Gall Bladder Attack!

[JenC 90]

I experienced the most horrific, terrifying pain I thought imaginable this weekend. Friday night I was rushed to the hospital, everyone there including myself thought I was having the "big one". Right sided chest pain, scorching down my arms, cold clammy, soaking wet fever, vomiting, vomiting and more vomiting. I couldn't get a breath, couldn't stand up, sit down, lay down. I'm sure I was screaming obsenities and my husband said I kept ripping my hospital gown off trying to get at my chest. You know it's bad when all modesty is gone. This went on in the emergency room for 1.5hrs, hooked up to machines to ensure I wasn't having a heart attack, finally the anti vomiting meds along with a number of other iv meds I haven't had the energy to review yet, things calmed down and they took me for a ct scan. My pancreas, gallbladder and ducts inflammed but no visable stones.

The surgeon won't touch it until the inflammation is gone. As a matter of fact he is not sure he'll touch it at all considering he doesn't know how complicated my anatomy is from having VSG which he insisted on refering to as a "bypass"....ugg! I'll probably have to travel to find a surgeon to touch it. So powerful antibiotics in my tender sleeve for the next 7 days after two days of iv antibiotics. I've had two much shorter episodes with simuliar but much less dramtic degree in the past month, did not have them treated as I thought at first maybe it was a stress or panic attack with other stuff going on in my life. The doc says "low fat diet" is a must but my diet has been low fat for the past 3 months. I'm sure he thinks I've been eating greasy cheeseburgers to bring this on.

Has anyone had an extreme gallbladder attack after VSG and had the gall bladder removed? Did they use the same incision points for the surgery? Did anyone NOT have the gallbladder removed after a simuliar attack and found they where just fine after the inflammation was gone. I am thinking I just want this thing out of me because I don't know how I would deal with something like this while traveling or just the fear of it happening again is pretty undermining but the doc suggested if there are no stones they may not remove it. I'm trying to get my questions together to ask the surgeon on Tuesday after my ultrasound so any input is appreciated from folks who have had gall bladder/ pancreas experience.

for now back to clears to let my poor tummy heal from all the vomiting and heaving. oh, and the O.R. doc suggested there might be a slight hernia in my esophogus maybe from the retching?? Guess I'll have to follow up on that too.

[doxieville 799]

I want EVERYONE who is second guessing what their pain might be, if it is related to gallbladder symptoms to READ YOUR STORY!!! I am SO sorry that you went through all that pain and that it's not resolved yet. I suggest as soon as you can to get it out. Honestly, yours is the first i've heard of a surgeon leaving an inflamed gall bladder in. But, i am just learning about this myself.

I had mine out 7 weeks after my WLS. The gallbladder was starting to act up and an ultrasound showed pre-op that i had stones. We opted not to remove it during my sleeve surgery because i needed a hiatal hernia repaired also and adding gall bladder removal would have put me under anesthesia too long for my other health issues.

Please take care of yourself. Maybe see if you can get a second opinion?

[Lissa 2,631]

I had a gall bladder attack a few weeks ago, although mine was nowhere near as severe as yours! My WLS surgeon does gallbladder surgeries routinely, but we opted to wait on mine because neither the ultrasound nor the cat scan show any stones, just some inflammation. I'm to report to the hospital at the first sign of another attack for a HDIAS test (whatever that is) and then we'll decide whether to operate or not. I'm a fairly high risk surgery due to DVT and pulmonary embolism pre-WLS, so the surgeon and I aren't anxious to do more surgery.

Good luck!! BTW, if your local surgeon is afraid to do your gallbladder, call my doc down here in Florida. He'll take care of it with no issues.

[kaysonsmom 59]

I had issues with my gallbladder a month after i was sleeved. A Ct scan i had done last year showed stones but i never had issues til after i was sleeved. Went to e.r. and the e.r. Doc admitted me and him and the surgeon had a bet on if i needed surgery or not. E.r doc thought i needed it and surgeon didnt. Next morning surgeon got in and my gallbladder was so inflamed that he had to drain it to remove it. My bile was clear instead of normal green cuz my gallbladder was blocked for so long. He said that's extremely rare. So i think the surgeon lost the bet but both docs were absolutely fabulous.

[cmaloney 151]

Wow! I hope all of you get well real soon. That pain sounds just awful....At my month post- op appointment, they put me on gallbladder meds (standard procedure for patients at my hospital) for 6 months to avoid problems... Hope it works!

[angeliiz80 38]

Hope you are all feeling better. My brother-in-law had bypass and had to have his gall bladder out after 3 months and at 7 months have his appendix removed. I'm hoping no one has to go through both those surgeries.

[mccara 1]

I have my Sleeve surgery on 10/25, during my pre-op testing they noticed my gallbladder was slightly inflamed, but no stones. My surgeon opted to take it out while doing the sleeve. This was fine with me. I have heard from other sleevers that gallbladder issues are a common side effect of the sleeve.

Sorry you had to go through this afte the fact.

[OnAJourney 177]

Sorry your having to go threw this... im going in to the hopst tommorow morning for a Heide Test for my Gallbladder. The liver ultrascan showed a distention and my liver number are elevated.. so the dr is trying to rule things out but is leaning towards gallbladder blockage or failure... im almost happy he is being so carefull... after reading up on gallbladder issues i noticed i have 3/4's of them.. and have had them for a few years... so maybe this is a blessing afterall.

[aggiegirlie2006 10]

I had the same exact kind of attack prior to my weight loss surgery. Similar attacks kept occurring for me for weeks while I was getting tests run (ultrasounds and a HIDA scan) and waiting for the doctor to decide to remove it. They never were as severe as the one that sent me to the ER, but they definitely didn't go away. Granted, this was all about 5 years before I was sleeved. I wish I could be more help because I know how painful this is. Tell them to take the dang thing because life is just fine without it!