GGs Gallbladder
- Erin Pelletier
- 35 minutes ago
- 6 min read
This post contains affiliated links and links to products I use.
Symptoms Before
I thought I had the worse case of the stomach bug or that I was getting food poisoning from almost everything I ate. I would miss work due to sleepless nights and vomiting. It started to get so bad that I would miss work to go to the Emergency Room (E.R.) and I started to develop health anxiety. At the beginning my symptoms would be extreme stomach pain in my upper right abdomen (stomach), nausea, and vomiting. I had a visit with my primary care doctor before the big E.R visit happened that started me down this journey. She immediately said that my gallbladder could be failing and the true journey began. After that appointment, I was starving and decided to get Chick-fil-a for dinner. Just an eight count nugget meal, later I would regret and get driven to the emergency room from the stomach pains and sickness.
Misdiagnoses
After eating I got sick during the night with stomach pains, vomiting, and nausea so bad that I couldn't stop the anxiety attack when I tried going in for work. I went to our local ER that morning instead of work, because I felt like I couldn't stop the pain. After listening to my symptoms and pressing my gut, they decided to take blood, urine sample, and CT scan. Absolutely hated how the CT scan made me feel and do not plan to do another one in my life time. The CT scan did not show any issues, except that I had an ovarian cyst rupture. With my stomach pain they diagnosed me with gastritis, inflammation of the stomach.
Gastritis is caused when there is too much bile in the stomach, so they gave me a bile reducer that I had to take every morning before anything. This is where I think my problems got worse. I would take one more trip to the E.R. before I finally had enough of their lack of knowledge and ask my doctor for an ultrasound. This visit was like no other, all I wanted was an ultrasound. I wanted to see what was going on in my organs that the CT scan was not picking up on. I knew something was wrong and did my research about what could help me figure it out. I had an appointment with an urgent care before going to the E.R., they told me to go straight to the E.R. because they didn't have an ultrasound machine. Going back to the same E.R. as before I thought I could finally get answers. I was wrong instead I got a rude "doctor" that didn't know how ultrasounds work. She looked at my chart before coming in and suggested the same test be done. The test that showed nothing. The test that cost me THOUSANDS of dollars. Why? Because ultrasounds can't scan the upper organs, that's not how sound waves work. That is what she told me. I stood my ground saying I didn't want those test again, I just had them done. She said, "IT's your body, your choice. Not sure what you want me to do if you refuse everything I suggest." At that point I knew I was done coming here and I wanted to just go home. She sarcastically ordered me a big bottle of nausea medicine and I left with pain still in the middle, right under my breast bone. My primary doctor heard my concerns after this visit and ordered me an ultrasound. This is when after months of pain, anxiety when eating, and sickness finally had an answer.
Gallstones
The main function of the gallbladder is to store and release bile. Without being able to do that the gallbladder's bile will harden and form gallstones. Gallstones can cause many issues in the bile duct and when gallstones are present, usually it means it is time for the gallbladder to go. Part of me believes my gallstone was caused by the bile reducer. My gallstone was measured at 2.6 cm, that is a little over an inch. Since it was so large, I didn't have to worry about it passing through or blocking my bile duct. This was good for my worry about infections (although I still worried a lot and made myself go to the E.R. again). Although, I didn't worry about infections, I did have to feel it move from one side to the other in the gallbladder when I ate something with fat in it.
New Symptoms, New Pains
Feeling the gallstone was a wild and painful ride. As days moved closer to my ultrasound I felt pain radiate under my breast bone. Then it would shift to my back and feel like my kidneys were being stabbed. It wasn't always on the left side either, it could shift to the right of my back. Plus the nausea would hit all at the same time. When I would sit down during a meeting and would feel burning in my mid-section. I would have to stand up to get the pressure off my gallbladder. Looking at my at my surgical pictures, I now understand why I felt that pressure. Due to the size of my gallstone I would have to have it surgically removed.
Finding someone to do my surgery took a lot of phone calls. I really wanted the surgery during Christmas break. CRAZY! I know, but I am a work-alcoholic and I would rush my healing just to not make two weeks of sub plans and worry about my students. Many of the calls told me they could do it in January, just for the consultation, not the surgery that would be after. So, when my consultation said they had a person cancel for the 23rd of December, I was ESTATIC!! At this appointment the surgeon tells me two things:
If it taste good, spit it out.
Fat equals pain in the gallbladder, so I was put on a low fat diet.
They have to do it laparoscopically instead of robotically.
At the beginning of this journey I weighed 125 pounds, at consultation and throughout my visits I watched my weight to drop to 118 pounds. I was barley eating, started developing food anxiety, and struggling to find food that wouldn't hurt.
On the day of surgery I was beyond anxious! We had to leave our kids at my mom's the night before since we were waking up at 4:30 am to get to the hospital. I cried multiple times waiting for everything to happen. I put everything in the surgical bag, including my ring (this will need it's own blog post). My first IV the nurse hit a valve so she had to put it in my hand, which she didn't want to do because I was so skinny. After everything was ready and they put the relaxer in, everything became hazy.
After surgery was such a blur. I was in and out of consciousness from the medicine. I remember getting the relaxer, them putting the breathing mask on, then I was being woken up. Somehow I was back dressed and being wheeled to the car (no clue, how I got to the wheelchair). Then I was sleeping on the way home.
Recovery
This was one part of the journey I was nervous about. On Tik Tok I made a video asking others about gallbladder surgery. People said I would need the following:
diapers- people told me sometimes I wouldn't make it to the bathroom. I did get some, but did not use them.
Gas-X- to stop the gas pain that would be in my shoulders and ribs
Take the meds- pain meds, stool softener, and nausea medicine were all things my doctor gave me.
A pillow- for when you are getting up, coughing, or sneezing. I used a squishmallow, for my belly pillow.
heating pad- for the gas and shoulder pain, I bought the one that connected over my shoulders.
sleep in the recliner- I did this for as long as possible. After a week, I moved to my bed using a sit up pillow that I bought on amazon.
some people were able to jump back into eating what they want, I did not. I adjusted my diet slowly.
The first day was filled with gaps of sleeping and getting lots of help with everything. It took me two weeks to fully start to feel recovery. My biggest advice is to take your time. Heal at your own pace and do what you feel right for your body. I started taking my supplements about three days after my surgery, especially my pre/probiotics.
The supplements I take:
milkweed seed capsules- liver, stomach, and pancreas support
dandelion root capsules- so many things I cannot list it.
ashwagandha capsules- focus, healing, and many more pros ( you have to take it for a month for benefits)
***I am not a doctor but these are the things I take for myself.***
Conclusion
This journey has been nothing but chaotic for me. I never thought I would be here today without a gallbladder. That all my stomach problems were leading up to this. I am in my third week of healing and the only things I cannot eat is fast food or anything heavily processed.