Chronic Right-Side Abdominal/Back Gallbladder Pain

ulcerative colitis,

Hi all. Trying to find others who maybe have had a similar experience and figured out what’s wrong or how to deal. I have been have severe abdominal pain for months. A lot of the pain originates in the upper right quadrant of my stomach, right below the rib cage. I do have pain on the left upper quadrant and sometimes in the center (heart is fine). Also I have nausea with vomiting, regurgitation, heartburn throughout the stomach and cramps. My symptoms have been getting worse and worse and no diagnosis is on the horizon.

I am a 32 yr old male I had the lap band in 2007. I began to have stomach issues in 2016 and was basically in the fetal position for 3 weeks from intense stomach pain. ER and multiple drs couldn’t figure it out but the pain eventually went away and drs couldn’t figure it out and said come back if pain comes back. Few months later I began to have some discomfort and heartburn and pain. Thought it was the lap band. Had lap band removed March 2018 but nothing was wrong except the port was turned a bit. Had a harder time with recovery from band with pain in the middle of my stomach, next to one of my scars where the port used to be.

Heartburn started to affect me greatly after the band removal and started seeing GI. I was having some abdominal pain, with a lot of heartburn regardless of what I ate. Dr Put me on Carafate and omneprazol and told I have reflux. He also did a gastric emptying test which showed I have dumping syndrome.

The pain in my abdomen started growing in my upper right quadrant with sharp acute pain. Sometimes it felt like someone was twisting my insides, sometimes feels like a hot poker being stabbed into my stomach and other times like my stomach is being squeezed in a vice. I changed drs. Had an endoscopy , which showed grade B ulcers in esophagus with gastritis but no hpylori or Barrett’s. my symptoms started to get progressively worse and dr wanted to schedule capsule endoscopy but insurance wouldn’t pay until colonoscopy was performed. Had colonoscopy which was normal. As I was talking to dr after colonoscopy I was in tears to dr to schedule next test quickly because pain was becoming unbearable. I did not accept any pain medications from drs and instead use marijuana for the pain. Had a ultrasound a few months ago which showed 21cm fatty liver non alcoholic. I had a CT scan which showed prior infection damage to my small bowel. Every time I would look down or bend over I would get very nauseous with vomiting and My wife just gave birth in August so I look down a lot.

Very shortly after my colonoscopy I started to become unable to finish a meal. Food started to loose tase and eventually I stopped eating altogether. This was Around December 23. Since then I have lost 30 lbs. I am maybe able to push down 500 or so calories a day. Usually only after I smoke a lot of marijuana and even then I usually only have a few bites. I don’t feel hungry at all, even after smoking. It feels like my stomach/abdomen is always clenched and shut. If I do suddenly feel hungry if I grab something and try to eat I loose the sensation immediately and in mid chew the food tastes horrible.

My nausea and heartburn have subsided because of the no food but come back with anything I try to eat ( anything including plain rice, plain oatmeal and plain bread). But I still have regurgitation if I try to have anything or even with eating nothing. The pain is normally constant unless I smoke. I recently had a capsule endoscopy which showed gstroparesis (directly opposite the gastric emptying test) but a normal small bowel.I switched to a new dr in New York City whom is the head of the gastric dept in his hospital. He gave me peppermint pills and suggested CBD and ordered a new upper GI to see if my stomach is being pulled by anything. He took me off a lot of meds. I don’t know if the peppermint pills work but at least when I burp or regurgitate my throat tastes like peppermint.

I can’t keep living my life like this. My memory is shot to hell from the weed or the constant pain, take your choice. I own my own business and can barely function. I become unable to do anything or respond sometimes when the pain consumes all my thoughts.

From the lack of eating my energy is starting to diminish, I am getting migraines if I wait too long to eat something and I am starting to have a rash on my face. My sex drive however has increased. I have been getting lightheaded when I stand suddenly and the rest of my body is starting to ache more. I am trying to not go to the hospital. I don’t believe they will do anything aside from make sure I am stable and send me home to follow up with dr. Anyone have anything?

As a small aside- two days ago I ate a small amount and took a pull from my marijuana pen. As I stood up I let out the smoke and my vision got very clouded, my ears started ringing loudly and I began to sway. I felt like I was almost loosing consciousness. I grabbed my table and chair and held on. After 10-15 seconds my vision and hearing began to clear. This has not happened since and scared me deeply.

Any input welcome. Thank you!

I was like you for about two years. Everything about gall bladder, etc was normal. HIDA Scan and CTs and Ultrasounds were all normal. Pain was always on right side midway back. I don’t know how many times I went to emergency room…even on vacation. I always told doctors it was my gall bladder, but no one listened. Finally on Dec 21, 2019, it hurt so bad and I was crying at my PC doctors office, he sent me to a surgeon that day. Probably because he was tired of seeing me for the same thing and hearing me complain. I had laparoscopic out patient surgery the next day. As soon as I came out of anesthesia, I knew it worked…no pain. The surgeon told he he was surprised at how inflamed my gall bladder appeared (I wasn’t). It had been “sludge” the whole time. One of the reasons it didn’t show on tests and it comes and goes. Since the surgery, no more pain. Good luck.