Help! Gallbladder Symptoms With No Stones Found???

I experienced pain similar to you're having. I also had a normal ultrasound. My doctor ordered a hi-da scan which showed that my gallbladder was only functioning at 10% which is abnormal. I had my gall- bladder removed laproscopically on 8/18/04 and i'm doing very well. I'll be going back to work on 9/7/04. Ask your physician about the hi-da scan. Good luck & god bless!!

I'm going for a hida scan on wednesday. Hopefully this will get to the bottom of things! Thanks again for your answer.

I also have gallbladder symptoms, not severe pain, but some discomfort and a lot of nausea. My gallbladder is only at 20%. This was shown on the hida scan with cck injection. You may want to see if you can have this done.

Thanks for mentioning it, because it sounds important and I wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

Get a hida scan! I just went through nearly seven weeks of illness awaiting diagnosis after my inital er ultra sound was clear. Finally a hida scan indicated blockage and they removed my gall bladder. I also had stones in my bile duct so make sure they check if they go in.

Hello:
i had my gallbladder removed 4 years ago because of gallbladder attacks and the presence of stones in my gallbladder. To my horror, about two years after this I started getting "gallbladder attacks" again without having a gallbladder. My original doctor who took out my gallbladder thought I was crazy. Anyway, after this I started going to a gi specialist to try to find out what it was. I had every test possible for any type of gi issue which were all negative, including mri and ultrasound to see if there were stones left in my tracts, which there wasn't. Finally, the conclusion is that I probably have what they call "sphincter of odi dysfunction" which is the duct that connects to your stomach and removes the bile. He thinks that it is not working properly and is causing the same type of pain that a gallbladder attack would. Anyway, I have to have a test called an ercp to see if this is what it is. Hopefully, it is because it can be fixed and I want have to have the attacks anymore. If you have no signs or gallbladder stones or stones in your ducts, it is worth seeing if this could possibly be your problem.

I cannot tell you happy I was to find this message board and confirm that i'm not crazy! About a year and a half ago when I was about 3 months pregnant with my first child I started having pain in my stomach area that was like a burning sensation. The only way I could explain it was to say it felt like heartburn that moved south or now that i've had my child, labor pains. At first I didn't know what was causing it but after the third time I had eggs I realized it was the eggs. I tried taking pepto bismal before I ate the eggs and that worked at first, but eventually didn't help at all and each time I had this pain it was worse.


Not long after I had my daughter I started having pain under my right rib, kind of like a spasm, like charlie horse in your leg only under my rib. I thought it was something you went through after having a baby but when I was at my mom's one day and doubled over grabbing my rib she asked what was wrong and I told her. She said that wasn't normal and sounded like my gallbladder cause she had hers out a few years ago. I talked to my sister who works at a doctor's office and she said it's pretty common for women who have babies to develop gallbladder problems.

I blew it off and dealt with the pain for about 6 months when other foods started bothering me and I went to the doctor. She ordered an ultrasound but they found no stones and the technician who did the ultrasound said I shouldn't give up if they didn't find anything cause all kinds of things can be wrong without having stones. I decided not to pursue it because the doctor didn't have me back in and I just figured i'd stop eating the foods that caused the pain.


However, it's another 6 months since the ultrasound and the spasms are happening everyday now and i'm not sure what is bringing them on. It's a constant pain under my right rib, sometimes the pain is sharper than others but it's constant now. Also, my list of foods has grown and i'm afraid to eat anything I don't eat almost everyday because I never know if the stomach pain is going to hit. I'm a stay at home mom with a one year old and when that pain hits I can barely stand, I can't risk eating something to bring it on. Currently I can't eat eggs, bananas, cantaloupe, chocolate, lasagna, or anything that has those items in them. New things keep popping up all the time, like the bananas. I ate them up until about a month ago but then they started causing the pain and i'd just had them about 2 weeks before.


Because we only have one income I don't want to have uneccesary tests done creating more bills so knowing the name of a test is extremely helpful! I just don't know what i'll do if I need the surgery cause my husband can't afford to take time off work to take care of our daughter. That's part of the reason i've been putting this off but the more I have the pain the harder it's getting to ignore.

Thank you for having some answers and reading this long message, but it's great to know that just cause there aren't gallstones doesn't mean i'm crazy!


