My gallbladder symptoms were terribly painful, concentrated on the right side under my ribs and around to the back. I felt some relief when I laid face down on the bed with a pillow under my right side. Eventually the pain subsided on its own. Didn't feel sick at all, just pain. When it went away, I felt fine.

I struggled with this off and on for years. It would go away completely for months at a time and then be excruciatingly painful. I thought I was having a heart attack. The symptoms often mimic one. The surgery was not too bad. Out of the hospital in 24 hours and back to work in 10 days.

Mine was 33 years ago , but I remember it like it was last week. It was a very sharp pain up under my ribs almost in the middle. I can remember a couple of attacks where I was doubled over in pain, and hyperventilating to the point that my hands were tingling. At that point I didn't know what was wrong. Like Annie, felt fine when I wasn't under attack.

Between the time of my first attack and the time of my surgery, I got married. Thankfully it held off long enough to let me get through the stress of that season.

I found that changing my diet had no effect on the severity or frequency of the attacks. That was poor medical advise, I think.

Because I had a history of duodenal ulcer my gallbladder problems were misdiagnosed for years. My pain was intense and centered in my upper abdomen. The pain radiated to my back but then so did my ulcer which i had at the age of 16. I was finally diagnosed properly in the ER when I was around 30/31. I know I was nursing my kids from age 25 to at least age 30 or a bit later so that is my best guess. In retrospect I would get attacks every time I ate certain fast food burgers, especially Wendy's due to the grease I suppose. I still avoid Wendy's to this day.

I was admitted to the hospital and had to have nothing by mouth for 3 days along with antibiotics before they did the surgery. This was before laparascopic surgery was used for gallbladders. Worst post op pain ever. Was in the hospital for several days and DH had to help me turn over in bed for a week or more after I came home. I had two unmedicated childbirths, breastfed through milk fever and a month of torticollis, lived with that darn ulcer for quite a few years, but this pain was something else. I was opened up diagonally from top to bottom. I missed the new easy in and out method by just a handful of years.

One thing to be aware of is after your gallbladder is removed you may develop other issues. Mine is IBS. Talking to friends It is not uncommon to develop IBS or at least symptoms that mimic it.

Just Googled to see when laparoscopic gallbladder surgery was first performed. it was in Sept. of 1985 in Germany. That would be 3 1/2 - 4 years after my surgery.

I had chronic runs if I ate the slightest amount of fat. Going out to eat was scary because I didn’t dare be too far from a bathroom.

I also got terrible pain in the intestinal area, in isolated attacks which could last for hours, varying in intensity. Lemongrass and lime hot tea helped some. Once the pain was so bad I went home from work, which says something about how bad it was, as I’ve worked through illnesses I really should have been in bed for. That prompted me to go to the doctor, who diagnosed gall stones.

Having the keyhole surgery was relatively breezy. The first couple of days I felt like I’d been run over by an 18 wheeler, but after that I felt reasonable if not sprightly. By two weeks I was more than ready to go back to work. I haven’t had any after effects, luckily.

When I had my surgery, the doctor told me I would be able to eat anything with no discomfort. Oh...so not true. It does vary from person to person but I avoid all high fat foods.

Hi, Rhizo! My gall bladder has malfunctioned my entire life. Even as a teenager I couldn't eat pizza with my friends because I couldn't process the fat. So I learned to severely limit saturated fats and eat only small amounts of the good fats, but even so my gall bladder would occasionally cause pain in a shoulder blade.

Then in 2018 I had an attack like those described by others above. I thought it was a heart attack, and my son drove me to the hospital. Of course the ER told him I probably had a dissecting aorta and needed a CT scan with contrast. Grrrr.....

Since then I've had ultrasounds of my gall bladder every 6 months. It's gone from sludge to stones, and although at my age (76) I'd very much like to avoid surgery (mostly because of anesthesia), I think it's time. Good luck, Rhizo! Please update us.

Did want to mention that you can buy bile salt tablets. I only take them on occasion and they do seem to help if I've eaten too much fatty food.

I had one attack only. The pain was in my back between shoulder blades. Thought I was having a heart attack. Got the key hole surgery a week later. Some people go back to work a day or 2 later, but I don't know how. I was out for 5 days. Have never gotten rid of the diarrhea with eating fatty foods. Surgery 7 years ago. But it was still worth it. Ultra sound will 100% diagnose if it is gall bladder.

I have a Lazy gallbladder, no stones - diagnosed way back in the '80's. It took them forever to figure it out, so many tests. Finally did a Hida scan. It flares up and stays around for sometimes weeks then goes away. Right now I'm in a flare-up and the pain is on my right side just under my lower rib-cage, very tender there. My sister had the opposite problem and had hers removed last year. My whole family on my Mother's side had gallbladder problems. My mother suffered horribly with hers with lots of pain and nausea. She had hers out the old-fashioned way. So each person suffers different pain and misery. Best to get the right tests for diagnosis and go from there.

