Gallbladder disease with Opioid pain medication (Surgery often unnecessary)

I have had a weight issue since being on methadone, what i did not know is how much worse it probably was once i had my gallbladder removed. i was taking 60mg's 4X's daily, after getting so fed up with my weight issue because this just wasn't me i have lowered my dose to 30mg's 3 X's daily. The methadone works great for pain but like any other opioid it numbs your thoughts, feelings and libido!!! NOT GOOD! I choose exercise and healthy eating to treat my pain, it works so much better, but even reducing the methadone over half of what i was taking i still have trouble staying regular! it takes a lot of fiber to make my bowels function regularly! I've lost 70lbs and have about 40 to 50 pounds to go, but it has been difficult the last three months. I have hardly lost any weight in that time. Today when I picked up my methadone script the info included read, let your Dr. know if you have gallbladder problems, which is why I'm concerned! is the methadone and not having a gallbladder a lethal combination when it comes to losing weight or maintaining a good diet?

My fiance' was addicted to narcotic pain meds for years. he went to rehab 2 months ago. now he is having problems with his gallbladder. we went to er and it is inflammed. could the meds have caused it? also what can he take for the pain?

SAWL, Came across your post while googling my symptoms, but see this discussion is quite old. Are you still around! I hope so! I am scared and would like to ask you a question.

Who are you? You are awesome. Right now I am in pain from what I believe to be my GB. I would like to correspond with you about this and also an unrelated problem my husband has had for years . Total bladder retention where he has to self cath each time he has to urinate. He just yesterday turned 62 and this had been going on since he was in his early 50's. 

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Thank Mary

I would like to thank you for this post!!! I am scheduled for Hida Scan this Thursday. I have been taking opiod pain meds and told my husband a couple of days ago that it seems like when I take the pain med that when it wears off, the pain seems to be 10 times worse. This post makes a lot of sense to me. I am a 57 yr. old female. I will keep you posted as to what my dr. says about my latest discoveries. In the meantime, I have discontinued the opiod pain meds.

Hi. Reading your post with interest as I have had exact pains myself for a month and a half which started acutely after taking a cocktail of morpheine, paracetamol and flu medication. Had a ct and xray of my lungs showing up normal. Liver function borderline raised. I'm trying so hard to get an ultrasound but fear it might take another month or so. Is there anything I can do to convince my doctor that it might be my gallbladder? Anything I can do to ease the problem?

Ten weeks ago I had hip replacement surgery. My surgeon put me on Oxycodone 5 mil. 1 to 2 tablets every 4 hours for pain. Last week I ended up in ER with a gallbladder attack. They pumped me up with morphine and the pain went away. Here is my dilemma,, 37 years ago I had to have emergency surgery to remove a 20 lb. abscess. The abscess destroyed most all of my lower intestines. I think I only have 2 ft. left to work with. How will a possible gallbladder removal effect me and digestion in the future? Please advise ,, I'm very apprehensive and concerned.

I can't begin to thank you for this post. I have been desperate for answers to the severe pain I am actually experiencing right now and have since my GB removal 4 months ago. The pain I have is very similar to the gallbladder attacks I got before the surgery. One thing all the recent attacks have in common is vicoden. I take them for migraines. I took one earlier today and then another later on. I'm in sooooo much pain. I will stay away from vicoden now that I know this is a cause. Coukd you tell me why is causes this pain and how to relieve it??

I recently was given Vicodin for a pinch nerve in my neck. Neither the physician nor the pharmacist told me to take a stool softener while on the medication. The "suggestion" to take a stool softener or laxative was buried so far in the literature given to me that I never saw it, as I only read the first "warning" section. Additionally, no stickers warning of severe constipation were put on the bottle itself.

After almost 2 weeks of taking the Vicodin (along with Valium) I ended up in the hospital with severe constipation (no bowel movement for six days prior) and a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis and acute pancreatitis. The ultrasound showed a 3mm renal stone but only "sludge" in the GB. The doctor did an ERCP and sphincterotomy. Findings: normal endoscopy up to 2nd part of duodenum. Major papilla appears normal. No discoloration of the papillary orifice consistent with possible papillary obstruction. No stones were retrieved. Impression: Most likely passed a stone.

I was told by the surgeon that the GB needed to be removed.

Up until the episode that put me in the hospital I had never had even one symptom of a GB issue. I eat healthfully with lean meats and lots of raw vegetables. I drink an average of 50-60 oz of water daily.

