Gall Bladder Attacks

StokesPrincess

New Member
My husband took me to the ER last night for severe pain in my right shoulder blade. It ended up being a gallbladder attack. This is the first time this ever happened to me and it was not fun.
Anybody experienced this or have any advice to offer?
 

libertytyranny

Dream Stealer
My husband took me to the ER last night for severe pain in my right shoulder blade. It ended up being a gallbladder attack. This is the first time this ever happened to me and it was not fun.
Anybody experienced this or have any advice to offer?

It's painful. Surgeryt o get it out isn't terrible. They can do a lap chole and you will be in and out in a day. Better than dealing with the pain. Low fat foods will help the pain until then. It's a common procedure. Good luck !
 

ROXYBOARD15

New Member
I just went through this about 6 months ago- ended up having my Gallbladder removed and apparently it was pretty inflammed and had more stones in it than my doctor had ever seen. All I could say was...greeattt lol

The best advice I have for you is to avoid spicy food and food with a lot of fats. I pretty much ate toast and plain jane food for months till my surgery. Try to avoid caffine as well- it can cause more stones. If you have another attack releif can be found by throwing up (it releases the stones blocking the bile duct- normally why you're having an attack in the first place)- unfortunatly I have no better advice- there is really no releif once an attack happens. Best thing you can do is try and avoid the things that will cause an attack.

PM me if you have any other questions- PS- the surgery was super easy and fast recovery time.

:buddies:
 

StokesPrincess

New Member
Thank you for the advice..
I still feel miserable today..my head is pounding so bad and my body just feels so drained. I hope this is a single event but from my research it appears that it keeps happening over and over again until it is removed. Just my luck!
 

Roman

Active Member
Thank you for the advice..
I still feel miserable today..my head is pounding so bad and my body just feels so drained. I hope this is a single event but from my research it appears that it keeps happening over and over again until it is removed. Just my luck!
Drink plenty of water also. Stay away from Green Peppers too. I hope you feel better soon. :huggy:
 

mizteresa1965

New Member
I agree with Roxy. Your future diet should exclude spicy, fatty and fried foods. But if you do indulge, be sure you are close to a bathroom, a clean bathroom. I've noticed also that foods that have skins, ex. grapes, tomotoe, fresh garden pepper varieties.....you will not be able to digest the skin.
 

hotmomma

mmmmhmmmmm
I had a few attacks and it was the worst pain ever. I had gall bladder removed in 2008. I havent had any problems since. Took a week off of work to recover.
 

TLS

New Member
My husband took me to the ER last night for severe pain in my right shoulder blade. It ended up being a gallbladder attack. This is the first time this ever happened to me and it was not fun.
Anybody experienced this or have any advice to offer?

Yes! Gallbladder attachs are horrible. Just try to stick to low fat foods and avoid spicy foods. Surgery to remove my gallbladder was a piece of cake. I still suffer from sphincter spasms when I have used certain medications (which feels just like a gallbladder attack). Took a couple years to figure out what NOT to take so I didn't end up back in the ER. Haven't been in the ER in over a year. As long as I don't take any pain meds (other than motrin or tylenol) or codiene I am fine.
 

PsyOps

Pixelated
Thank you for the advice..
I still feel miserable today..my head is pounding so bad and my body just feels so drained. I hope this is a single event but from my research it appears that it keeps happening over and over again until it is removed. Just my luck!

My wife had a single attack (never one before). The stone got lodged at the end of the bile duct where it meets the duct from the pancreas. This meant that bile and insulin, and other hormones were backing up into her system. To compound this, she had a tumor on her adrenal gland which caused her to secrete more adrenalin than normal. She was vomiting every 15 minutes, which went on for hours. It caused her heart to go into cardiac distress and did damage similar to a heart attack. Because of her heart condition she had to wait over 6 months for her heart to get stable enough to have the gall bladder taken out. We had to research foods to make sure she ate nothing that would inflame her gall bladder. It was a tenuous time not knowing if she would end up in the hospital again. Thankfully she didn’t.

Once you have gall stones (gall bladder disease), it never goes away. Based on what my wife went through I wouldn’t waste any time getting it removed. This happened 6 years ago and she still has to take heart meds. I realize my wife’s situation was rare and extreme, but you never know how it will hit you.
 

acommondisaster

Active Member
Worst worst worst pain ever. I had to wait about a month until it wasn't inflamed to get it out. They told me if it was inflamed and too big for a laproscopy, they'd have to do regular surgery with an incision all the way across the abdomen and 6 weeks recovery time.

The doctor said find low fat foods that did not aggrevate the condition and stick with it; said everyone is different about what bothers them. I ate a lot of lemon meringue pie for a month.

