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Post Gallbladder Surgery Complications – First 150 Testimonies
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How can SO many people have post lap surgery pain with no answers from the doctors? I had my gall bladder removed in 1991 and continued to experience pressure under my right rib and pain from there radiating around to my back. The pain (or more like “discomfort”) was more frequent during the first 3 years until today. I had what felt exactly like a gall bladder attack. Ultrasound showed no stones; liver and pancreas were fine. My mother had the same surgery 3 years ago and continues to have trouble with discomfort. Not having the surgery wasn’t an option — the pain was so severe, but we would certainly like to understand why we continue to have pain and discomfort.
“Currently I have to get ready for my GB operation in April and all of your entries have helped me prepare for what’s to come.
But nothing is more terrifying as to what my cousin went through with her surgery.
1. The surgeon stapled the liver and left the intestine open, so bile movements after the surgery was emptying out in to her body.
2. On the check up visit to address the issue the surgeon went on vacation, because he had killed another GB patient during surgery.
3. Two hospitals would/could not correct the mistakes of the surgeon, she had to be helicoptered out of state to have corrective actions to save her from toxic poisoning.
4. She has diarrhea which is controlled through medication but the menta/physicall effects are what is her problem. The procedures left her stomach cut/scarred up so badly that she dwells on it constantly. The scars crisscross all over her abdomen and know one can bear the site of them not even her. :-P”
“To all posters:
I had my Gallbladder removed in Oct after about 20 years of putting up with minor attacks, I ended up having polyps in mine, I am a 42 yr old woman, apparently this is a problem that most 70 yr old men have. Upon removal, I apparently had quite a bit of scar tissue around my bladder making it difficult to remove etc. Now 5 months later, I basically still feel that I have a “”ghost gall bladder””, I have pain in that upper right quadrant, pain in my back, gas, sometimes I puff up like I am pregnant after a meal, I am never lucky enough to get just get hit with a bout of diahrea after a meal, that would feel like a blessing to me. I still struggle with bm’s. I take my fiber daily. In fact, I have had to add Acidophopholus to my diet because with out it, I have a leakage that causes an anal burning along with gas that makes me feel like a “”frat boy””. Also, without it, my bm’s can cause me to burn for an hour or two afterwards. My doctor says it can take a year or so after my surgery for my body to get back to normal, but after reading all this, I am starting to wonder if this is going to be true. I not only have pain in my upper right quad, but my lower right quad near my ovary, my appendix has been gone since I was 18, but I do have an ache. My Doctor basically says I need to learn to live with my pain.”“Hi everyone I had gallbladder surgery with internal bleeding after surgery approx 5 yrs ago. Since then, I have extreme pain in my mid waist spine, however when I press the gall bladder area – the pain in spin disappears – I also have bad gerd with relux issues too. Does anyone else have these symptoms.
heres hoping I’m not on my own!!”
“Before the surgery my nan was an active woman and run a market stall twice a week, she is popular and was great and loving.
She went in for surgery and was told it was day surgery, she went home for 9 days when my mum said to the doctor i want her to have a check up NOW because he kept puttin her off and saying that she was only taking longer to recover because she was old.
My nan was then rushed to hospital when the paramedics were called out by the doctor, she had scans and they said that it must be leaking by the clip. 3 days after she was sent to hospital a tube was put in and they removed 13 and a half bags of bile from her stomach, because they had left her so long 🙁 we were all worried because we all love her sooo much, she has 2 children, 8 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild and another on the way. we didnt trust the RoyalBerks Hospital so she was transfered to John Radcliff hospital where the second surgery was formed, they corrected everything and the surgeon told us that not only had rbh sethered the bile duct but they had taken a chunk out of it. The surgeon confessed that this was all due to a mistake in the 1st surgery.
she cant walk now and she looks so old, and frail, during her 2 MONTHS in hospital she has lost 4 stone and has gone from a size 22 to a size 14 or 16. she has a lovely husband who cares for her and loves her is so worried, they have been married for 52 years and he said that he will top himself if anything bad happens to her, he is mentally ill and we are having to drive 1mile twice a day to make sure he is ok. i ride up after school which takes about 30mins and i stay with him for 3 hours so that he’s not alone.
she is now recovering in a local hospital and is focussing on trying to menovre, she is still struggling to walk even getting out of bed and getting dressed is a great leap of success to her.
