Gallstones

[Nicola M]

Hi All,

So I went to A&E recently as I was in excruciating pain, it kept me up all night and when I got to work that day I just broke down. After some tests, getting some fluid into me and some strong painkillers (oramorph) I did feel much better and was told I had gallstones. I was sent home and told I would be sent a referral from my GP to have an ultrasound but in the meantime, it's all about keeping on top of the pain so I was sent home with some oramorph. Currently, I am trying to only take it at night so I can make it last, my pain has gotten better but does get worse as nighttime rolls around. I'm just looking for some advice on a couple of things really;

If the oramorph does run out would my GP prescribe more? The reason they gave it to me at A&E was that I already had paracetamol and ibuprofen but the pain was still severe

What can I do for the loss of appetite? I'm okay at lunchtime but once Dinner rolls around everything just does not look appetising

And finally, what is the likelihood of them getting rid of this useless organ, I've read that you need multiple attacks before they'll consider removal but I can't go through this pain again

 

[Deleted member 475901]

I found I could only eat very small amounts of fat while waiting for surgery.
Ironic as it seems yoyo dieting from a low fat to an 'ordinary' diet causes gallstones, but once they are here then I found reducing the amount of bile (stored in the gallbladder and pumped out to digest fats) seems to help.

The link mentions men but the risk for women was already known:

Gallstone risk for yo-yo dieters

Yo-yo dieting may increase a man's risk of gallstones in later life, claim US researchers.

www.gponline.com

 

[Rachox]

Just wanted to post to say I’m so sorry you are feeling so unwell. I had my gall bladder removed 20 plus years ago. My diagnosis was delayed as I was pregnant with my daughter when I had my first few attacks, so it was all put down to being pregnant, I wasn’t convinced as I’d never felt anything like it in my previous pregnancy! It’s such a painful condition, I do hope you get sorted soon.

 

[AndBreathe]

Hi All,

So I went to A&E recently as I was in excruciating pain, it kept me up all night and when I got to work that day I just broke down. After some tests, getting some fluid into me and some strong painkillers (oramorph) I did feel much better and was told I had gallstones. I was sent home and told I would be sent a referral from my GP to have an ultrasound but in the meantime, it's all about keeping on top of the pain so I was sent home with some oramorph. Currently, I am trying to only take it at night so I can make it last, my pain has gotten better but does get worse as nighttime rolls around. I'm just looking for some advice on a couple of things really;

If the oramorph does run out would my GP prescribe more? The reason they gave it to me at A&E was that I already had paracetamol and ibuprofen but the pain was still severe

What can I do for the loss of appetite? I'm okay at lunchtime but once Dinner rolls around everything just does not look appetising

And finally, what is the likelihood of them getting rid of this useless organ, I've read that you need multiple attacks before they'll consider removal but I can't go through this pain again

Oh dear. That sounds so miserable.

I don't have experience of gallstones personally, but my OH had a single attack a few years ago now. Even though he has a single, large gallstone, he was offered surgery straight away. He declined it.

To be honest, some of the messaging was bizarre.

His single gallstone is over 1cm in diameter, thus extremely unlikely to block the bile duct. The theory is he must have had another, much smaller, which did block the duct, but by the it was gone.

He declined the surgery on the basis the large stone won't block the duct (it's too large), and no smaller, tricky stones are evident. He has not had a recurrance of the episode.

We both keep our fingers crossed his gut feel is right, because he had a very horrid night, being blue lighted to A&E.

Fingers crossed things can work out well, and quickly, for you Nicola

 

[CatsFive]

I believe your gp can prescribe oramorph, but don't wait & wait for that referral. Ring the gp, see what is happening