Six weeks ago, I went for my monthly
bloodwork. I take methotrexate for my
arthritis. My liver enzyme (ALT) came back
mildly elevated. I was told to repeat my
bloodwork in two weeks and the ALT came
back about 100 points higher and my AST
came back mildly elevated.
During that time, I saw my PCP and told
him I had had some pale stool a few times
the week I saw him and that I was having
some pain under my rib cage. I was
referred to the GI doc Ive seen in the
past for other health problems.
He thinks it's my gallbladder and did an
EGD with EUS today. (that's internal
ultrasound) He didn't find any stones in
the ducts. The last set of bloodwork
showed a normal pancreas and my liver
enzymes have come back down. My
rheumatologist had me stop the
methotrexate a couple of weeks ago.
Now he wants me to do the HIDA scan scan
since "no surgeon will consider removing
the gallbladder without knowing the
results of that first." I also have a 6 mm
gallbladder polyp.
Can anyone tell me what kinds of numbers
to look for in this test? What's
considered abnormal or unusual?
Thanks for your help. I have so many
health issues and I just want things
sorted out.
MM
oops.....almost forgot.....
Last weekend, I had a snack late on
Saturday evening. Afterwards, I got
terrible stabbing pains in my back (as in
take-my-breath-away pain). It lasted about
10 minutes. It was at the same level the
RUQ pain under the ribcage in the front.
Could this be the gallbladder?
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eihcet
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 11 Location: ,
Posted: 05-17-08 06:01am
My GB (I believe) is intermittently
causing me nausea and discomfort (but no
pain). I had learned that certain foods
triggered the symptoms more than others so
the day before my test I had one of them.
I was worried I'd be having one of my good
days and the gallbladder would work fine
and the doc's would think I'm crazy.
I just had the test done this week. Not
enough of the dye entered my gallbladder
to do the CCK part. Non-visualization of
the gallbladder is also a sign of
gallbladder disease. My doctor hasn't
gone over the results with me yet, but I
found out about the non-visualization
doing a search and it matches up for me.
So, I'm still waiting for my GI doc to get
the results and hear what he recommends.
To answer your question, If the dye does
fill up in the Gallbladder then they
inject you with cck to contract the
gallbladder. If less than 30-35% of the
contents empty they usually consider that
a sign of something being wrong. If you
have been taking PPI antacids for a while
they can have been shown in at least one
study to cause the gallbladder to operate
less efficiently, so if you are borderline
you may want to talk to your doctor and
try a H2 blocker antacid instead.
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mm9221
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 May 2008 Posts: 4
The PPI's and related GB stuff Posted: 05-17-08 16:06pm
Thanks Eihcet,
That's interesting about the PPI's. I've
been on them for awhile because I do have
GERD. I've tried stopping them in the past
after stopping the medications causing the
problem. After a couple of weeks, the GERD
comes back anyway. The H2 blockers don't
work as well unfortunately.
Is fatigue a part of gallbladder problems?
Elaine
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eihcet
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 11 Location: ,
Posted: 05-19-08 06:39am
I really don't know about fatigue being a
diangosed symptom but I can see it being
indirectly related. If you think about
it, all the anxiety and nausea,
aggravation of the vagus nerve, etc could
all cause a wide range of secondary
symptoms. Will it get better if your
Gallbladder is removed? If that is the
main problem it could help I suppose.
I'm bummed out because I've been feeling
crappy since I had my scan done on
Wednesday. I don't blame the scan, but,
it's just one of those weeks for me I
guess. I thought I was feeling better on
Saturday and then bam, had a mild
(compared to others) attack last night.
No pain, but, the nausea was back and felt
really really full for quite a few hours.
At least it didn't interupt my sleep
this time. I mention because, that would
circle back to fatigue again.
Elaine