Gallbladder Symptoms but all tests are Negative

What happened?

Read my post earlier on Page 3, I go into explicit detail of what I have been experiencing with suspected GB attacks, over the last 6 years. All the symptoms I have been experiencing are classic gallbladder attacks; however I was diagnosed with a Normal gallbladder by several physicians.

On Monday of this week I had an excruciating attack after work, and took 2 Lortabs to weather it out. I eventually went to the emergency room and was admitted and the next day given all the same tests again in this order:
CT Scan = Normal no stones detected
Upper endoscopy = I had a bad case of gastritis (swollen small intestine)
Ultrasound = Normal no stones, and GB appeared to be normal
HIDA SCAN == ABNORMAL! After 90 minutes on the table my GB failed to fill with bile the doctor said I had Acute Cholecystitis and I was booked for surgery!

I had complete blockage of my bile duct from the GB and no stones were present - the doctor says this occurred due to infection in my gallbladder that caused a blockage in my cystic duct.

After surgery I talked with my surgeon; gallbladder was enlarged due to the infection, several areas on the gb were blackened with gangrenous discharge seeping through perforations of the gb. Dangerous situation.

I potentially was hours from having a ruptured gb, which would have been very dangerous as my abdominal cavity would have been filled with bacteria, which would have put me on another topic board altogether, something like "I had a fatal/near fatal gallbladder rupture".

Had it not been for my HIDA Scan I would not have been diagnosed with an Acute Cholecystitis.

My advice, seek out quality health care!

Please go back to 1992...I had classic gallbladder symptoms/attacks for 5+ yrs. along with IBS and other digestive issues. Nothing showed up on ultrasound so my doc. determined I must be depressed and told me to avoid stress. A baby girl (my first/only) was born in 1988 without complications.

1992 - I have a severe attack. After extensive testing a CAT scan shows an enlarged gallbladder. They decide to wait until morning to remove it. I woke at 11 PM to pain that is unexplainable, even on morphine. They rushed me to surgery to find my gallbladder had ruptured spilling infection, sludge, stagnant bile, etc. thoughout my abdominal cavity. Three days later I am removed from a ventilator...seems I almost died as a result of sepsis. My gallbladder was 4x it's normal size and the walls were 3x the thickness of a normal gallgladder. Thankfully I don't remember much about those days. The 15 days I spent in the hospital were horrible with intense surgery site pain and the feeling my internal organs were wrestling with each other for position.

Now to the present 2008. I have continued to have IBS, which is now upgraded to IBD, possible Crohns, microscopic colitis and severe GERD. I am presently being tested for Celiac Disease as my antibodies indicate my immune system is reacting to gliadin found in gluten. I will have a second upper endoscopy this week. The first one was scheduled on advice of a GI doc but he neglected to take a duodenal biopsy as he failed to read my chart. He thought he was examining only my esophogus and stomach!

I empathize with the frustrations and anger felt by patients receiving this sub-par medical treatment. I almost died. At the time, I didn't want to deal with the trauma of a lawsuit. Now, 16 yrs. later, I wish I had enough money to go somewhere out of my local area to get decent medical care. It seems no one is accountable for these medical omissions...what makes me most mad is being poo-poo'd and patronized by these so called professionals. Don't give up...your life may depend on it.

Well I am posting here to hopefully lift all of your guys's spirits. I had similar symptoms to all of you for two years. I had every test under the sun and everything always came back negative. I went through many diagnoses from IBS, functional abdominal pain, to that it was all in my head and that I was depressed. All of this time deep down inside I knew that there was something else wrong. It got to the point where i could barely eat anything. Finally after two year of being in and out of the hospital I found a surgeon that was willing to take out my gallbladder. I was able to eat whatever I wanted prettymuch right after my surgery and I have been healthy ever since. I just want all of you guys to know that you should not give up and keep on fighting you know your body the best out of anybody and you should follow your gut feeling.

Wow.
I thought I was completely alone in my struggles but it appears so many of you have been through exactly what I have been through.

I have had gallbladder symptoms on and off since 2005.
Usually it only flairs up every few months and is often triggered after a few nights out drinking, and unfortunately I had a huge weekend last weekend celebrating Australia Day and have been sick ever since.
(you'd think I'd learn - but I am 25 and want to at least have some sort of a life!!)

My symptoms are:
* Heartburn
* Nausea
* Light headedness
* Headache in my eyes
* Constipation & Diarrhea (it alternates)
* Bloating
* The feeling that my foiod isnt digesting
...and while most of you say you have pain in the right abdomen under your rib cage, mine is actually under my right ribcage on the back! (does anyone else get this???)

I have had CT scans, an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy, all which came back negative, A few hospital visits, and was made to feel by the doctors that I was putting it on and should go home and "take some Mylanta" ...are you kidding me!?!?

I am at my whits end - and am scared that I am going to lose my job from the amount of sick days I have been having. The doctors just don't seem to care and no-one is listening to me!!!

