Comment from: pedsrn, 35-44 Female (Patient)Published: October 08
My gallstone symptoms started about a month ago. I woke up in the middle of the night with severe bilateral back pain that radiated under my rib cage. Because I have a history of back problems (including two spinal fusions), I didn't think anything of the back pain. After three nights of waking up with pain, I finally went to see my doctor. Based on my symptoms and my medical history, she sent me for an X-ray of my back. Her thoughts were that some of my hardware had broken or shifted. The X-ray was clear. I went five weeks without another episode. Within the last seven days, I have woken up four nights with right-side back pain that radiates under my rib cage, pain in my mid-upper abdomen, abdominal tenderness, nausea, vomiting, and some chest discomfort. I went for an ultrasound, which revealed multiple gallstones. I have an appointment for this week with a surgeon to discuss my options.
Comment from: Mary, 45-54 Female (Patient)Published: September 04
My gallstone symptoms seem to be different than most. I experienced a "recurring flu" five times between March and September 2008. These “flus” gave me incapacitating nausea, vomiting, chills, with diarrhea during the first day of an episode. I called my doctor and requested Zofran (which went generic the past year). Thank God for Zofran, I would have died without it. Each “flu” lasted for a minimum of five days, and I instructed family members to stay away. An ultrasound yesterday revealed one 2 cm and several smaller gallstones. I see the surgeon on Monday to schedule surgery. I'm relieved to know it isn't my pancreas (my doctor suspected pancreatitis), and we know now what the "recurrent flu" was caused by. I'm glad I haven't had a painful attack, as I've heard about and read about here. Hopefully, I'll make it another week or two without that. I live alone and don't know what I'd do without someone to drive me to hospital.
Comment from: cpl, 35-44 Female (Patient)Published: September 04
I had just lost 124 pounds over the last year. A week ago, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with severe pain above my stomach and could hardly breathe because the pain was so bad. Within minutes, I was almost passing out on the bathroom floor, sweating profusely. My husband managed to get me dressed and rushed me to the ER. After two injections of Demerol, the pain began to subside. The blood work showed that my liver and gallbladder enzymes were elevated, and following an ultrasound and bioscan, it was determined that I had gallstones and would require surgery as soon as they could book it. I was sent home. That night I developed a fever, and by 2:30 the next afternoon, I was admitted to the hospital and put on the list for emergency surgery to remove the gallbladder. Two days later I was taken to the operating room.
It affected my liver and eventually lead to pancreatitis. Finally, today, my enzyme levels were close to normal, so they sent me home. If I have any more pain or show signs of jaundice, I'll have to go back and have an ERCP.
Thank you for the info on here...wish I had the time before going through everything I did to do the research!
The first episode began gradually with a burning pain and a lot of pressure just beneath my ribs on the right side, straight down from my breast. The pain and pressure got worse over the course of an hour until I could hardly move or take a deep breath. When I tried to manipulate the area (thinking it must be trapped gas) I could feel a hardening and enlarging of (what I now know was) my gallbladder. After a couple of hours, the pain slowly subsided. The second episode began the same way, same spot, but this time it radiated to my back. I tried to burp, thinking it would relieve the horrible pain, and I immediately and violently vomited until my throat bled. Two days later, an ultrasound showed two small gallstones.
Looking backwards from surgery date to symptoms, I had jaundice, uncontrollable itching, nausea, chest pain (that felt like someone took a belt and cinched it under my breasts as tight as they could), abdominal pain from under my breasts down to my lower abdomen, back pain from under my shoulder blades to my spine and then other times I would feel perfectly normal. Of all the symptoms, the only one that seemed to be consistent was the itching.
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primarily involving the small and large intestine, but which can
affect other parts of the digestive system as well. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and weight loss are
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Alcoholism is a disease that includes alcohol craving and continued drinking despite repeated alcohol-related problems, such as losing a job or getting into trouble with the law.
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considered to be obese if they are more than 20 percent over their ideal weight.
That ideal weight must take into account the person's height, age, sex, and
build.
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Nausea and vomiting are symptoms that may be caused by many conditions. Antiemetics are drugs that treat nausea and vomiting. Though some antiemetics for motion sickness and mild nausea are available over the counter (OTC), most require a medical evaluation and prescription.
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Alpha thalassemia is a disorder in which the alpha globin protein is underproduced. There are two pairs of genes that carry the code for the alpha chains of hemoglobin. When one gene is impaired, that person is in a carrier state and suffers no medical problems. When four genes are impaired, the production of fetal and adult hemoglobin is prevented, resulting in hydrops fetalis and leading to death before birth.
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Three or more small (5-10 mm) incisions are made in the abdomen to allow access ports to be inserted. The laparoscope and surgical instruments are inserted through these ports. The surgeon then uses the laparoscope, which transmits a picture of the abdominal organs on a video monitor, allowing the operation to be performed.
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Right colectomy or Ileocolectomy. During a right colectomy, the right side of the colon is removed. During an ileocolectomy, the last segment of the small intestine - which is attached to the right side of the colon, called the ileum, is also removed. Used to remove cancers, noncancerous growths or po...
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My gallstone symptoms started about a month ago. I woke up in the middle of the night with severe bilateral back pain that radiated under my rib cage. Because I have a history of back problems (including two spinal fusions), I didn't think anything of the back pain. After three nights of waking up with pain, I finally went to see my doctor. Based on my symptoms and my medical history, she sent me for an X-ray of my back. Her thoughts were that some of my hardware had broken or shifted. The X-ray was clear. I went five weeks without another episode. Within the last seven days, I have woken up four nights with right-side back pain that radiates under my rib cage, pain in my mid-upper abdomen, abdominal tenderness, nausea, vomiting, and some chest discomfort. I went for an ultrasound, which revealed multiple gallstones. I have an appointment for this week with a surgeon to discuss my options.
Related Reading: ultrasound | gallstones