Gallbladder (area) pain with no other symptoms...

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m not sure what to do here. Yes, I know, I should just suck it up and go to my doctor but I’m starting here (and will probably go to the doctor later). FTR, I’m just gathering ideas, I’m not asking for an ‘official diagnosis’ from any of you, just getting some ideas.

This happened about 6 months ago and it flaring back up now.

I’m having pain on my right side just behind the bottom part of my ribcage. To me, that points to some kind of gallbladder issue, the problem is, the pain, in that specific area, seems to be my only symptom.
The pain doesn’t radiate to the center of my chest, my back or my shoulder (I did have shoulder surgery about 8 months ago which, I suppose, could mask pain in that area).

The pain doesn’t get worse when I eat greasy/fatty foods. In fact I’ve gone out of my way to have overly greasy foods to see what would happen and it didn’t seem to make any difference.

I’ve had no fever

I’ve had no jaundice

I’ve never been nauseated, either in general or when the pain is at it’s worst.

There’s no tenderness in the area, pushing or poking at the area doesn’t bother me.
As for what I do have is a pain in my gallbladder area that will show up, last for a few hours and subside. Last time it happened it lasted for about two weeks. Right now I’m on about the two week mark and it’s seems like it’s starting to die down. I’ve also been dealing with really bad heartburn this time (and talking to my GI doc about different PPI meds). I didn’t have heartburn last time, so it may or may not be related.

Now, my working assumption is that it’s some sort of gallbladder issues (and I’ve read all about them). My hope is that maybe it’s just a broken rib or something like costochondritis (inflammation of the cartridge that connects the ribs to the sternum).

FTR, naturally my fear is that they’ll say ‘yup, gallstones (or any of the other gallbladder issues), we’ll just pop that thing out and you won’t go to the bathroom normal for the rest of your life’. I’d just as soon avoid another surgery. And, yes, I’ve read all the stories about how the surgery is easier than a single attack. It reminds me of having my (one) wisdom tooth out. I was in less pain by the end of the day.
So, is there any chance that maybe it’s not that? So, Doctor Internet, what say you?

2

Several years back, I had pain in that general area, and gallbladder was a top suspect.

Turned out to be non-alcoholic fatty liver. Essentially the extra fat enlarges it enough that inflammation and pain can occur.

3

It’s funny, when I Googled that, at the links already appeared as though I’d previously visited them. Could have been for something else or it could be that I was looking at it the last time this happened.
Anyways, similar symptoms, similar tests (liver panel, blood tests, ultrasound, so that’s good.

I know another pancreatitis also has similar symptoms. All these things jammed into one little spot.

4

I went to the ER with similar symptoms. At first, the docs thought it was pancreatitis. After two endoscopies, they found the cancer. I am now missing my esophagus, part of my stomach, and my gall bladder. The whole thing sucks, big time.

Please go get it checked out.

5

I had pain just there with none of the other accompanying symptoms you list. It came and went a couple of times over a month or two before I broke down and went to see the doctor. I don’t remember if it hurt to prod the area; it was back in 1994 or so.

It was an inflamed gall bladder. Twenty-four hours in the hospital, one week out of work, and I was back at it. I don’t remember any trouble with fatty foods afterwards. Gall bladder surgery nowadays is just not a big deal.

6

I had similar symptoms a few years ago. Turned out to be gallstones. I got rid of them using a liver cleanse. (Apple juice, olive oil, grapefruit juice, epsom salts. Google it.)

7

I had my gallbladder out last September and I am so glad I did it. My attacks went from nuisances to not being able to eat anything good, so I thought I better get it done.

I have no lingering bathroom issues, but it was probably 4-6 weeks of softer than normal stools until my body adjusted and went back to normal.

8

Are you sure you expelled the gallstones, and that what came out the other end wasn’t the olive oil, saponified by your pancreatic juices? Srsly, that’s what it usually is.

I’ve had stabbing pain under my right shoulder blade, with no other symptoms, off and on for several years, and some people on another board told me a couple years ago that I needed to get it checked out. I did see my doctor, and he ordered an x-ray and ultrasound, and it turned out to be a muscle spasm, which was what he thought but he knows this kind of thing isn’t anything to fool around with. :slight_smile:

I’ll never forget the sonographer telling me, “You have some nice-looking organs” :stuck_out_tongue: and even pointed out my gallbladder, which looked empty (and was). She was the same sonographer who had scanned my thyroid a few months earlier; I had a nodular goiter, with normal thyroid function, and she even remembered me.

9

FTR, I did make a dr’s appointment, but it’s not until late next week.
Question: If it’s not a stone, can they tell if the gallbladder walls are thickened if I’m not in pain? Or once it happens is it always like that, regardless of whether or not I’m in pain.

I think part of what keeps me away from the doc is that I have good tolerance for pain. Two kidney stones, a torn shoulder and life long chronic debilitating migraines and what some people might rate as a 6, I’m saying “I dunno, does 2 sound too high?”.

