Alleviating Pain During Gallbladder Attack

I used white vinegar because it was all I had

i found this on an american website and works for me....for the side and central rib pain, hold your arms above your head when an attack comes on (you can put your hands on your head if you want) and keep them there. This can be done standing, lying down or sitting down. If you get the back stabbing pain.....Standing up, hold your arms out in front of you- arms length from a tabletop or kitchen surface, legs apart and slightly back,bend forward until you are looking at the floor (45 degrees) and then lean down a little bit more....this helps drain the bile duct. You can also press hard on top/counter when the pain is bad...it stretches your upper back muscles out and moves the pain, which should dull (it won't go away but is tolerable until the attack dies down). Keep doing this until it dulls. Also, a reflexology method for cramp works. Pinch your bottom lip between your thumb and forefinger hard (it doesn't hurt) and hold it for about 30 secs when the pain is bad. Don;t know how it works, but it does!

The best thing for me is a very hot shower or bath for as long as you can stand it and then when you get out i lay in a recliner w/a heating pad on my back and I also use something {usually the remote} to push against the pain...just to the right, under my ribcage. I have had attacks for 2 yrs now and they last between 4 and 13 hours:(( I so do not want to get it taken out and hoping I can eventually find something that helps. Good luck!

Hi Everyone! I am not sure if I have gallbladder issues or not. But after my daughter was born (almost 5 months ago& I am 27yrs old) I had my first "attack" I thought it was just some severe heartburn that would last 5 hours. Well I had a couple more similar to that one and they would reside after 5 hours or soo but I wouldn't be able to go back to bed till the pain was gone..baths seemed to relax me and gave a some relief. I had one last month that kept me up all night and I couldn't take it no more I went to the ER and they said they don't think its gallbladder because the cat scan came back clear. from that the pain stayed there for about 3 days but wasn't nearly as severe and I was albe to sleep through the night and work during the day. They suggested peptic ulcer and prescirbed me the generic ofPrevacid. needless to say I didn't have the money to go pick it up and this now bring me to my most recent attack..Sunday evening before bed I just new it was going to happen it starts up like in my chest almost like hearburn..well I think I took a tums (can't remember) and I went to be well I was up at 1100pm with the severe pain and took bath after bath I literally took like 11 baths lol but I was able to relax better in there then in bed. When this happens I just feel like curling up in a ball. Well morning came and still pain and I decided to go get my rx but that is only a preventative for acid stuff. the pharmisist said I could take tyenol with this med and my doc said I can't take Ibprofin any more because if it is the ulcer it will make it worse. Its now Friday and I still have that constant pain but not soo bad that I can sleep and work. Last night I ate dinner and afterwards almost felt like my belly was going to exploade..like a huge gas bubble or something...I went to sleep and that went away..I have also been sleeping with a heating pad. I drank some apple juice this morning but it was concentrate..it seemed to help but I was driving and had my heated seats on and had taken a tyenol before i left work..so it could have been any of those things. I want to try the vinigar when i get home but if I have the ulcer issue it can make that worse..so I am in a catch 22. I plan to go back to the doc next week if it still hurts. it seems to hurt more on the right side when i push on my stocmah. but when I am just sitting here typing it seems like the burning pain is like in the center under my breast bone...so I don't know. has anyone elses lasted several days???

 Thanks the  person who suggested muscle relaxers .....It really made the pain bareable. sitting upright in a chair with heat also has seems to help alleviate the pain. My lips are have an oily film over them..has any one experienced this?

Just had an ultra sound today. It is my gallbladder and not peptic ulcer. I have stones, palups, and sludge. I dont know why the ct scan couldn't see any of this meet with the surgeon next week. Oh and my doc prescribed me muscle relaxer and it helped!

