I had my gallbladder out about 9 years ago now, and have found every time I have opiates like codeine Etc it brings on a SOD attack. Has anyone else experienced this? So I have to avoid anything with opiates in it. Which is awful as I can't have any pain relief during labour and I am due in sept, I'm just wondering if anyone here knows of any of pain relief one can have if they can't have opiates?
View 2 RepliesI had botox injection into my ampulla yesterday for the treatment of SOD 3. I am in so much pain today. please does anyone have similar symptoms. if pains could kill I would be dead by now.
View 8 RepliesI was struggling with Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction but feeling it was not worth the risk of pancreatitis to go ahead with the endoscopic sphincterotomy and would like to share my success using self-administered acupuncture.
My SOD had two pain styles. My daily pain is very successfully managed (99% pain free days) using 30 mg amitriptyline each night and 10mg Buscopan 3xdaily. Before drugs my daily pain was so bad that I was hardly eating - not a long term strategy.
I also get (used to get) episodic severe night time pain attacks. The upper gastric / chest area pain is extreme (as you'll know if you have SOD) and I used to take 20mg oxycodone. Each morning after an attack I woke with migraine, vomiting and general weakness, needed a day in bed. These night time attacks became worse and more frequent until I started acupuncture.
A GP friend taught me to do acupuncture to myself, the most useful points are GB34 and LR3. I do electroacupuncture weekly as a preventative measure, since March 2012. My night time attacks are now infrequent, very mild indeed, and I can stop them by using manual needling in GB34 only. I don't even have to get out of bed, go straight back to sleep and can get up and go to work as usual in the morning.
This has transformed my experience of this horrible condition.
Happy to discuss further with fellow sufferers or medics. Planning to present a paper at an acupuncture conference soon
I Have been hospitalized the last two weeks for severe pain caused by SOD. It is mind boggling to me that people in the medical profession can be so ignorant and expect for pain to be textbook. I was reaching out to see if anyone had any good ideas on treatment options. With that being said I have had a sphincterotomy performed several years ago and now I am starting to have more pain and nausea (obvious by my hospital admissions). The only analgesic that is able to help the pain at all is Dilaudid, can't be morphine as this causes more spasms. I had an MRCP tonight, will talk to doctor in the AM and find out results. Please let me know what's worked/not worked for you and any treatments/tests that you have had done.
View 4 RepliesMy wife has been diagnosed with SOD and has been offered botox injections for it. Has anyone had experience of this or got an information on it.
View 1 RepliesIf u also have horrible Random pains from sphincter of oddi please just give mineral water a try.. Any brand is fine just make sure it's mineral not seltzer water .. Perrier or any other brand ..
View 1 RepliesI was wondering if anyone has had a metal stent placement to treat SOD level one at all. I have posted here in the past as I have gone through 5 ERCP since my gallbladder removal summer of 2013. 3 of the 5 had a single plastic stent placement which all worked until the stent either passed on its own, or was removed by my GI doc. The other 2 times I had multiple stents placed intended to stretch the duct open in hopes of staying that way when these were removed. Obviously it didn't stay open as I relapse into the same set of symptoms that I hope to alleviate......stinging pain where the GB was, bloated all the time, the feeling of a softball lodged into the R abdomen, and pain in the back and R shoulder blade. GI doc (who is well respected here at the Univ. of MN) says that the only options left for me are a botox injection, or metal stent. Any opinions out there? Status quo being stent-less right now is not how I want to live the rest of my life. I am 52 and feel way too young to concede this whole thing.
View 7 RepliesI had my gallbladder removed laparascopically 2.5 years ago. Have had some issues with diarrhea but nothing else. About 3 weeks ago I was diagnosed by my PCP based on my symptoms with gastritis due to Nsaid overuse. Have been on a PPI and Carafate. Not improving at all, in fact getting worse. My ALT liver enzyme was slightly high but otherwise the rest of the blood work was normal.