My question to you is this … Could the Vicodin, and the resulting constipation, been a contributing factor causing an acute attack of an diagnosed GB condition? From all the research I've done my situation seems a little too coincidental to be unconnected.

Could the Vicodin, and the resulting constipation, been a contributing factor causing an acute attack of an UN-diagnosed GB condition? From all the research I've done my situation seems a little too coincidental to be unconnected.

Well I have this problem going on now Andy dr just told me that oppoa pain.meds does not cause this problem that it was once thought but not anymore and is wanting to takes gallbladder out please respond

Well hello there, Doc!
I'm extremely grateful that you'd reply to whomever has any questions regarding this, because I have a couple.

I've been on opiates on and off for about 5 years. Less than a year ago I was still addicted, and got clean about 8 months ago. Since then I've used opiates maybe 4 times on seperate occasions, and have just stuck to smoking pot and/or drinking alcohol. Back when i would still take hydrocodone or percocet I would take large quantities of acetaminophen (usually never more than 4gs/day if that) and would get upper/middle right side pain the next day formany days to follow. Eventually i stopped taking anything with acetaminophen bc i was scared i was damaging my liver..

Now, 3 and a half months ago this pain got worse. I drank pretty heavily for about 5 days before i realized it, and stopped drinking for about a month. The pain isn't constant, it seems to worsen with food/drink but not to anything specific that i've noticed. It really spikes when i cough or sneeze without tightening my stomach. However, 2 months ago i realized i've become completely intolerant to beer or malt liquer. Drank about 10 beers and didn't really get a buzz, got extremely drowsy and noticed a little extra mid-upper right side pain. That was until the morning came. I went to the bathroom and threw up more liquid than i ever had, and kept vomiting up lots of bile until there was nothing left to hurl. My side really hurt after this too. A week later i say screw it and down about 7 shots of vodka, and did not get sick at all the next day. I drank a bottle of red wine a few days later and was fine then too. I did, however, notice worsened side pain both times (big surprise.) About two weeks later I have the genius idea to go get some Johnny Bootleggers (pretty much the worlds cheapest, most disgusting malt liquer beverage) and drink 5 of them. They're about 10 oz bottles and 14% alcohol; point being i've drank so much more alcohol, even in this shitty form, and was fine. But nope. I got 3 times sicker than with the beer weeks prior, and the side pain the next day? It hurt all the way through my back, right under my shoulder blade, pretty consistantly the entire day. I was planning on going to the hospital after work that day, but I decided against it due to my busy schedule, and lack of health insurance or funds. Now i already have some medical debt, and i want to minimize it as much as possible, and that reason has kept me from getting it checked out for months.. But if you think i should go, or if you would go to the hospital if you were me, then let me know. Obviously I'm not gonna drink any alcohol or do any opiates for multiple reasons, and havent for about 2 weeks.. But it doesn't seem to have lightened up. Still really hurts when i cough and randomly throughout the day for no apparent reason.

Thank!

-GrandMaster at The First In Shite Church of Bob Saget

My Family Dr, who has also been my Pain Management Dr for 11 years, just talked me into switching to Oxycontin.
I had been on Methadone for 7 years and having tried many other pain medications in my first 4 years of pain, it by far worked so much better.
The Only reason for his wanting me to switch he said, was because of the DEA targeting Methadone due to the amount of deaths.
I have been on the Oxycontin for a month and my Quality of life has dropped drastically.
But aside from that, after two and a half weeks, I have started having Gallbladder attacks. I had been on 80 mg of Methadone a day. Was on 100 mg, but dropped to 80 two years ago.
I am on 80 mg of Oxycontin now. My question is this, can this be causing my Gallbladder attacks?? Or is one weird coincidence??
Thank you for your time,
Dawn Wilson

Many thanks for this detailed pist. Just wondering if the new medication that targets the opiod induced constipation mocantik would help this situation or worsen.

I wish I had found this article a year ago! I couldn't figure out why I'd feel sick after eating, and, I had back pain. In my rt shoulder blade. The pain was so bad, I went back to the Dr 4 times. We thought I had pulled some muscles. I spent June of 2015, in bed, on a heating pad and using lots of lidocaine. Ended up having excruciating pain in my sides/stomach, thought it was gas pain. One night, it was so bad, I ended up in the ER. Found out that my gallbladder was trying to kill me. Apparently I was REALLY sick. I'm just glad it's out and hopefully I'll get back to normal. :-)