Gallbladder

[Solosbeauty]

Can gallbladder cause you to have a tightening under your rib cage? I also have lost 20 pounds. Is this a sign of gallbladder disease.  All started with me throwing up after a meal a few months ago.  I have had all kinds of test. I really needs some answers. Please if anyone has can relate please respond.

[Barb135]

My pain always came on in the evening between dinner time and bed time and would usually last for several hours.  I didn't have it every night...  Might go weeks/months in between or might only go days in between. There was no rhyme or reason, no matter what food I ate.  

I don't know how to explain it - it wasn't a "gassy" feeling, like I had to pass gas and I wasn't nauseated.  It was a very sharp, stabbing pain that would start just below my right rib cage.  If my heart had been on the right side, I'd have gone to the hospital told them I was having a heart attack.

I never had any tests.  Mine was found by accident during a physical exam, when the doctor pressed a certain spot near my rib cage and, literally, brought me off the table.  She immediately sent me for an ultrasound which showed the very large stone that had been moving around, causing my, off and on, attacks for years.  Within 3 days, my gall bladder was removed and I haven't looked back...

If you haven't had an ultra sound, insist on one.  Blood tests can only tell so much; sometimes they just have to have a look/see.  Good luck.

[Solosbeauty]

I also get that pain on my right side that may go into my back sometimes

[Solosbeauty]

Thanks for responding, I did go through a series of test. I believe I may be losing the weight due to me not eating any foods pertaining fat, and I don't eat much cause of how it makes me feel afterwards. I get very gassy and feel nauseated. Also not to mention the tightness I feel under the rib cage after eating.

[Barb135]

This is a thyroid forum, so you really should ask your question on the Gallbladder forum, which can be reached via the following link:  

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Gallbladder/show/1208

I can tell you from experience that gall bladder attacks can take different forms.

I used to get really sharp pains in my right side, right under my rib cage and over the period of several hours, they would gradually move on down and eventually go away... felt like gas pains.  I didn't lose any weight and I didn't throw up.  I happened to have a very large stone that would lodge in/near my bile duct and partially block it, which is what caused the pain.

If you haven't had an ultra sound, you need to get one.  I've never heard of weight loss being a gall bladder issue, but that's not to say it isn't.  Get checked for diabetes while you're at it.

The gall bladder is on the right side, so if your pain isn't on the right side, it's probably not gall bladder.