pain after gall bladder surgery

Hi
I would just like to add to this growing list of people who have had the same as myself! I had my gall bladder removed 5th May 2008, its is now sadly 5th December 2008 and i am still off my work sick with constant pain and no explanation as to why this should be!! I am in so much pain i am now on Morphine & Amatriptaline, which take the pain down but its still there, edding my life away. I just want to get well and get back to work!

I had gall stones for 4 years prior to the opp, and expected to be back at work within 2 weeks, all :-D and happy, but no, i have had infections, constant pain,pain killers that just don't work and no one is taking me seriously!!! It was put to me that it could be phantom pains , like when you loose a limb ????

I have been waiting for a CT scan since July 08, and there has been some breakdown in communication with the departments in the hospital, and apparently i have been removed from the waiting list because, I AM NOW OVER 25 STONE!!! I have NEVER been 25 stone in my life!! I can't get over the fact that my medical treatment has been delayed because some fool has decided because, i am big lady,i must be too big for the CT scanner, and i therefor must be over 25 stone!!!! I am ill! I want my life back! I have no money, because i can not work! Give me my life back !!!!!! I am so :-(
My mental health is now on a down turn too! When will this end???
CAn anyone help me please???

After a few years of suffering with pain on my right side just under the rib cage and pain in the right shoulder blade, my doctor decided that after many gall stones he would remove my gall bladder. This was June 2007 and I've had pain ever since. 6 months after surgery, I began to experience the same pain I had before having my gall bladder removed. I went for a CAT scan and my doctor said everything was okay. I thought maybe a stone somehow escaped and caused this pain. I've been living with this pain since that time. About a month ago, the pain began to get worse. I went back to the doctor and had blood work done. I was told my liver enzyme count was elevated. I went for a sonogram and was told my liver and right kidney was enlarged. I also found out after the sonogram that my liver enzyme count returned to normal. They found no stones in the bile duct, no sludge, no kidney stones etc. They cannot give me an answer as to why I am still experiencing this pain. I am seeing a gastroenterologist next week. I don't know what he will tell me; after all I've had all tests perfomed. In addition to this pain and after the gall bladder removal, I've had more gas, more diarrhea, more constipation, more burping, more belching and acid reflux. I still have a soreness under my right rib cage, pain in the right kidney, sciatic pain - things that I never had before the removal of the gall bladder. I cannot eat anything with olive oil, tomato sauce, mayonnaise - it goes rigtht through me. It seems to me that this is something I will live with for the rest of my life. :'(

Help !! I had my gall bladder out 2 years ago, If I knew then what I know now . there is NO way I would have had the surgery. My right upper side under my rib cage is so painful. Also in my back about mid ways down. Even when the pain is not there, it stays sore !!
At night since I lay on my right side and on my back ONLY I am hurting and very sore in the morning when I wakeup... which should I say the pain wakes me up. I really don't understand why I am still having this pain.
I also have the gas and bloating and belching... and the bathroom problems. { I just won't go there with that } o.O .... Please is anyone elese suffering from this...
I am going to the Doctor this coming week , I know she is going to send me for test.. I am not looking forward to that... any feed back would be great... thanks

I too am having more pain since my gallbladder removal than before. I had my gallbladder out laproscopicly on March 4th, 2009. Its now March 20th 2009 and I have mild to severe pain under my right shoulder blade that doesn't seem to go away.
Prior to surgery I had some mild pain there, but nothing like this.
My surgeon took blood work and all liver and pancreatic enzymes were fine. Now what?
I am so sorry for all of you that are experiencing this. Pain is a miserable thing to have to carry around.

I had my gall bladder out 9 mths ago and just the last month I have been having pain where it was and it goes to my back and it is non stop. if i cough or take a deep breathe it hurts do any of you get that too?

I think its absolutely amazing how many ppl are having problems after the procedure and NO DOCTOR seems to know why.
Shouldn't this be a sign that gallbladder removal may not be a good idea????

I had mine removed in Jan of 2009. I was fine up until 2 weeks ago. I've been in disabling pain. I can't walk, move, function correctly. I can't work, sleep, eat, walk, run. I can't do anything.
I went to the ER 4 times. EACH TIME I HAD TO BE CARRIED ONTO A STRETCHER because I could NOT climb onto the bed. I ahve passed out from the pain. I've fainted and got a concussion from it.
They have done every test that can be done to figure out what is wrong....
AND NOTHING!

The only thing that does help is literally! a liquid diet. Tea, yogurt, blended fruit. I IN NO WAY SUGGEST THIS TO ANYONE! It is what helped me. I've lost so much weight in the past three weeks, and I'm continuing to loose more.
I'm heading back to the hospital tonight and I'm hoping that they will have a solution for me. Because I can not live like this any longer.

