Gallbladder Symptoms With Negative Tests

Hey Stacie,

Wanted to check in and see how your are doing?? Are you getting better?? Any of the old symptoms coming back?? I am in the same boat. My GI doctor thinks it could be Sphincter Of Odi because all my Gallbladder tests have come back normal (hida, ultrasounds, mri, eus) and so on. He wants me to do an ERCP, but I have heard horror stories. I am still not sure it is not my Gallbladder???

Thanks

Bryce, I'm doing great! I never have any more pain, no nausea, if I get sick it's from my food allergies and not any gall bladder (or lack there of) issues.

For me, the HIDA scan coming back at 99% was the unusal result.

If you haven't had an endoscopy done, I would. Even if it is just exploratory, the procedure is much better than laproscopic from a diagnostic perspective if they think it is a sphincter. I have a hiatal hernia which causes some of the vommiting and a LOT of heartburn and this was viewable on the endoscopy as well as the laprospcoy. As far an ERCP, I'm not to familiar with the procedure but I would suggest going endoscopic vs. laproscopic if you can.

After all the testing and gallbladder removal, symptoms remained.

HOWEVER - with much research and some great friends with the same condition, we have found the answer to our prayers at last.

My son age 26 suffers from non-equivalent abdominal migraines. His only symptom was constant nausea, no pain, and no other symptoms. He suffered to the point of kidney failure!

This is the coctail that has stopped all symptoms and given him his life back again:

MOST impt -----------> Topamax (generic = topiramate) 25mg every 12 hours (he noticed a difference in the way his stomach felt within minutes of taking this little white pill!)

Viibryd 40 mg once at night
Amitriptyline 50 mg once at night

I know that everyone's body chemistry is different and may not respond the same but I would highly suggest at least giving the topamax a try. It truly has changed his life. He has not had an episode in six months! Not even a twinge of nausea. He is free!

Please see your doctor!

i recent went to the ER and was dismiss because one out of three test was negative. They gave me pain pill and told me to come back in a month if i don"t feel any better, three other docters came in my room says yes remove, two others came in and said no. so now i go back to work.scared to eat because of reocurring pain. feeling bad but what do you do.

I am also having these issues- HIDA scan 64% and negative ultrasound- endoscopy enxt.  I get Bloated and gass after every meal.  IF i eat fatty foods my back under should blade gets all tingly.....  Lsat few weeks ive even been feeling a little foggy dizzy-- anyone else experience this with GB probleams??? It all started a cpl months ago with a little discomfort in my back and it has just gotten worse Daily..... ITs effecting my entire life and i dont know what to do!!! 

I dont get the extreme attacks like some people just constant discomfort all day and night.... plus that gas/tingliness after eating. 

Some one please help

This is a great threat! I am a 37 yr old female and also experiencing gallbladder symptoms with no diagnosis. My symptoms began little over 6 months ago where I would get pain in my right upper abdomen below ribs which feels like someone's punched me in the stomach. The pain almost disappears if I'm sitting down or lying down, but it's quite painful when I am walking or doing anything physical. The pain would last for a week, then subside, and after some time be totally gone only to reappear again in a similar fashion after a couple of months.

I've had an ultrasound, blood tests and endoscopy. The only thing they found was h-pylori infection for which I was treated back in November. Since that treatment I didn't have any pain and I thought great! BUT the pain has now come back with full force worse than before. I've also had low grade fever, and my doctor was sure it's the gallbladder because of the positive Murphy's sign on examination plus fever/ chills. He ordered another ultrasound which I had the next day and still clear (I'm still waiting on the blood results to come back)! I never thought I'd be so disappointed with negative results but I am.  Not sure what to do next. Whether to demand HIPA/ CT/ MRI scans or to ask to be referred to a surgeon. The pain is really affecting my quality of life, and making it hard to enjoy looking after/ playing with my children.

hi jshelton would be greatful if you could get in contact with me

I went two years having stomache pain in the upper right side of my stomache. I had test after test done and the drs all kept. Tellin me. " Nuthing wrong. Everything normal" its in your head ! However I knew their answers was. Anyway! . So after going to 6 stomache drs. I finally mentioned it to my urologist!! An he said well. I can remove your gall bladder. Its a shot in the dark! But if it doesn't help. Your gall bladder.could be ruled out ! I said let's do it !!! He done surgery removed my gallbladder and I haven't had any pblm since !!! Even tho the test showed my gall bladder was fine. When the dr took it out. It was diseased and said it looked like it had been diseased. For a couple years. !!!!: HMMMM. How coincidental is that !!!! So if the stomache drs won't help you. Go tell your. Urologist !!! ;). He will help you

Not to be too nosey but do you have insurance?Most time if you don't they will dance around helping you! I have some of your symptoms but not as bad. I know about the pain to an extent. Hope it gets better.

