Is my gall bladder doing all this?

[JeffMitchell]

This is my question. Is my gall bladder making my whole abdomen (from under my ribs and down and  more on the left side) ache?

My BM's are always pasty, usually normal color but i can go from Constipated to diarrhea.

I have had 4 CT scans on Upper and lower with contrast and they have found nothing but diverticulosys and I was told thats not it.

I had a colonoscopy done and it was ok.  

I did have a ultra sound on my Pancreas (was fine) and my gall bladder (had lots of gall stones) and he set up a surgery for Tuesday the 20th to have it removed.

My question is....will all this stop when I get this removed?

I feel ridiculous talking to a doctor or anyone else anymore because they keep saying nothing is wrong with me, with the exception of the gall bladder.

Mostly under my left rib and down is where it aches the most, but I do feel it all over.

I find myself rubbing my abdomen raw sometimes.

I do have the pain in the chest an through the back sometimes. Kind of hard to breathe.

Had my heart checked and it's fine. I do not know how long I have had the gallstones, but these attacks started last September.

I do suffer from a lot of stress and worry a lot about money, work, etc... You know, everyday life. I do find myself dwelling on a lot of things. I'm not sure if that is making it worse of not. I have been taking Klonopin for that.


If anyone else has had anything similar to this, then please post and knowledge you have. I'm really starting to get stir crazy worrying that this won't go away after surgery.

[JeffMitchell]

Thanks so much for your support.  I am feeling nauseated today. (probably nerves)

I'm pretty confident, after the surgery, I'll feel much better.

Stress is really working on me right now. Surgery at 11:00 a.m.

[Fuzzz]

What you're describing sounds just like the pain I had, except that I couldn't eat and vomited every day for months.  I think it's your gallbladder causing all the trouble.  Hopefully you'll feel much better after the surgery, but there are those who don't get much improvement, unfortunately.  I'm happy to report I'm doing great.  I just had to get on a medicine to improve my appetite after surgery, and then I did great.  

[kkb19]

Well, heard back from my doctor's office today.  HIDA scan was totally normal.  They told me to take citrucel (my actual doctor is out of town, this was from the nurse on advice from another dr).  I will let you guess what I felt like telling them.  Since I can't afford to keep having tests, I am going to wait until I get the severe attack again and go in right away.  I tend to wait "one day" and then the really bad part is over.  I did have elevated pancreatic enzymes once this summer when my upper left side was in pain-felt like a broken rib.  At that time I had a CT with contrast of my abdomen and pelvis-nothing showed up there either...who knows?  Good luck with everything and if you have gall stones I would think that getting your gall bladder removed will at least begin to give you some relief.

[crambone]

the gullbladder is your culprit for the most part,but you can be ecperiencing some pancreatitis from the clogged up gullbladder,and that will hurt on your LEFT side!!!
there are only a few tests that show pancreatitis,and they usualy always have to be done while your in the middle of an attack!!..keep that in mind,,,have them,,,demand they check your amalayes/lipase enzyme levels when your in the middle of the pain ezct.
make sure they check theres no sludge ot small stones caught up in the duct work,or you will still have all the pain you are having now,and then some!!!
80% of people who have the gullbladder removed still have pain,,,exact same kind and sometimes worse sorry to say!!...let us know how everything goes,and dont listen to those docs tell you its in your head,you know what you feel,,they dont!!

[kkb19]

Hi Jeff~I have had very similar complaints.  I understand that gall bladder pain is usually on the right radiating to the back, but it can be all over the abdomen.  I also have a lot of left side pain, especially under the rib cage.  I had a HIDA scan last week and am currently awaiting results to see if there is indeed something wrong with my gall bladder.  My abdomen is very distended-non-stop for 14 days before I got some relief.  I feel very bloated a lot of the time, and this leads to me breathing more shallowly and I am in general very comfortable.  I can't say for sure that it's only the gall bladder, but that is what my doctor is looking into right now for me, and my symptoms sound a lot like yours-even the appetite and gas.  :-)

[JeffMitchell]

I forgot to add that my appetite has not gone down at all.

I have actually found myself eating more and I have been having tremendous gas from the bottom end.

Like once every 5 minutes.