Thank you to those of you who have thrown some possible solutions out there. I wish I had known all of this before having surgery a week ago. I have just gotten home from the ER again in more pain than before. I was given an IV of morphine, which didn't even touch the pain. I am now being looked at like I am pushing for pain killers just because I have told the ER doctors that the morphine did no good. I had a CT Scan and blood work done, and started thinking this was all in my head. At least now I know that it's not just me. I will keep you posted if I find any results from my ventures to other doctors.

I had my gallbladder removed 4 years ago, I suddenly for the last year have been having some unnerving symptoms that cannot be explained yet I know deep down it has to do with the gallbladder removal...
-unusual burps and belches that make you nauseated and smell terrible
-pain where I used to have pain during an attack
-nausea
-fatigue
-decreased bowel function
-horrible heartburn
and most of these symptoms will last for days... what am I to do??! I feel almost as crappy as I did before the removal.. and I hadn't been able to go to the g.i. doctor but the regular ones have ruled out parasites, ulcers, and any other anomalies...

I have been all over the internet reading about gall bladders. You would think I would have something better to do. I had my gall bladder removed when I was 18 years old 38 years ago. I also had the knife as the removal tool. I had no idea what a gall bladder was let alone know what the surgery entailed, however, I would have died if the thing wasn't removed as I had large gall stones the size of Cocoa Puffs as my grandmother put it; and infection. I had run to the hospital at least once every two weeks for nearly two years and they would shoot me with morphine that didn't help one bit, the pain was still there but I was too doped up to complain about it. So really had gall stones when I was 15 or 16. At the time my doctor told me I was the youngest person he had ever diagnosed with this. I see many posts now that are from very young people and in fact my own son at the age of 23 had to have his removed. I am sure that it has to do with the diet we are now subjecting our stomachs too. For all of you who have just had surgery it does not get better, and I hope that someone finds something to make it better. I don't care what anyone tells you...if you take a part out of your body something is going to suffer. Remember when tonsils and adenoids where removed with no thought at all? Well they say the tonsils and adenoids are not needed ... false, now they won't take either out unless you have a long history of problems. I just look at it like this, everything in my body must have a reason to be there cause I don't think we have spare parts. I take my car to get it fixed and when they fix it something else breaks so is this not what happens to our body as well? I have had all kinds of symptoms after the surgery. One that is most prevalent is the eating and running to the bathroom. Now you would think if you eat and then do a 2 minute jog to the potty you would not be gaining weight ... which leads me to symptom 2 ... weight gain and not only that; it's weight that seems to be centered over the spot where the freaking gall bladder was removed. Mid-stomach area. It is uncomfortable when you sit, lay down and it feels just like someone stuck a bunch of wood under your ribs. I haven't felt this way since I had kids and I know all you woman know what it feels like to have a kids foot under your rib cage! This is the same feeling only worse. Symptom 3 and this one is the strangest of all ... sometimes when I grab for something and use my stomach muscles I feel like someone took a pair of pliers and pulled my guts out, it's like something dropping from my ribs to my lower stomach and the pain is horrible. I was told this is a muscle spasm around the surgery ... WHAT is that about? Symptom 4 at times I feel like I can't get up, I get depressed and tired to the bone, so tired it hurts if that is possible and I believe it has to do with my liver after having a few blood tests reveal that it is not working well, I don't drink much so I haven't fried my liver. I have a lot of muscle and joint pains that keep me from doing certain types of workouts. My vitamin D is almost non existent again this may cause the tired feelings too. Year after year I keep thinking it's going to get better but year after year it gets worse and worse. If I keep going I will be a puddle of doo doo in another few years. Doctors will not or cannot give me help so I really don't understand why they would take something out unless they knew how to give a person some kind of quality of life. Yes the pain was bad when I had the attacks but at least the in between times I was normal. Anyone who says that your life does not change after this surgery is a nut case ... just imagine only having one of these symptoms, the most common, stomach dropping ... I have totally stopped going out to eat because of the embarrassment of running to the bathroom and waiting until everyone leaves in order not to scare them all away with the explosion and waiting makes your eyes pop out and the pain is excruciating to say the least. Just imagine you can never go anywhere and eat without this happening. It's not always just food that does it either like when I first had the surgery, now it could happen if a drink a glass of juice or even water so it has gotten worse. If I knew then what I know now I think I would rather have been put out of my misery.

Hi,
I had my gall bladder out 12 weeks ago. Have been suffering with pain in the lower ribs now for about 5 weeks. Today I finally figured out what it is. The pain is gas. Comes from eating a normal size meal. I cut back to very small portons of food several times a day and I have no pain. Also if I do eat a larger portion and get some pain I walk. Walking seems to stop the pain also. Hope this helps someone.

