The continuing saga of the tummy troubles

[linda]

I have an ultrasound scheduled or tomorrow, and with any luck I'll find out what's wrong. I say luck because I'm becoming more and more convinced that it's gallstones, which don't always show up with the first ultrasound. But the type of pain, the location and the timing all fit like a glove. I even did a little anecdotal experiment last night to see what would happen; I went out and ate one of those fatty sandwich meals (it's been years since I had one and boy was it go-ooo-od!:P), then waited to see if the pain got worse. Sure enough, it did, it was a very long night and antacids did not help, neither did the tramadol.

I trying to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, so that if it is gallstones I can be ready for surgery. The surgery doesn't worry me, the recovery is so much shorter than it used to be in the days before laparoscopies. What I'm concerned about is the FMS and PsA doing their usual thing and flaring up after any trauma. That's actually the only downside I can think of since this would take care of the abd. pain that I've had on and off for 10 yrs, and also allow me to get back on the abx. Since healthcare is so backed up here it's entirely possible that I'll have to wait a month to get the surgery. That gives me time to try some things that might prevent a flare- but I have no idea if there is anything I can do. I have a 4-6 month supply of zith, but I don't want to risk a yeast infection in my gut right before this kind of surgery, and it may be a few weeks post-op before my gut is healed enough to start taking it.

For the first time in my life I have a chance to prevent an illness before it starts (well, other than immunizations), I'd really love to be able to take advantage of this. Just on a side note, is there any research into immunizations for mycoplasma infections, esp for people with a family history of AI dx?

Any suggestions would be great, and if I found something that helped it would be great info for anyone else who has surgery to prevent a flare. And here's to the next installment of this saga being the :roll-laugh:CONCLUSION!!!

linda

[Maz]

[user=11]linda[/user] wrote:

Since healthcare is so backed up here it's entirely possible that I'll have to wait a month to get the surgery. That gives me time to try some things that might prevent a flare- but I have no idea if there is anything I can do. I have a 4-6 month supply of zith, but I don't want to risk a yeast infection in my gut right before this kind of surgery, and it may be a few weeks post-op before my gut is healed enough to start taking it.

For the first time in my life I have a chance to prevent an illness before it starts (well, other than immunizations), I'd really love to be able to take advantage of this.

 

Hi Linda,

I don't know how you feel about alternative treatments, but while I was researching for a gall bladder problem a few years ago, I learned about liver/GB flushing. I was having severe biliary colic resulting in pain under my right rib cage and radiating into my mid-back. Some people also experience pain in the right shoulder. These wave-like attacks would come on shortly after eating and were likely due to a stuck stone or GB sludge. During the worst attacks, it felt like a crushing pain, similar to a heart attack and esophageal contractions that went right up into my neck.

For gall bladders that are filled with stones (cholesterol or calcified stones), this causes back-up of bile and can raise liver enzymes and/or create inflammation in that area under the rib cage that can feel tender with continuous nagging pain. I had to cut out the underwires of all my bras (sorry for the visual!), as any pressure on that area really made it worse. Bloating, reflux and gas were constants.

Anyway, being a scaredicat I really wasn't keen on the surgical route, so decided to look for alternatives. I joined the “gallstones” yahoogroup and quickly learned of others who had managed to avert surgery by liver flushing. I was a bit scared to try it at first and just lurked on the site, listening in to all the flushing experiences. Ultimately the attacks became more frequent and severe, so I figured I'd just go for it and see what happened. I chose a liver flush protocol (which took about a week of special diet, supplements and preparation before flush day) and then just went for it. My symptoms cleared and I have had no recurrance since (just hit the three year mark)! This, bearing in mind that for some, flushing becomes a way of life and they do it on a monthly basis. I didn't go that far and had success in just one attempt.

Some information that I gleaned from this site that I thought was worthy of note is that although the gall bladder is considered to be an expendible organ, it really isn't. It's function is to squirt bile into the digestive tract as food passes from the stomach to aid in food assimilation and digestion. When removed, bile dribbles constantly into the upper intestinal tract and after many years this increases the chance of colon cancer. Not something that is often mentioned or even acknowleged by knife-happy surgeons. Needless to say, gall bladder surgery is actually a pretty routine surgery today, compared to yesteryear, and the high revenues brought in from these surgeries line a lot of pockets. The other thing to consider is that one of the post-operative complications that occurs with some frequency and given cursory coverage in the pre-operative literature, is that there is a serious risk of sphincter of oddie dysfunction (caused by surgical nicking of the sphincter and less likely to occur with open surgery), which is just as painful as the original problem.  Sometimes this pain turns up years after the surgery after scar tissue has built up and causes the sphincter to be so contracted that it can't allow bile to flow freely and backs up into the liver. Also, as stones are formed in the liver and are dumped into the gall bladder, a kind of recepticle, it doesn't mean we don't still produce these stones. Liver stones can be painful, too. Another post-operative complication is that in “some” people, they never have a regular stool again…and diarrhea is a constant companion.

Honestly, I don't mean to sound negative about the surgery, as there is no doubt that the great majority of GB removals go without a hitch, resolve the pain and there are no complications. However, it really is something I'd urge anyone to research in advance to weigh the up and downsides of this surgery, just to be able to make a fully informed choice.

If you do find your ultrasound confirms your suspicion of gall stones, it may be worth your while to check out the gallstones yahoogroup, just to get further info about GB friendly diet, supplements, exercise (for us?!!!) and to see if flushing is something you'd be comfortable with trying. 

I've thought about flushing again, just to have a good clearout (involves fasting and colon cleanse), but I'd have to come off the abx for a week and not sure I'm ready for a washout week just yet.

Anyway…hope you don't mind me sharing this, Linda. It's just stuff I gleaned that I thought you might want to know in advance of making any possible decisions. Even if you go for the surgery, at least you'll be aware of things to ask your surgeon in order to feel comfortable that you're doing the best thing for you.  

All the very best for your ultrasound and will keep you in my thoughts.

Peace, Maz

 

[linda]

Thanks so much for that information. I'd love to avoid the surgery just to prevent a flare of joint inflammation, not to mention the money I'd save. I'm going to check out that sight tomorrow after the ultrasound. No surgery will be scheduled this week as my doc is on vacation, and I'm sure he's booked up for at least next week as well. I know they say that all of these complications are rare, but every surgery or procedure I've had has resulted in some kind of complication afterward. My body really does not like anything foreign or unusual going on- I guess I'm just a delicate flower- altho my ex might not agree with that assessment. 😉

linda

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