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Need Help: Panic attack sufferor worried about gall stones
Dear Friends:
As you know through my previous mails that I am having panic attacks since 10 years. I take prozac, benzo and since I am bipolar also I take mood stabilizer DeVarporic Sodium. I am anxious lot of times.
One thing which keeps bothering me after every few days is that I have a 1 cm stone in my gall bladder. I don't have much digestion problem. Some doctors here tell me to remove the gall bladder as it can cause cancer and the others say that unnecessary surgery is not advisable.
I am really scared that what if there is an emergency that this stone get stuck in the bile or what if this stone left for long could cause cancer. I found out about this stone 3 years ago and since then the size of the stone is the same.
Now I am really anxiuos person and just the thought of surgery makes me panic. Should I do the surgery and remove the gall bladder or there is no need to worry and let it be there? In case of recomending surgery if you had done for yourself please tell me experience and suggestion.
Pease help.
As you know through my previous mails that I am having panic attacks since 10 years. I take prozac, benzo and since I am bipolar also I take mood stabilizer DeVarporic Sodium. I am anxious lot of times.
One thing which keeps bothering me after every few days is that I have a 1 cm stone in my gall bladder. I don't have much digestion problem. Some doctors here tell me to remove the gall bladder as it can cause cancer and the others say that unnecessary surgery is not advisable.
I am really scared that what if there is an emergency that this stone get stuck in the bile or what if this stone left for long could cause cancer. I found out about this stone 3 years ago and since then the size of the stone is the same.
Now I am really anxiuos person and just the thought of surgery makes me panic. Should I do the surgery and remove the gall bladder or there is no need to worry and let it be there? In case of recomending surgery if you had done for yourself please tell me experience and suggestion.
Pease help.
I didn't have stones but failed a HIDA scan that was scheduled as doctors were searching for source of my stomach problems. This was a couple years ago. When they removed it, there was a tumor near the bile duct. It was benign.
I expected to feel much better after the surgery but never really did. A little, maybe. It took them so long to figure out what was making me so sick that I developed this anxiety/panic disorder, it turns out. My panic mimicked the symptoms of the gall bladder troubles. It took them another year and a half to figure that out.
The surgery itself wasn't so bad. My stomach was so sensitive I was unable to take the pain meds they gave me. It hurt pretty bad because of that but I lived. I remember doing weird things when I came home from the surgery, like walking to the post office (only a couple of blocks, but still, I'd literally JUST came home from surgery!). I didn't sit down that whole day. They told me I'd probably sleep all day long but I didn't feel like it at all.
The recovery was pretty uneventful. It's not like I could never get around, even without pain meds. I was driving the next day. Back at work late the next week (if I were a "normal case" it would've been sooner than that, but like I said, I had extreme anxiety and panic). The worst part about it is the air pockets that are left inside you when they stitch up the incisions. They eventually travel up to the shoulders and neck, and that can hurt! They go away, though, and it wasn't like a constant thing. If I were taking my hydrocodones I may have never felt them.
Another thing...they told me that every time I'd eat, I could get the runs. That happened exactly once. The rest of the time it was the opposite, and I've had problems with constipation on and off ever since. Obviously, I'm a weird case. That probably won't happen to you. I'd never had problems like that in my life until that surgery, and the doctors all but refused to believe one had anything to do with the other. Well, they did. I don't know why, but some things you just know.
But I think that's the thing that bothers most people about the surgery: having to stay close to the loo after eating.
As for whether you need yours out or not, that's your decision. How many opinions do you have? If you have three from respectable physicians and two say it's unnecessary, don't do it. There's no reason to. It is an organ that performs a function, after all. If it starts to bother you, that's when you go for surgery. Cancer, though? That clouds things up a little. You may want to get regular ultrasounds or whatever if you elect not to have it out.
