Alleviating Pain During Gallbladder Attack

am suffering right now a gallstone attack and it's killin me, the only thing i can do is put a heating pad on upper side of my stomach and lying on a bottle with hot water to ease the pain,its 3am and am still awake cause of the pain.....

Does it matter what kind of liptons it is?

When my attacks start they last about a full day sometimes two days, ive been in and out of hospital because inflamation spread to my liver one time n the second time my pancreas im finally getting them removed in august !

It depends. The shortest one I had was about 3 hours and the longest one was an entire week where I thought I would die. The pain never stays the same, goes up and down, but you can still feel it. And, there are periods in between attacks when I feel healthy as ever and I can eat all kinds of food without feeling sick. Then one day I eat something extremely greasy like a hot dog or a burger, or spicy like chicken wings, and a couple of days later I start developing pain slowly but surely. My doctor doesn't believe me. He says gallbladder attacks come immediately after eating greasy foods. I've eaten Cheetos, fried chicken, pork chops, and pizza with no attack whatsoever. It is weird. But, after fighting this disease for about 2 years I am ready to have my gallbladder out in 3 weeks. It couldn't come soon enough as it is 4:21am and I just vomited sand for the first time.

Same here. My surgery is August 27th. I was getting cold feet but this attack I am having right now confirms what the doctors have been telling me the past 2 years, it's going to get worse unless the gallbladder is removed.

I hope my outcome is similar as yours. I really didn't want to get the surgery, but after my last attack lasted for a full week, where I had to take oxycodone (from a root canal) to withstand the pain at night to be able to sleep, and ibuprofen in the morning every 4 hours to be able to work, I decided enough is enough. I didn't go to the emergency room though. I have insurance , but it is the cheapest one there is and doesn't cover much. Even now that my surgery is scheduled, I have no clue how much this is going to cost me.

Doctors don't like alternatives to surgery in the case of gallstones. But, yes you can ask for more tramadol. I asked my gastro if he could give me a strong pain killer like oxycodone but that it were non drowsy, and he gave me tramadol. Today is the first day I am taking the tramadol. I hope it works. Good luck!

These pains started for me three weeks after I have birth. Was diagnosed as heartburn for about three months before the dr got me an ultrasound and found stones. Originally the pains were more in my chest but now stay in the top if my stomach. Sometimes these range from 3 to 15 hours with most intensities between 7&10. My back hurts terribly but I will sit in a massage chair snd if helps some. Hot showers give me temporary relief. Sitting up is usually better than lying down for me. They always hit around 6pm. I have gone as much as 3 weeks with no attack but then will have them 2-3 days in a row. Since it was always thought to be heartburn, I didn't take any pain meds other than naproxen. These are truly terrible and I cannot imagine them while pregnant! Looking extremely forward to surgery in two days. Hoping for good recovery and not terrible side effects such as loose stools. Anything has to be better than the pains. I can't even take care of my babies when I have these episodes.

 

Thank goodness for this post. I have had 5 of these attacks in the last couple months.  I'm pretty sure it is related to gallbladder. Is anyone keeping track of what you are eating on the days you have the attack.  Also how soon you go sleep after eating.. I heard that could be a cause of the attack.

For me out of 5 times of the attack 4 of them I had a cheeseburge and french fries (McDonalds, Five Guys) the night I had the attack.  And most times went to sleep not long after eating.  The attacks are last 6+ hours. Taking a hot shower allevaites the pain a little but like everyone says once you get out the shower the pain comes back.

When  yall talk about surgery are they taking the entire gallbladder out or just the gallstones? I thought they just took the Gallstones out, but everyone is saying the gallbladder.

I never take any pills but now i must from this pain. When yall say Ibuprofen is that the name of the pill or just general name for Advil or Tylenol. I took Extra Strenghth Tylenol but didn't seem to help.  May have to go buy some Apple Vinegar but the comments on how awful it tastes has me hesitant.

