Hello everyone, I've been confirmed with having gall stones currently waiting to hear from hospital, have been back and forth to the gp and now been prescribed morphine to try help. Does anyone else experience pretty bad back ache continulously? Can barely move some days and I'm not sure if the two could be conmected?!
Hi Fiona, yes back pain goes hand in hand with gallbladder issues as it presses on one of the main nerves in your back so causing the pain and quite often upto your shoulder blades and neck. The nerves encompass the abdominal wall so that you have pain all around the right side underneath your ribs.
Your lucky your gp has prescribed morphine for the pain as they don't generally and people only get it if they make a visit to a&e.
Have you seen a gastro at the hospital or is that your next step? I hope you hear soon.
Let me know how you get on. Take care.
Most gallbladder patients seem to get back pain located in right shoulder. In my case it was more of a bad ache that was almost continuous. In retrospect it was probably one of the first symptoms I got, months before the attacks began, along with loss of appetite, tiredness and generally feeling unwell. I'd put it down to a minor op I had years ago to remove a lipoma from the same area and didn't realise until I started to get painful attacks that the two were linked.
I'm also really surprised your GP prescribed morphine. I know how painful these attacks can be, but I would have thought prescribing morphine at such an early stage was a little extreme and not usual. I wasn't even allowed to be discharged with morphine, even though I'd had open cholecystectomy followed five weeks later by a liver resection. They didn't even let me have tramadol and I was sent home with codeine, which constipates and a bottle of lactulose to counteract the effects of codeine. The last thing you want after two abdominal surgeries is anything that messes with your bowels, so I got my GP to prescribe tramadol. You need to be very careful with anything that is morphine based and you could be waiting for months yet. It is also very constipating and you really don't need that on top of all the other symptoms. So use morphine with caution.
Keep posting. I've had a lot of useful advice and support from people who post here.
HI Fionna I came across your post looking for others with similar symptoms as myself. I have been diagnosed with gallstones and I'm waiting to be seen by my GP. I wanted to ask you how is the back pain like? Mine is right under my right shoulderblade and it's extremely dull and achey, that area also feel tingly pretty much the whole day. I feel my best when I just wake up, at the end of the day it's a mess. I also have nausea after eating, and discomfort on right side of ribcage I don't want surgery but I can't imagine living like this or this getting worse. Anyway just thought I'd add my two cents.
I forgot to mention I also have a fatty liver so I'm not sure if the pain comes from the gallbladder or the liver. please keep us posted,
I'm five months post open cholecystectomy, followed five weeks later by a liver resection. Can I just say surgery is not nearly as bad as it sounds and better than the alternative. Pain meds are very good these days and surgical techniques have improved due to the large numbers of patients having these issues.
Sadly, once you've been diagnosed with gallstones, things can only go one way. You may be able to control symptoms with a low fat diet and it may take weeks, months or even years but eventually you will need surgery. Delay puts you at risk of peritonitis (gallbladder can rupture), jaundice and septic shock, liver issues, pancreatitis etc.
What you describe is almost certainly caused by gallstones. I find, even now, that if I overdo things and tire myself out I get some right sided shoulder pain - nothing major just a dull ache, which is probably why this bothers you in the evenings when you are most tired.
My advice is to have surgery as soon as possible. Most have laparoscopic surgery which has a shorter recovery time. I know five people who've had this and all have recovered well. Meantime try to get as much rest as you can and eat a low fat diet. Avoid spicy foods and eat small meals often. This will help control the symptoms. I still had attacks, but found they lasted lass time, weren't so severe and were less frequent.
Please continue to post here. I have had a lot of good advice and support from others.
Thank you sickofwaiting for your reply. Yes the pain is dull achey and annoying, plus the tingling but today it has simmered down a lot. Now that I think about it I had a greasy barbecue on Saturday and got really bad the next day, when I posted on here. Today I haven't had any fat or heavy meals, I've eating very small meals and I feel better.
I called the nurse today to ask her exactly what my ultrasound showed, she said the report shows multiple stones but didn't specify the size. she told me they leave out the size when they're small, so I'm assuming there are small stones and also sludge in there. I got my referral and I have an appointment for next week. I'm definitively updating you all (maybe will start a new thread, I don't want to hijack Fionna's thread) on what they tell me. I'm not scared of surgery, I've had c-sections and appendix removal before. It's the recovery with little kids around that really stresses me out.
anyway it is soo good to have found this forum, I don't feel so alone. hope you all have a great week.
