scar tissue attached to intestine after gall bladder surgery

I made the mistake of having 3 1/2 hour emergency laparoscopic gall bladder surgery in 1999. I woke up in the operating room and just 6 weeks later my sutures ripped open. My surgeon claimed that I was fine and that the intense pain and bulge in my right side of my belly button was "scar" tissue. I was bent over in pain and couldn't stand up when I went for my appointment.
Actually, a CAT Scan confirmed that my intestine came out through a 3 x 4 inch opening and I required hernia repair with a mesh. Less than a year later, the bulge came back and so did 24/7 pain. I went to another surgeon to do the repair.
I found out that this type of surgery is called "swiss cheese surgery" and I have been told by a medical secretary that it requires a repair in 70 to 80 percent of the cases (the percent is not documented by professionals).
While I was waiting for my hernia operation (in 1999),a nurse told me a patient in the adjacent room was scheduled for the same repair operation following laparoscopic gall bladder surgery.
I am damaged for life. The hospitals are happy because it is "repeat business". There are days I cannot roll over in bed, cannot bend to make a bed and am in worse condition than my 84 year old mother. Gall bladder surgery "runs in my family" but I am the only fool who did it laparoscopically. My surgeon stated to me, "If you think you look bad on the outside, you should look at your insides". Very sad indeed!

I have been having pain in my upper right side that radiates to my back. I am very tender in the area. I have been having this pain for about 2 months. I have had blood tests, xrays, ct scan, colonoscopy and endoscopy, all of which have been normal. I had my gallbladder removed about 4 years ago. I finally went to my gynecologist because in the past I have had problems with a cyst on my right ovary. I just want to know what is causing this pain and I want a solution. He is the one that mentioned that it could be scar tissue from my gallbladder surgery. I am taking about 8 vicodin just to get through the day. It sounds like a lot of you on here are having the same problems and that it could be scar tissue. I am just afraid to have surgery and it won't work. Has anyone had surgery to remove the scar tissue and it was a success? I am having an ultrasound on Tuesday. I don't see my doctor again until Sept. 5th. All I keep reading is how serious abdominal pain is and you should see your dr right away. They sure don't seem to act like it is serious and they try to make you think it is all in your head.

I had my surgery in 04 and ever since I've had problems with food and scar tissue. I finally saw a digestive specialist who prescribed a medicine that acts as if adding acid to my stomach before I eat so that my stomach doesn't react to the food poorly. I now have to consume a "not so yummy" packet of powder in a drink 45 minutes before eating. It's difficult to make work and still messes with me if I don't take it regularly but it did in fact stop the digestive problems which were caused from my stomach thinking it needed more acid to digest anything at all (except plain chicken and bread). As far as the scaring goes. I've felt it primarily when I would lay flat to go to bed but now it's a problem when laying on either side as well and even sometimes when just sitting down. It's an uncomfortable feeling in my right side toward the bottom of the rib cage. The best analogy is that if feels like the skin is being pulled through the rib cage toward my core and slightly down. Before it was not hard to deal with but as of late it's been difficult and even painful.

hi
I I just had Hernia surgery on the 1/21/09 which turned out to be scar tissue. I have a pump leading from the wound and I still am uncomfortable. I had my gall bladder out in 82 and developed IBS. I have constant diarrhea. Back to the hernia, I had 3 cts and a sonogram all the drs except mine said yep hernia! I am so disgusted with this post op and I never after all my stomach surgeries had this type if discomfort Am I the only one!

Hi all. I had my gallbladder out in 2005 and I have pain that I think of just like the other poster said as 'phantom gall bladder pain'. When my surgeon removed my gall bladder he saw that I had a lot of endomitriosis (sp?) on my stomach, uterus, lg and small intestines as well as adhesions and lesions on my gall bladder so it needed to come out. I believe though when it was removed I developed some serious scar tissue. To this day I can't do any serious stretching without feeling like my lower rib is being sucked into my stomach and having a very tight feeling on the right side of my body. If I follow my rt rib cage down to the floating ribs right about where my laser surgery scar is, when I touch the tips of the 2nd and 3rd ribs up from the bottom the pain is SHARP and it lasts for a while after I touch those ribs. Its comforting to know I am going out of my mind or some kind of hypochondriac imagining phantom pain - especially with so many others out there with similar pain. I just worry what the long term effects all that scar tissue will have on my insides. Other than this constant pain if I dare to do strenuous exercises. Hurts for a good 2-3 days afterwards and I am left fearing I went and pulled some serious rib muscles or something. Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

I have also had my gall bladder removed over 2 years ago and sometimes feel pretty severe soreness and pain when I touch my right side under ribs and radiating around to my back on right side. I believe this is scar tissue. The only thing that has really helped me is to do stomach crunches 3x a week. Having stronger muscles around this area stopped some of my soreness but if you dont keep it up it will come back when your muscles atrophy.