I see everyone's posts and just wanted to say I suffered 10 years and was convinced it was my gallbladder. So many tests and scans and everything came back normal. Finally convinced a surgeon to do surgery and my gallbladder was adhesed to liver and upper intestines. Final diagnoses: chronic cholecystitis with cholesterol polyps. No stones but sludge. My surgery was two years ago. Sad part is I'm still in pain but mainly from all the adhesions. A 6mm cyst was recently found on my liver and I now have been diagnosed with crohns disease in lower intestine. I really have no symptoms of crohns other than occasional diarrhea. My main complaint now is back pain in my mid back and right side ribs pain. Feels like a pulling pain and i get this wierd trickling feeling where my liver is. I also get chest tightness. I mainly wanted to say I am 100% positive gallbladder can be diseased and all scans tests and ultrasounds are normal. Diagnostic imaging is not completely accurate and unfortunately doctors use it as the gold standard for diagnosis rather than listening to patients symptoms

OMG, I have been having all these same issues on and off for 10 years. The past six weeks though have been non stop. Five years ago my GI doc recommended I have my gallbladder out but because my ultra sound was normal and Hida scan border line I decided to hold off. Recently ended up in ER and had normal ultra sound and hida scan again, except this time I can't get anyone to take it out. Tomorrow I go for CT scan, praying they find something. I can't take feeling so bad any longer. I've lost 15 lbs in six week and am still unable to eat. I also have a terrible metal/bitter taste in my mouth that get worse after I eat or drink anything. Has anyone experienced this? In all the years in dealing with this I never has this symptom before. Any advise would be greatly appreciated I'm at the end of my rope.

Angelday, when I read your post I felt like I was reading my own. I also was told I have a cyst on my liver but everything else is normal. How did you manage to find a surgeon to take it out with normal test. I'm at the point of just going to ER and demanding someone take it out but not if the pain remains. Have they been able to tell you why you're still in pain? I hope you get some relief and God Bless.

I too had the negative results. It all started in May 2014 and finally ended in November of 2014. Along the way were 5 ER trips. The first one they thought I had a reocurrence of a Pulmonary Embolism. A night spent at the Vascular Institute indicated otherwise. The second trip- they were mystified and sent me home with no answer. The third ER trip- they sent me home with a nice big bottle of Percocets (I hate those things!), and a 'tough luck pal' we're not gonna operate on you just because you're suffering, the Cat Scan, and both ultrasounds say you don't have a stone. The fourth ER trip- the same as the third- just no painkillers. The fifth ER trip, (where I was vomiting up Pepto Bismol) They gave me a shot of dilaudid, and sent me home. I just couldn't understand how they hell my gall bladder could hurt so bad and not have a stone blocking (clue- Acalculous, not all stones are detectable by the equipment). And  yes I did have a HIDA scan- but it somehow made my Gallbladder hurt EVEN MORE!!!   After the diarrhea- it got better.  A couple days after it, I tried to do a workout and I felt something rip in that spot and wouldn't  you know it- the pain got worse and stayed worse. FINALLY my trip to Endoscopy came about (appointment time waiting game), and I had a combo Endo and Colonoscopy- which ruled out IBS, Diverticula, and a couple of other things. The Endo went deep enough to view the Sphincter of Oddi. And it was fine. After another month, I was FINALLY able to bully my way into an appointment with an Endo Surgeon. Oh he gave me a hard time (I've only had one, maybe two, gallbladder removals with no stones that resulted in an improvement over my entire career!). He agreed to do it, but he was damned condescending about it. I finally had it done mid November 2014, and I was off the percocets within 2 days. I saw the surgeon a couple of days ago and the Pathologist's report came out- I had a "Chronically Inflamed Gallbladder", (no duh!). Mr. Surgeon's attitude had totally changed, he was almost on the verge of apologising, or perhaps I was projecting some humility onto him. Anywho- I told him he could put me down as #3 on the list of his entire career. I mean c**p. 7 months. I could feel just about every symptom in the textbooks with the exception of the actual gallstone being there. And the Fatigue! I had at least every 2-3 weeks a Fatigue so nasty it was almost unbearable to get out of bed and stay up. I ended up using ALL of my sick leave for this. It was freaking painful and I tell you I was suicidal at least 4 times. Thank goodness for my wife, and the VA being willing to pay for the cost of a therapist. The last couple of months I was on a Benzodiazepam to help me get over the panic attacks that would wake me in the middle of the night. The last couple of weeks have been spent weaning myself off of it. I'd have to say that folks in the medical profession in the Eugene Oregon area bending streams, have had their sense of empathy surgically removed with a chainsaw when they gained employment.

If the ER docs cannot find a gallstone in your gallbladder it's more than likely that they will refuse to do anything other than send you home with a bottle of narcotic painkillers. When it comes to doctors- you just have to keep at them until you find a surgeon who's willing to make some folding money (i.e. get paid to do a surgery). A cyst on the liver is not necessarily a good thing. I'd almost recommend getting the doc to do a liver cyst biopsy.

I'd recommend the HIDA/CT/MRI and Endoscopy. You don't want to go through the pain and expense of a gallbladder removal when it could be another gastrointestinal disorder.