Gallbladder Issues

[lamoureuxr]

Hey everyone,<br>
<br>
I am hoping that someone can shed some light on some abdominal pain
that my daughter age 9 is facing.<br>
<br>
It started about a 5 weeks ago with pretty sever upper right
quadrant pain.  We immediately began making calls to our CF
clinic.  They really did not address our concerns very well so
we went to our primary care doc and they sent her to the hospital
for a Hida sp? scan.  They were unable to see any activity in
the gallbladder at all.<br>
<br>
We then went to see a pediatric surgeon to see if they felt it
should be removed.  They wanted to do more tests.  She
has now had a colonoscopy (normal) EGD (normal) a repeated Hida
scan.  Ultrasounds etc.  Everything is normal except the
Hida scan which did not visualize the gallbladder either time.
 <br>
<br>
We have a couple major concerns. My nine year old who normally out
eats me, has been eating very little for a month.  She has
already dropped 10 pounds.  She is in almost constant pain and
the doctors keep pushing everything back. She has also had some new
symptoms recently including foul smelling breath and she is running
a below normal temperature.  <br>
<br>
Has anyone experienced this type of problem with a gallbladder.
 I just hope it doesn't begin to affect her liver because we
are waiting so long to take care of it.  I would appreciated
any advice<br>
<br>
Thanks again

 

[lamoureuxr]

Hey everyone,<br>
<br>
I am hoping that someone can shed some light on some abdominal pain
that my daughter age 9 is facing.<br>
<br>
It started about a 5 weeks ago with pretty sever upper right
quadrant pain.  We immediately began making calls to our CF
clinic.  They really did not address our concerns very well so
we went to our primary care doc and they sent her to the hospital
for a Hida sp? scan.  They were unable to see any activity in
the gallbladder at all.<br>
<br>
We then went to see a pediatric surgeon to see if they felt it
should be removed.  They wanted to do more tests.  She
has now had a colonoscopy (normal) EGD (normal) a repeated Hida
scan.  Ultrasounds etc.  Everything is normal except the
Hida scan which did not visualize the gallbladder either time.
 <br>
<br>
We have a couple major concerns. My nine year old who normally out
eats me, has been eating very little for a month.  She has
already dropped 10 pounds.  She is in almost constant pain and
the doctors keep pushing everything back. She has also had some new
symptoms recently including foul smelling breath and she is running
a below normal temperature.  <br>
<br>
Has anyone experienced this type of problem with a gallbladder.
 I just hope it doesn't begin to affect her liver because we
are waiting so long to take care of it.  I would appreciated
any advice<br>
<br>
Thanks again

 

[lamoureuxr]

Hey everyone,<br>
<br>
I am hoping that someone can shed some light on some abdominal pain
that my daughter age 9 is facing.<br>
<br>
It started about a 5 weeks ago with pretty sever upper right
quadrant pain.  We immediately began making calls to our CF
clinic.  They really did not address our concerns very well so
we went to our primary care doc and they sent her to the hospital
for a Hida sp? scan.  They were unable to see any activity in
the gallbladder at all.<br>
<br>
We then went to see a pediatric surgeon to see if they felt it
should be removed.  They wanted to do more tests.  She
has now had a colonoscopy (normal) EGD (normal) a repeated Hida
scan.  Ultrasounds etc.  Everything is normal except the
Hida scan which did not visualize the gallbladder either time.
 <br>
<br>
We have a couple major concerns. My nine year old who normally out
eats me, has been eating very little for a month.  She has
already dropped 10 pounds.  She is in almost constant pain and
the doctors keep pushing everything back. She has also had some new
symptoms recently including foul smelling breath and she is running
a below normal temperature.  <br>
<br>
Has anyone experienced this type of problem with a gallbladder.
 I just hope it doesn't begin to affect her liver because we
are waiting so long to take care of it.  I would appreciated
any advice<br>
<br>
Thanks again

 

[LouLou]

I had my gallbladder removed. You can read the story in my blog. LouLou. If it's gallbladder they should be able diagnose it as that with an ultrasound. Have you read the ultrasound report? If not, get your hot little fingers on it - ASAP!
Never any experience with the constant pain (mine was intermittent in the middle of the night), foul breath or lack of appetite.