I have had it last 3 days at a time w/SOME relief, enough to sleep and function through the day but it was always there and then at night it would be a full blown attack again. This has happened 3 times where it lasted that long. I am certain yours is the gall bladder w/everything you are saying. Everyone seems to be a little different w/what helps. I have tried muscle relaxers, vicadon, aspirin and tylenol to no avail. What helps me {most of the time} is extremely HOT showers/baths, then a heating pad on my back, pushing under my ribcage where it hurts w/an object {remote control} and almost always if I get sick over and over again and there is nothing in my system it subsides quite a bit...then I sit w/the heating pad, remote control and sit as still as possible....I have also done the vinegar and apple cider vinegar and bc I did at least one of the other things I am not certain which one helped.

My first gall bladder attack was when I was 18, it was the worst pain of my life, so painful it caused vomiting. I was misdiagnosed with G.E.R.D. which I didn't realize until my next attack, at 24. I once again had to take a trip to the ER after being in excruciating pain in the fetal position on the floor for over 3 hours. When I arrived at the ER the pain medication I received did absolutely nothing for the pain and I was finally given Dilaudid, which worked wonders almost instantly. Ive had several more attacks since then.  Five of those within a 2 month span so I have alot of experience with them. I would rather have 10 more children with no drugs than to go through that pain again! Since then, I haven't had many because I have FINALLY realized what to do to avoid attacks, and there is really nothing on the internet that supports this or was never told to me by my doctor. However I would like to share with you my "miracle" treatment to avoid a full out attack. I realized early on that hot baths helped alot, but it was only temporary relief, as soon as the water would lose even a bit of heat, the symptoms would immediately return. Something told me to place a heating pad on the abdominal area of the gall bladder because this would provide constant heat as oppose to a hot bath. Wouldnt you know ever since, the minute I have any sort of symptom I immediately put the heating pad on and the pain has always subsided usually within the hour, so I haven't had to make any more trips to the hospital, which I would have thought would never been possible due to the amount of pain I was in. I wish someone would have told me about this years ago when my attacks first came about, just thought I would share. Not sure if it will work for everyone but its done wonders for me. Im trying to avoid surgery but eventually I may just have to bite the bullet and get it done because even with the heating pad relief, I hear that constant attacks can actually cause damage to your gallbladder, pancreas, and liver. Best of luck to all of you who suffer from this horrendous pain!

After reading other posts I see a couple people mention heating pads, but on the back area, if you actually place it directly on your stomach area instead of the back it provides almost immediate relief, atleast for me

I have actually put the heating pad on both my back and my front at the same time and it does help but you need to be really still and go to your "happy place" I also need to push w/pressure in the front to help alleviate the pain.

Will try this as it makes a lot of sense.I currently take two teaspoons of cider vinegar, two of honey and turmeric in fruit juice every day. Well known for being good for arthritis. Funnily enough ran out yesterday so didn't have any and had a gall bladder attack last night. Vinegar is well known for many medicinal problems. My husband swears by it. You can take it up to three times a day and with a strong juice like blueberry or grape juice the vinegar doesn't taste too bad.

That was Rude.......

My chiropractor told me to take a teaspoon of organic apple cider vinger twice a day and it would help dissolve my stones over time. So far its working.

I went to the er and they kept saying my tests came back clear and refused to try and diagnose me, finally a doc said that there's not stones but more like sludge( hundreds of little stones) try a different doctor some just don't care!

You are right about having the surgery, I did have mine removed, but my gall bladder was crystalizing, which is not good. I had it out in 2009, and still to this day, am NOT normal, and still have gall bladder attacks. But I will never have the stones since it was taken out, which is a good thing. so there are pros and cons to the surgery, and my attacks are not as often as they were while I had my gall bladder. Did not know about the tea, and I am an avid hot tea drinker every morning, I really haven't noticed a difference. My attacks can come first thing in morning, or in the middle of night while I am sleeping. I noticed that spearmint tums seem to help stop it before it gets worse. Lasts about 5 mins versus an hour if I take a tums.