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Gallbladder issues?!? Not food poisoning?

20/08/2013 8 Comments

get-wellI’ve been having an upset stomach over the last 7 months. Looking back, it was fairly regular, with me getting sick every 3 or 4 weeks. But each time, I would explain it away: overdid it at Christmas, food poisoning, new allergies? But then I started to feel really unlucky with multiple food poisonings when those around me were fine; I’d doubled my hand washing but was still getting sick. The latest ‘attack of food poisoning’ was well-timed with a doctor’s appointment and I was surprised to find out that she suspected pancreatitis or cholecystitis (inflamed gallbladder).

I ended up having my gallbladder removed and already feel much better. I didn’t attribute many of my symptoms to this little organ so I thought I’d share my experience so others might figure it out earlier.

What is the gallbladder? Why does it get inflamed?

The gallbladder collects, concentrates, and stores bile from the liver. When you eat foods with fats, bile is released into the duodenum to emulsify fats and help with digestion and absorption.

Biliary_system_multilingualIn the diagram on the right, you can see the position of the gallbladder (green #9) in relation to other organs of the biliary system. It sits under the liver (#10 and 11).

  • 12 – spleen
  • 13 – esophagus
  • 14 – stomach
  • 15 – duodenum
  • 16 – jejunum
  • 20 and 21 – kidneys

Note: diagram edited from original for simplicity.

The gallbladder is small, only about 4 cm by 8 cm (1.6 in by 3.1 cm) when full. So it shouldn’t cause too much trouble when it is angry, right? Uh, no.

You can see lots of things on the interwebz about gallbladder attacks. The most common reason for cholecystitis (inflamed gallbladder) is gallstones. Of course, most people who have gallstones don’t have any symptoms and find out about the stones during a scan for something else.

My symptoms

Most of my symptoms make sense retroactively but at the time, I had other explanations. I will try to list things clinically and spare the disgusting details

  • Vomiting – violent, until nothing left (dry heaves). In the last episode, I was unable to eat or drink anything without immediately vomiting.
    • I thought I had food poisoning or was reacting to certain foods. I was reacting but not with an allergy but probably overloading my fat contents.
  • Gas – enough said?
    • I had put this down to getting older or having celiac disease.
  • Shoulder pain – constant, low level pain in my mid-right shoulder. It sometimes became sharper. This disappeared after my gallbladder was removed.
    • I thought it was from poor posture during computer work and kept getting a massage that didn’t work.
  • Heartburn – only around the vomiting attacks. It was very severe (preventing sleep) and no antacids helped.
    • Again, I just thought I was getting older and would have to deal with it.
  • Pain in upper right ‘stomach’ – just under my ribs. During this last attack, I was told that I was positive for Murphy’s sign, Basically, a doctor pushes just under your ribs on the right side and asks you to take a deep breath. If you can’t do it – or try to hit your doctor – it is positive. And it is a sharp pain!
    • I thought I was doing more ab work and slightly strained something.
  • Yellow – on the last attack, I had a bit of jaundice according to my husband and other family. By then, I was hospitalized so I didn’t bother coming up with an explanation.
  • Lab studies on the last attack: increased white blood cells; increased bilirubin (turned me yellow); increased liver enzymes

My diagnosis and surgery

Laparoscopic_Cholecystectomy_Incisions,_1_Week_OldI was diagnosed with cholecystitis and recommended to remove my gallbladder. I will go over my hospital experience in another post. Basically, surgeons used laparoscopic surgery to take out my gallbladder. There were 4 incisions: two for instruments including cameras, one for cutting and draining, and one at the belly button where the gallbladder is pulled out (as explained to me by the hospital doctors). I’m not sharing photos of my belly but the Wikipedia photo is on the right.

 What now? Do we need our gallbladder?

For the first month, I was told to stay away from fat until my body adjusts. I no longer have a storage tank for bile so it constantly drips out of the liver. More importantly, it isn’t concentrated and released at the right time to help digest fats.

It has been eye opening to see what I can tolerate. Store-bought muffins are definitely too high in fat (no surprise there). I have tried to push a few things but really, I’m following the advice from twitter:

@genegeek No fatty foods. Think of what rabbits eat.

— Afternoon Napper (@AfternoonNapper) August 15, 2013

I’m hoping to be part of the 75% of people who have no long term side effects and forget that they ever had the surgery. However, a diet in limited fats seems healthier and I’m OK if I need to stay careful about what I eat.

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Filed Under: Misc Tagged With: gallbladder, signs and symptoms, surgery, unexpected, upset stomach

Comments

  1. Shazam says

    11/10/2013 at 9:54 pm

    I hope you are feeling better, I was less lucky with doctors, 2 fobbed me off saying it was all in my head, then it ruptured and my system became septic… I can eat anything now (3 weeks since the operation), I hope you are feeling great now.

    Reply
    • genegeek says

      21/11/2013 at 12:28 pm

      I thought I could eat fat again – but I was wrong. Back to yummy veggies

      Reply
  2. Shazam says

    11/10/2013 at 9:55 pm

    You can read about my 2 year journey here, I am still really angry at the first 2 doctors as I didn’t need to go through all this http://somemoreofmylife.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/its-all-in-your-head-doctor-said.html

    Reply
  3. Joan says

    21/11/2013 at 12:30 pm

    Very good explanation – easy to understand! For your sake, I hope you’re one of the 75%, too!

    Reply
    • Shazam says

      21/11/2013 at 12:57 pm

      So sorry you can’t eat fats, I am really lucky as I can actually eat anything now and I’ve lost all the weight I gained during my illness. xx

      Reply
      • genegeek says

        21/11/2013 at 1:04 pm

        That’s fantastic news. I am a bit jealous though 🙂

        Reply
  4. Angela says

    14/03/2016 at 3:53 am

    Ive been doing my own research as I believe I may have some Galbladder issues. I was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia about a year and half ago, however I still have this horrible belcking all day, every day, its tiring and embarrassing. My doctors think its quite normal but I feel something is not right with my body. Ive started getting niggle pains in my lower back under my rib cage and lately on the right hand side of my back this deep pain which comes and goes but worrying, I feel like my bodies toxic at the moment, trying to detox plus boost myself with multi vitamins.My doctor also implied I’m becoming a hypochondriac and its al in my head. I know my body is not feeling right, something is wrong but I don’t know where to start…. very worried and frustrated…

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Illness hiatus says:
    10/04/2015 at 4:48 pm

    […] care system and I’m not sure when I will get back to writing.The illness is related to my gallbladder removal but there doesn’t seem to be a quick […]

    Reply

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genegeek150logoHello. I'm Catherine and I'm using this space to try something outside of academic writing. I enjoy molecular genetics, science education, crafts, and travel. I hope you enjoy my projects and writing. Read More…

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