Just saw an upper G.I specialist about my gallbladder. He said the symptoms I have are not typical of someone presenting with gallstones. However an MRI on my spine ear,ier this year revealed I have multiple gallstones. I have been referred for an ultrasound. I feel sick all the time and had a normal endoscopy. Does anyone who has had gallstones have symptoms of sickness and stomach pain which didn't fit the typical presentation of gallstones? I felt very fed up with this guy as he was going on about irritable bowel symptons causing my discomfort! Anyone else had similar experience?
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I was diagnosed with gall stones 33 years ago!! I was told you are supposed to fat ,fertile and 40!!! My Dr diagnosed it before I saw the consultant who I don't think believed me until I'd had the scan!!! I got more pain than just in the upper right quadrant, very painful. Hope you get sorted soon . Lots of love Lynne xxxx
I had really bad pain in my back every time I ate for months and suspected gallstones but when I started with horrendous stomach pains and nausea I finally went to my gp who had me admitted to hospital the same day. I had dozens of gallstones but was told they couldn't remove the gallbladder for 6 weeks due to the inflammation. Week 5 I couldn't move because of the pain and was admitted again with pancreatitis due to the gallbladder. Deb
I had terrible stomach pain and also up in my right upper quadrant, it was always much worse after eating. i had to stop eating fatty or greasy food and cheese and cream i had a very bland diet. i mean baked fish rice i did eat veg and some fruit i couldnt eat apples. when i say bland i mean i thought it was quite tastless as i was used to using spices which they told me to stop eating. if i did not have to have my gallbladder removed i wouldnt have. i had no choice as the stone was in my bile duct and i had lots of problems with it. mostly pain under my ribs and between my shoulder and nausea. many people have sludge gallstones and even many gallstones and dont have any pain or symptoms. i also had stomach cramps and had to take omeprazole for heart burn and indigestion.i took buscopan for cramps and very strong painkiller called tramodal and also strong coedine. wishing you well dear. love grace xoxo
So sorry to hear that you are in such pain. I really feel for you. When in pain, every day is an effort. I do hope the consultant is helpful and that before long you will feel much better. Take care Anna xx
Thanks for replying. I find Tramadol, Gabapentin and that old faithful paracetamol work on my back. Codeine works on my stomach. Re A&E you could possibly save a long wait by ringing 111 or going online111 - which I prefer. It tends to be quite pessimistic and if there is any real concern will tell you to ring 999. It’s amazing the response you get when you tell 999 you have been through 111. I hasten to add I have only ever rung 999 myself once of the several times 111 has told me to ring 999. I hate making a fuss so wait till the morning and go to a doctor instead. . Then they can decide! this is just my experience and not to be taken as advice in any waynof course!! 😀
OMG. I have had a few attacks this year and I was lucky they only lasted four to five hours and as soon as I was sick really sick but I had an emergency operation early this year and I had some liquid morphine left over and my doctor said that was perfect for the attacks . He recommended the Morphine and Gaviscon and as much Gaviscon as you like. But I think what has stopped ( touch wood) the attacks is diet as was mentioned earlier it’s very bland no fatty food ,spicy food, you need fresh fish ,rice, mashed potatoes ,chicken .
Good luck to have that pain every day or near that pain I really feel for you, get to the doctors and ask about diet and meds. Tell doctor what I was told get his advice you can’t go on like that.
Hi, this is basically me. My first experience was over a year ago which was frightening and put it down to eating something that my body didn't agreed with then nothing and I'd be fine for several months and then the attacks comes out of the blue. Its happened about 5 times now. I mainly suffer from sudden bloating then pain in the back followed by vomiting which I think relieves the pressure and then the pain slowly subsides after. Only lasts about 30 mins or so. Had an ultrasound scan back in March and they found gallstones, also had several blood tests to check my Liver which is normal. The doctor advised to keep an eye on it and keep to a healthy diet.
Its weird I haven't eaten fatty food for months and unfortunately I am still experiencing this albeit only two occasions.
May I ask if you have been advised about surgery or like me just to keep close eye and diet?
Hi sorry to hear that you’re still getting attacks, my last one was about a month ago but lasted about 4 hours.
