Gall bladder or cancer?

Digestive health
1

I was diagnosed with a large gall stone over a year ago (13mm). Since then, I have had attacks on and off but usually they last a few days or less and then things settle.

This past week things have been not great.

I started having pain 5 days ago and it was just above my navel. Gnawing pain that seemed to radiate all over my stomach. The typical pain under my right ribs were there and also on the left side. Pain in my back, sometimes lower, sometimes in between shoulders. Nausea, burping. The pain got so bad that I went to ER a few times.

Each time they gave me pain meds and checked my blood. No signs of anything.

I also had an abdominal x ray, that too showed nothing.

And lastly, today they did an ultrasound and once again everything seems fine apart from the stone.

The doctor suggested possibly an Endoscopy but started me on Omeprazole and sent me on my way and told me to eat light foods and try to take minimal pain medications as this could be causing stomach pain.

How can I have all this pain and symptoms and it only be gall stones? I never had it this bad before. Can it just become this painful etc even though they can't find any infection or inflammation?

My head is going in circles and I am nearly convinced this is stomach cancer.

I don't ever recall having pain this long with the gall stones. I have had gall bladder attacks and the pain was significant, but it went away within hours.

This has been 5 days straight.

Has anyone else had anything similar? 

I am due to have my gall bladder taken out on September 6th.

Thank you for any help at all that you can give me.

 

2

I would rule out cancer for now. Don't stress because the blood test would have shown higher levels of white blood count if there was cancer. The problem is that big gallstone. Which is causing pain every where I'm your tummy. My niece had a big gallstone for years and a lot of pain and distress.The best outcome for you is gallbladder removal. So just hang in there till you have it removed. Good Luck to you. You wil be ok. Bye.

3

Hi Lpsydaisy, 

Try not to add worry to your list,  as Stress will make the pain worse.  I remember thinking I’d broken my ribs on the left side as unusually the persistent pain was mainly on the right, I think it’s todo  with the gb sludge and bile biting back, try and keep to bland foods, no fizzy drinks and see if it settles a bit, I used to have a hot water bottle on my front and back that helped ease the pain a little.  Good luck and hope the pain stops soon 

4

I would rule our Cancer. I had the exact same pain when I had gallstones, my gallbladder was full of stones and contracted and I had severe cholecystitis. The pain I would get was like I was going to pass out or just go lights out completely, all across my chest, stomach and back constant severe pain with currents of pain going through also. I would have to take major pain relief for this to go, many times I had to take more than prescribed. I would stick to bland and low fat foods until it's taken out. I got my gallbladder taken out in Febuary and I haven't had any major complaints since.

Best of luck with the operation, you will see a big difference.

5

I too have recently discovered that I have, what I am told is a large (25mm) gallstone following an ultrasound scan.  This causes me a lot of discomfort and, on occasions, quite moderate to severe pain.  When I went to see my GP I was told that the discomfort is probably caused by me being overweight so I have an appointment to discuss weight loss with the practise nurse on 9th August.  This is no bad thing but I wasn't given any further suggestions or advice.  To be honest I don't think she really had any interest in what is going on with my body!  I wish you luck with your surgery and hope that it resolves your problems.  Please let us know how you get on.

6

Thank you for your stories, all of you. 

I have had a few friends who had their gall bladder out but they all seemed to have a small amount of pain and it not lasting too long, which is why I found my pain confusing and upsetting.

I've never had pain like this with the gall bladder/gall stone and it went on for six days with very short intervals of relief.

My stomach is still acting up and I am still getting pains. It's difficult to not worry that it isn't something worse than just the gall bladder, especially when the people around me have said theirs wasn't too bad.

I really appreciate each of your responses, it helps make me worry less.

I am still scared of how long the doctors will let this go on and how much more I will have to endure, but I can I will have to wait and see.

7

Can anyone describe what their pain was like and how long it lasted, also if it came and went for days on end?