Now that I've gotten rid of all these stupid panic attacks, I can't tell that I don't have a gall bladder, though. I don't think it's a big deal. Most of the time, I feel the way I did before I ever got sick. And when I don't, it's pretty clearly due to anxiety that occasionally breaks through. I barely think about the gall bladder anymore.
I expected to feel much better after the surgery but never really did. A little, maybe. It took them so long to figure out what was making me so sick that I developed this anxiety/panic disorder, it turns out. My panic mimicked the symptoms of the gall bladder troubles. It took them another year and a half to figure that out.
The surgery itself wasn't so bad. My stomach was so sensitive I was unable to take the pain meds they gave me. It hurt pretty bad because of that but I lived. I remember doing weird things when I came home from the surgery, like walking to the post office (only a couple of blocks, but still, I'd literally JUST came home from surgery!). I didn't sit down that whole day. They told me I'd probably sleep all day long but I didn't feel like it at all.
The recovery was pretty uneventful. It's not like I could never get around, even without pain meds. I was driving the next day. Back at work late the next week (if I were a "normal case" it would've been sooner than that, but like I said, I had extreme anxiety and panic). The worst part about it is the air pockets that are left inside you when they stitch up the incisions. They eventually travel up to the shoulders and neck, and that can hurt! They go away, though, and it wasn't like a constant thing. If I were taking my hydrocodones I may have never felt them.
Another thing...they told me that every time I'd eat, I could get the runs. That happened exactly once. The rest of the time it was the opposite, and I've had problems with constipation on and off ever since. Obviously, I'm a weird case. That probably won't happen to you. I'd never had problems like that in my life until that surgery, and the doctors all but refused to believe one had anything to do with the other. Well, they did. I don't know why, but some things you just know.
But I think that's the thing that bothers most people about the surgery: having to stay close to the loo after eating.
As for whether you need yours out or not, that's your decision. How many opinions do you have? If you have three from respectable physicians and two say it's unnecessary, don't do it. There's no reason to. It is an organ that performs a function, after all. If it starts to bother you, that's when you go for surgery. Cancer, though? That clouds things up a little. You may want to get regular ultrasounds or whatever if you elect not to have it out.
Now that I've gotten rid of all these stupid panic attacks, I can't tell that I don't have a gall bladder, though. I don't think it's a big deal. Most of the time, I feel the way I did before I ever got sick. And when I don't, it's pretty clearly due to anxiety that occasionally breaks through. I barely think about the gall bladder anymore.
Thanks everyone for your valuable advise. It gives me great relieve to hear from you. I guess I should not worry about it.
I just had my gallbladder out two weeks ago and I feel great. It wasn't that much pain. I am not good with pain!!! I am still swollen but I heard it takes a while to go down. I had my surgery and was home the same day. It really isn't that bad. I had a lot of stones and had a lot of attacks. Surgery scares the heck out of me and I am a big chicken but I did it and glad I did. Let me know how you are doing and if you have any more questions my email is ***@****. Take care.......
Angel
Angel
I know 2 people who had there gallbladder removed and they are fine. My aunt had gallbladder in for years and finally she got them removed cause they bothered her and shes 63 years old and she's fine. You will be fine nothing to worry.
I had my gall bladder taken out 23 years ago when I was just 17...had stones. That was when they had to cut out the gall bladder and it was a week stay in the hospital...I have done fine without one....
Today, however, has the doctor talked to you about laser surgery where they can zap and disintergrate the stone? This way you can keep the gall bladder!! Also, if it is not bothering you, I have heard that you should just leave it alone....if it ever gets stuck in the bile duct you will know it and you will feel a lot of pain....
So it is really your choice. Get a second opinion and see if it is worth removing.
Today, however, has the doctor talked to you about laser surgery where they can zap and disintergrate the stone? This way you can keep the gall bladder!! Also, if it is not bothering you, I have heard that you should just leave it alone....if it ever gets stuck in the bile duct you will know it and you will feel a lot of pain....
So it is really your choice. Get a second opinion and see if it is worth removing.
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