she is still in hospital and we are sueing rbh for negligence and for lying to us and saying everythings fine when it wasnt. im only 14 and it is all a lot for me to take in, how long did it take you to get back on your feet?”I had my gallbladder taken out 6 years ago, 5 weeks after the birth of my second baby. Nurses in the E.R. told me it is common to have gallbladder flair-ups after giving birth. Well the sergery was uneventfull. but the air-absorbtion ranked up there with labor pains. Ever since I feel like I have christened every restroom up and down the eastern seaboard!!! I have had times when my stomach was “normal” and then it starts back up again. I’m sick and tired of pooping my brains out! It’s physically exausting.Not to sound gross but most stools do have a bile-like coloration. The Dr that did my sergery did say that without a gallbladder, your body had excess bile. If I get side tracked and skip a meal then I might as well forget it. Sometimes the urge is so painful and swift It’s all I can do to keep from having an accident.I can hear and feel the liquid rolling thru my lower stomach.Stress (in my case a divorce) made me very ill. I know if there is stress you can find me in the John. I am recenty doing research on INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE, SHORT BOWEL SYNDROME, CHROHN’S AND COLITIS. Each have similar but different symptoms. Do your own research before going to the Dr. This is not in our heads!!Sometimes we have to tell them what to do!!!!!!
I began getting nauseous and throwing up five to seven times a week in November of 2004. My family practioner diagnosed that it was my galbladder. I had an ultrasound which showed no stones. I had a pipida scan with a slightly lower than normal ejection fracture and a upper endoscopy with biopsy which showed mild gastritis. I had my galbladder removed in April of 2005. Since then I have not been getting sick as often but I am still throwing up 3-4 times a week. I never had any “galbladder attacks” with extreme pain. My only symptom was the nausea which has not gone away completely. Now I also have severe heartburn which was not present pre-surgery. I am confused at to what to do next. I am a 25 year old female. I have lost a total of 20 pounds which I did not need to lose. I now weigh under 100 pounds. If anyone has any idea what my next step could be please help!
I have had my gallbladder removed 2001 And the doc cut my dill duck in hafe twice, But it was repaired. Now the pain is back! I have had all kinds of test like upper gi and blood done but they never looked to see if i may have stones in my duck that should have been the frist test. I had to ask to have it done I have been to the ER and told I must have heart burn PLEASE! come on docs are smart I thought! My pain is on my right side of my back and gos though to the frount of between my ribs. Stapping and sqweezzing chest and back pain that comes stronger once or twice a min and last for hours just like a gallbladder attact. I had this back pain on my right side since I was in 8th grade a pinching feeling just under my shoulder blad that gets much worse with a attact. After I had my gallbladder out the back pain that I had almost once a day for years was gone, But now its all back. Well wish me luck I have a ultrasound this th-day i hope it end here .
“i had a lap chole oct 97 at age 25. very healthy male.
pains continued several months later. i’ve had several doctors since then. The latest explanation are stones that originate elsewhere and are stopping in tubes that connect my liver and stomach (forgive me for not knowing the techincal terms). Doctor performed rocedure where he sent a tube down throat into stomach, found the hole, found stones, removed stones, made hole larger. He told me this may have to be done again in the future. I’ve also been on a drug called actigall which supposedly breaks down stones aking them easier to “”pass”” or go wherever they need to go. Certainly possible that my gall bladder did not need to be removed…
Beware.
Also, when stones cause blockage, it’s not clear to me what exactly happens. An “”attack”” for me is a pain originating in the upper right quadrant of my stomach and then spreading across chest — exactly where the liver is — hence an attack on the liver. It is always accompanied by pains in my lower back which i always thought were muscle pains, but my doctor said it is most likely my pancreas yelling about something. When i have an “”attack”” i can take pain killers but vicodin or percocet doesn’t always make everything etter. As silly as it sounds, the best thing for me is drinking some form of simple sugars — gatorade for example. i think the sugars help the liver deal with the attack and makes the pain go away for me — of course this does nothing for the stones wherever they are…
When i have repeated attacks then i get really sick for several days and try to eat as little as possible.My attacks only happen about once very 4 months or so. “
“hi,
i had my gall bladder taken out in october 08 and i felt great afterwards….
but latley it has all gone wrong, i am scared to go out and eat, i hate having to get in the car i basically live in fear now when i leave my house after i have had breakfast… everything i eat or drink apart from water just goes through me… i don’t think i have put on weight well people seem to think i have lost it!!!
How can i stop this…. i have changed my lifestyle… no more fatty foods and take away… no booze!!! and i am active!
What else can i do????
i am only 27 years old and i am a nervous wreck!Someone please help me.”