It was always funny when I was in rehab for my shoulder and I’d hear them doing the intake for a new PT. I’d be chit chatting with the person in the hallway, I’d walk back to the exam room with them, separated only by curtains and I’d hear them say that their pain was and a “8 or 9” and I’d have to snicker. For my entire shoulder ordeal. From when I hurt it, to after the surgery, to rehab, I don’t think I ever said anything over a 3. The fact that that person walked back there after chit chatting with me and seemed to look okay, then rated their pain so high always seemed odd…but who am I too judge. Some people hide pain well.
But seriously, if my pain is at an 9, they better be knocking me out. I gave my first kidney stone an 8. It was horrible. Right now, at this moment, whatever I have going on just winced a little and I’d still only give it like a 2. Like I ‘noticed it’ and it was more than a ‘hey, what was that’.

Luckily, my doc is pretty conservative and isn’t going to put me under the knife because.
My guess is that he’ll order bloodwork and maybe an ultrasound. In a perfect world (I think), it’ll just be a cracked/bruised rib or a stone that I can safely ignore as long as it just ‘attacks’ once or twice a year (and here’s some percocets for when it happens).

Guess we’ll find out next week.

10

Doesn’t really matter. After the cleanse the pain was gone and I felt fine.

11

Joey P, you’ll probably be given a choice for the surgery. Unless your flareups are debilitating, or there’s something else going on, I don’t think your doctor will try to get you into surgery right away. In my case, I was already staying the night with IV antibiotics due to an elevated white blood cell count, so it made sense to do the surgery the next day. I was already there, and the surgical team had an open time slot, so why not at that point. But even with all that, I could have discharged myself after the antibiotics were done, and scheduled the surgery for another time. Also, no digestive issues since the removal in December 2013.

12

I was having horrible gall bladder attacks and then I read that taking heavy duty doses of antacids could contribute to gall bladder problems. At the time I was taking Pepcid every day, sometimes twice a day. I stopped taking it altogether and have not had an attack since. I still have heartburn and occasionally it tries to move up to acid reflux but I just watch diet, get up and walk a lot and endure the heartburn. (Actually it seems like the heartburn passes just about as quickly without the pepcid as it did with it.) I know acid reflux can have bad effects if it goes on a lot but those gall bladder attacks were horrid and if I can postpone the day I go under the knife than I will and if I have to change my diet, well, I hate it but I can do it.

Sorry to run on. JoeyP, I hope your problem turns out to be something simple and easily fixed.

13

I think some people are dealing with such chronic high level pain that they don’t display a lot of outward symptoms.

Others just have really lousy imaginations, and can’t dream of what the “10” in my imagination feels like. Which is probably for the best.

The pain scale doesn’t determine whether you’re worthy of pain relief, it lets me know if the intervention I did worked or not. The first number is just to establish a baseline.

Glad you’re going to the doctor. My hunch is liver, rather than gallbladder, but we’ll see. :slight_smile:

14

I didn’t know (or maybe didn’t remember) that antacids could cause gallstones. I have been taking quite a lot of them lately to keep my heartburn in check. OTOH, I also wonder if my heartburn could be caused by my gallbladder issues. Yet another question for the doc.

Another thing that’s been bugging me is if my liver is acting up because of Tylenol. I get a lot of migraines and I usually start by taking Tylenol or (OR, not and) some other Tylenol containing drug (Tylenol w/ Caffeine, Fioricet etc). I pay attention to how much I’ve take, though, and never get anywhere near 3 or 4g per day. But 1500mg a day for a week at a time is sometimes normal. From what I’ve read, high dosages, but not ODs can cause liver problems. But it sounds like they’re easily reversed by stopping and even though I can’t find numbers, it sounds like it’s people pushing the maximum amount (be it 3g or 4g per day) for years, not a week here and a week there. It seems like these are people that take Tylenol three of four times a day for arthritis, but then maybe also take some percocet to help them sleep. Then they have a few weeks where they’re taking some APAP cold medicine and can’t figure out why their skin is turning yellow. A lot of people don’t look at what’s in the meds they’re taking.

A classic example is someone I knew that woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep because of a rash. She took two Tylenol PMs to fall back asleep and two Benadryls for the rash. I had to explain to her that what she actually took was two Tylenols and FOUR benadryls. I always tell people that if they’re just taking Tylenol PM to sleep, take Benadryl. It’s the PM part of Tylenol PM, without the Tylenol.

So I’m guessing it’s not by liver failing. But, I assume I’ll end up getting a blood test to check my liver function.

15

For the past couple weeks I’ve had the same symptom as Joey P, plus some nausea. Friday night it became so intense that I went to the ER. They did a CAT scan, untrasound and blood work, and concluded that my gall bladder is fine, but I have inflammation in my small intestine, probably caused by taking too much Aleve for other pain. They had me on morphine, and said I needed a colonoscopy and endoscopy. I’m back home now after 24 hours, and have to call Monday to schedule the simultaneous procedures. Yes, they’ll be examining my innards from both ends. They also have me on a stomach acid inhibitor and Tramadol for pain.

I’ve lost a lot of weight in the last 2 months, and have often had an empty stomach. Not a good time to be taking Aleve. Now, when my short Rx for Tramadol runs out, I’ll have to rely on Tylenol, in moderation.