No surgery for me because one they like you to try and handle it with your diet, my wife had some bad attacks a few years ago but she had to wait two years before they done surgery with me I had emergency surgery in January and ended up with a ileostomy bag and I also have Portal Vain Thrombosis plus liver cirrhosis so surgery they are very worried about.
Diet is the way they want you to go smaller meals, definitely low fatty and not spicy, no late meals because all my attacks are at night but don’t go hungry.
If you are going to eat a snack between meals during the day have something like hooler hoops instead of crisps, cake even biscuits they can be a bit fatty but try to keep a record of what you eat and when the attacks hit you , it’s finding out what your triggers are.
Good luck but keep your GP informed they must have a record of your attacks or you will never get surgery 👍.
you need to go back to your doctor and tell them about the pain that your suffering and also that you have to pick your grandsons up from school. really let them know that your in a lot of pain and that what your taking is not touching it. dont be afraid to take your painkillers as you obviously need them and make sure that there is no paracetamol in your codeine as you cant take extra paracetamol no more than 8 paracetamol a day. which i would find useless for this kind of pain. also pay close attention to what your eating. its just while you wait to get this dealt with and you could probably go back to a normal diet afterwords. no greasy fats of fried dishes. no creamy dishes or even butter and marg all oils. i had to stay away from all those foods and stick to qute a bland diet although i did take nuts and seeds and ate porridge with with flax seeds. i ate steamed fish and steamed chicken lots of steamed vegetables and some kinds of fruit you will soon find out what your body can tolerate. gallstones is very painfull and the doctors know just how painful it is but you have to let them know, some people dont respond to codeine. since i had my gallbadder removed i'm now almost all vegan except i still take a little milk in my tea. im trying to give that up as i feel 100 times better since i changed my whole diet. also it can be very depressing suffering pain but it wont last forever keep that in mind. you will get well once they have dealt with your gallstones i dont know how their doing it as there are a few different ways to deal with gallstones some people have thier galllbladder removed and some people just get the stones removed with some kind of way they break up the stones and im not sure what thats called but i have heard about it. there are many people with gallbladder pains so type gallstones into the search box at the top right hand corner where it says search healthunlocked and you will find many post from these people and get a lot of tips on how to deal with this as your waitng for your operation. dont be afraid to take that other coedine as the doctor knows what he/she is doing and wouldnt give you that amount if they didnt know what they were doing and how bad the pain is that extra tablet may be just what you need. all the very best, love grace xoxoxo
stella why are you not accepting treatment. your in pain and having to take painkillers that can make you constipated and give you headaches. many pains we get can be reflected pain so although you feel it in your lower intestine its probably caused by the gallbladder. i will tell you what happened to me and i also feel its because i waited so long for the operation. my gallbladder shrunk to the size of a thimble its usually the size of a pear. its stuck to my liver. there was no place for the stone to go now, although i only had one large stone its about 3./4 of an inch, it went into my bile duct and became infected and it was in there so long they tried to get it out by giving me an ERCP they said i wouldnt have any memory of it but believe me i was wide awake through the whole ERCP they could not get it out as it was so badly infected i had to have a stent put it to allow the bile to flow out. it turned into something called mirrizis syndrome and i believe it's because i had to wait to long for the operation. i;d already had one opeation where they went in to remove the gallbladder but it has shrunk and was stuck on my liver. they knew the stone was in the bile duct by now i also had a hernia fixed at that time but i was in and out of that hosptal with infectoins time after time. its very dangerous having this condition i know many people are treated every day and its an every day operation that goes forword without many complications but the dangerous part is just ignoring it and doing nothing about it. if the surgeon wants to take it out he is doing so for a reason. so please think about this as things can progress rapidly with this condition and if your not having it out and contstantly phoning up the hospital they will be wanting to know why you dont want to have it removed. of course there may be a very good reason you dont want it removd. i had mine done when i was 65 im now 68 i changed to a vegan diet and things have gone so much better for me now i seldom if ever have any bother with it and the scars have now turned white and i can barely see them. please keep in touch. wishing you all the very best. love grace xoxo
also if your taking dicolfenac you should be taking something to protect the stomach like omeprazole i couldn't get on with dicofenac all they did was raise my blood pressure. you should be on something to protect your tummy anyway even if your not taking diclofenac and also you need buscopan which are excellent for those stomach cramps that we get too. so i do hope that you have those two medicines. buscopan and omeprazole
I suffered with terrible stomach pain, nausea, vomiting & all the rest of the gallstones symptoms but numerous investigations failed to find anything. My GP insisted it was irritable bowel. After 6 years it took a newly qualified locum to pick up that my calcium levels were slightly high. An appointment with an endocrinologist confirmed I had Hyperparathyroidism: basically benign tumours on my parathyroid gland/s that caused calcium to leach from my bones. My calcium had been a little high back to 2011 but no-one picked up on it. Levels weren't very high but enough to cause me problems. Symptoms of HPT are very similar to those of gallstones. The doctor who did my scan to confirm the lumps said it's always the last thing doctors usually consider, if at all so mostly goes undiagnosed (usually diagnosed as irritable bowel).
