Serious complications with my gallbladder removal.. Somethin

I've had chronic stomach problems my whole life... Ulcers as a kid.. Anxiety / nerves causing awful boughts of diarrhea for a week at a time.. Random stomach cramps not associated with menstrual issues, (also my Endometriosis helps with that.) Not to mention serious indegestion and heart burn for months at a time..

I never had any of this checked out by a professional until last year, where my doctor stuck me on a week's worth of Protonix and told me if my problems didn't disappear within a week, I'd be a perfect candidate to have a camera shoved down my throat to check out what was going on. I lost my insurance and never went back for a check-up, and my problems never stopped.

So, two weeks ago, my stomach pains got so bad my mother forced me to go to the ER. I could barely move.. I'd been hunched over in pain for days and didn't eat anything.

I got to the ER and my doctor started pushing on my stomach, and as soon as he pushed down on the top part of my stomach and over to the right a bit, the pain was so awful I passed out on the exam table. The quickly admitted me and stuck me in a private room with an IV full of Demerol and Fenegrin. After that they took several blood tests, all coming back negative for whatever they tested for..

Then i went for a CT scan, then an Ultrasound.. Then a hia-something where they put "radioactive" material through my IV and watched it pass through my liver and gallbladder. (That was a VERY painful test.)

The next day they told me my ultrasound came back with sign of an inflammed and infected colon and gallbladder.. And they put me on a 5 day's dose of Levaquin and some Percocets and sent me home.

I had another appointment with a surgeon 5 days later, where they decided to put me into surgery to have my gallbladder removed. They didn't even know for SURE if it WAS my gallbladder, since they found nothing but "sludge" in my gallbladder.

But, they did tell me my gallbladder just wasn't working. It was completely dead, so, hey, let's take it out!

After the meds and everything, my pain barely subsided..

Then surgery day came.. I was in the outpatient surgery for a total of 4 hours. I was sent home two hours after the surgery.

I did NOT expect the pain to be so bad.. I couldn't breathe without screaming out in pain. It seemed like my stomach was tensing up and hurting so badly I couldn't even breathe to relax it, so the pain got worse. I had to take double-dose of my Percocets just to get comfortable enough to stop crying.

It's now day 6. I still can't walk without holding onto someone or something, I can't roll out of bed without screaming from the pain, and I can't sleep because as soon as the pain meds leave my system I'm up and moving around to try to get rid of it.

I'm scared to call my doc back, in fear he'll tell me it's just gas bubbles and I need to move around more. I mean, could this pain BE gas bubbles? There's a peach-sized lump to the right of my top incision that's really painful to the touch, and as a whole, my only pain is on my right side where the two other incisions are.

My shoulder pain finally subsided a little bit, but now my back is stiff from not being able to stretch it out..

The swelling was so bad on my stomach I HAVE STRETCH MARKS!

I'm having a very hard time breathing. You know how you lose your breath a bit, and you just need to take a slightly deeper breath in to get the extra oxygen? I can't do that unless I position myself just right, hold onto something and try to not scream from the pain. It literally feels like something is going to explode in my stomach if I'm not incredibly careful.

I wasn't sent home with any aftercare instructions aside from eat bland for a few days, and I should be fine by the 5th day. I honestly feel as bad as I did the day after.

It took 4 days after the surgery to have a bowel movement, and before that, I had one, two days prior to surgery. It hurt so badly. Even trying to pee was painful because you have to relax your muscles in order to do so, and it felt like something was tugging really hard on a very sensitive area.

I just think something is terribly wrong here.. And I'm wondering if anyone else has had issues like this before.. And what the crap should I do? Because I know if I go back to the hospital they're just going to say it's probably gas pockets and they'll go away.. And I don't want to pay a ton of money for them to tell me a load of nonsense.

Has ANYONE had similar issues??

Have a friend that just had her galbladder removed. Pretty sure it wasn't the open surgey since they sent her home after staying the night. She had the procedure done last Wednesday (2/21).

Just today 2/24, she is experiencing a great deal of pain. She has been taking it easy but the pain got so bad my wife just took her to the hospital. Within the last couple days there has been the pain and to my knowledge some vomiting. Not sure what else though (my wife is with her now).

If anyone can shed light on this, I'd appreciate it. I know its in the Doctors hands but I'd just like to know whats going on or maybe what we can expect next.

Hello,

You pain could be your liver leaking bile into your body. This is what happened to me after my gallbladder was removed. My lung collapsed. Go back to the ER!!!! I had to have the leaked fixed with another easy procedure called ERCP.

This pain from the bile leak was worse than giving birth. If you have this pain, go back to the hospital!

