is helpful. Also if you think something is wrong don't just let it go. Every doctor I saw gave me the you're to young, you're not over weight, you don't fit the stereotypical patient with gallbladder problems routine. Especially after the tests started coming back normal. They all thought I was crazy when I kept saying something is wrong .. find out what. When my gallbladder was finally out and I DID have gallstones like I had kept saying, "I think I have gallstones" - I made sure to tell every one of my docs. Each one said something similar to Wow, well you were right there was something wrong or I guess you do know your body.

Sorry for the long winded post,
Lindsey
 
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