No pain -- just threw up when I ate too much fat. The first time it happened I had eaten KFC, was sick, and then it went away (when it was out of my system) -- I had gone home from work (no fun throwing up at work) and once home felt better (because the fat was all gone). I went back the next day and called KFC and accused them of having bad meat. "No one else has complained" they said. I just knew it was bad chicken. Nope, it happened again when I ate a high fat food but that was a couple of months later. Then the episodes got closer together -- no real diet change either so I went to the doc and it was gall bladder.

You are all so helpful! I tell you, that shoulder blade pain really resonates with me as being part of my symptom list.

I have a feeling that I have a few tests ahead of me in the very near future.

Thanks so much for sharing and I'll let you know how my appointment goes.

SOLUTION: I put that in caps to show how important this is. Search the internet for apple cider vinegar & apple juice for gall bladder health. The acid in the vinegar helps to break down sludge and stones.

I've had 3 attacks over the years (always think I'm dying) and this can provide relief in 15 to 30 minutes. I need to get on a daily/weekly regime.

I've been feeling for you folks as I've been reading down through your stories!

I can't imagine how difficult it would be to deal with a recent arrival, including nursing, along with an earlier arrival or two, while enduring such recurrent pains as you've described, watch me- seldom laughing in those days, I'm sure.

I don't like major pain, and I've seldom had to deal with such, through these many years of life, for which I'm very thankful.

My body has spoiled me, also, for it seldom says, "Listen, you darned old fool - I can't DO that for you any more"!

So many blessings ... that it's so easy, in life's daily routine, to forget to be thankful for!

Thanks for reminding me, sufferers.

I hope that you have an early, easy and accurate diagnosis and uneventful and successful treatment, rhizo - as stress-free as possible.

ole joyful

I had extreme pain because I was trying to pass the gallstones. I had very large stones. So I had to have surgery to stop the problem.

But I want to say. One of my best friends here was having what she thought was gallbladder pain and kept putting off having her doctor check. She just recently was taken to the ER by her son. She was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Any time we have pain or suffering we need to have it checked out.

I had my gallbladder removed by laparoscopy 1.5 years ago. For many years I would get really bad stomach aches and would end up vomiting. When I went for a physical and told my dr about it he ordered a scan of my tummy and my gallbladder was filled with stones. I went and visited a surgeon and he wanted to do surgery, but I said I can just not eat eggs and bananas and be fine. But he said it would be much better to do the surgery now and not when my gallbladder erupts. So I had the surgery and was home in about 5 hours, I was off work for the summer so I didn't have to worry about that. I still can't eat bananas, so I guess after all they were not a trigger.

Back from the appointment; have an abdominal ultrasound scheduled for Thursday and an endoscopy later on. She is leaning towards reflux but I am honestly doubting that.

I can't eat a much healthier diet than I already do so there's nothing to change or eliminate as far as that goes.

Rhizo, hope it is nothing serious. (Hugs)

Wishing you the best outcome, Rhizo. I have been though it, had to make a rush trip to the ER as it was too severe to stand. I was so bad off with it they could not operate for six days. They did the surgery, and I went home the next day, only had to take Tylenol after I got home. That was 20 years or so ago. Yes, I take pills for any problems.

Sue

My gallstones were discovered Ina CT scan for another problem. I had a whole lot of stones and occasional pain on my right side under my ribs. I decided to get rid of my gallbladder so I didn’t have some horrible attack while traveling. I was also advised that it was better to do it before a stone moved into the bile duct and before I got any older.

my pain did not resemble reflux at all. When I’ve had reflux the pain is in the center of my chest.

The surgery was performed laparoscopically. I went into the hospital,around 8:30 a.m. and was home by 3 p.m. I never needed pain killers, just ibuprofen. I was out and about in about five days. I’ve never had any side effects from the lack of a gallbladder.

Rhizo, hope it turns out to be nothing worse than gallstones. Let us know!

I hesitated to bring up Pancreas issues that are in the same area but ravencajun rightly brought it up. Why don't we go to the doctor when we have issues. I was talking recently to a friend who had problems and when they checked her out it was apparently not serious but she was feeling silly. Why? She should feel relieved. Since when does it have to be tragic to warrant going to see a doctor. Go. We are incredibly fortunate that efforts to replace that system with a silent coup failed. We were scheduled to have our president chosen FOR us, without ever knowing it had happened, or who participated

I eat a very healthy diet as well but had reflux for over twenty years with all sorts of pain and sometimes vomiting. I am sensitive to onions. When I eliminated those I was fine. I don't even remember now why I considered that. It can be any old weird thing no matter how carefully you eat. Good luck.