I am so relieved that I am not alone in my suffering. I had my gallbladder removed in April 2005. For two months I had no syptoms whatsoever. Then they came back all of a sudden. Pain in the same place, radiates into my back and shoulder, even the sternum area. It seems to be worse when I haven’t had anything to eat for a while. Yesterday I was miserable, and barely got any sleep last night because of the pain in my abdomen and back! It helps to press on the area – does anyone else feel relief when they do that? The area is very tender to the touch.
“and I thought I was going Crazy! I’m glad I’m not..
dj.. I had my gallbladder out in Sept.. and I still look pregnant.. my doctor says everything is fine..I suffered for a year with Reflux and pains and waking up in the middle of the night doubled over followed by hours of diahrea before I finally cut out everything but tuna, parmasan, speggetti sauce and pasta and a little margarine it was the only thing I could eat and not get sick. And sometimes even that made me sick if I put too much margarine or if I ate a brand of sauce that wasn’t low fat.. after 9 months worth of tests and specialists .. upper gi.. ultrasound.. ucg.. a scope down my throat they finally checked to see if my gallbladder was functioning properly.. and
bingo it wasn’t.. by then my cholesterol had sky rocketed!.. (which my surgeon said was common)but I still have the problems with the reflux and heart burn and live on prevacid.. I’m going to try the whole husk psyllium like
Cynthyia recommended. my doctor said try citricell but it didn’t help..I wish I was losing weight like some of you are though.. I’m gaining like crazy.. I recently found something at vitamins.com that said prevacid inhibits the absorbtion of Vitamin B, which boosts your matabolism.. so I’ve tried adding vitamin B to my diet as supplement.
in the mean time I still have to eat a very low fat diet.. or I end up sick again..
““had a lot of problems with diarrhea and then constipation. i am sure it
started after my gallbladder was taken out. I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and put on fiber pills, which helped, but I had to carry extra clothes, wipes to clean up,etc with me all the time. Earlier this year I switched to a multi-grain bread, that’s crunchy, and seldom have bowel problems anymore. But I have to watch what I eat very closely.
I also have problems with very severe chestpain that is not heart related.
I continue to have reflux problems, hungry all the time, and burning stomach. I have no idea how to fix this problem. Any ideas? ”“I went to my doctor yesterday and laid it all on the table to her yesterday. I have an appointment set up with John Hopkins but I will cancel because I don’t want to ruin my whole summer with testing. So I showed her names of pain killers that people use and she kept saying ERCP is a choice and it is up to you but it is risky. I will try the pain killers to see if they work. I heard some people get an ERCP and it doesn’t work and some end up with worse pain. Right now I just get pain after I eat- like it starts with gas and then pain in upper right side. So you just don’t want to eat but you are so hungry. Sometimes when I eat I may not get any pain – I have no idea what foods trigger it. So I take prilosac plus prescription zantac for the heartburn. I am so tired sometimes – I don’t feel like doing anything. I have cried many of times like you have. I was boo hoing to everyone last week saying “”my life is over””
I never have to go to the hospital but my worst fear is that this condition will get worse for me. They took my blood today and I pray it comes back normal. I do have a fatty liver and trying to get rid of it.
All I want to do is feel good but I gave up. I drag myself everyday. I am dead inside – sorry to feel so gloomy but I was a healthy vibrant person before all this happened and now i feel wounded. I get easily irritated with no patience what so ever.
Sorry your going through all of this. I have created this attitude now where I just don’t care anymore and I am tired of thinking about it. If I die I die.
Does it get worse if you have a headache? mine also gets worse when my menstrual cycle starts. I also notice it gets quiet when I have a real serious problem like another family is sick or some other emergency. That is why I thought it was a anxiety issue because why does it quit like that??? It will disappear for two months and then come back all of the sudden and stay with me for two weeks and go away – this is so weirdddddd!
I do notice when I start to feel good and I go back and drink decaf coffee it will get irritated. If I walk in a mall for a long period of time I get the pain like a back pain in the upper right rib area. It can be relieved if I sit down. What is that???”
“I have been suffering with upper right pain, usually under my rib. I had my gall bladder out last year, but they said on the ultrasound it was fine, but the duct was twice the size. I guess hida scan showed it was not working too well, so they too it out. I still get the pain though. Burning, dull, achy. I saw a post about someone having the gurgling sound. I have that too. On the right side. I will be laying in bed with my fiance, and we actually kinda laugh because it is rhythmic. I feel a little pressure, and I say, here it comes, and blurp… I am not sure what all this is. I went to the dr today because of this pain, I started thinking it was my liver, but it felt fine, no swelling. The pain when he pushed was more to the center right. He is convinced it is an ulcer. They are going to do an ultrasound just to make sure there is not a stone stuck by my duct, but I just took a zantac and I actually do feel a little better!
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