Went back to see my PCP today and she brought up the subject, based on my symptoms, of possible Sphincter of Oddi malfunction. My symptoms are RUQ pain that comes and goes, yellow stool, stomach bloating and nagging upper back pain between shoulder blades. I have an ultrasound on Friday. After reading about SOD (shudder) I think this might be just the beginning of the saga if I do indeed have it.
Do any of you dear readers have any experience or knowledge in this area?
It is a good thing I am retired because I have been basically sacked out on the couch. I think it would be impossible to work with the degree of discomfort I am having.
Does anyone out here have any experience with using progesterone to help regulate the function of the Sphincter of Oddi?
My history: I am a healthy and active 132lb, 42 year old female, but I have been having pain in my upper right shoulder, neck and collarbone for three years now that has really curtailed my life and work. I have tried massage, acupuncture, physical therapy, drugs, strength training, chiro, all with no results. Recently a chiro noticed that my gallbladder area was tender and mentioned that gallbladder problems can refer pain up to the right shoulder area through the phrenic nerve. When I started tracking my pain and food I did notice a connection with pain in my shoulder and my right lower ribs as well (which I had been hiding with lots of ibuprofen). An ultrasound, blood work, and HIDA came back normal (at least that's how the doc reads it), but I'm still having pains when I eat oily foods. So now I am thinking I might have problems with the sphincter and with bile backing up creating pressure on the phrenic nerve. Another symptom is that I am now also having pains on my left side which could be the pancreas being impacted, which shares the common duct and sphincter.
So my question stems from the fact that I had a hysterectomy several years back and have only been on estrogen replacement. I've recently found out that progesterone is important for relaxing the Sphincter of Oddi muscles as well as gallbladder function (as well as many other things). When my nutritionist suggested a few months back to use Progonol, a progesterone cream, it did have a positive effect on the pain within two weeks, but it also caused acid reflux (it also loosens the valve between the esophagus and the stomach), so I had to stop taking it and now we are trying to figure out the best way to introduce it back into my body.
Last November I suffered severe pains in my stomach and back and after a scan was found to have gallstones and an inflamed gall bladder. I was told that I would need to have the gall bladder removed which I did five months after being first diagnosed. In that five months I eased the discomfort by cutting out dairy food and fried / fatty food (which I had little of anyway) . I did get pains but were manageable. I did lose a lot of weight though, I went from 13st 12lbs to 12 stone within about three months. This was drastic as I was still eating.
I had the operation to remove my gallbladder on 4 April and came out of hospital on the same day. Unfortunately one of the "wounds" from the operation got badly infected and an abscess formed. This led me being taken into hospital for 5 days for the infection to be cut away and put on a strong course of antibiotics. Unfortunately I haven't felt well since the gallbladder removal, leaving aside the abscess, I still get considerable pain from my stomach most days. I have to go to the toilet more which is quite loose and I get dreadful indigestion making me want to burp quite a bit. I was hoping to put on some weight as I am very thin but sadly if anything it has gone down a bit more.
My GP says I have to be patient and it will get better. Has anyone else suffered symptoms like this after a gallbladder removal ?
