I would like to hear from anyone who has had gall bladder issues. Is surgery the only option as a result of a several day episode? What pain control worked best for you?

I have been in the throes of an attack since Sunday morning, but wasn't officially diagnosed until yesterday. The pain is quite intense, and affecting my breathing on my right side. My doc advised surgery, but I am hoping the attack subsides so I can at least postpone it until after the 1st of the year. Anyone else have similar experience?

I had undiagnosed attacks for a while. When "The Big One" hit, I nearly had to have emergency surgery at 3am. The surgeon was ready to come to the hospital when it subsided a little bit. I had the surgery a few days later laproscopically and it was a piece of cake. Had I had to have it as an emergency procedure, it would have been an open surgery, with a higher risk of complications and my recovery time much longer.

My surgeon told me that I could put it off, but that I would never know when an attack may come and if it became too inflamed the laproscope would not be an option. Basically he said it was like a ticking time bomb that could go bad at any moment and asked if I would rather have the surgery as a planned outpatient procedure or as an emergency surgery in the middle of the night.

I could not stand the thought of having another big attack (mine was so bad that I thought I was going to die - much worse than kidney stones) while I was out of town or somewhere that I could not get help quickly.

I'm not sure if there are other treatments for an inflamed gall bladder. I actually thought I was having a heart attack. The hospital told me otherwise and indicated that it had to go. We had that surgery scheduled and it was removed laproscopically. Other than the flatulence afterwards, it was not that bad. They do pump the area full of gas which floats around in there for a while and can cause pain. GasX works for some odd reason.

I think mine started the beginning of my junior year of college. I felt a lot of pressure in my right side but no pain. And it stayed that way for months. Then on summer break I had a couple beers one night and the next morning woke up and felt like I could die. No pain just, feeling aweful. About a month later I was diagnoised with gall stones and told I would have to have my remove my gall bladder. I played basketball that summer up until the week of the surgery, at which point I started experiencing the pain that went all the way up into my shoulders. I had mine remove laproscopically and felt so much better afterwards.

My father had his removed laproscopically when he was 80 years old with no residual effects.

My wife had her's removed a couple months after getting back from our honeymoon. She felt awful while there, stomach cramps, pain in her chest & shoulders, etc. She went in for an upper GI, but they couldn't find anything. They did an ultrasound on the gallbladder and discovered it was quite inflamed. Surgeon went in and removed it laproscopically (sp?).

Even since the surgery she's been a different person. Feels great, no more pain, is able to eat whatever she wants whenever she wants - except for those big greasy meals (which she doesn't eat anyway)

Knowing how much pain she was in, if you can hold off until January I will be impressed! Wife wanted to hold off on her surgery too, but it didn't take long before she succumbed to the pain and agreed to have it removed. Like TJ said, you never know when the "big attack" will come, and lapro is much better than emergency surgery.

The ex tried everything under the sun and finally had hers removed. She kicked herself for waiting so long and suffering though all of that. She felt better immediately!

Recovery times vary, but I was in the middle of training for a marathon when I had mine out - I was running less than a week later (not an endorsement of this activity - the doctor was not pleased) and ran the marathon about 8 weeks later. I missed one day of work. Was in the hospital at 7 and home by 3 that day. I have heard similar stories of recovery from co-workers and friends. I have never been as sick or in as much pain as I was with that attack and for the days following it. Compared to that, the surgery was a breeze.

you have a lot of gall starting this thread

sorry, that's all I got

good luck though

I had mine out about 10 years ago. I didn't have gall stones. Instead, mine just broke and stopped working, which actually took months for any doctor to diagnose the source of the pain because it wasn't showing the typical symptoms. (I'm convinced that it was damaged during my pregnancy...my liver and kidneys shut down the last week before my son was born, but that's a long story in and of itself! ) Anyway, when the surgeon did the surgery he said it was so red and inflamed that it was clearly the source of my abdominal pain.

Other than a sensitivity to pork (mostly bacon), I have had no problems afterwards and it cured the pain I was having. I had the surgery on a Thursday morning, stayed home Friday, worked 1/2 days the following week so I didn't overdo it and then was back full time the second week after the surgery.

Oh no Tink! Sorry to hear abotu the pain you're having. A girl that worked with my mom had surgery btu I don't knwo anythign about it. Onyl you kwo how much pain you can take and if it's realyl worth waiting another 6 months. Seems liek 6 months coudl be a long time and allow for more chance of needign emergency surgery...

Thanks for sharing everyone. I am still hoping the attack will subside without surgery. It heartening to know that it won't be so bad a thing when I do decide to get it done.

