General opinions and Scan report help please

Digestive health
1

Hi everyone. I would really appreciate some opinions... it's a bit long winded so please bear with me.

The first time I got the pain was in 2010. It was just above my belly button sort of in line with the bottom of my ribs. It lasted about 2 hours before gradually going. I'd been out for a meal in Turkey whilst on holiday.

Since then the attaks been on and off .sometimes once ot twice a year to start with but gradually increasing in the amount of attacks. The longest I had it was 8 hours. It generally wakes me up in the middle of the night and the only thing that seems to help a little is Andrews liver salts. I am never sick although I do get an upset stomach. The pain used to be in the same place ( above my belly button) but has in the last 6 months started to move to more under my left rib. It always starts in the centre and then moves and it feels as though it tucks itself right under my left rib which then radiates to my back.

I went to my gp in December and explained the pain and how it is under my left rib but as soon as I mentioned I had a family history of gallbladder problems( mainly gallstones) it seemed she wasn't interested in anything else and arranged a scan.

The scan report came back as everything normal apart from my gallbladder although there are no stones. This is what it reads.

Conclusion: The GB wall is diffusely thickened and irregular with multiple projections , the largest measuring 12mm, possible representing adenomyomatosis /polyps. Urgent referral advised to evaluate further.

So now I'm terrified of what that means. My GP didn't even know when adenomyomatosis meant and had to look it up on google whilst I was in his surgery. My heart sank when the first thing I saw on the page was gallbladder cancer. He then went on to say he thinks it means benign and that there is nothing in the report to suggest it was anything sinister. He seemed almost perplexed as to why it was an urgent referral.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated, there really isn't much online about gallbladder problems.

2

Popppie.

hi poppie may I ask yr age please ?

3

well firstly stick with the NHS site,if you go on the others you will have every illness going,;;; only uou know your body,if you arn't happy pester your gp,  my gall bladder removal,i  was in absolute agony couldnt even walk,like a continuous stabbing pain,;; after surgery, was told a large stone had become trapped, and my gb was in a bad way even tho ive always eaten healthy, they removed it all, usually out the next day,if you have removal, TAKE it easy,;;lots water, hope all goes well for you, it does take time to get over gb removal,unless your really lucky,;;; but im hundred times better than before, and im sure im getting there,;; 

4

I'm 46. I remember my mum with gallstones before she was diagnosed. She was in agony snd the doctor used to come and give her a morphine shot.

Mine is nowhere near that bad... I'm not rolling around in agony like she was.

I guess I'm more confused as to why I get no pain at all on the right side.. everyone I have spoke to gets it there not on the left.

5

Poppie

well poppie it is a worry to be honest and it also depends quite a bit on yr age.

12 mm thickened wall is really very very thickened it’s right at the top end to be honest , and no it does not mean you have cancer at all hun, but is possible if you are indeed elderly!!

however you are at a much greater risk of it turning cancerous with a thickening to that degree and I’m afraid to say yr gallbladder HAS TO COME OUT AND PRETTY FAST !!

mine was 10mm thick and when it was removed 4 months ago no sign of cancer thank god I was worried about it.

but I am 53.

do not worry about cancer as this really does not mean cancer ok do not pay attention to what you have read on dr google it will just worry you to death as it did me .

yes you have a greater risk of cancer with  that degree of thickening however please do not be thinking that’s what it means poppie. As it does not ok

i give you an example ok

ultrasound 1 week for me said 10 cm 3 weeks later 4mm ? 4 weeks later 9 mm 2 weeks later 3.5 mm so you see it can go up and down depending on what’s going on with the gallbladder you see .

however poppie that is not something you can risk leaving any longer !!

and you need now to be proactive and get that gallbladder removed rather fast in my opinion!!

im sure you will be fine ok and like my consultant surgeon told me when he got very angry with me at one point when I said to him repeatedly in a consultation, what’s the chances I have gallbladder cancer doc !

yes but what about the cancer risk I’ve read on google !!

stop talking about cancer he shouted at me lol !!

listen to me he said ?

so I did ?

his reply was ?

DONT WORRY ABOUT CANCER UNTILL YOU HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH IT !!

we are all at risk of cancer ,that does not mean we will get it or that we have it , do stop this right now !!

and he was correct , no cancer !!

but yes get that sucker out of yr body ASAP go get yr tests and then listen to your consultant and do what they say , do not delay !!

i wish you well and in due course a speedy recovery of what is a very simple operation.

goid luck.

6

Thank you so much for this.. It is a worry but I'm trying to be positive

My gp I think interpreted it as a polyp measuring 12mm not the wall as such but then he didn't even know what adenomyomatosis meant so I don't have much faith in him.

Just waiting for the referal to come through now. It's been a week already.

7

Poppie

also my situation was ide say almost exactly the same as terrys !!

i was screaming around on the floor in agony in the end for like 20 hours at a time wishing I would just die in the end I actually wanted to be dead lol I really did though.

but I had like Terry , a 2.2 cm stone stuck in my gallbladder neck the cystic duct for over 3 years ouch , just a lot.

and in yr case this is nit the case as you have no stones you seemingly just gave polyps which are worryingly large as us yr gallbladder wall thickening?

but you just will not know and neither will they I’m afraid to say until they get inside you and remove it , hence sooner rather than later .

by the way I also had a lot of pain on my left like you , when mine was removed it was completely gangrene and full of puss !

im recovering I think lol all though it’s been 4 and a half months now and I still have a lot of pain under my right ribs daily mist hours if the day sharp stabbing pain and still gave ins digestive issues and still have light coloured stools.

and the nhs are not interested in the least ??

thats how it is !!

good luck ,stay in touch and let me know how and as things progress.