I am 31 years old, female have one son and am married On Oct 12 2013 my life went straight to you know where! 2 weeks prior to Oct 12, I was experiencing horrible right shoulder pain, semi old injury didn't think to much of it, it hurt yes but I usually just suck it up. I am in college full time ( was in the Army for 7 years before all this) well Oct 12 came and all the usual first round symptoms one might get from Gallbladder issue, I lost 13 lbs in 2 weeks, just sick and now scared. The pain was crappy, the not knowing sucked more. Had a HIDA scan done since the doc I was seeing suspected GB issues, it came back abnormal. Took 4 hours just to show up and when they injected me with that CCK stuff, 3 min later I was severely sick to my stomach, reports go back to doc they refer me to surgeon, was supposed to be about a month, well I relay this to my husband, who is 1000 miles away training, and he notices now a difference in me as a person, it has taken its toll on me, this is Thanksgiving now...I am trying to tough it out since I had finals around the corner, well I didn't make it, I collapsed on my parents kitchen floor in agony and thought I was having a heart attack, just on my right side! Go to ER, doc there says he will admit, I need to talk to insurance, I went home called them got the green light, and was like well maybe its past, no more than 3 hours of being home, my husband calls I tell him I am about to go back and hang up, my Dad brought me and I was admitted, GB removed the next day. So normal after surgery pain, at this point I had not worked out since Oct 12, I went from running about 15 - 18 miles a week, I lifted weights and all that, I enjoyed it, now I looked like a shriveled raisin who looked like a swarm of beavers beat the crap outta me...So 2 weeks post op doing pretty good, I am eating yay! Until I sat down one morning and ate an apple, within 4 -5 min I doubled over in agony, couldn't breath, horrible cramps, more like contractions, and burning...lasted about 15 min, I am thinking what the hell! I couldn't help but ask my Mom if they actually removed it, so I made an appt with my surgeon, well it was his Boss, the older Doc, very nice, said I prolly had some grit that needed to be worked out, Im thinking ok, that plausible...I barely managed to make finals that semester, but I pulled it off Phew! Now we are around Xmas time frame, Husband is coming home on leave excited! Had some good days, still had pain, but I could handle it, wrong! From Xmas to New Years I spent in and out of hospitals. We moved me up here to North Carolina on top of stopping at different ER's along the way, the pain was just awful. The worst one was when we finally made it here to North Carolina, I unpacked as much as I could under the circumstances, my husband is now worried, which he isnt, and Im not one to cry over pain and well that's all I had done for 4 days of driving and ER trips, anywho we were about to eat some dinner and I started getting this burning sensation right over my BIG scar, I had a small open cholecystectomy, only like 2.5 inches if that....well of course my poor husband was like Ill take you to the ER here if need be, I was so tried I didn't want too, well about 3 min later I passed out in the living room from intense wave of pain and husband called an ambulance, when I got there I was tachycardic and sweating from bad pain, it was like an 8, pretty bad, well the doc wanted to do a CT scan with that stuff you have to drink the dye stuff, 3 big glasses...I discovered later on that the dye quite literally moves everywhere thru your body, worst thing possible for that day, I drank maybe have of the first glass and my pain shot up, mind you I had been given now two 1 mg of Dilaudid and was still in pain, well I pushed on and drank it down hit glass two, I wanted that CT scan to start, I downed the 2nd cup and I finally experienced level 10 pain...albeit it was more like 15, The burning pain in my Upper Right Quadrant was excruciating, it went into my rt shoulder, down my right arm, and I cramped so hard I couldn't breath, like constant contractions, I literally yowled in pain, didn't let up, then my heart rate went to 157 then dropped to 31, my husband now is on the edge of losing it, and I really thought I was dying, gets better , the burning pain started to travel under my right breast and half of my sternum, I honestly cannot put into words how to describe this pain, I was terrified, I seriously thought I was dying, on top of my heart rate going nuts and me going in and out of consciousness in small increments, well fast forward, more pain stuff and they are admitting me.
View 3 Replieshas anyone experienced a gallbladder attack following wine consumption? i have gallstones and i have a surgery programed for next month.
Thanksgiving is coming up and i really would want to have a glass of wine on this holiday or christmas; however i am afraid of having an attack. What do you guys think? any experiences?
Cruddy gallbladder, ejection fraction of 20 percent, going to the surgeon soon. But I'm at my wits end with the queasiness. I've hit the point where slight nausea is a constant rather than an occasional gripe. Anyone dealt with this kind of slight, but uncomfortable, nausea and a nonfunctional gallbladder? Any advice for the next couple weeks to help mitigate it?
And tell me that once your gallbladder was gone, so was the nausea.