I know this is an old post but I am hoping that you will get this reply and let me know how things are with you. Everything you have described sounds like my problem exactly. I had my gall bladder removed Jan 8th 09, about 1 week after the surgery I started having symptoms like a gall bladder attack, my dr thought I may have a loose stone in my common duct...after 3 ERCP 1 EGD AND many CT'S MRI's Ultra sounds NOTHING has been sovled. I have a Gastric Emptying Study scheduled for the 16th of July and a EUS scheduled for July 22nd...I hate to have all of these tests if it is SCAR TISSUE attaching to another organ...the 1st ERCP i had left me with a GI Bleed, I was in the hospital for 4 days and had to have 2 units of blood, needless to say I was and still am scared to death to have anymore of these tests.........Connie

I had my gallbladder out (laparoscopic) in October 2006. Three weeks later I had an abscess removed from my liver caused by infection from the gallbladder surgery. They used a hepatic drain to remove the abscess. In April 2008 I started having major pain episodes about once a month. Same things as many described (fullness, pain in abdomen, spasms, vomiting, etc). These episodes happen about once a month and last for 1 - 2 days. I went through all the same tests (endoscope, camera, colonoscopy, emptying study, etc). In October 2008 I finally insisted on exploratory laparoscopic surgery. They found adhesions and a "misplaced" suture that had been left behind during the hepatic drain procedure. Even though I was mad I thought the ordeal was over. Well April 2009 the episodes were back. I have since had three attacks. Most likely the adhesions are back. It is a vicious cycle. They remove them and most likely come back. I'm looking in to alternative treatments like massage therapy to break up the adhesions and acupuncture. Good luck to all, I'll post any successful treatments!

I too have this pain on my right side and it feels like it is in my rib cage,and goes into my back,and shoulder!! It hurts so bad...prevents me from normal everyday chores,and tending to my children!! It all started after I had my gallbladder removed....So much for that huh?? Now I have worst pain then I had then..it is awful!!! Then on top of that..now I am having problems with bowel movement being normal..at first I thought it was from my pain medication for my back,neck,and arthritis...but I think it is more than that now!!! There has to be something they can do other than going in every so oftn and removing the scar tissue.....My doctor hasn't said that it was scar tissue..he claims its a muscle...but I beg to differ!! Well I wish all of you luck,because let me tell ya...I feel your pain!!!

I had G/B removed four months ago. Prior it was bulging out of my gut for two years. Never had any regular G/B symptoms. Went to my doc and had only X-rays done. Showed nothing. I walked around with a huge bulge in my right side for two years. I ate what I wanted until the one attack that sent me to the ER. It was removed. No choice.

I think my nerves and muscles were stretched by the thing over two years. The surgeon told me it was three times normal size, infected, full of stones and ready to pop. Even before it was removed I was having trouble walking. My back bone felt like it was being twisted by a big hand and my side ached. My own doc ten days before it popped said that I had weak ab muscles. Right!

Anyway, I went to a physical therapist on my own three weeks after it was removed, got core exercises and did those while in care. After, i slacked off and some of the side pain and discomfort mentioned by almost everybody above came back. I panicked, thinking it was something else growing in there. Went to the surgeon today and he did a quick physical look-see. No masses growing; no swollen kidneys; no hernia at the surgical incisions. Plus he said that everything was normal when he opened me up four months ago. He says that he cannot "look me in the eyes" and say that the discomfort if from the gallbladder. I'm pretty sure it is, though. I have returned to the core exercises and hope that my back discomfort lessens as well as the right abdomen discomfort.