Teresa

I just had my gallbladder out on 10/4 (2 days ago). Ive had pain on & off for about 4 years. Several docs thought it was my gallbladder but the tests kept coming back negative (ultrasound, hida scan, although I did have bad pain when they injected the cck, etc.). But every time I got an attack of pain, it was worse than the time before until this last time that the attack basically lasted about 2 months (severe pain, bloating, intense nausea- especially after eating) my gi doc couldn't find anything else wrong and said all the syptoms were consistent with gallbladder. He said he has seen cases in the past where tests came back negative but symptoms cleared up after having the surgery, so that is what I am hoping for. I'm in a lot of pain now but I hope the surgery will have been worth it. So, if you're having that many symptoms, ask your doc about having gallbladder out- I think it depends on the doc you talk to- how receptive they will be to taking it out- be persistent!- I was ready to go to as many docs as necessary to have this thing taken out! Good luck!

I'm scheduled for a ct scan tomorrow of the abdomen and pelvis, due to discomfort in the area of the gall bladder. I had an untrasound 6 months ago and they saw nothing there. However, they just discovered (6 months later!) that the scan does show some nephritis of the kidney and mild enlargement, so are doing a scan based on the family history of cancers in the area.
I'm very healthy, but have been tired and a bit bloated feeling along with the discomfort in the gall bladder area. I've been told that the hida test will be next if the scan shows nothing out of order. Will that be an indicator of whether the gall bladder needs to be removed?
I've been quiet about all this with friends and family, so it's nice to find a message board for discussion.
Thanks
susan

I also had a bad gall bladder attack at easter after a really high fat meal. I had been having (hot bolfball) symptoms the week before and should have known better. I have had several ultra sounds and don't have stones. I also had an elevated white count and uncontrolable vomiting. I have no insurance and the er bill was over $1000. My Dr. Suggested I go on a low fat diet. I find that if I don't eat over 30 g. Of fat I am ok most of the time. He gave me donatal for the spasms. Two good side effects...I lost 60 lbs. And my hot flashes dissappered.
Fyi. Both my son and sister in law have had thier gall bladders removed and also did not have stones...They were told that they had some kind of viral infection. I would have mine out except that I don't have 18 grand.

I have been dealing with this same pain for about 2 months. I have had a few attacks that were real bad over the last 2 years...But I kept marking them up to stress...I did the ultra sound and no stones...I was confused but persistent. (thanks to this site)
i cannot eat anything...I feel posioned...I sit down to eat and I get very sick to my stomach no vomiting though...I have this terrible pain between my shoulder blades, shortness of breath, pain under my ribs on right side, chest pain, bloated and generally unhappy stools---i feel like I got the flu but no flu.
I am scheduled to go for my hieda scan tomorrow morning.
I am thankful to all who posted here, as I am fairly confident that this is a gallbladder issue considering all the research I have done from tips on this site. Thank you all for posting!! Be blessed!

Read an article in discover magazine a month or two ago about someone with symptoms like yours and it turned oot to be a hiatal hernia. Sometimes the symptoms are similar and are missed.

I don't know if who you were replying to, but wouldn't that show up on an endoscopy? I had 2 of them done and no signs of that. Thanks for the info though. Digestive problems are so difficult because many of the symptoms overlap for different disorders.

Well, here is the deal I have been in pain for about a month. I was convinced it was my gallbaldder. I finally had it with the apin and went to the er. They ordered all the tests-ultrasound, hida-scan and an upper scope. Everything appeared to be normal. My gallbladder was functioning a little below normal, but was told it should not be problematic. Was released after 3 days. Still have a lot of pain and sometimes I think i'm crazy. It hurts in the front just under my right breast and then travels around to my back. Sometimes just below the shoulder blade other times right below my last rib. My doc says may be we should just try to take it out and see if symptoms disappear. I'm scared and confused

Did you get an actual copy of the test results for the hida-scan? What does the doctor mean by "a little under normal"? Mine was at 20% and I had it removed 2 weeks ago. The pain I was having in the center of my stomach and in the right ribcage is gone. Also the extreme nausea after eating is better. I would try to find out what the % ejection fraction was on your test results. It's a gamble to take it out if there is a question. In my case, I have not had any negative effects from the surgery (except the surgery itself) so it was worth it to know that it was taken care of. But some people experience problems after surgery, so it can be a gamble. When you get the actual results, post them so others can give you input on that. Good luck.

I have been told mine is only working at 4%, I am having mine out in less than two weeks but my pain is chest pain and pain down my left side, and when I have eaten the wrong foods its like having a heart attack. I have had a stress test heart is a okay but has anyone else had attacks like that?
I have had the all the scans and have never heard of a bad gall bladder with out stones just wondering thanks