Woke up in the night with a gall bladder attack

[Ex Lurker]

Male, single, 50. I've heard women say it's more painful than giving birth. I wouldn't know anything about that, but it's bad enough. Had been having these episodes for a few months, mostly fairly mild, but some have been doozies, like this one. I have Blue Cross, but it's hospitalization only. with a $5000 deductible and 20% copayment. Besides, I'm self employed in a job that requires some physical labor, and even the keyhole surgery would put me out of action for at least a week. If I'm not there, nothing gets done and I don't get paid. In other words, I can't afford to get sick. Such is life in these United States in 2011.

It got bad enough that I was considering dialing 911 anyway and just dealing with whatever consequences arose. Fortunately, the pain started to subside around that time. I feel okay now, but zonked out. My extended family is about to gather for Thanksgiving this afternoon, but I don't feel up to it. I'll make some excuse so they don't worry and don't nag me about not taking care of my health, (which I'm not).

I just felt like telling someone. Not that I'm feeling sorry for myself, there are many, many people worse off. At least I CAN deal with this if it gets bad enough. I just hope it will hold off until the economic situation is more stable. Thanks for listening, and thanks in advance for any well-wishes, even though I won't be replying right away. I'm going back to bed and get some sleep. Happy Thanksgiving, DU.

[xchrom]

1. Sorry. Please be well. Nt

[JDPriestly]

2. Your whole back hurts.

Eat veggies and maybe a bit of fruit and little else, no meat or animal fats for sure, for a while now. Maybe you can avoid another bout with that pain.

I am not a doctor. I just found that going vegetarian for a while helped me avoid the pain when I had it in my younger years.

[CatWoman]

3. *hugs* Ex

I have gall bladder issues too :(

Doctor wants to remove it and I'm trying to get an appt with the VA to see if they will do it.

At least I have that avenue open.

Good luck and good vibes to you.

Remember: stay away from starches, fried and spicy foods. Eat meat sparingly and load up on those veggies!! That's helped me.

[uppityperson]

4. I hope you have at some time recently been seen by a doctor who could diagnose you

My ins has $10,000 deductible, understand the problem. But I do hope you've seen someone since it could be something else more serious. Good luck and happy Thanksgiving.

[Warpy]

5. I know how you feel

I've been uninsured since 1987 and have done things like hop around on a broken ankle a whole weekend because I could afford urgent care but I couldn't afford an ER.

The irony in my case was that I was an RN. I could only get per diem work because no one wanted me on their health insurance rolls.

I think a lot of us are in the position of working and producing goods and services we could never afford to buy. In my case, that service was good health care.

[asjr]

6. When it happened to me I yelled

out it was worse than childbirth pains--excruciating! Don't linger too long about surgery. It killed my mother-in-law. Dicker with the doctor and hospital about making payments after surgery. Go ahead and feel sorry for yourself--the pain requires it.

[xiamiam]

7. it can be done in outpatient in a drs office..and you go home

and dont have to think about the attacks again

i lived with it for decades..ended up in the emergency room and hospital for 3 days..dr said i shouldn't have waited so long he could have done it in his office

it was easy ..relatively..should have done it years before..no problems since excepting one time over spicy spicy food..

[tularetom]

8. Don't put it off too long

I had the same condition. Sitting in a tub of hot water eased the pain but only temporarily.

Being a typical guy, I delayed doing anything about it until the pain got too bad. The doctor told me these things can rupture like an appendix and when it does there is a danger of peritonitis and every dire possibility that that implies.

I had the thing removed and haven't had any problems with it since. According to my doc, the gall bladder is a vestigial organ not even present in a lot of species. You can do without it very easily and the surgery is much less invasive than it was when I had mine, almost an outpatient procedure.

And don't eat any fats until you've had something done. The presence of fat stimulates the gall bladder. Milk fats for some reason are particularly bad.

Good luck, happy thanksgiving, and be well.

[Historic NY]

9. I was laproscopic patient #60 when mine was done......pain your damn right...

I was 28 then......I had three attacks each one worst than the other. My advise its not good to wait...Perhaps you can work something out with the Dr. mine was done outpatient but they hung onto me as it was "hot" when they went in. I have both diverticulites and diverticulosis and they rank up there too on the pain scale. And yes you are right about women & child birth..I've had 3 female friends tell me that straight away.

don't wait,,,,,seriously.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Don't put it off for too long

And avoid all kinds of fatty foods.

[BanzaiBonnie]

11. Take care

It can be deadly if you have gall stones that fall and block the bile duct

[ThomWV]

12. If I learned on thing in the last year its not to assume you know what the problem actually is.

I don't want to contradict you but all you know is you have a very bad pain in the gut. Right now you don't know if its something that's going to kill you tomorrow or something you have time to deal with. If nothing else I'd suggest you find that much out as quickly as possible. After that I'd tell you this, I watched a Hospital Administrator at the Cleveland Clinic work up a set of applications for my hospital room-mate with every possible agency of state and the Federal Government known to man to help the guy in the bed next to me pay for what was going to easily be a $100,000 operation. He didn't have a dime of insurance, a job, or much of anything else. They got enough paper on him to get him in the operating room - and that was the most important thing at the moment.