I thought I was nuts until I read these posts. Good luck to everybody. We may never find the true cause of all this.

i was very young when i got my gallbladder out i was old 6 year old and now 11 year on i have had major pain all though my stomit and when i lose weight it get worst. all of my doctors that i have seen just blame it on my period pain now that i have pain relief for that now i am thing that it is scar tissue my pain is now making me sick and its interfering with my work if any one has ideas in what i can do then please i will try anything

Wowwwww. You are all describing me. I got super sick in 2000, liver enzymes went off the charts, hurt every where, vomiting, horrible couple weeks during which they ran every test in the book all of which came back normal except the liver enzymes. Those have gradually resolved over the years to a near normal reading. They thought gall bladder way back then and did the sonogram but since they found no stones, they went no further. Finally in 2005 I found a Dr who said that if I was having pain, even if there were no stones, it was likely there was a problem with my gall bladder, so they did a hyda scan. Sure enough gall bladder no longer functioning so everything was basically backed up into my liver. Had that removed but found that within a very short time, I had the pain again. Sometimes really bad, sometimes not so bad. Also after the surgery, I have this bouts of "Oh boy, I really have to go to the bathroom NOW!" and I'm running full tilt through Home Depot or whatever to get there in time. I can no longer eat some things because this will be the result. Through this whole thing I started having alot of irregular bleeding between periods and pelvic pain. The thing about adhesions is that THEY DO NOT SHOW UP ON CT SCANS or sonograms or even Xrays and MRI's. Typically they are no dense enough to show up. The only way to find them is to actually look in there (laprascope). I did that. On the first surgery the Dr said my lower abdomen looked like cob webs everywhere from the adhesions sticking everything together. The second surgery about 18 months later, it was even worse - my bowel was connected to my bladder and both were connected to my lower abdominal wall - it was a mess. On this surgery he also did a hysterectomy. I felt better for about 10 months but its back now, including up higher where my gall bladder used to be. My Dr told me though that this time when he goes in to laser everything clean, he's going to use this new stuff which prevents new adhesions from forming and says I should get nearly complete relief this time. Looking forward to that. Don't be afraid of the surgery to remove the adhesions, it really does help.

Hello poster from 11/04/09....

My father in law has been suffering with just about all of the same symptoms everyone that is here has had, it's been going on for almost two years now and the doctors have said they feel he has scar tissue from his Gallbladder surgery.

My question is what is the new stuff there were going to try in your case, did they do it and did it work?

Thanks for your help.

To all posters:
I had my Gallbladder removed in Oct after about 20 years of putting up with minor attacks, I ended up having polyps in mine, I am a 42 yr old woman, apparently this is a problem that most 70 yr old men have. Upon removal, I apparently had quite a bit of scar tissue around my bladder making it difficult to remove etc. Now 5 months later, I basically still feel that I have a "ghost gall bladder", I have pain in that upper right quadrant, pain in my back, gas, sometimes I puff up like I am pregnant after a meal, I am never lucky enough to get just get hit with a bout of diahrea after a meal, that would feel like a blessing to me. I still struggle with bm's. I take my fiber daily. In fact, I have had to add Acidophopholus to my diet because with out it, I have a leakage that causes an anal burning along with gas that makes me feel like a "frat boy". Also, without it, my bm's can cause me to burn for an hour or two afterwards. My doctor says it can take a year or so after my surgery for my body to get back to normal, but after reading all this, I am starting to wonder if this is going to be true. I not only have pain in my upper right quad, but my lower right quad near my ovary, my appendix has been gone since I was 18, but I do have an ache. My Doctor basically says I need to learn to live with my pain.

I had my Gallbladder out years ago. The Dr. gave me the nuclear tests and said it was only working @ 15% and needed it out, so I went to a much larger hospital to have it done and the surgeon said it was a healthy gallbladder, which upset me BADLY.
Long story short I had mine done laproscopic and they put the clips in and ever since I too have had terrible pain in my upper right side under the rib cage. Today is really bad for some reason. I also have been on Nexium 40mg daily since,
I thought maybe my liver was shot cuz I do drink but only light beer, my retired Doctor told me light beer or beer in general does not cause ALOT of liver damage it's usually hard liquor that causes the damage.
I am glad I found this post, it has helped me just knowing I am not alone. THANKS EVERYONE !!!! :-)