If they decide to operate laparoscopically, the recovery time is about three weeks. Big worry with small children is that you cannot lift anything more than three pounds in weight for a while, especially them! Maybe wise to prepare them in advance 'mummy can only give cuddles when she is sitting down' etc. Worked with my 3 year old grandson. Two months on, he is still cautious.
You certainly aren't alone either. There are hundreds of us who have been through this or are about to go through it.
I went to a barbecue on Sunday. I was able to eat the food with no ill effects, though I didn't eat masses and I avoid alcohol as I had a liver resection five weeks after my gallbladder surgery due to them finding a growth in my gallbladder on histology. Not that I drank much before - one glass of wine with my meal on Sunday isn't exactly alcoholism! It really doesn't bother me that I can't drink alcohol at all. I'm still cautious about fatty or spicy foods, but dietary restrictions are a small price to pay to be rid of the pain and other symptoms.
Anyway I hope you get sorted out soon.
Hi, I've been reading your discussion with sick of waiting and recover definately takes longer than you expect. It took me 3 weeks before I could start to go back to work and yes as its been said be very careful when lifting young children.
I'm still cautious of eating fatty or spicy food and I'm much better if I eat smaller amounts as I still end up in pain if I eat a large meal or large for me!
Keep us updated with how you get on or write a new thread and we can see how you're getting on.
Take care and good luck. xx
NHS site actually says only two weeks for recovery from laparoscopic cholecystectomy, so three weeks is reasonable. Obviously lifting and exertion are not recommended soon after any abdominal surgery. Definitely a shorter recovery than with open surgery. Everyone is different as to how quickly they get over surgery- however it's performed. I think much depends on whether you have other health issues as many who post here have.
Yes they generally say 2 weeks and some I've read on the web say 7 days, I know everyone is different but there's no way I could've gone back to work after 7 days. Unfortunately I got tonsilitis while recouperating but I certainly didn't feel like driving until after 3 weeks. Unfortunately I'm now dealing with nerve entrapment but I'm going in for rectus sheath nerve block tomorrow. Which I'm really hoping reduces the pain which for me is far worse than the pain I had before surgery.
I am on a facebook gallbladder group and lots and lots are not ready until the 4-6 week mark, a lot longer than I expected. Also lots have been told no lifting more than 10lb for 4-6 weeks, which as a cleaner would rule a lot of my work out. I have booked 3 but maybe will take that 4th week if we can afford it.
Hope all goes well for you Katherine.
Thank you, I'm really nervous and I'm just waiting for my lift now to take me in.
Hi Star, please take care as you're a cleaner, someone else was on here who does the same and over did it too soon so took a little longer to recover. She's not on here anymore so she must be ok and back to normal. This was back in March.
take care x
Husbands had a fatty liver for years and has had no ill effects from it. He's type 2 diabetic and I do my best to make sure he eats healthily as both fatty liver disease and diabetes can usually be reversed with diet and exercise.
Thank you all! for sharing your experiences. I'm waiting for the doctor's office to call me to set an appointment hopefully for next week. and yes my main concern is my children and the recovery time. I don't have a great support network so if the doctor suggest surgery I may have to wait. So even if it's a routine surgery I'm not taking it lightly. I will open a new thread with the apppointment follow up and update you all.
Katherine I hope everything went well and you recover soon, sending good vibes your way.
Hi thank you. I'm back home now and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and because it was ultrasound guided I was able to watch what was happening. Now I just need to wait, its all a bit stiff at the moment and I'll have to wait until the local wears off to know if its had any effect, so fingers crossed it has.
I take it your children are very young? Let me know when your appointment comes through. Take care x
Take care Katherine.
Everyone is different in their recovery time and much depends on other health issues a person may have. If you're otherwise healthy, there's every chance you will be one of the lucky ones. Doctors seem to say two weeks recovery for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. That doesn't mean you can turn cartwheels and lift weights after two weeks but it does mean you should be feeling much better by then. The first few days are bound to be a bit rough (general anaesthetic and CO2) but the option is to go on feeling as you are now and as time goes on you'd just get worse and risk complications you really don't want.
Hope your surgery date comes through soon and your children will be able to have their mummy back to being healthy and fit.