I had my gall bladder surgury 12 weeks ago. For the past 6 weeks have had pain in lower ribs and back. I have found that walking makes my pain go away temporaraly. The best thing I have found is to eat very small portions of food at one time. Eat several small meals per day instead of the normal 3 meals a day. Hope this helps someone. I found this out by process of elimination. I ate normal had pain, I ate nothing all day, just water and coffee-had no pain. Started to eat small portions- no pain.

35 yr old male, overweight, bad diet. gallbladder removed last week and was ok for 5 days then got very nauseated and vomiting insued for 2 days. saw doc for post op check up one week and told him, he said to wait another week and go from there. my eyes werent yellow from jaundice and no fever or runs. doc said to eat light , no fried or fatty foods and lots of liquids to help with dehydration.

2 days later after doc appointment im feeling better, been eating soup and crackers, lots of water, cereal in the morning. been nauseated a little but no vomit. no pain in right side at all, just left mid section a little. i think my eyes seem a little yellow so i will call him if it worsens or keeps up. man is this a pain in the ass or what?

after much googling and reading, i have come to find that you are not supposed to eat fatty or fried foods, red meat, pork, cola, coffee,mayo, chocolate and so on. avoid caffiene also. ive also read that some people swear by gallbladder flushes,do not buy into this quack medicine- flushes do not get rid of gallstones and will agitate your gallbladder even more as it has to deal with all the olive oil-yuck.

i will try to post more info as i go thru this as i know it will help many of you that are searching for help. if anyone has any questions about the process with more detail , :D :D

I am a 26 year old female and had my gallbladder removed at age 25. I did not have stones but it was enlarged and thickened with cholesterol. I was having the typical symptoms - stomach pain, I felt tired, pain in between the shoulder blades etc.

I had my gallbladder removed by LAP in mid Feb of this year. I was in the hospital for about a day an a half following the procedure. My gallbladder was so enlarged that they had to do an extra few steps to actually get it out the small incision. They sometimes have to do that in the case of stones as well from what I understand.

I felt perfectly fine (aside from the pain from the incisions) until the middle of the night after I returned home. I woke up and had to run to the bathroom. I vomitted 7 times in less than 30 mins and it was all the way down to the green bile! It was horrible. After that I had to go back on a liquid diet for a few days because I was having persistent diarrhea and was also becoming dehydrated. I was off work for nearly 2 weeks and felt weak afterwards for about a month. I did lose weight. I am only 5 feet tall and was about 125 pounds before the surgery. I lost about 20 pounds during the first weeks after the surgery.

It's now been about 6 or 7 months since the surgery. Certain foods, particularly red meat, go right through me. Other foods cause diarrhea and stomach pain. I am having problems identifying which foods are causing this because it seems to vary not only by what it is but by where I get it. For example, a home cooked cheeseburger does not affect me but one from any restaurant will. Perhaps it's the fat content of the meat? I have recently identified sodium as a problem for me. I get nauseated from too much of that and have some stomach pain. Every once in a while I have green stool which, from what I understand, happens when the process goes too quickly and the bile does not have time to turn brown. I have also been able to gain back most of the weight (I am at 115 now).

I think I am about as gassy as I was before the surgery so no change there. I do actually feel like I have more energy than I did before the surgery. Beforehand I was literally falling asleep while sitting up which is not normal for me.

Overall, I think I feel better than I did before the surgery but need to be careful of what I eat. I do get frequent diarrhea but it is when I eat things I know I probably should not.

i had my gallbladder taken out roughly 3 years ago. I still have the pain right below my breast bone where the first scar is. I slowed down on my eating and tried to watch what i eat most of the time but nothing seems to help. I have been taken to the hospital on numerous occasions when pain in my back and stomach.


Isn't it suppose to get better after surgery. mine has gotten worse. not only that..i cant keep anything down..im constantly in the restroom.

I just had my gallbladder out less than a week ago and from reading all these posts i am going to be praying that all my pain was removed but mostly i just have questions about what you can and cant do physically after the surgery. and also about what foods i should stay away from. i really feel sorry for all the pain and suffering that you all and your loved ones have been through but first i think i would start by getting second opinions. I saw my Dr. on a friday(well actually she was a P.A. because he was not available) and they set me up for a HIDA scan on the next wed. gave me cipro, flagyl(which intensified my pain 3 fold over the next 3 days) and prilosec. i took them as told. the pain was getting worse so i called my Dr. on monday told them what was going on and noone got back to me all day. so that night i called again on call Dr. called back and said i could come in the morning or if i " couldn't handle the pain" go to the ER. Tuesday i went at 6 am to the ER and was taken within 15 minutes for an ultrasound by the time I reached my room in the ER they had already told my son that I would be staying and having surgery today. the Dr. that admitted me and the surgeon were great and I changed Docs now. Thanks for listening :)