Hi I'm new here

[Ryan60]

I'm new here hoping to learn more about my condition. I have a gall bladder problem, it's seriously inflamed and I have a calculus they think blocking the opening. The doctor talked about the Murphy effect but I have no idea what that is. I shall most probably end up with sugery and I have read that it can take weeks to recover. Is that right?

[grace111]

hi ryan welcome to the forum. i'v had my gallbladder removed but that was a different scenario from most as i had a stone in the bile duct for so long and had repeated infections. and developed mirizzis syndrome. there are others on the forum who have had calcified mass and has a straightforward removel of their gallbladder. are you having pain? if your in pain eat small meals with only 3% fat. dont eat cheese and cream or fried or greasy foods. of course we are all differnt as to what we can eat and at differnt stages of pain. i also had severe stomach cramps and had to take buscopan which are really good for this. i also sometimes have to take omperazole for acid indigestion and pain killers as this can be a terribly painful condition. you havent mentioned if your in pain or not but i take it something went wrong for you to find out you had gallstones. some people try to flush out the gallstones and do a gallstone flush. which you could google if you wanted to try that. i wouldnt recommend that if its seriously inflamed and a calcified mass. or even suspected to be blocking your bile duct opening. its not a serious operation and its done every day. usually a person goes into hospital in the morning and is out at tea time. some people stay overnight its very unusual for anyone to be in more that 2 days once its removed. the recovery is also not to disabling. i mean you have to take plenty rest and will be quite tired. it all depends on your age.you shouldnt be bed ridden or anything like that. your able to get up and go to the toilet and walk around. you would probably need pain killers for a while. and also it depends if they take it out laperoscoply or if they cut you open at the top. that makes a difference in recovery time. if its seriously inflamed it might mean that you have an infection but your doctor will have done a liver function test to check all of that. as the results can tell the doctor a lot. for instance if the biliruben levels are high that usually means that the duct is blocked and if the white blood cells are high then that means you have an infection. its not really something to worry about having it removed is the easy part. and recovery is not to bad either. that hard part is if your in pain and cant eat or maybe feel sick. or are sweating and burning up. as there are lots of symptoms with this and they can change rapidly the pain is one of the worst things of all. so i hope that your not in to much of that although it sounds like you could be with the inflammation.. if there is anything else i can help you with dont hesitate to ask and im sure some others will see this post and come and tell you what their experience was. i hope i'v put some light on the situation for you. love grace xoxoxo

[Ryan60 in reply to grace111]

Hi grace, I was in terrible pain I thought I was having a heart attack the paramedics asked on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad, I said 12. I didn't feel sick I'm not jaundiced no sweats, no dizzy spells nothing that the doctor thought I should have. He said the gb is partially distended and shows a diffusely thickened wall. They said I have an 18mm ill defined probable calculus in the neck. I've been given oral co-amoxiclav for 7 days and oral buscopan as and when needed. Also have another tablet to take. I also take diabetic tablets and then some for high blood pressure.

[grace111 in reply to Ryan60]

yes its a terrible pain.it feels like a heart attack. its terrible. are you feeling a bit better now that youv got the co-amoxiclav? they should help the infection,and the pain as the infection causes a lot of that terrible pain, the thing is the symptoms can change quite quickly. sometimes i had to get anti sickenss pills but this was a while after i was diagnosed.have you got a date for going to the hospital to get your pre op assesment? thats what happens before the actual operation they get you into the outpatient dept and tell you all about the operation and find out all the medication that your on and also tell you all the risks. dont be afraid as they do those operations every single day. my goodness ryan your having a hard time with being diabetic and high blood pressure to. i really feel for you. i'v heard of people having a thickend wall, so its not anything that they havent seen before. dont worry ryan if they thought it was dangerous they would have you in the hospital. you have probably had this for quite a while and not known about it as it takes time for the gallbladder to get thickend and the calculas to build up. im sorry i was so long in getting back to you i'v been catching up on some house work. im online every day and if you there is anything you want to ask just let me know im sure more people will be here to answer you post as well. not just me.i feel for everyone who get this problem as its so very painful. take good care of yourself and try not to eat fatty or greasy food as you need a lot of bile to digest this and it can be very painful. it wont be forever. keep your chin up. love grace.xoxoxo im here anytime ryan. okay

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Hi Ryan, welcome to the best and most friendly site, everyone on this forum is so helpful, i got my gallbladder removed 3 weeks ago the operation was a walkthrough no bother at all, I'm still recovering not back to full health again, but its great to get shot of that pain its so severe, I thought I was having a heart attack, but so glad its all over my husband and son still won't let me do much but I still get tired a lot when I do anything.

You'll get lots of helpful advice here.

Love Cheri xxxx

[Ryan60]

Hi Cheri like you I also thought oh oh heart attack as I lost my father when he was 66 due to a burst valve in his heart which I'm sure made things worse. It was the only thing I thought of it never even occurred to me that I had a problem with my gall bladder. To be honest I didn't know an awful lot about what it did even tho I'm a care worker on a gastro ward. I know more now as I have been reading what's here and anything I could find on the Internet. Does not having a gall bladder have any detrimental effect on your liver as I have seen what liver problems can cause. I'm happy that your recovering well, how long was you advised not to work. As I'm a Flexibank worker if I don't work I don't get paid that is an added worry for me as I'm the only breadwinner. Did you or was you given which option for your op, keyhole or the main op. Or does it depend how bad it is. Did you get backache and shoulder pain, as that's what I've had for a long time, my doctor said the backache was most probably due to the inflamed gall bladder. I thought it was because my work can be very heavy at times. The only saving grace is because I work in the hospital I am being treated as a priority case. Xx

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Hi Ryan, yes I had bad back and shoulder pain. I was told it would take about 6 weeks to recover I don't work as such I'm an unpaid carer for my husband, son and my 94 year old mother in law I have carers coming in just now but they are so expensive.

I had keyhole surgery the doc said he would only convert to the open op if they had a problem but everything was fine, I went into hospital at 12.15 pm and my husband picked me up at 7 pm the same night I was told for the first 48 hours only to move to go to the toilet after not to lift anything heavy for about 4 weeks I'm feeling a lot better now and its great getting shot of that pain, only thing is I've been feeling quite sick for the past few days but I'm sure that will go.

Love cheli xxxx