Hi folks, just wondering if anyone can give me some advice.
It all started Tuesday when I just felt "off" I couldn't put my finger on it but I know I didn't feel good. Then I was cold and couldn't warm up, started to feel sick and then this pain began in my chest, which settled under my ribs (my right side) but occasionally radiated up to armpit and shoulder.
I had no temp or anything else, but was tired and had lost my appetite. I thought I might have a chest infection as it felt like some one had inflated a balloon under my lung.
I saw a nurse on Wednesday who told me she thought something was wrong with my gallbladder. She made me do some blood tests and told me to follow up with the dr. I have an appointment for Tuesday and my bloods came back ok.
I don't feel the pain was that bad (what I've read gallstones is a very bad pain) but then I didn't think my appendix was the worst pain of my life either.
They put me on buscopan which seems to be helping, but still struggling to eat and it is slowly my bowels down dramatically! The radiating pain is pretty much gone but there is still a dull ache/pressure feeling under my ribs, which every so often gets worse and then settle back down.
Does anyone have any advice or tips? This is all rather new and sudden to me!? One thing I was curious about is how quickly can a gallstone form?
Thanks in advance! 🙂
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I'm no expert, but I have a similar dull ache on my right hand side and have had it on and off for a couple of years. It turned out to be an enlarged fatty liver ( Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver). People I have known with gallstones have been in excruciating pain, so I know in my case it's not gallstones. Mine started suddenly and for no apparent reason too.
There is no info on your profile. Are you hypothyroid, on Levothyroxine, or trying to get diagnosed?
Under medicated, or untreated Hashimoto's can lead to liver being sluggish and be cause of dull pain. I certainly had dull ache under right ribs when not on enough Levothyroxine. Have they tested your bilirubin levels?
From your description it does sound like classic gall stone /blocked bile duct symptoms .
I have been having issues with a non alcoholic fatty liver problem for the past decade but last year I also started having issues with with what I believe to be a gall bladder/ Pancreas/ Liver bile duct problem.
I would recommend that you keep a diary of your stools particularly colour . If you are suffering with a bile duct blockage problem from what I've read you would expect your stools to be a sandy yellow colour rather than the more normal brown colour. This is due to the absence of bile in the gut which is made up of cholesterol & dead red blood cells (bilirubin) , hence the distinctive brown stool colour.
If you have Gall Bladder / Pancreas / Liver / GI issues you should definitely look at making some immediate changes to your diet to reduce the workload on these organs and aid the bodys natural recovery processes.
If you are not producing sufficient bile you might consider supplementing with some Ox Bile but check with your Doctor first . it would be a good idea to get your Cholesterol level checked also as high levels can result in gall stones
There is masses of information on youtube about the Liver Pancreas and Gall bladder , check out some of the excellent articles on youtube by health practitioners such as John Bergman , Eric Berg , Kriss Kresser others .
Johnnyxs, many thanks for sharing gall bladder info.. made a lot of sense and probably explains discomfort under my ribs despite GP not acting on my symptoms. I'm off to get a bile supplement!
thats interesting.... I am coming to the conclusion that we should perhaps be viewing our health issues as a holistic whole rather than in isolation.
I have been treating my Diabetes , Thyroiditis and Prolactinemia as seperate conditions because to consider them together is too complex but they are undoubtably related in cause and symptom
The more I read the more I understand how everything is constantly interactive and interconnected not just physiologically but psychologically too.
I just saw my GP and asked him about a bit of pain under my right ribs which came and went as i thought it might have been connected to the liver as last year I had bad blood results due to some medicine I was taking which affected the liver. He told me that the liver doesn't produce pain. When I feel that some gallstones are starting "to move" a bit, I drink some diluted cider vinegar. It does the trick as it's meant to soften the gallstones and it stops the pain.
I had my gall bladder out just over a year ago due to stones. I often am asked do I regret having it romoved. Even though I know I am in difficulty just having been diagnosed with an under active thyroid as the two conditions now affect my vitamin absorption etc I could not live with the pain I had with the gall bladder. Or the fear of an attack. If I had been driving and an attack occurred I could of caused a serious accident and that is the level of pain I suffered.
I have had three children and this pain was far worse. When it attacks you do not really know where the centre of pain is. I did not know whether I was going to be sick or have dioarreah. All I can remember is crying and thinking I really was going to die. I know this sounds dramatic but that's the truth.
I was given one piece of advice that gave some release of pain. ...go on all fours and tip you upper body down and rock. This sometimes helps the gall bladder to drain.
My advice to you would be to have a scan and that will tell you what you need to know.
I had some gallbladder issues for a while. It was worse at night, and even worse when I laid down. I thought I was having a heart attack, it felt like I had an elephant sitting on my desk. Meals with too much fat and/or cholesterol seemed to be a trigger, especially prawns as they are high in cholesterol apparently. I found grapefruit juice helped, something about the acidity cutting through the fat
I was diagnosed with a large gall stone over 22 years ago following pains and vomitting. I needed an ultrasound scan and it was this that confirmed my GP's suspicions. I was offered surgery but I refused because I had 3 small children at the time and was working full time and couldn't afford time of work. Instead, I opted to follow a low fat diet and I haven't had any problems since. Perhaps you should have an ultrasound to confirm that it is a gall stone and then you can decide what to do. I personally wouldn't want to take Buscopan long term so it might be worth checking it out fully.
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