 

[LouLou]

I had my gallbladder removed. You can read the story in my blog. LouLou. If it's gallbladder they should be able diagnose it as that with an ultrasound. Have you read the ultrasound report? If not, get your hot little fingers on it - ASAP!
Never any experience with the constant pain (mine was intermittent in the middle of the night), foul breath or lack of appetite.

 

[LouLou]

I had my gallbladder removed. You can read the story in my blog. LouLou. If it's gallbladder they should be able diagnose it as that with an ultrasound. Have you read the ultrasound report? If not, get your hot little fingers on it - ASAP!
Never any experience with the constant pain (mine was intermittent in the middle of the night), foul breath or lack of appetite.

 

[coltsfan715]

I had to have my gallbladder removed roughly 2 years ago due to what they called before removal a "non functioning gallbladder" it turns out - once they removed it they discovered - my gallbladder was functioning but was soooo full of gallstones it was ridiculous.

I had CT scans, ultrasounds, xrays, the regular physical exam (where they push on your stomach and such) I described symtpoms but I got the "you are not a typical gallstone patient" response. I kept pushing for more answers - I knew SOMETHING was not right. They did the HIDA scan and my gallbladder did not show up at all. They even sent me for another ultrasound and marked my stomach with a sharpee marker right over top of where my gallbladder should be. Then they zoomed in on that area with the monitor thing for the HIDA scan and still nothing.

The doc I dealt with for that test said that was HIGHLY ABNORMAL and indicated that it needed to come out. I was in surgery about 2 weeks later and had it removed. The relief I had was almost immediate.

I was having sudden attacks, chest tightness, shortness of breath, nausea, cramping, vomiting, tingling/itchy feet (yes that can be a symptom- but it is a different kind of itch than a basic scratch will take care of) and so on.

I will say your daughter may be turning away from eating because something she is eating may be causing the attacks. I know I was always afraid to eat - I forced myself too but I was starting to get anxiety about it cause I didn't know what would cause the next attack.

They say that spicy foods can cause onset of symptoms. I personally had an attack EVERY time I had a soda. I could not identify anything that I had before EACH attack other than soda/caffeine/carbonated drinks. I decided to do an experiment on my own and cut out sodas. I cut them out for 2 weeks and didn't have a single attack - nothing no tightness in my chest NOTHING. Then - because I am a caffeine addict - I said oh just let me have a little one night at dinner - within 2 hours I was hunched over the toilet sick again.

Maybe try asking her if she is feeling sick to her stomach after meals - maybe you could try altering what it is you are eating and that will maybe help - in the month before I had surgery I was only eating like 5 things. I had cereal ALOT - sometimes each meal of the day. I can not remember the other foods I ate as it was 2 years ago lol. I guess what I am trying to say is find some foods she can eat that don't make her sick or bring on the symptoms and let her eat them as much as she wants. Give her supplements with vitamins or something if you are afraid she is not getting a balanced diet. It is just soooo important that she not continue losing weight (sorry to make the DUH statement).

Also to let you know you may want to have them check her blood work. I know that is how they identified I had a problem initially (before all of the testing). I am diabetic and I get bloodwork done every 3-4 months and my doc checked my liver functions one of those times and they were like quadruple what they were supposed to be. I asked why and he said either I had Hep. C(NO), was going into liver failure (Terrified me!) or I had gallstones. I went home checked into what exactly gallstones were and got some info about them and realized OMG I had been having gallstone attacks for almost 2 years ... they had just been misdiagnosed as anxiety attacks all that time.

I would make an appointment with a gastro-interologist. That is the type of doc I spoke with that diagnosed me with non functioning gallbladder and told me I needed to get it removed. I had my Pulmo, my PCP and my endocrinologist tell me that nothing was wrong and that I was not the "typical gallstone patient", so they refused to believe that I could have gallstones. The gastro - interologist ordered the HIDA scan and when he got the results within 15 minutes was on the phone with a gen. surgeon setting me up with an appointment so I could get in, be seen and be set up for surgery.


Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to share some thoughts - on the doc issues, the reasons your daughter may not be eating, the symptoms and my experience with my own dysfunctional gallbladder (he has been voted out of my body lol).

I do hope that you get everything worked out and that your daughter starts to eat more and feel better.

Lindsey

As for the foul smelling breath I can't smell so I don't know if I had that so much. Maybe she is getting sick from the weight loss and such - like a CF sick. I know bad breath can be an effect of getting sick sometimes - the excess mucus and stuff I guess causes it.

Otherwise I guess it could make sense if she has gallstones they may be backing up into the bile duct and causing her to get the vomitting type sensation where she is bringing stuff (bile and I would imagine that would stink) up but not full vomiting. I would make sure she knows she CAN throw up if she needs too. She may be fighting the sensation to vomit. If she does just keep an eye on her though cause it can be addicting. I only got relief from my attacks when I threw up - so I got to the point where as soon as I felt ANY attack coming on I would start to induce vomitting - I had it down to a science and it most always helped ... I will say I do not do this now (throw up intentionally but it helped at the time) , but I wanted to put that out there.

 

[coltsfan715]

I had to have my gallbladder removed roughly 2 years ago due to what they called before removal a "non functioning gallbladder" it turns out - once they removed it they discovered - my gallbladder was functioning but was soooo full of gallstones it was ridiculous.

I had CT scans, ultrasounds, xrays, the regular physical exam (where they push on your stomach and such) I described symtpoms but I got the "you are not a typical gallstone patient" response. I kept pushing for more answers - I knew SOMETHING was not right. They did the HIDA scan and my gallbladder did not show up at all. They even sent me for another ultrasound and marked my stomach with a sharpee marker right over top of where my gallbladder should be. Then they zoomed in on that area with the monitor thing for the HIDA scan and still nothing.

The doc I dealt with for that test said that was HIGHLY ABNORMAL and indicated that it needed to come out. I was in surgery about 2 weeks later and had it removed. The relief I had was almost immediate.

I was having sudden attacks, chest tightness, shortness of breath, nausea, cramping, vomiting, tingling/itchy feet (yes that can be a symptom- but it is a different kind of itch than a basic scratch will take care of) and so on.

I will say your daughter may be turning away from eating because something she is eating may be causing the attacks. I know I was always afraid to eat - I forced myself too but I was starting to get anxiety about it cause I didn't know what would cause the next attack.

They say that spicy foods can cause onset of symptoms. I personally had an attack EVERY time I had a soda. I could not identify anything that I had before EACH attack other than soda/caffeine/carbonated drinks. I decided to do an experiment on my own and cut out sodas. I cut them out for 2 weeks and didn't have a single attack - nothing no tightness in my chest NOTHING. Then - because I am a caffeine addict - I said oh just let me have a little one night at dinner - within 2 hours I was hunched over the toilet sick again.

Maybe try asking her if she is feeling sick to her stomach after meals - maybe you could try altering what it is you are eating and that will maybe help - in the month before I had surgery I was only eating like 5 things. I had cereal ALOT - sometimes each meal of the day. I can not remember the other foods I ate as it was 2 years ago lol. I guess what I am trying to say is find some foods she can eat that don't make her sick or bring on the symptoms and let her eat them as much as she wants. Give her supplements with vitamins or something if you are afraid she is not getting a balanced diet. It is just soooo important that she not continue losing weight (sorry to make the DUH statement).

Also to let you know you may want to have them check her blood work. I know that is how they identified I had a problem initially (before all of the testing). I am diabetic and I get bloodwork done every 3-4 months and my doc checked my liver functions one of those times and they were like quadruple what they were supposed to be. I asked why and he said either I had Hep. C(NO), was going into liver failure (Terrified me!) or I had gallstones. I went home checked into what exactly gallstones were and got some info about them and realized OMG I had been having gallstone attacks for almost 2 years ... they had just been misdiagnosed as anxiety attacks all that time.

