What is a gallbladder attack like?

[Marimaru 7]

Before I tell my story, I have spoken to my doctor about my gallbladder, and had an ultrasound and nothing was found. I need to push her for more tests, but I want to make sure it's 'something' before I make a big deal out of 'nothing'.

I've had to 'sensations' in the last couple of weeks that have me a little concerned. Not "bad", mind you. Not "oh crap, I should go to the ER" but they just have me concerned.'

Last week I was walking from work to the store, and my right side started hurting. I know this is where my gall bladder is, I've done alot of studying on the subject. It was very sore, and kind of throbby, and was slightly relieved when I held my hand to the area with a little pressure. It went away after about 30 minutes and some tums.

Last night, I was standing at my mom's house getting ready to take her to the airport and my back started hurting when I would take a breath. I was just standing there, not carrying luggage or anything, so I don't think it's a muscle injury. Over the next half hour or so it got worse, not excruciating (sp), but to where even a decently shallow breath would cause the pain. When I was laying in bed (after I got home from the airport), when I took a deep breath, I could feel kind of a twinge where I beleive my gall bladder to be. Now, that area on the right side of my abdomen did not hurt at all during this time. I took some tums and went to bed, and it seems to be resolved today, other than I can kind of "feel" where it hurt on my back, if that makes any sense.

I went to my doctor because that right side area of my abdomen had been kind of sore off and on, and that hasn't stopped at all. And if I poke at the area, it's pretty sensitive. I tried cutting out dairy, and that didn't make a difference, and cutting down on fats didn't seem to make a big difference either.

So, all of the above to ask 'what does a gall bladder attack feel like'? I've heard they can be mild or acute, and they can be anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, and while I hope not to be a hypochondriac, I'm thinking maybe that's what it could be.

I will probably be calling the doc on Monday to see if I can get a HIDA scan, that I've read about people having from here, but thought I'd get opinions in the meantime.

Thanks!

[S@ssen@ch 745]

First, if you've had the ultrasound and have had gall stones ruled out it's going to be hard to give you symptoms of a true gall bladder attack. Most are pain in the right upper abdomen, just below your rib cage. They can start out as a mild, dull ache and build up to a sharp, very intense pain. OR, they can just literally come on all of a sudden as sharp, very intense, stabbing pain. It often radiates to the back, again just below the shoulder blade or rib cage and can be the ache or the sharp stabbing described earlier. If a stone were to lodge in the common bile duct, you may even turn yellow because it has blocked the passage of bile.

When the gall bladder is malfunctioning, the symptoms can be similar. However, depending on the level of functioning it can be very intermittant (not consistent in frequency). You can also get episodes kind of like dumping syndrome. The only thing that crinkles my brow.....that yours hurts when you take a deep breath. That makes me wonder if it's not something else. But, it could still be the gall bladder getting sore from when the diaphragm pushes against it. Also, when the gall bladder is malfunctioning, it can go into spasms. If you feel little twitches (let's hope they stay little) in that area, it might be the gall bladder having a spasm.

My personal experience with stones..........THE MOST PAINFUL ATTACKS I'VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. I'm not kidding when I say I begged my husband to kill me. I contemplated suicide during the attacks. The pain was unrelenting. Worse than my dislocated hip. Worse than childbirth (unmedicated by the way). It was horrible. My doctor misdiagnosed me and told me I was having esophageal spasms, so I tried to endure these ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE attacks for six months. Go get your HIDA scan if you really believe it may be gall bladder.

[Marimaru 7]

Yikes, that doesn't sound fun. I also thought it was wierd last night that it hurt with breath, but the first incident wasn't like that.

Thanks for the input!

[Elisabethsew 50]

Fair, Fat, Fertile, Female and Forty. Traditionally, those are the common "5F's" that predispose a person to gallbladder problems. Diagnosis is either via an abdominal/pelvic sonogram or a DISIDA (HIDA) scan.

For me, the "attacks" were weeks apart and then became more frequent. I work in a hospital as an RN and the last attack felt like I was having a heart attack. THE PAIN WAS SEVERE AND UNRELENTING. I couldn't make the pain go away no matter what position I put myself in and the pain was worst under the right breast area with radiation to the left chest and right upper back. I went to the ER and a sonogram showed stones that resembled a fresh Water pearl necklace. The DISIDA scan failed to visualize the gallbladder which confirmed I had total obstruction of the common bile duct and surgery was scheduled for the next day.

