I'm 21 years old, and at the age of 18 I had my gallbladder removed due to horrible cramps. They did some tests and determined that while I did not have gallstones, it was not functioning. After removing it (the doctor told my parents it was scarred and definetely needed to be removed) the pain continued. A certain type of side pain near the armpits dissapeared, but these terrible stomache cramps that I would get once in a while still continued. They would have me on the floor wailing at times, or hitting the wall. The dcotors said that sometimes after the gallbladder is removed, cramps continue and they don't know why. They also said that it's common to be somehow related to the menstrual cycle. I usually have these problems beginning about a week and a half before my period, along with all the mood swings and everything else.

Well, last year I woke up the morning after my birthday (I had done NO drinking, despite it being my 21st) with the horrible cramps. I ended up vomiting. It seemed to be more from just sheer misery than from nausea. That wasn't the first time the cramps caused me to vomit, but it WAS the first time that the vomiting lasted for four or five hours. It was a terrible day, nedless to say. Finally I fell asleep and when I woke up the horrible gagging feeling was gone and I could hold down food again.

Today, it happened again. The cramps were so horrible they woke me up and not long after that I proceeded to vomit....for NINE HOURS. My stomache still hurts pretty bad, but not as bad as this morning, and thankfully, I seem to be able to hold food and drink down now. I'm just relieved that I stopped vomiting. It happened exactly the same way it did last year, only this time it lasted almost twice as long. Once again, I finally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion and when I woke up (this time only a few minutes later) the gagging feeling was gone and I had stopped vomiting. My mom is concerned that I am actually so tense (which has caused many problems with me, such as pelvic floor dysfunction making urine passage a real problem) that now once I start vomiting, I get tense and can't stop. It's like my muscles keep spasming and they don't relax until I fall asleep and wake up again, even if it's only a few minutes of sleeping. Like last time, my period is almost due, although probably not for another week yet.

Naturally, I'm very concerned about this. Spending nine hours vomiting is not a very fun way to spend a day, and I'm worried that the amount of time I spend in this condition DOUBLES each time. Even if it IS only once a year that my cramps reach such a height of pain that I am vomiting, it's still too often for anyone to want to deal with. It's a living hell in every way. Recently I've been getting my cramps almost every single day and have found that it seems to be trapped gas which is usually rather quickly relieved by gas relief capsules. When these cramps come, there is a lot of flatulence and belching, and when I do so, it is a relief. The cramps that have been coming almost every day are usually mild and like I said, are relieved very quickly. But today is the SECOND time that not only were the gas pills not effective, but the pain was horrible and led to vomiting that lasted all day long.

Any insight into this condition would be much appreciated. I'd really, really like to prevent this from happening again.