Gall stones

[Alex]

The things that make a mother proud. When sphincter and fun are being used in the same thought.

[wendybeth]

Originally Posted by Alex

The things that make a mother proud. When sphincter and fun are being used in the same thought.

I am very proud of my girl.

[Disneyphile]

I had my first gallstone attack in early 2002, and stupidly decided to try and dissolve then naturally through dietary changes. I spent a year going through at least one attack per week, up until one decided to move through and plug my liver duct, thus shutting my liver down. I couldn't even digest water at that point.

Went immediately to the ER and they had to do 2 procedures, the first of which was to run a tube down my throat and remove the stone from my liver duct. That resulted in causing panceaitis as a side effect, which caused pain throughout every little nerve in my body and lasted three days. They finally could do the laproscopy removal of my gall bladder. I spent a total of 9-1/2 days in the hospital, and for the first 3 days, they couldn't tell me if my liver would ever regain normal function, so I laid there wondering if I'd survive the whole ordeal.

My point is - have it out as soon as you can, especially with multiple stones. It's not worth the risk to try and combat it "naturally".

Also, sorry for the TMI, but one post-op side effect that still lingers (and this is with most cases I know), is that food sometimes goes in one end and out the other very quickly, especially first thing in the morning. So make sure you have quick access to a bathroom whenever having a regular meal. This occurs because the liver constantly dumps bile instead of storing it in the gallbladder.

In the meantime, to help alleviate a bit of the pain during an attack, have someone put hard pressure on your back, right near the lower right shoulder blade. You'll know when they hit the right spot, because you'll come down from the rafters. Apple juice also helps pass an attack quicker.

Hope this helps! And, you really have my sympathy. It is NOT fun.

[scaeagles]

Wow....and yikes! Sounds like you had it a whole lot worse than I do at present.

I've learned that there are some things I can eat that put you at no risk of any form of attack, so I'm sticking with those until i can have it removed. And speaking of that....

I saw the surgeon today who agrees that it should come out as soon as possible. He informed me of the risks of the stones blocking the duct, which he didn't make sound nearly so unpleasant as you described, though he certainly said it was to be avoided. Anyway, now there is the insurance bureaucracy to go through, which can take up to two weeks according to the people at the surgeon's office. I'm sure that's worst case scenario, so I'm hoping (fingers crossed) for approval this week and the procedure next week. They said it would undoubtedly be done within three weeks at the latest, so it looks like I'm goign to be aating a whole hell of a lot of cheerios and applesauce until then.

And DP....wow. That must have sucked. With all I dealt with during the worst of my achalasia, I have sort of decided that for me surgery as early as possible is the way to go. All the natural stuff I tried for that - pht. Not much relief. But one attack per week????? I thought I was going to die with the one major on I had! Yikes.

[Kevy Baby]

Not to scare you or anything scwhatever, but people do die from gall stones as well as lose their legs.

Also, from here;

Botched gallbladder surgeries are a leading cause of malpractice claims and are more likely to be settled in favor of plantiffs.

So, this may be a good money maker for you!

[scaeagles]

I would suspect it is a leading cause of malpractice claims because it is the most common abdominal surgery. The surgeon spent more time telling me what could go wrong rather than the benefits, which I found to be somewhat amusing.

And trust me....after last Thursday night, I believe that death could occur. I was about to kill myself to make it stop!

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I would suspect it is a leading cause of malpractice claims because it is the most common abdominal surgery.

Don't introduce logic into my lame attempt to scare the crap out of you meanly and unnecessarily.

[scaeagles]

That being said, if he wanted to leave a chunk of gauze in me I wouldn't complain too much.

[Not Afraid]

My Mom had gall stones and, eventually, her gall bladder removed. Since I seem to follow in her health footsteps, I suspect mine will go in about 3 years. Can't wait! (It's been a whole 6 years since I've had surgery!)

[Kevy Baby]

Holy carp... has it been six years since your boob job?