Gallbladder removal: Suffering in pain, please help

Posted by hines6852 @hines6852, Feb 11, 2023

Hi I’m a 44yr old white female who had my gallbladder removed January 20,2023 laparoscopic. I had a Strawberry gallbladder with 2 comet tails. I woke up in recovery in severe pain. My husband said he could hear me screaming coming down the hall back to my post op room. I was discharged that same day. Due to being heavily sedated I don’t remember anything but I said I screamed and cried in pain all night. He took me to the emergency room on January 21,2023. They administered heavy narcotics, and done a CT with contrast. They said CT didn’t show anything but I was screaming in pain with Dilaudid via Iv and Percocet via mouth. They admitted me and was never able to get my pain under control. I was unable to have a bowel movement even with an enema. I was discharged home taking 3 stool softeners a day. I still can’t have a bowel movement, I’m extremely swollen and in excruciating pain from between my ribs in a circle around my belly back to my center chest. No one can tell me what’s wrong as far as why I can’t go to the bathroom and why I’m having so much pain. I regret having the surgery with all my might. Please help !!

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I think you should go back to the emergency room, either the same one or maybe at a different hospital.

Best wishes that you will get some relief soon.

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I am so sorry to hear about all your suffering.
I had a botched surgery, perforation of the duodenum from ERCP with stent.
Your pain symptoms, ( very sorry to say, sound like a perforation, or free air in the intestine.) Please go back to the ER immediately, please request to be seen by a different gastro DR and different surgeon. My chest pains mimic ed a heart attack.
God Bless You.
Praying someone gets to the bottom of this.

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The surgeon who did your surgery needs to see you . Surely he needs to decide if he has ever seen this before, and what it could possibly be. If you are in that much pain, he either needs to diagnose it or send you to someone he thinks is an expert on post GB surgical pain/or side effects. I think that is his job !!

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I had my gallbladder removed in 2008. Two days later, I was in excruciating pain. I went in to the hospital and they said there was nothing wrong, but they did put me in the hospital. I waited four days in extreme pain before they realized I had a bile leak from my liver. Some people have ducts in their liver called ducts of Luske. Sometimes, after removing the gallbladder, it reduces the pressure and bile leaks out from the liver. I am not sure if this is what you have, but I know it was very painful. It definitely is something worth looking into. I know many people now have what is now called Post cholecystectomy syndrome. I would contact the surgeon or go back into the ER. I know there is updated information on this now, but I have not looked into it recently. I hope this gets resolved for you soon!

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I don’t know if this has anything to do with my problem but I also have no alcoholic fatty liver disease. They said they seen 2 growths on the outside but it doesn’t look like anything serious from the ultrasound, and CT scan

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This is what my stomach looks like at the end of the day. It’s normally pretty flat considering I’ve had 3 kids so it’s not model perfect flat but it definitely doesn’t always make me look pregnant

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@hines6852

This is what my stomach looks like at the end of the day. It’s normally pretty flat considering I’ve had 3 kids so it’s not model perfect flat but it definitely doesn’t always make me look pregnant

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How long ago was your gallbladder removed?

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Hi There Hines etal
I had my GB out in Dec 2022 and I also woke up in sever pain, and crying, also sent home, Pain did not subside, gnawing burning pain, could not eat, dizzy, lost weight, bowels sluggish, always constipated.
Two Ed visits, surgeon visit ,gastroenterologist visit, pcp visit , HiDA scan, upper GI all negative, started on PPI and Sucralfate, stomach with gnawing pain.
I mentioned post cholecystectomy syndrome to the doctors snd they looked at me like I am a Martian with three heads… never heard if it? Lab work normal too.
Anyway, now 9 weeks out able to eat more foods, burning stomach and Epigastric pain better but not gone, stopped loosing weight, but digestion feels weird, I can feel every of stomach, now uncomfortable but not pain, and seem to feel intestinal movement. Definitely not normal, but better.
I eat yogurt daily, oatmeal, and take probiotics for gut microbes. No caffeine. No citrus.
Hope you begin to feel better soon. Are you eating?

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@tk1

Hi There Hines etal
I had my GB out in Dec 2022 and I also woke up in sever pain, and crying, also sent home, Pain did not subside, gnawing burning pain, could not eat, dizzy, lost weight, bowels sluggish, always constipated.
Two Ed visits, surgeon visit ,gastroenterologist visit, pcp visit , HiDA scan, upper GI all negative, started on PPI and Sucralfate, stomach with gnawing pain.
I mentioned post cholecystectomy syndrome to the doctors snd they looked at me like I am a Martian with three heads… never heard if it? Lab work normal too.
Anyway, now 9 weeks out able to eat more foods, burning stomach and Epigastric pain better but not gone, stopped loosing weight, but digestion feels weird, I can feel every of stomach, now uncomfortable but not pain, and seem to feel intestinal movement. Definitely not normal, but better.
I eat yogurt daily, oatmeal, and take probiotics for gut microbes. No caffeine. No citrus.
Hope you begin to feel better soon. Are you eating?

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Yea I eat just as I done before surgery.

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