Anyway - I'd love to correspond with anyone in a similar situation.

thanks
Matt


**edited by moderator**

For the past two months i have been having severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, pain in my back by my shoulder blades. I have had two ct scans the first showed a kidney stone, gave me vicodin and said it would pass, one month later back at the ER and they said it was still the kidney stone. Seen my GI doc and she has done colonoscopy(normal), EGD(normal) ultrasound(showed kidney stones) i am going 2-6-08 for a HIDA scan and i hope they find something because the pain is unbareable, i have already lost over 10 pounds. Its seems like i am in a lose-lose situation if i eat im in pain if i dont eat i am still in pain. So i kinda know what you are all going through!!!

I had my HIDA scan today and the test was unbareable I seriously thought i was going to die, the pain was so intense when they injected the cck and i thought i was going to vomit. I talked to a friend that works at the hospital and he said that he would probably see me in surgery. I would like to know if any one else got sick during the test it would reasure me.
sincerly michelle

I too became extremely neauseated when they administered the CCK i was in so much pain they had to stop the procedure i saw a surgeon the next day and im having my gb removed next week.. i have acalculous gallbladder disease. good luck and i hope you get some relief

My 13 yr old daughter has been vomiting for 6 months with severe nausea and stomach pain. She had an endoscopy, MRI of brain to rule out brain tumor, ultrasound of pancreas, liver and gallbladder, HIDA scan, blood and urine work, barium swallow - and all were negative. Gastric emptying showed slow motility and HIDA scan had some abnormalities but the test was considered normal. She is on a naso gastric feeding tube placed in duodenum as she vomits if anything comes into the stomach - even sips of water. she is vomiting up formula - pain is increasing - nausea is worse - cannot go to school - getting depressed - feels awful - currently taking promethazine for nausea, eryhromycin for motility problems, prevacid for reflux and amitryptiline for motility - please offer suggestions.....advice.....inspiration.....prayers. We are at a loss for treatment.

I have had the same problems. Since August 2007 I have been having recurrent bouts of moderate to severe pancreatitis. I have been to the ER a million times and all my gallbladder tests come back normal so everyone refuses to take it out. I don't drink, nor do drugs. I just got back from the ER tonight again with the same issues. Since I have no health insurance the ER is my primary care doctor it seems and since I have went there so much for the same problem I am now labeled as a drug addict although every drug test I have ever had come back completely normal with no trace of any drug in my system. My mother was misdiagnosed with gallbladder disease for 15 years. All of her test came back perfectly normal until she was having surgery for something else and the doctors caught a glimpse of her gallbladder and it was ready to burst do they took it out. What is wrong with doctors? Why can't they treat the patient and not the test results????

I too am having severe RUQ pain that comes and goes and I seem to always feel nauseous. I have also been experiencing nausea and vomiting when I eat. I had an ultrasound that was negative and then I had a HIDA scan. When the CCK was injected I become very hot, got really nauseated and had the severe spasm pain in the RUQ, but the results came bace within normal limits so I'm not sure what is going on. My symptoms are like gallbladder attacks, but all tests are coming back normal, any ideas?

I am a 32 y/o Female that has had gastrointestinal problems my ENTIRE life. I will preface this by telling you that I have been constipated ONCE in my entire life and that was after an 8 hour plane ride and it was miserable. I am lucky enough to experience what I call a "peanut butter consistancy" type poo about 3 times per day my whole life. That has been the norm for me.

I noticed at a young age that I had zero tolerance to steak. I do enjoy steak, but I recall that after eating it, the next day I would hover in misery as my poor stomach writhed in pain as my intestines were having snake fights until I could find the nearest toilet to unleash my fury on. I am still postive to this day that none of my elementary teachers have ever had a student who's gastrointestinal habits mimicked that of a war veteran with dysentary. The weird thing is, I can eat beef, like hamburger...just not steak.

There were other times as a kid I would have poo problems, but I really never correlated it to anything that I could pin it down to other than steak, that I knew for sure. But I would become acutely afflicted with the , If you don't get out of my way or get me to a bathroom right now I will c**p all over you or myself, syndrome for years. I still have that to this day, but I seem to wake up with it in the middle of the night with it now. Thats a blast! There is nothing better than having disabling diarrhea cramps out of a sound sleep. The kind where you have to lay there for a minute because it hurts too bad to get up and walk. Then to sit on the toilet, sweating, heart pounding, nauseous until it decides to finally come out, taking every ounce of energy out of me for the following day.

So, fast forward to a night of drinking when I was 22. I recall making a small totino's pizza and then going out with my dad. I don't typically drink with my father, but one of his co-workers had a relative who did drag, and this girl begged my father to go. He would only go if I went. So, of course I wanted to see my dad's reaction to that environment so we went. I would only say that I had 3 or 4 beers and a TON of fun. Until the next morning. OWWWWW!

It felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife under my sternum and twisting it upwards. I called my father bawling. I thought I was having a heart attack. He called an ambulance and they rushed me to the hospital. I had an as****e doctor who seemed to think I had heartburn from my crazy night of drinking. (Do not mention to ANY DOCTOR if you have had a SIP of alcohol before a bout of severe stomach pain) That will end up to be your diagnoses. HANGOVER or HEARTBURN. He referred me back to my primary for follow up if the pain conitnued.

Let me tell you, I had to walk hunched over. EVERYTHING I ate came right out. Im telling you, If I drank pepto it came out pink. If I chewed up bread, it came out like it just left my throat from being chewed. I was miserable. The pain lasted for about a month. I went from like 160 to 103 pounds that quickly.

During that time, I had a colonoscopy, barium enema (my personal fav) o.O Upper Gi, small bowel follow through, endoscopy down the old gullet, went to Nuke Med to have the projection test on my gallbladder (which the second they injected me with that craziness I had a bout with the let me up or I will poop all over you and this table and myself) But apparently thats normal???, CT Scan, MRI, blah blah blah. Of course I was diagnosed with IBS. My gastro gave me what I think to be Nexium. I took that and it went away. Never to be bothered again.

Until now. In or around about June, I got this annoying pressure under my ribcage on the right side of my belly that felt like it went up under my ribcage too. Sometimes, it felt as though it was in my back. It would not go away. It wasn't a pain, just a pressure. I noticed my poo again was light in color and tended to want to float. Mine usually sink. I also felt a tad light headed at times and seemed to have a fever. I also noticed my food seemed to want to come back up if I layed down, but not really a heartburn feeling, I could just feel my food there. Also, if I laid down, I could almost feel the gurgling but in the wrong spot, I felt in on top of my ribs.

I go to my fam doc. She puts me on a 6 week sample of Protonix. Works like a charm. Only to find out upon going off the Protonix, the symptoms came right back. So, back to the doctor. Well, guess what! My insurance company will not cover Protonix until I try the lesser of the evils. So I try Prilosec. NOPE. Prevacid. Works enough that I can live. I feel a tiny bit of pressure, more so like someone is poking me with their finger and it won't go away, but that is doable for me, only annoying. However, when I drink or have a lot of caffeine, I feel as though the bottom of my rib cage on the right side is broken. I come to the conclusion that the pills are masking the problem and I am sick of paying for it and off I go back to the doc.

She suggests that I have an Upper GI Small bowel follow through. So, off I go to that. They thought I was a CHAMP! I drank enough barium to kill two small horses. I begged them to not drink anymore, I could feel it coming back up my esophagus, although they said they couldn't see that. Afterwords for the rest of that day and the next, I felt like I had a runners cramp that wouldn't go away. I stayed home from work, I didn't like that so much.

She checked my liver, pancreas, gallbladder. She also checked me for H Pylori. She did my cholesterol and it is RIDICULOUS!!! My bad cholesterol should be under 100 and mine is 206. I wonder if that is a contributing factor.

Today I went to what I hope is a solid gastroenterologist. He seems pretty cool I told him my frustrations from years ago and no one being able to tell me what is wrong with me and he said that together we would figure it out. He did mention that some people do have gallbladder problems but the tests always do come back negative. He actually said that gallbladders can act like "buttholes" sometimes. The problem with that is, its hard for an insurance company to want to pay for the removal of said anus when all the tests come back negative. >;)

So, I guess we will see.

I am a 22 yr old male. I experienced 3 months of all the symptoms most people report having with gallbladder disease: RUQ pain, rapid weight loss, couldn't eat, and more. I had all the tests; blood, urine, stool, Ultrasound, HIDA (yes I felt horrible with cck), and EGD, all of which came back normal. Total I lost 27lbs in less than 3 months. My GI told me that I would never find a Dr. that would take out my Gallbladder. I didn't believe him. All he wanted to do was more tests.....and more tests...and if those didn't show anything either then I just had irritable bowel syndrome..... So I did what he said I wouldn't be able to do. I went to a surgeon. Went through everything with him, including the opinion of the GI. He said that it was his medical experience that I had Gallbladder disease and that it needed to be removed. Since removal (done Laproscopically) I have felt AMAZING! No pain, I can eat virtually whatever I want, and most importantly I have the justification of know what was wrong with me! My advice is to do what you think is right; afer all it is YOUR HEALTH!

I've been having the exact same problems for the last 6 weeks and every test has come back negative or normal. I'm at my wits end. Thing with me is that I haven't lost much weight. I'm so bloated that I look like I'm going to birth and elephant. They say my gallbladder is very healthy. The CCT didn't make me sick but I'm just wondering what good the test does if I haven't eaten in over 10 hours and they're just putting a liquid in me for the test. Heck, I get sick when I EAT not drink!

i am having the same issues all the test are negitave and noone will remove it and i cant afford any more test has anyone found a solution????