I'm a 19 yr old girl and had my gallbladder out 2 years ago, everything I eat seems to disagree with my stomach and is very stressful. I've tried loads of different tablets to help bind it up but it doesn't really work does anyone suggest anything that's helped for them?
View 1 RepliesI am 25 years old, 5 feet tall, always been petite and around 105-110 lbs. I have always watched what I ate and the last few years have been gluten free because I thought I had a gluten intolerance/celiacs. Since getting my gallbladder out on 10/12/2015 I have gained almost 20 lbs in that one month. I was 108-110 lb before surgery and I am now almost 130 lb, the heaviest I have ever been in my whole life. My "normal" diet before and my diet now is the same. I eat a grapefruit or orange for breakfast, fruit, carrots, tuna or salad for lunch along with salad or a lean protein for dinner (basically the Scarsdale diet). Since surgery though, it doesn't matter if I eat salad for 2 meals a day and take a spinning class at the gym for an hour I still gain weight each and every day. It's very frustrating because people say there's nothing wrong or "I could afford to gain a few lbs" but a few lbs is a few, not 20. And no, I shouldn't be gaining weight if I'm burning more calories than I'm taking in. The weight I'm gaining also seems to be very cellulite-y which I've also never had before. It also seems tight and my stomach looks like I'm 6 months pregnant. I'm at my wit's end and getting so depressed about it. I know it's only been a month and a half but at this rate I will be obese by next summer. I have read hundreds of blog posts similar to mine so I know other people are feeling the same way. Has anybody here found a way to deal with this?
View 1 RepliesI had gallbladder removed aug 2014.been in pain with stomach since. recently been in hospital 9 times with chest pains last night but has caught my right jaw and mouth. jaw feels numb like I've had tooth out
View 1 RepliesI had my gallbladder out a month ago after only a few weeks of severe pain, which I know is lucky compared to a lot of others. No stones were found. My HIDA scan found my function at 28% and I started vomited three days before the removal. Surgery went perfect and for the first days after, I slept and walked and took my pain pills and ate normally, although low fat.
Two weeks ago I began having severe pain in the RUQ, right where the pain initially began. My surgeons office suggested OTC painkillers (Advil, Tylenol, and Aleve). I tried all of them separately for a few days and they did nothing. A trip to the ER (no X-rays or anything were performed) said it was a muscle strain. I'm still having the same pain and I think my surgeons office is kind of blowing me off. Also, my acid reflux got about 100 times worse, and I have a bravo probe coming up and have had constant diarrhea since surgery.
Has anyone else had this pain after a normal surgery?
After putting it off for ages I just can't take it anymore and have finally decided to have my gallbladder removed. I'm actually writing this lying on my knees doubled over a pillow after another attack. They are so frequent now it's ridiculous.
I'm having keyhole provided all goes to plan but am concerned about how long recovery will take as I have an 11 month old, 23 month old and 9 year old. As well as worrying about the op I'm concerned about how they'll be. Got my husband and sister to help me out but you know sometimes kids just want their mum. I know I can't lift for 2 weeks but how strict is that? And could it be longer then that? Will it hurt lifting my younger two a month or two months after?
Anyone with toddlers had the op? What was it like?
my husband is not over wieght and does not have diabetis. since having his gall bladder removed he has develpoed a fatty liver. is thier any connection to not having a gall bladder
View 1 RepliesIs there a connection between gall bladder removal and reflux getting worse? I suffered from acid reflux before my surgery 6 weeks ago but boy am I ever suffering now...what could cause this?? My surgeon said it takes 8 months for the body to get used to life without a gb...I didn't like what he had to say and offered no explanation as to why..has anyone experienced this and how long did it take to resolve itself because at this point I find it hard to believe that this will resolve itself.
View 2 RepliesSo I had laprascopic gallbladder surgery a week ago. I have healed up externally OK, but have pretty bad pain where my gallbladder was. What's going on?
View 7 Replies