Symptoms are numerous & can also include brain function problems from all the excess calcium. After 6 years of it I had memory loss, struggled to remember words or hold a conversation in the end, had a permanent brain 'fog' & was so sleepy that I could barely get out of bed most days & just slept my life away.
Like diabetes, which I also have, it can kill you with its complications if untreated. In the US surgery is the treatment every time. In this country they leave you hanging unless you have severe symptoms like mine, in which case a simple op removes the affected gland. Doctors say recovery can take a few weeks. If you look it up you will see that, like my experience when I had the op last summer, the difference is practically instantaneous. Within 30 minutes of surgery it was like the fog lifted from my brain & suddenly I could think & speak clearly. My energy returned within hours & life was suddenly good. Unfortunately I do also have gallstones & am currently suffering severe pain but, preop I had this almost weekly. This is the 1st time since my op last August that I've had this pain.
I'm not suggesting that you have Hyperparathyroidism but if your doc thinks it's not gallstones don't let him/het palm you off with a diagnosis of irritable bowel just because they can't think of anything else. A simple blood test can show if you have high calcium levels. Mine were not that high at all but the impact on me was huge. I'm lucky that a new & enthusiastic doctor had the brains to read my results properly. At least you can ask your GP to check it out. Good luck.
I was interested to read what you said about your symptoms as I believe I was walking around with gallstones for a long time and two years ago I started to feel sick. I myself thought it was being caused by Type 2 Diabetes as I cannot take the tablets they gave me-Metformin and Glycosides- as they produced the symptoms of severe gastroenteritis so I was not offered anymore and controlled it by diet, but my body kept going into stress and I put it down to a Hypo and kept having short sugar fixes to bring my body out of the stress symptoms I was experiencing. Finally, it was discovered I had gallstones, but the Consultants are determined that they are not the cause of the symptoms I have-nausea, fatigue and generally feeling ill, especially if I do anything which requires physical effort. Now I believe I have developed complications as my health has gone into a decline over the last ten weeks and suddenly they have thrown "Pancreatic cyst" into the ring without any explanation after I had a letter to say all my ducts and the pancreatic organ itself was clear after I had an MRI scan. This is just going on too long-I wanted to have my gallbladder removed but they are now telling me that I do not have the symptoms for that whereas before he agreed that this would improve my health-now he has a knife in my back after I corrected him on hospital procedure and a nurse who was present told him I was right. Then he started to say it would not help me much and the surgeon's representative has discounted my symptoms altogether. Most people who have this condition are women and believe me, we are victims of sexism because believe me, it does exist. If we cried racism or if we were animals, there would be a public out cry, but we are women and these arrogant Consultants think that they can push us around, especially if you are not under the my life"protection" of a man and have not got enough money to have private healthcare. I have fought against injustice all my life but now feel too tired to fight and am afraid of making things worse if I do-I think they would try to kill me and I am not joking either-but something needs to be done.-women are getting a raw deal and are just getting fobbed off and their symptoms ignored.
Yes I have just been up hospital to have scan on my gallbladder and she said I have the worse case of gallstones she has ever seen I’m 40 and suffered since my 20s with pain but was told it was mental health I’m glad to have diagnosis as thought it was all in my head but I always felt sick and really bad upper pains in back going in to stomach so your not alone my stomach wud also swell up
I’ve just had my scan and been told I’ve got stones! I’m so pleased! been having one and off pain for years was always told due to my meds for mental health and also I make my self feel sick when I get anxicous! SO pleased they have found something and can now treat it and get rid! x hope you get fixed too!