I would make an appointment with a gastro-interologist. That is the type of doc I spoke with that diagnosed me with non functioning gallbladder and told me I needed to get it removed. I had my Pulmo, my PCP and my endocrinologist tell me that nothing was wrong and that I was not the "typical gallstone patient", so they refused to believe that I could have gallstones. The gastro - interologist ordered the HIDA scan and when he got the results within 15 minutes was on the phone with a gen. surgeon setting me up with an appointment so I could get in, be seen and be set up for surgery.


Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to share some thoughts - on the doc issues, the reasons your daughter may not be eating, the symptoms and my experience with my own dysfunctional gallbladder (he has been voted out of my body lol).

I do hope that you get everything worked out and that your daughter starts to eat more and feel better.

Lindsey

As for the foul smelling breath I can't smell so I don't know if I had that so much. Maybe she is getting sick from the weight loss and such - like a CF sick. I know bad breath can be an effect of getting sick sometimes - the excess mucus and stuff I guess causes it.

Otherwise I guess it could make sense if she has gallstones they may be backing up into the bile duct and causing her to get the vomitting type sensation where she is bringing stuff (bile and I would imagine that would stink) up but not full vomiting. I would make sure she knows she CAN throw up if she needs too. She may be fighting the sensation to vomit. If she does just keep an eye on her though cause it can be addicting. I only got relief from my attacks when I threw up - so I got to the point where as soon as I felt ANY attack coming on I would start to induce vomitting - I had it down to a science and it most always helped ... I will say I do not do this now (throw up intentionally but it helped at the time) , but I wanted to put that out there.

 

[coltsfan715]

I had to have my gallbladder removed roughly 2 years ago due to what they called before removal a "non functioning gallbladder" it turns out - once they removed it they discovered - my gallbladder was functioning but was soooo full of gallstones it was ridiculous.

I had CT scans, ultrasounds, xrays, the regular physical exam (where they push on your stomach and such) I described symtpoms but I got the "you are not a typical gallstone patient" response. I kept pushing for more answers - I knew SOMETHING was not right. They did the HIDA scan and my gallbladder did not show up at all. They even sent me for another ultrasound and marked my stomach with a sharpee marker right over top of where my gallbladder should be. Then they zoomed in on that area with the monitor thing for the HIDA scan and still nothing.

The doc I dealt with for that test said that was HIGHLY ABNORMAL and indicated that it needed to come out. I was in surgery about 2 weeks later and had it removed. The relief I had was almost immediate.

I was having sudden attacks, chest tightness, shortness of breath, nausea, cramping, vomiting, tingling/itchy feet (yes that can be a symptom- but it is a different kind of itch than a basic scratch will take care of) and so on.

I will say your daughter may be turning away from eating because something she is eating may be causing the attacks. I know I was always afraid to eat - I forced myself too but I was starting to get anxiety about it cause I didn't know what would cause the next attack.

They say that spicy foods can cause onset of symptoms. I personally had an attack EVERY time I had a soda. I could not identify anything that I had before EACH attack other than soda/caffeine/carbonated drinks. I decided to do an experiment on my own and cut out sodas. I cut them out for 2 weeks and didn't have a single attack - nothing no tightness in my chest NOTHING. Then - because I am a caffeine addict - I said oh just let me have a little one night at dinner - within 2 hours I was hunched over the toilet sick again.

Maybe try asking her if she is feeling sick to her stomach after meals - maybe you could try altering what it is you are eating and that will maybe help - in the month before I had surgery I was only eating like 5 things. I had cereal ALOT - sometimes each meal of the day. I can not remember the other foods I ate as it was 2 years ago lol. I guess what I am trying to say is find some foods she can eat that don't make her sick or bring on the symptoms and let her eat them as much as she wants. Give her supplements with vitamins or something if you are afraid she is not getting a balanced diet. It is just soooo important that she not continue losing weight (sorry to make the DUH statement).