I have been dealing with major pain in what appears to be my gallbladder and while I have all of the classic symptoms the one thing I am lacking that others have described is the pain in the shoulder blades. I get major aching/pain in my right side almost at the peak of the breast/ribcage , I belch a lot, have become nauseated, I get so bloated I look like I'm pregnant, and then there are the other classic tell tale signs that I just don't want to mention. I have been self treating with beet juice as it is relieving the symptoms of spasm, because it sometimes feels like the gallbladder is spasming, but the attacks are happening more frequent. I was doing really well on a diet change and thing were feeling a lot better, but yesterday I broke down and had a hamburger for McD's, last night into this morning I find myself wanting to curl into a ball and just lay there. This sux. Saw a doctor at the ER once because it was so bad to which he informed it wasn't my gallbladder however he never did a CT Scan to confirm, but he did give me a GI cocktail (which ultimately stopped the pain) go figure. I'm just sick of it. Tired of feeling like I'm being punished for eating.

I have had 3 attacks so far, but my Dr. is not 100% convinced it's from gallbladder. I had all the tests, after going to the Dr.'s with chest pains. I thought it was heartburn, but nothing helped relieve the pain. All my tests came back normal. Then after a few days, I had 2 more attacks. I went back to the hospital, and they did the b/w again, and the enzyme in my liver came back slightly elevated so they did an u/s and it showed I had 3 gallstones. The Dr. referred me to a specialist GI- so I am going to call this week to set up apt. I don't have the sypmtoms that everyone here has mentioned, and that's why the Dr. still thinks I may just have a bad case of acid reflux because I don't have back pain, or pain in my stomach. I do feel bloated, and I have chest pain, right in between my breasts. It's so painful!!! Anyway, people were asking what helps reduce the pain....Definitely Tylenol!! Ibuprofen for sure!! The Dr. told me to avoid motrin, and advil or any other anti inflammatory type medicine. Also, hot shower works great, relaxes me. I also found sucking on pepermints helps too! My friend who is a nurse told me peppermint tea works wonders also!! I fear of having another attack, it is scary, and I get so anxious which I know makes it worse! Thank goodness the tylenol works! I was Rx by the Dr. an antacid, take it every morning....but he told me it won't start working for about a week and to take tums or whatever with it (Tums does nothing)- anyway...good luck everyone!! I can't believe all of a sudden this is happening with me, out of the blue, I have these attacks, after always being so healthy and feeling so good! It's scary because I never know when they are going to come on. 

 

I agree about the surgery. My mother has had chronic diarrhea for over 20 years since having the surgery. She has to take Questran power that she mixes with water and drink before any meal out, just so she has time to get to a bathroom after eating. I will try all home remedies before surgery.

Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in some apple juice is supposed to help with the pain and I think I have finally discovered my trigger food allergy: GLUTEN!

Okay, why no narcotics? It's the only thing that's keeping me alive at this point.

I just wanted to leave a comment vouching for use of apple cider vinegar for pain relief. All of my attacks have come roughly 3 hours after falling asleep, and I have been able to prevent the last few attacks from reaching the excruciating pain stage. I see that many people are grossed out by Apple cider vinegar, but it doesn't hurt to mix it with a couple other ingredients. I have been using 2 tablespoons of ACV mixed with a splash of fruit juice and maybe 4-6 ounces of Sprite. It really masks the ACV taste and (for me) provides speedy relief.

I'm pretty sure that eating low-fat (or skipping meals) can cause the stones to form in the first place, due to the gallbladder not being emptied regularly. The bile in it sits there and becomes stagnant. Darned sure that's one of the things that does it. Hence, eating low fat will not stave off an attack for ever but just clog your gallbladder up all the more. At least, that's what I reckon :-) Incidentally, what is a healthy diet, anyway? We've been told for quite a few years now that a high-carb and low-fat diet is healthy but maybe it's been harming those if us who've been eating that way.