So that's what I'd say. First find out with certainty what you have and then go seek every possible avenue of assistance that can conceivably be found. Godspeed my friend.

[Maine-ah]

13. as a woman who has given birth and has had gall bladder attacks

giving birth was way worse, though the gall bladder is rather painful.

Change of diet will help, talk to your doc about it.

:hi:

[Mnemosyne]

14. My sister ended up with gangrene on her gallbladder, do not mess around, Ex. I hope you

feel better soon, but seriously don't mess around with it too long.

[lonestarnot]

15. I'm sorry.

We're having a go of something over here too, but can't get into all of it here. :hug:

[justiceischeap]

16. I had to have my gallbladder removed a bit over a year ago

I'm 40 and I actually had a gallstone stuck in my bile duct. When that happens, there's really no getting around surgery. I actually had to have the stones removed from my bile duct first before I could get my gall bladder out. The last episode had me taken away from work in an ambulance to the emergency room. I then had to wait about a week to have the procedures done. If you end up getting a stone stuck in your bile duct you WILL have to go to the hospital and get it removed because it could cause your gall bladder to burst and that can kill you.

[kudzu22]

17. Sounds like you have what i had

They were quite painful and I thought it was a heart attack. I had the gall bladder removed about 8 years ago and that fixed everything. Don't remember what the bill came to. I was only kept overnight in the hospital -- less than 24 hours. I was back at work in about a week.

I agree with the previous posters that you should have this taken care of NOW. Do not wait for economic conditions to improve - you could be dead by then.

[Lugnut]

18. Bite the bullet and get that gall bladder out.

It's not going to get better. You can count on that. My son is an independent owner operator over the road truck driver who lost a month of work in June with a bad gall bladder. He couldn't afford to take the time off but he was so sick he had no choice. He's still playing catch-up to recoup his losses but he can at least eat whatver he wants and he's pain free.

[Obamanaut]

19. Mine was removed the 8th of Nov., about 8 AM, back home by 2 PM. Surgeon

saved the four stones for me, all about the size of a fingernail. Said if I was not in pain before, it was only a matter of time.

Three small holes was all it took. Back in the gym and all other activities in less than a week (resumed them slowly), but I'm retired so my 'work' situation doesn't exist as yours does.

[laundry_queen]

20. Get it out ASAP if you can

My mom had emergency surgery because of a stone completely blocking the bile duct (the ER kept telling her she was too young for gallstones and kept sending her home) and when the happens, bile backs up into the liver and can cause serious damage. Also, when that happens, no laproscopy for you, it's major surgery. And as someone who has been through major surgery (c-section) AND has had the gallbladder laproscopic surgery, there is really no comparison. I'd chose the latter every. single. time.

I also have a friend who was misdiagnosed for awhile and her gallbladder became so swollen and infected that when she finally went in for surgery, they found they couldn't do laproscopy and ended up doing a major surgery. (Imagine going to sleep thinking '4 tiny holes' and waking up with a 4' scar)

I feel for you. Gallbladder attacks are pretty painful. For me I had horrible labours, so the gallbadder attacks weren't quite as bad, but they were an awful lot like a normal contraction that didn't really end.

When I was waiting for surgery (a whole 3 weeks, so much for that ol'Canadian myth) I just made sure I ate almost fat-free and I didn't have any more attacks.

Good luck. I wish I could offer you my health care. LOL, if my divorce would hurry up I'd offer to marry you so you could have some good health care. I'm only half joking.

Take care.

[ellisonz]

21. Bite the bullet.

It'll be worse if you don't take care of it...

[arikara]

22. I had gall bladder problems

for 15 years I had a pain sort of mid back beneath my right shoulder blade. Sometimes it was so excruciating it felt like someone had stabbed me and was twisting it around. I went to many doctors, and it was just put to being chronic pain from old injuries my years of lifting stretchers. The only thing that would relieve for a few hours was a chiropractic treatment. Finally after 15 years of this I had been seeing an accupuncturist - Chinese medicine man for something else, my back flared up again so I asked him if he could do something for the pain. He checked me out for a few minutes and told me it wasn't my back it was my gall bladder. Gave me a treatment and some herbs and the pain was gone. When it flares up which is very rare now, I just take some of the herbs and its better in no time.

So that might be a thought for you if you have access to acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

[rox63]

23. Please get it taken care of soon

My Mom's gall bladder ruptured, causing a life-threatening infection. They had to wait several days before they could remove it, to clear the infection. Then, because it had ruptured, they couldn't use laprascopy to remove it, they had to do major abdominal surgery. You can always make arrangements on paying the hospital bill. But you won't necessarily get your health back if this goes bad.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. Do you have any Not For Profit hospitals in your area?

I know we have one that is connected with Catholic Charities, and they will work with you as much as they can. I hate to see people in pain.

[dana_b]

25. eat lean, very little fat

and when if the pain stays long enough, you will go to the MD. I went through the exact same thing for months in 2009 until I finally had to go to the ER. The gall bladder came out a couple of weeks later. I would recommend having someone take over for a week so that you can get this done. Good luck

[graywarrior]

26. I took ursodiol that dissolved the stones

You might want to ask your doctor about them. Cut out all oils and eat healthy. You may be able to stall surgery. My last attack was 4 years ago. I went off the ursodiol 6 months ago and so far, so good.