I have had 3 gall bladder attacks in the last 10 years and have not had surgery. It seems to kick in when I have ate a lot of greasy food. I guess I'm lucky to have had them so sporadically. However, my 15 year old daughter had hers removed last February. She started having pain and had it non-stop for a week. Mine only lasted a day and then subsided. I guess everyone is different. My first attack hit me in the middle of the night and at first I thought it was just heart burn but the pain kept intensifying. By two a.m. I couldn't take the pain any longer and finally took a pain pill and it had kicked in within 1/2 hour. Still felt a little residual pain the next day, but drank a beer and it went away.

"drank a beer and it went away."


Universal cureall.

I controlled my gall bladder issues about two months through diet - absolutely no fat - before I had the surgery. However, during that time, I had one attack anyway, went to the ER, but didn't stay. My husband, who always has to one-up me, said that he controlled his through diet for six months before he had the surgery - the old fashioned way.

You will still be able to wear a bikini Tink, if you do the surgery! They just pull it out through your belly button and snip it off.

Been down this road also. I agree with others that you might be able to control some of the attacks by watching your diet and avoiding greasy foods. However, you should be aware that delaying surgery can lead to complications with your liver and pancreas.

I tried to delay surgery until it was convenient, kept getting sicker and sicker - just general pain and nausea - trudged on to work through it all. Ended up in the ER, and the minute the docs got blood work showing my liver enzymes were all out of whack, they admitted me to the hospital immediately. So what should have been a simple?? out patient surgery ended up as a 3-day inpatient stay.

Another co-worker had a similar story - she developed pancreatitis - much sicker and much longer hospital stay.

Sorry for the horror stories - Good news is that laproscopic surgery was not bad. Within 2 weeks I was back 100%. Surgery was in November that year - even went and did all my holiday shopping before I had to go back to work.

Hope you feel better soon!

Thanks for sharing everyone. I have been free of any type of pain since the 5 day attack....I had an ultrasound that confirmed what we already knew (stones). My doctor is OK with me waiting it out. She told me last week that it will be up to me as to when I have it out, but to be aware that I might have to go through the ER. At this point, I will take my chances.

Oh, and Pale? the day I wear a bikini is the day the sun sets in the east...just sayin.....

In NY the sunsets daily and it is considered the east so get out that bikini.

Suffered for months. Doctor said indigestion/watch what I eat, etc. etc. Alweays had an off feeling a few hours after I had eatern. I would take TUMs or similar and it went away until I ate again. Never enough tomake me set off the alarms. Woke up one morning in incredible pain and a funny color, according to my husband. Went to the same doctor that A.M. (my G.P.). He took one look and had me hospitalized - emergency situation. Surgeon told me might be A (big surgery, long recovery) or B laproscopic. He could not tell until he went diving. I was lucky. He did it laproscopically BUT he said I was very close to a major problem, almost ruptured. He laid out my GP in lavender and every other color.Lesson learned and passed on to you: get it fixed before you have a much bigger problem!

Hi! I am late on this one but just got back to work from gall bladder surgery.

I was having severe attacks in the beginning, which ultimately are caused by gall stones. I have researched high and low and the ONLY way to control the attacks is to figure out what you can/can't eat. Most people have issues with fatty foods, however, my attacks were brought on by carbs!!

You can put off having it removed as long as you want...but if you have stones, it may end up blocking the line to the liver which will not be good. Also, I was told if I can handle the pain of the attack and wanted to hold off on surgery that was up to me. However, they did caution me that if I started to vomit or get a fever I would need to get to the ER immediately.

I am happy to say, I am recovering nicely from the lapro surgery. I have an incision right below my middle rib cage, my bellow button and off to the right side toward my hip. Doesn't look like they will scar much. I have been fine with my eating again- though I did do a lot of research while I was on leave which has forced me to change my eating habits.

The only thing I will complain about is that I do not think this should be "day" surgery. I think one night in the hospital is a good thing. I threw up on my way home and passed out the next day while getting in the shower. When I went for my follow up last week another girl that was there said she ended up back in the ER the night after her surgery because she wasn't sure she should be in so much pain. They ended up keeping her for 2 days.

wow Jenny, glad you are back and recovering well...

Thanks! It was a nice break...despite the reasons why I had to take a break. Sometimes it is good to be stuck in the house relaxing!

As a side note...here was a good article if anyone is interested.
www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/140

Heal well Jenny!

Good move, Jenny. It's over. No threat of being on vacation or similar and having the issue go to an emergency situation. I guess my issue was saturated fats - which I ate a lot of at the time. My husband is a good cook, we lived in a restaurant city, and I ate all the cream based, yummy high fat foods. Got much better control of that - still splurge but its on occasion, not every day.

Glad to here you recovered and are back.

PS Mine was an overnight deal. Wow, they are trying to make that a day surgery. Kinda scary.