Hi hon, have to say, I have had diverticular disease, and had a large portion of my bowel removed many years ago. I now need to have my gall bladder removed, and I have to tell you the pain is entirely different. Diverticulitis pain is in the bottom part of your stomach, completely debilitating during an attack - gall bladder pain - in my case - is on my right hand side between my waist and the bottom of my ribs. Thankfully when the pain arrives, very sharp and nasty, it doesn't usually last long, but have to say it makes me hold my breath. Other times, it is just grumbling along, letting me know it is there, but easily able to cope with. Good luck with your diagnosis, wish you all the best! x x x
I had my gall bladder removed yesterday. I was surprised how huge the stones were - one stone was the size of the tip of a pinky finger.
My symptoms were never piercing pain - mostly a dull bloated but energy draining pain following every meal. After big fatty meals I could hardly walk and had a few extra painful moments that were pretty scary.
My GP told me to get rid of them no matter what as complications would result in life changing open surgery. I sat on that decision for 1.5yrs.
I’m on day one of recovery and will highly recommend to get it done. Not at all too bad. Up and walking same day. Still not sure how this will affect my diet though.
I wish you a speedy recovery. I had my gallbladder removed a month ago. I found my appetite has started to return and I started to enjoy food again quite quickly. I also found that I can eat a bit of cheese now which is great as I'd not been able to eat any for 18 months. I hope you heal well and I hope you continue to feel much better in yourself. Best wishes Anna
My problem is I want to have my gallbladder removed but now they are backtracking and saying my gallbladder is not the cause of my symptoms. I am not afraid or operations at all but oh dear, I seemed to have said the wrong thing-now they will not do it.
I am absolutely disgusted with the Consultants I have seen-I would get more sense out of village idiots. I have had an Ultrasound and MRI scan and have a Gall Bladder full of Gallstones-some of which are quite large. Because I do not get much pain, I am being told that the Gallstones are not making me feel ill. I have feelings of nausea a lot of the time, I get very tired easily and have got to the point that any physical activity can make me feel really ill. Almost everyone I have spoken to are complaining of the same symptoms I have, and all said their symptoms went away when they had their Gallbladder removed, yet I cannot get any sense out of the Consultants at all. Now I am supposed to have a cyst on my pancreas and it is that which is causing me to feel ill according to them and now they are referring me to someone else at another hospital. This alarmed me somewhat as my pancreas was supposed to be clear, but looking on other reputable sites, it appears that it is probably a pseudocyst caused by pancreaticitis which is caused by gallstones and there are no ill effects from this at all unless it is left without treatment. The solution? Have your Gallbladder out, yet these people just do not seem to be in touch with what is being said by people and other reputable sites in Britain and America. I feel I am being given the wrong information and I am going to take this further and complain to everybody who will listen, so please, anyone reading this, please state your symptoms, and if you feel that no one is listening, then I want to hear from everyone who feels absolutely fed up of this. I am going to gather evidence from other people who can remain anonymous if they choose, and print out what other medical sites are saying. I am going to complain to as many associations as I can and publicize this, and then take the evidence to a no win no fee law company and will do my best to sue them as I am very upset and fed up- this is ruining my life.
Jan, I'm so sorry you are suffering. I also had terrible nausea and exhaustion with gallstones. I hope they will soon get you referred for an operation. I hope and pray you feel better soon. I also had trouble with an arrogant consultant who dismissed my symptoms. I waited 18 months for an operation. Overall it was the right decision. I don't feel as tired now. Unfortunately I've picked up a horrible stomach infection which was s making me feel ill. I hope you get some help asap. Take care of yourself xx
I am so upset by this time as just going to the local shop in the car left me feeling as if I am about to collapse, and the stress from all of this is making it worse. I am worried that my life is in danger and am crying all the time and yesterday, I was so angry, I smashed my camera up with a hammer-well, it wasn't working properly anyway. I wish I could afford to pay for private treatment but am thinking of booking an appointment to see a private Consultant and have another MRI scan. I wanted the operation but now both Consultants seems determined not to take my gallbladder out. My cousin rang and said that her son's girlfriend is having to have her gallbladder out but she has no symptoms at all! What the hell is going on? I am so confused now that I don't know what is making me feel exhausted after any physical effort, nauseous and generally feeling ill. I do have pains in my abdomen but they move around and are more like a grumbling ache, but I did have three severe episodes of pain in my back after a Urinary Tract infection so pushed to go for a scan on my kidneys first which was clear. I've also had an Endoscopy as I have stomach trouble but other than having a Hiatus Hernia, that was clear too-eventually my liver blood tests were abnormal and it was finally discovered I had a Gallbladder full of stones, some of which are large. At first he agreed that having my gallbladder taken out would help matters-now he and the surgeon's representative are saying my symptoms are not due to having gallstones and they seem to be delaying my treatment saying I now have a pancreatic cyst which is making me ill-but they are not supposed to make you ill either according to all the websites. Now I am really worried because my health has deteriorated over the last ten weeks and I am genuinely in fear for my life as I have obviously developed complications-and yet everyone I asked complained of the same symptoms as myself when they had gallstones and all felt better when their gallbladder was removed. No one complained that pain was a problem. I am not sure where to go from here.