Schedule surgery for a Thursday so there's plenty of time for recovery by Monday. Didn't realize how crappy I'd been feeling for months until I had that thing removed. Felt like a million afterwards; no problems with spicy foods, etc.
 

Radiant1

Soul Probe
Just a heads up, from my personal experience and years transcribing medical/surgical documents reflux is common for a time after gb removal. So, you'll feel better having your gb removed, but your body will have an adjustment period for some time afterward. As TLS mentioned certain meds will set him off and I still have to modify my diet to a small degree.

Stick with your no-fat diet so your gb can calm down and you can have it removed laparoscopically. If not, as already mentioned, you get a scar from sternum to side following your ribcage and it's not pretty.

Best of luck to you!
 

frozenrain

New Member
A few months ago I started getting what I thought was acid reflux and chest pains.Then I got a pain below my right ribcage.Quite sharp at times.Well I went to doctor as I was feeling sick and I had an ultrasound.When I rang up for results they said there was nothing significant to report. I did not follow it up with doctor .My symptoms subsided and then this morning I have pain there and feeling slightly sick and the acid reflux feeling. Never before this year did I have indigestion problems. So I am wondering if I should go back to doctor to see. Could I have a problem even though scan was clear? Oh I can not tolerate tomato sauce dishes anymore.
Anyhow O.P hope you get better!!! Sorry If i hijacked your post to talk about my symptoms!!
Also I know it sounds silly but I find running can make it worse.
 

StokesPrincess

New Member
A few months ago I started getting what I thought was acid reflux and chest pains.Then I got a pain below my right ribcage.Quite sharp at times.Well I went to doctor as I was feeling sick and I had an ultrasound.When I rang up for results they said there was nothing significant to report. I did not follow it up with doctor .My symptoms subsided and then this morning I have pain there and feeling slightly sick and the acid reflux feeling. Never before this year did I have indigestion problems. So I am wondering if I should go back to doctor to see. Could I have a problem even though scan was clear? Oh I can not tolerate tomato sauce dishes anymore.
Anyhow O.P hope you get better!!! Sorry If i hijacked your post to talk about my symptoms!!
Also I know it sounds silly but I find running can make it worse.

Dont worry about apoligizing. I am just glad to hear that the symptoms I have are common. I have had another attack since the last time I posted. The pain in my right shoulder blade is so intense and it wraps itself around to below the rib cage. The pain is unreal. I have been on Prilosec for years and this week the indigestion has been worse than ever. Not even the Prilosec is helping. I am still working on trying to figure out what I can eat and what is on the no-no list!
 

Spring10

New Member
Just go see a surgeon and have it taken out. It's not ever going to go away, and will keep causing you pain until you do. I had my gallbladder taken out last year. It was nothing compared to a c-section or back surgery. The attack I had before it was taken out was worse than recovery from surgery. In/out at St. Mary's Hosp, everyone was awesome there, doctor and nurses. No regrets, recovery took about a week. The worst part is the gas they pump into you. Three small incisions, two are invisible already, one is only slightly visible. The incisions around the belly button don't even show.

Really, don't waste time and suffer more bouts of pain, just go get it taken care of. I eat/drink whatever I want now and don't have any problems.
 

getbent

Thats how them b*tch's R
A few months ago I started getting what I thought was acid reflux and chest pains.Then I got a pain below my right ribcage.Quite sharp at times.Well I went to doctor as I was feeling sick and I had an ultrasound.When I rang up for results they said there was nothing significant to report. I did not follow it up with doctor .My symptoms subsided and then this morning I have pain there and feeling slightly sick and the acid reflux feeling. Never before this year did I have indigestion problems. So I am wondering if I should go back to doctor to see. Could I have a problem even though scan was clear? Oh I can not tolerate tomato sauce dishes anymore.
Anyhow O.P hope you get better!!! Sorry If i hijacked your post to talk about my symptoms!!
Also I know it sounds silly but I find running can make it worse.

I had similar symptoms except my pain was centered right under my rib cage (not to the right). I thought it was my gallbladder too. I ended up having an ulcer and take Protonix and it helps alot. Good luck to you.
 
Last edited:

punjabigyrl

Active Member
I agree with Roxy. Your future diet should exclude spicy, fatty and fried foods. But if you do indulge, be sure you are close to a bathroom, a clean bathroom. I've noticed also that foods that have skins, ex. grapes, tomotoe, fresh garden pepper varieties.....you will not be able to digest the skin.

Not being able to digest certain foods is an individual thing. I eat them and do just fine. had mine removed in 2007. Definately, low fat diet.
 
Top