Also to let you know you may want to have them check her blood work. I know that is how they identified I had a problem initially (before all of the testing). I am diabetic and I get bloodwork done every 3-4 months and my doc checked my liver functions one of those times and they were like quadruple what they were supposed to be. I asked why and he said either I had Hep. C(NO), was going into liver failure (Terrified me!) or I had gallstones. I went home checked into what exactly gallstones were and got some info about them and realized OMG I had been having gallstone attacks for almost 2 years ... they had just been misdiagnosed as anxiety attacks all that time.

I would make an appointment with a gastro-interologist. That is the type of doc I spoke with that diagnosed me with non functioning gallbladder and told me I needed to get it removed. I had my Pulmo, my PCP and my endocrinologist tell me that nothing was wrong and that I was not the "typical gallstone patient", so they refused to believe that I could have gallstones. The gastro - interologist ordered the HIDA scan and when he got the results within 15 minutes was on the phone with a gen. surgeon setting me up with an appointment so I could get in, be seen and be set up for surgery.


Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to share some thoughts - on the doc issues, the reasons your daughter may not be eating, the symptoms and my experience with my own dysfunctional gallbladder (he has been voted out of my body lol).

I do hope that you get everything worked out and that your daughter starts to eat more and feel better.

Lindsey

As for the foul smelling breath I can't smell so I don't know if I had that so much. Maybe she is getting sick from the weight loss and such - like a CF sick. I know bad breath can be an effect of getting sick sometimes - the excess mucus and stuff I guess causes it.

Otherwise I guess it could make sense if she has gallstones they may be backing up into the bile duct and causing her to get the vomitting type sensation where she is bringing stuff (bile and I would imagine that would stink) up but not full vomiting. I would make sure she knows she CAN throw up if she needs too. She may be fighting the sensation to vomit. If she does just keep an eye on her though cause it can be addicting. I only got relief from my attacks when I threw up - so I got to the point where as soon as I felt ANY attack coming on I would start to induce vomitting - I had it down to a science and it most always helped ... I will say I do not do this now (throw up intentionally but it helped at the time) , but I wanted to put that out there.

 

[coltsfan715]

I just saw Laurens post.

I just wanted to add that just cause the ultrasound doesn't indicate a problem doesn't mean there isn't one there. My ultrasound results came back normal - the ONLY test that I had done that came back abnormal was the HIDA scan. Again when I had my gallbladder removed I had something between 100-200 tiny gallstones the doc said.

Lindsey

 

[coltsfan715]

I just saw Laurens post.

I just wanted to add that just cause the ultrasound doesn't indicate a problem doesn't mean there isn't one there. My ultrasound results came back normal - the ONLY test that I had done that came back abnormal was the HIDA scan. Again when I had my gallbladder removed I had something between 100-200 tiny gallstones the doc said.

Lindsey

 

[coltsfan715]

I just saw Laurens post.

I just wanted to add that just cause the ultrasound doesn't indicate a problem doesn't mean there isn't one there. My ultrasound results came back normal - the ONLY test that I had done that came back abnormal was the HIDA scan. Again when I had my gallbladder removed I had something between 100-200 tiny gallstones the doc said.

Lindsey

 

[LouLou]

wow - I'm glad to hear I was pretty normal in this case...maybe it will help me not develop CFRD.
mine showed up on ultrasound as slug filled - they made a call on taking it out but weren't sure I really had stones. As you can see in the picture in my blog it was full of thousands of little stones. It was ... well... studded see the picture for yourself.

 

[LouLou]

wow - I'm glad to hear I was pretty normal in this case...maybe it will help me not develop CFRD.
mine showed up on ultrasound as slug filled - they made a call on taking it out but weren't sure I really had stones. As you can see in the picture in my blog it was full of thousands of little stones. It was ... well... studded see the picture for yourself.

 

[LouLou]

wow - I'm glad to hear I was pretty normal in this case...maybe it will help me not develop CFRD.
mine showed up on ultrasound as slug filled - they made a call on taking it out but weren't sure I really had stones. As you can see in the picture in my blog it was full of thousands of little stones. It was ... well... studded see the picture for yourself.