Bye Bye Gall Bladder

[brkr4evr]

Okay, so after 4 months of suffering, I finally had my gall bladder taken out. Up till Friday, I had belly distension and pain under my ribcage. Now, just surgery pain. The doc said my galbladder was nasty and I was lucky it lasted that long. Just another step in my recovery process. Keep your heads up Celiacs! We can do it!

[Cujy]

brkr4evr....good for you, I hope this takes care of your pain!!! I also have pain under my ribs, and again when mentioned to my doc told don't worry about it, its the celiac, stay on the diet....

May you have wonderful health and no more pain now that your gall bladder is out!!!

[Mom-of-Two]

I am positive my gallbladder is not healthy! The whole reason I went to my doc 4-5 times over the last 3 years for tummy pain and fullness, was for symptoms of bloating and tenderness/ache under ribs. After finally being taken seriously and tested for a few different things, including an abdominal u/s, I had a hugely positive celiac panel- thought we'd figured it out, but that upper abdominal fullness remains. My primary doc says my gallladder is fine because my u/s showed no swelling or stones. But my GI specialist I see for the celiac, says I need to get gallbladder FUNCTION tests.

Any insight on this, since you found out it was your gallbladder?

[BabsV]

Hope your recovery process goes smoothly and you are pain free soon!

This is interesting to me because I've been gluten-free for almost 8 months and still having serious abdominal pain issues. My doctor mentioned something about the gallbladder and then dismissed it since scans I had done last year (several months prior to Celiac diagnosis) didn't show a problem. I'm going to bring it up with him again...maybe it is my gallbladder and the problem didn't show up on the ultrasound or CT scan. I'm thinking maybe I need a function test after reading about it. I am so sick of doctors and tests but I've got to do something about the pain!

Did you have the function test? How did they decide to remove your gallbladder?

[Bubba's Mom]

I am positive my gallbladder is not healthy! The whole reason I went to my doc 4-5 times over the last 3 years for tummy pain and fullness, was for symptoms of bloating and tenderness/ache under ribs. After finally being taken seriously and tested for a few different things, including an abdominal u/s, I had a hugely positive celiac panel- thought we'd figured it out, but that upper abdominal fullness remains. My primary doc says my gallladder is fine because my u/s showed no swelling or stones. But my GI specialist I see for the celiac, says I need to get gallbladder FUNCTION tests.

Any insight on this, since you found out it was your gallbladder?

I hope you heal fast and feel better. Take it easy as you're healing.

I had gallbladder pain and occasional nausea with it for about 2 years before being DXed with Celiac. My Dr. sent me for an ultrasound in May 2010. The results came back..no stones, but some sludge. After that when I complained about the pain I got scolded that "there was absolutely nothing wrong with my gallbladder"!

The severity of the pain increased as time went on. I was DXed with Celiac in late June 2011. That GB symptom continued. Finally, six months gluten-free I got a HIDA scan that measures the function of the gallbladder. Mine was low (30%) and I was told I "might want to consult a surgeon about having it removed".

Mine was not real low functioning so I thought I'd go off the acid reducers that tend to slow down GB function and wait and see if my function improves on a gluten-free diet.

My advice..if you're having pain that seems like gallbladder and you've had an ultrasound that shows no stones..ask for a HIDA scan. I don't know why Dr.s don't think to order this test? Stones are not the only thing that can go wrong with a gallbladder.

[BabsV]

My advice..if you're having pain that seems like gallbladder and you've had an ultrasound that shows no stones..ask for a HIDA scan. I don't know why Dr.s don't think to order this test? Stones are not the only thing that can go wrong with a gallbladder.

Wow, I just had a follow-up phone conversation with my doctor and now says he wants me to have the scan?!?! He's still skeptical but says that ultrasounds and CT scans can't always pick up on gallbladder problems! Now I'm working on getting it scheduled. Even if it proves to NOT be a gallbladder issue at least it is something (big) I can cross off the list. They're still all leaning to unexplained post-surgical pain issues...but then they all thought I didn't have Celiac Disease and were extremely surprised when my bloodwork came back solidly/strongly positive.

I swear, sometimes I feel like getting healthy is a battle. Gesh.

[brkr4evr]

My advice, PUSH PUSH PUSH! I got lucky with a good suregon! I had aHIDA scan in Dec (when I was dx with celiac) and it showed 17% working. So def not good, but I didn't have stones. So they decided to wait for a while and se if the new diet would take care of the pain. It calmed down for a couple weeks, but I started to bloat and the pain came back. When I went to my surgeon 2 weeks ago, he said let's do this. Honestly, I looked 9 months preggo I was so bloated. Not fun! But, in 5 days since it got taken down, I'm almost back to "normal". Lol. So ladies, God bless in your journey! And like my husband tells me, it will get better, just build your testimony so that when God heals you, you can encourage others!