If you have large visible gallstones you should have them removed regardless if they are cause pain or not. That was what I was advised. I was told that lots of gallstones can very well lead to very bad complications later on so you need to remove them. A nice consequence might be that your pain disappears! mine did. Immediately.
I am in the exact same boat as you. The past two months I’ve been getting gnawing, bloated feeling in my stomach. Never a stabbing pain, but just a feeling of constant fullness and discomfort. I had an ultrasound done and they found stones. But they are saying they aren’t causing my symptoms. The funny thing is, before I was ever even experiencing these feelings, I had an abdominal ultrasound done for other reasons, and no stones were found. So between the two scans my symptoms started, and the second scan showed the stones. How can they not correlate my symptoms to the stones? It makes sense. So now I have to be rudely persistent to get doctors to do something about them.
You need to push to get the help you need. If you have stones then you should be referred to a gastrologist. I have to admit the one I saw was very arrogant and almost doubted it was the gallstones giving me the trouble as I didnt have the constant severe pain a lot of people get...however I had it out and overall I feel better. You need to get it sorted out. I hope your G.P will push this forward for you. Good luck! Take care.
My gallstones pain is in the other side of my stomach to the gallbladder which isnt typical and initially my g.p thought I had kidney stones until I had a scan.
I feel sick also with it and get indigestion and diarrhoea just before a flare up. As i write I'm in agony and have been in pain pretty much constantly with it over the last 3 or 4 days. I am in the list to have my gallbladder removed and that day cannot come soon enough. So painful.
I’m so interested and relieved to hear your pain was on left side. I am waiting to have a scan. Years of bloating, intermittent pain, nausea. Things have escalated. Pain between my ribs and back are now every week 2-3 times a week, where as before could be once every couple of months. But because pain is more to left side, the Drs have always dismissed gall stones. When I was a teenager I had a burst appendix. I had felt ill for weeks, but did not present typical symptoms. I am worried this is a similar scenario. I will let you know how I get on. I hope you get your operation soon and on the road to recovery.
That sounds exactly the same as the pain I have. Good luck with your scan, hopefully it will get things moving for you.
I have to have oramorph now as the pain is excruciating, but that makes me feel really rough so it's a vicious circle for me. Had an awful night last night and have to work today... wish me luck!
Hi yes you can suffer with sickness and tummy pain I've currently got gallstones and I've been dry heaving for the past 2 days I've had the gastric bypass weightless surgery so I have a small pouch where my food and fluids stay for about 20-30 minutes so unless I've consumed anything within that time when I'm being sick I just dry heave I've been hospitalised for gallstones because it caused me to have acute pancreatitus I've also had kidney stones aswell the life of an over 40 year old 🙄😂
Hi yes. I have gallstones waiting for a date for my op. I had an endoscopy and ultrasound and it turned out the sickness feeling was due to my ibs and reflux. I have regular medication and plenty of rennies and it eases it. They said i should feel a lot better after my surgery x
Hi, I have 13 gallstones, nobody seems to be bothered about it just me. I can’t eat most of my favourite foods, like fruits and vegetables as my pain starts straight away.
I have to have Buscopan on me, as the pain keep hitting me.
I found helpful for drinking a lot of water as well
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mine did. Immediately. 
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