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From: Debbie
Remote Name: 216.176.24.252
Date: 10/10/02
Time: 11:48:21 PM
To be honest, my attacks kinda "crept up on me". I think I'd been having gb pain for several years and just didn't know what it was. I had been having some minor pain, off and on for about 6 yrs. It would bother me just occasionally. The doctors ran gb tests on me back then and told me then it was normal. I had a hysterectomy about that time and just figured the pain must've been due to the other problems I was having that caused me to have the hysterectomy. After I got over that I still had the pain in my right side but just didn't really think about it being anything else. But over the years it got steadily worse and from about March of this year I have been very sick and was admitted through the hospital ER where they ran every test on me in the book and still told me they couldn't find anything wrong with me. I was steadily getting sicker and could hardly eat and was in constant pain- most of the time laying on the couch and taking Vicodin to get through the day. But according to all my doctors there was nothing wrong with me (HA!). I finally insisted on being sent to the surgeon and he also didn't think there was anything wrong with my gb but agreed to do the surgery because I was so sick and had all the classic gb symptoms. He told my husband immediately after the surgery that I had been right and he could tell it was diseased as soon as he saw it. The pathology report from the hospital confirmed it. It was diseased- the walls had thickened and it was inflamed. I had no imediate family with gb disease. My grandfather had his removed many years ago before I was born but neither of my parents or brother has had any problems. I was extremely nauseous and had no desire to eat anything half the time. When I did eat though, I could eat just about anything although sometimes I paid for it later. As I said earlier, ice cream and corn were killers as was chocolate which I'd never had a problem eating before. My physical symptoms were like I said earlier- my right side, under my right ribcage, and in my back around my right shoulder blade. I didn't have any stones- mine was just diseased. It doesn't really sound to me like it's your gb but it's really hard to say since I'm not a doctor. Your doctor may be right about about your trying to eat foods you haven't eaten in awhile or it could be GERD. Are you seeing a gastroenterologist and are you on any medication for GERD? I would try to wait it out and see if anything the doctor does for you helps and if not you may have to ask him if he thinks it could be your gb and if you need to have an ultrasound or Hida scan. I didn't have the kind of attacks that people with gallstones have, where you'll have severe pain all of a sudden when the stone moves and then it'll completely go away. Mine was constant- worse sometimes than others- but always there. At its worst it felt like someone was stabbing me in the upper right quadrant with an icepick. Hopes this helps a little. If you have any more questions I'll try to help. From my experience I've learned that doctors sometimes don't listen enough to patients and pay too much attention to expensive tests and sometimes you've just got to be insistent with them. Good luck!