Ihad the gallbladder removed, and after nothing but pain, they said was gas. I went home only to get worse, swollen belly, no appettite, and I couldn't breathe because of the shoulder and pain under the ribcage. Well two days go by and no relief, so back to the er, and they sent me home with more of the same "gas" excuses. Three more days went by and I started to run a high fever and the pain got worse. I see the doctor and he removes my staples and I start oozing what he called serum. I say ok, but then that night I couldn't stop hurting and I wouldn't stop oozing, soaking a towel ful. I was extremely sick at that point. They put me back into the hospital for pnuemonia and bandaged my belly. The next day they did that ercp procedure and put a stent in. But still no relief. the next day I had yet another surgery and he pulled out well over a liter of bile out of my abdomen. He also put in a Johnson Pratt drain to continue to keep draining this bile. I spent 2days in icu and 4 days on a regular floor. I feel like a new person. but had I not checked in for my lungs I would have become septic and possilbly died. No one would listen to me about how much pain I was feeling. I came home today still with the Johnson Pratt to empty every two hours until it stops leaking whenever that will be. I may have to have yet more surgery to stop it. If the pain is worse than what they think it should be don't back down it could mean your life.

OMG, lsitening to this makes me crazy. My mom had her gallbladder Laperscopically removed 4 weeks ago, they said it was an easy procedure...HA! She too, had horrible bloating and gas issues and PAIN that was beyond imagination. She stayed 4 days in the hospital and they found what they thought may have been a LEAK so they gave her a blood transfusion and sent her home. She was not getting better, PAIN and nausea severe weakness, fever & chills, sleepiness and not much appetite. Finally after demanding that her Surgeon listen to me about this PAIN, symptoms and lack of recovery and to quit worrying about how mcuh darvocet she was taking, he had a nother blood test done. WELL, she was sent to ER and admitted, CT scan revealed a leak with blood around it and an infection!! They inserted a drain and she was put on high doses of antibiotics for 4 more days in hoispital. Don't be fooled by those symptoms people! PAIN is a sign of a problem. I would love to see these surgeons suffer through this and then see how they would react. This has been the worst experience, and if We had the choice to do it all over agian, our entire family & friends say NO WAY. We would have explored other alternatives before doing this surgery. BEWARE of this surgey, it has lots of bad side effects and complications!!!!!

Your experience is similar to mine in that after the gallbladder surgery I experienced much of what you describe. The bloating and associated pain are most likely the gas you are pumped up with (excuse my rather crude explination, but I am not a physician), during surgery. After surgery this gas moves throughout your body until it disipates. This causes intense pain, and can be felt in your shoulders, back and stomach. As for the pain you are experiencing around the incision site, this I would have looked at. A normal healing incision may be slightly raised, and itchy and there will be some pain, but nothing like you are describing. As far as the bodily functions, that too may be something you have to get used to after having your gallbladder removed. Some people have lifelong constipation, or runny stools (kind of a crap shoot as to which one you'll get ... no pun intended). If I could go back in time, I would have kept the old gallbladder and taken medication. I don't think most people are given the down and dirty about having their gallbladders removed. Your body just doesn't do well without all the pieces and parts.

Hi,
I just had my gallbladder removed last wednesday 7/16/08. I had laproscopy surgery because I had gallstones. I cant complain I dont have any pain, didnt have much gas pain either. You have to get up and move around.

Have you been checked for wheat allergy or celiac disease?

Demand that you have a scan and not a ultrasound. Those don't find most leaks. I had my gallbladder remover Feb.15 and by the 16th I was in the ER. First hospital did a ultrasound. Nothing found. Ate alot of percocets and went home. 12 hours later went to another hospital. More tests nothing. Finally had the procedure where they lay you on a table for an hour...don't know the name of it. Found that my bile duct was not attached and bile was leaking throughout my body. Fixed with a stent and sent home 3 days later. No problems since.
Good luck

I had my gallbladder removed on the 23rd, laproscopic procedure, no hospital stay, though I would have preferred it for a couple days. I have been in alot of pain, and did not have a bowel movement until last night, (took laxatives every day since surgery, it took almost 2 weeks). It took over a week just to pass gas. I'm still having pain, and somewhat bloated. I get up and move around but if I do too much, the pain intensifies and then can't sleep at night. I go for post op appointment tomorrow. I just started getting an appetite back, but don't eat much. I had many gall stones and gallbladder wall thickening, (caused by inflamation attacks). I have been suffering with stomach pain for a number of years, getting worse the last 6 months. CT scan showed gallstones etc, still have to get colonoscopy etc. I'm tired of not feeling good, the pain wears me out. I hope as I continue to heal that I will feel better than before removing the gallbladder. I'll post again in a week or so.