Your symptoms could either mean gallbladder stones or sludge in the gallbladder. Sometimes, the drug URSO works to clear the sludge and dissolve small gall stones or crystals. If you find your medical internest not responsive to your concerns, I would suggest seeing a GI specialist.

I hope you feel better.

[LapBandit 5]

I had my gallbladder removed about 6 years ago. My symptoms seem similar to yours. I didn't have any stones but I had what was called "sludge". It still meant the gallbladder had to come out.

I would experience pain in my right side, especially at night. I would wake up out of a deep sleep with pain and many times a real tight feeling in my chest. One particular night I sat awake for hours afraid that I was having a heart attack although I was only 25 years old!

Eventually the pain was so constant that I stopped eating and became dehydrated...I ended up in the emergency room and was scheduled for an emergency operation the next morning.

If you still believe you have "something" wrong then you probably do. Check into the "sludge" thing as it does sound similar to my situation.

I had my gallbladder problems after I had been dieting (go figure...pre-banding!) The docs said that diet foods (Lean Cuisine, Slimfast etc.) contain high amounts of sodium which can overload the gallbladder and cause disease. Yep, sounds about right!

The good news is I felt GREAT the minute that thing was out of me!! Good luck!

[msbug 0]

I agree with the above posters. When I was having my gallbladder attacks I wanted to die. It hurt more than having my kids! I couldn't stand, sit, breathe, talk, lie down, nothing without excruciating pain.

Could it be your appendix? That's on your right side. When mine went bad all I had was a mild pressure and a couple of twinges. The only reason I went to the doc for it was because I thought it was a cyst on my ovary getting ready to pop and wanted to get some meds for it since it was a holiday weekend. They made me get a CT scan and the whole time I was po'd because I was sure it wasn't my appendix. Turns out I was wrong and if I'd waited through the weekend it would have burst! The doc was amazed how bad it was when he took it out because my symptoms were so mild.

Not sure how long you've been having the pain, but if it's only been a couple days, you might want to get it checked out. Of course, if you've already had your appendix removed, just ignore me.

[piercedqt78 658]

My symptoms were sometimes mild and sometimes so bad I also wanted to die. Most of the attacks felt like I had a balloon overinflated unde my ribcage. Sometimes it was a sharp shooting pain and other times it felt like really bad gas. I lived with it for almost 2 years, and begged my band sugeon to remove it when my band was put it, he said no. Almost 7 months to the day my gall bladder was finally removed and I have had zero pain since. I insisted on the HIDA scan and my new band care doctor did it for me. He also removed my gallbladder. The HIDA scan hurt like hell but it was over in just a few minutes and I had my answer to all my pain. Let me know if you have any questions, I will answer them if I can. ~Mandy

[A1ikou 0]

I saw my dad go through a heart attack and later in life 2 gallbladder attacks...wanna guess which was worse?:confused:

The pain of a gallbladder attack is unbelievable. Usually they start from 20mins to half an hour after eating (but not always) and the pain is as others have described.

From a scan I had two years ago, I knew I had some "little stones" in mine but wasnt in any pain. Then after Christmas it started playing up...just like you described with the pains, sometimes dull and sometimes sharper. I don't specifically remember pain when breathing but can't say it wasn't there either. This pain came and went for next three months. Went for another scan and found more stones.

Finally decided if it needed to come out this would be good time for band too! My doc agreed to do both. When he gave hubby my bag of 28 stones he couldn't believe I hadn't had a major attack. My gallbladder was a mess he said and even without stones would have had to come out!

[seppi 0]

I just recently went through this very thing. I was having pain, not always sharp and stabbing. Sometimes it was just a pressure under the right ribcage. I was having pain in the middle of my chest that wasn't heart pain but pain none the less. I had a HIDA scan that showed that it was not functioning properly. I tried to eat low fat but the fat wasn't always what set it off. I finally ended up in the emergency room, called my band Doctor who had me scheduled the following week for gallbladder removal. I had it removed and feel so much better. I wasn't willing to keep having these "attacks" especially because there wasn't or I wasn't able to figure out a common denominator. Make sure you have the HIDA scan It was re-assuring to know that that was what it was. And now the relief!!