Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Rhode Island
Gallbladder Problems Following Laprascopic Surgery Posted: 11-05-04 01:50am
About a year and a half ago I started
having severe abdominal pain when I was
about 5 months pregnant. I went to the
er on three or four different occasions.
Every time they told me that is was
indigestion due to my pregnancy. I had
about 9 or ten of these painful attacks
and then three weeks after I had my
daughter I had another attack that just
didnt end. After almost ten hours of
constant severe pain I went to the er.
They gave me an iv and did some blood
work. I was jaundiced and my white blood
count was off. The doc in the er did an
ultrasound and found quite a few
gallstones. Since I was jaundiced and
very sick they admitted me to the hospital
right then and there. They kept me on
iv's and antibiotics for almost a week
before I was well enough for surgery.
During the surgery they found 38
gallstones. From what the doc said that
is alot. After about ten days in the
hospital I felt much better. However
within a month of the surgery I started
having more problems. I still have pain
in my upper abdomin (the same spot where
it hurt when I had the gall attacks) and
now I have diareaha almost every day, even
though I have tried to adjust my diet so I
could avoid this problem. Sometimes the
upper abdominal pain is so sever I curl up
on the couch and can't move. Also I
almost always have a bloated/uncomfortable
feeling in my stomach especially in the
upper middle section. More recently I
have noticed that sometimes when I have
the stomach pain I also have mild chest
pain, shortness of breath, and pain in my
back, shoulders, and arms. I didnt have
any of these problems prior to surgery and
have now almost become accustomed to being
constantly uncomfortable. I was just
wondering if these problems are related
to/caused by the surgery and what if
anything I can do to fix them. I am only
21 years old and am of normal weight. I
am otherwise very healthy and my
gallbladder had been my first real problem
and my second surgery (first was a
c-section). Any advice would be greatly
appreciated. Also gallbladder problems
run in my family (my sister had her
gallbladder out at 16). Could this be a
factor in my problem?
