Medical Questions > Conditions and Diseases > Gallbladder Disease Forum

Ejection Fraction of 80%

Must Read
Are you suffering from gallbladder pain? We describe the location and function of the gallbladder to target possible problems....
When do you need to see a doctor about possible gallbladder problems? Learn to distinguish signs and symptoms of gallbladder disease to take action before it's...
Gallstones are the most frequent cause of an inflamed gallbladder. Know the common symptoms of gallstones or gallstone attack....
Hi! I'm new to this forum and I'm looking for some answers. Two years ago, I began experiencing chest pain that would come and go and seemed to get worse with the intake of caffeine. I had chest x-rays and EKGs done, all results being normal. The doctor blamed it on stress and/or asthma. In July of last year I became pregnant and began experiencing it again. I was sent to a cardiologist for a EEG which also came back normal. I began having horrendous heartburn and indigestion with it which was probably due to being pregnant or so I thought. I had my baby in April and since then those symptoms have only gotten worse and I have new ones. At the end of May, I began having diarrhea every time I ate and this went on for a couple of weeks. After each bout of diarrhea, I would feel pain in the upper right quadrant of my abdomen as if I had been punched in the ribs. The doctor sent me for an ultrasound to check for gallstones. That also came back normal. The symptoms seemed to subside for a couple of months. Then at the end of August, I began experiencing the diarrhea and pain again only this time it has not let up. I put myself on a non-fat diet and that has not even helped. At times, the pain goes all the way through to my back. My newest symptom is belching. I have also been experiencing a lot of nausea. I have had three occasions since August when I have had vomiting. It now seems to make no difference what I eat, I am in constant pain. I had a HIDA scan last week and my EF is at 80% and the report reads that all is normal. How can this be? The technicians doing the scan said that the dye was moving through my gallbladder very slowly. They were going to have me sit up to help move it along. As soon as the dye reached my gb, I felt the pain intesify. When they injected the CCK, I felt extreme nausea, flushing, and pain soon after. What is going on? I am open to the idea that maybe it is something else but everybody I've talked to has said my symptoms are classic for gb dysfunction. I go to the surgeon in five days to discuss the results of the scan and what we are going to do. Anybody have any thoughts or ideas of what this could be?

Oh! I forgot to mention that most of the meds I have tried have not helped at all. An ER doc gave me hydrocodone, an anti-spasmodic, and an anti-nausea medicine that seems to help some of the time but I can't take it on a regular basis because I have three children to take care of. I'm at my wits end! Please help!
Did you find this post helpful?
|

replied October 30th, 2010
I think that sometimes the HIDA cck scan which is really kind of a snapshot of how your gallbladder is functioning at any given moment, unless you have biliary dyskinesia, can show a pretty well-functioning gallbladder perhaps because a stone/crystal just got pushed through recently and there's no blockage at that moment.

Its also very possible for the ultrasound to not show stones, yet still have stones. Mine showed no stones but the surgery found many small stones/crystals - in fact, they had to clear one out of the duct during the surgery. Seems like the smaller ones are more likely to get stuck than the larger ones in any case, and the smaller ones are less likely to show on the ultrasound.

I agree your symptoms do sound pretty darn classic for gallbladder, especially since the CCK caused the exact same symptoms you'd been having... that's pretty telling... I don't know how to advise you but I think a repeat of the HIDA scan is not a bad idea, although I could sure see how you wouldn't want to go through that again. Maybe the surgeon will recommend surgery in spite of the scan and ultrasound.
|
Did you find this post helpful?