8

Poppie

no disrespect to yr gp

but they don’t have the first iota about yr condition , not a clue it needs a specialist and their knowledge is also pretty limited when it comes to this diagnosis I’m sorry to say .

are you in London ?

9

I'm I'm Essex. Just outside of London.

Thank you all for your replies. I'll let you know how I get on.

10

Poppie

good u are in Essex ?

poppy do have a spare 300 ponds you can afford to spend ?

11

Not really no.. I could probably borrow but it's not something I reply like to do.

Why?

12

Poppie

well if you can hun ?

here is my advise to you , take it or leave it at your own peril !!

This by the way took me over a year to compile going through hundreds of hours of painstaking research  to find the best in this field ok so if you choose to take my advise yr a lucky lady !!

google mr Charles imber general surgeon then go into his website then read it good !!

then call him or his secretary Jane , and today is Tuesday which is the day he does consultations at well beck st w1 just next to Harley street , try to get in today if you can , I would if I were you personally!!

otherwise you will have to wait until next week tues for a consultation.

its 300 pounds to go see him ok .

do it go see him , take yr report for him to see , let him read it then ask him what he thinks you should do ?

if he says it can wait a while ask him if you can ask your gp to refer you to him for him to remove yr gallbladder on the nhs at the royal free in hamstead as that is his nhs post .

here I assure you you are dealing with the very very best poppie !! 

I unfortunately had no time to waste by the time I got to him as he looked at my scan report and said my friend you have hours to live I need to get that out of you now today , and he dude just that cost me like 7k in total , no I never had it but I had no choice . I was at 3 diffrant nhs hospitals poppie the days before that begin for help and they all just offered me morphine and told me I need to wait for my opp appointment , in effect I assure you hun I would be dead now 100 per cent for sure , the nhs is a joke and I intend to sure them for attempted murder as I had all the evidence their with me and they missed the fact that my gallbladder was infected full of puss and completely gangrene and about to explode!!!

he mr imber is one amazing surgeon as you will discover when you read !! 

His number is on the website !!

with yr condition , I feel you need to see him like now today to be honest and get his take on that conclusion and report it may well be the best 300 pound you ever spend ???

let me know how you get on please I’m a wee bit worried for you xx

all the best .

13

Thank you for that information. Unfortunately it isn't something I could do. I'm going to have to rely on the nhs and hope they know what they are doing. I will read through that website though and being refered to him to remove my gallbladder is something I will definitely look into. I'm not 100% how I would even go about it??? I'm still waiting on the urgent referal from last week.

Stupid thing is since I went to the doctors in December I haven't had the pain once.

14

Poppie

i understand completely.

well good luck with the nhs I have no faith in them at all I’m sorry to say and I live in Windsor !!!

i wish I had known this at the beginning of my journey poppie.

but you can actually go to your gp and tell your  gp that you want and you are insisting that you be referred to mr Charles imber on the nhs to remove your gallbladder !! 

And if you tell them for example that he is the only surgeon you will trust to remove it , then I be leave they have no choice but to refer you to him.

we can have our opps where we want with whom we want on the nhs they will try to fob you off telling you that is not possible but be leave me it is !! 

Go take a look at nice guidelines !!

poppie if you can borrow the 300 to get yr self to mr imber with your report for his opinion on yr condition I would strongly suggest you do so !!

anyway what ever you decide to do , please stay in touch and keep me updated as your case is an interesting one and quite rare,>.

kind regards and best wishes.

if I can answer any questions you may have along the way please do feel free to ask and if and only if I know the answers I will answer them.

best wishes.

15

Sorry you're going through this.  An urgent referral means you need to get seen for this as soon as possible.  Have you got your appointment, yet?  The sooner you get to a gastroenterologist, the sooner you can get it sorted!  Your GP wasn't much help, was hie?  sad 

Best of luck to you!  Please let me know how you get on!

16

It sounds like you need to have your gallbladder removed to me.   Once it is diseased, it isn't doing it's job and will continue to cause more problems.   It took them 3 years to diagnose that mine needed to be removed and I suffered greatly while they were making that decision.  That was 15 years ago and I still have problems, as do many people who have had their gallbladders removed.   The surgery is simple and recovery is generally fast.   After it is gone, you won't be able to digest fat, so your diet will mostly be healthy and when it isn't, you will have pain and/or diarrhea.   There is a drug, Cholestyramine, that is a powder that you mix with water or juice, that helps control diarrhea.   It is a prescription and can cause constipation, so only use it when you have problems.  My gastro guy has told me to take Pepcid, 20 mg, twice a day to help with digestion (over the counter) and I would imagine that would help before and after the gallbladder is removed, as generally we all have stomach issues when we have gallbladder issues.  He also said it's safe to take up to 6 Tylenol for the pain, as it doesn't harm your kidneys and liver like Advil or Aleve does.   I wish you luck and hope you get the help you need soon!

17

HI everyone,

​Just a quick update. I saw a consultant and she ordered an MRI. The MRI (which I coughed half the way through due to a chest infection) was done last Wednesday and I saw the Consultant yesterday.

​Turns out I have gallstones which didn't even show on the ultrasound with one right near the bile duct entrance.

​Surgery to remove the gallbladder will be around May time.

18

That's great news, Poppie!  Please let me know how you get on! xx