gallbladder disease Qustions..... 3.5 years post op

 Hi all..  long time no posts..  lol life moves rather fast post op...  Just had a medical issue crop up in the last 60 days or so and wanted to ask a few questions..  First, I had no gallstones preop..  one year ago almost to the date, I had a rather nasty little attack that I thought could have been an gall attack, but only one.  then in the last 2 months I have had about 5 serious writhing in pain attacks and numerous very mild attacks...  I am out of state for the winter and only have emergency coverage for at least the next 2 months...  I have done a ton of research and believe that it is truly gallbladder attacks, but I have one abnormal symptom and wanted to come on here to see if anyone else had the same or a similar issue and if it was RNY related...  Rather then the pain being toward the right side, it is mainly mid sternum to slightly left sided...  and I was just wondering if that was because my blind stomach is not where my old stomach used to be?  IE Perhaps my gallbladder and bial ducts would not be located where a normal persons would be?  Any Guidance would be much obliged...   and yes I have an appointment  for 2 days after I get back home to see my DR.  Thanks in advance....

Shasta

 I had my gallbladder removed about a year before my surgery. My pain was definitely mid sternum. It also felt like someone was cinching a belt so tightly under my rib cage.... I swore I was going to explode. Those attacks are wicked! I wouldn't wish that on anyone! Hope you get some relief soon. Btw..I suffered 8 attacks before my doctor would accept it was my gallbladder. 

Thank you!!  I have exactly the same feelings..  my shortest attack has been 30 min and longest has been 8 hours...  I have an awsome Primary care Dr. at home..  he is an ER dr half of the time and PCP private practice half of the time..  so he is an excellent diagnostician..  I was 90% sure that it was GB I just needed to get a line on my one mismatch symptom...

Thank you so much

Shasta

This sounds more like your Pancreas than your gallbladder.

When I had my gallbladder 'attack' It started as pain in my right shoulder BLADE. Eventually I started to have pain around my right lower rib cage.

But my GB problems lasted exactly 12 hours. Because all their tests showed that mine was fixin to explode .... infected. So I had an emergency cholecystectomy. Followed by another emergency procedure the next day.

I had phantom GB attacks for exactlly ten years after the removal of my GB and always after really fatty foods (pizza in the main). This happens to about 1 in 5 who have the GB removed and is associaated with the Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction. My SOD issues used to plague me every few months and were just as awful as the original GB attack. They abruptly ceased about teh time I started eating to treat my Reactive Hypoglycemia.

Regardless if it's GB or Pancreas, I'd try to keep your meals cholesterol free (which is more or less how I've eaten in the last year).

 Thank you..  I am keeping my cholesterol low..  I have been babying it for a month now since I first decided that it was more then likely either GB or pancrititus..  or both  lol as one can cause the other..  lol  so i have been careful..  it sounds like yours was very sudden...

you can have a gallstone blocking one of the ducts, which can be an emergency for gallbladder removal and also affects the pancreas - can lead to pancreatitis

 I had my gallbladder removed in September 2011. My attacks would hurt mid sternum and cause me to hot flash, and go into a cold sweat.. i would have violemt BMs it was awful.. all the while I felt like I needed to throw up. That thing is a nasty little organ, if you are having issues now I would get it checked out. They can do a HIDA scan and check to see how it is functioning. I had an injection fraction of 22%, which is pretty out of the norm. They took it out and it was full of infection.. I have felt so much better since it has been out, however it made me lactose intolerant. :( Oh well.. :) I am sure it is helping since I had my RNY 12 days ago. Good luck!

 Good luck with your surgery!!  Congrats!  I have the hot flashed and cold sweats during attacks..  actually those are my warning signs to get home where I can safely collapse..  I am going to look up that scan..  I am not sure I could do lactose intolerance!!!  lol  a considerable amount of my protein is dairy in nature..  ;-)  thank god for Greek Yogurt!!  lol

Thanks for confirming my symptoms!! 

Shasta

MY FRIEND HAD TO HAVE HER GALLBLADDER REMOVED AND NOT SURE IF WHAT HER SYMPTOMS WERE BUT SHE FEELS SO MUCH BETTER. SHE HAD HERS OUT LAP. SHE IS NOT AN RNY/WLS PATIENT BUT GLAD SHE IS FEELING BETTER. I WILL CALL HER TO FIND OUT HER SYMPTOMS AND THEN RELATE THEM HERE LATER. NOT SURE IF SHE IS EVEN UP NOW, BUT WILL TRY TO CALL HER. DARN HER, NO ANSWER. OH, WELL. I DO HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER SOON!

I am sure that I will feel much better once I get it out, if that is what it is..  ;-)  I found out that I have at least 2 for sure trigger foods and I have felt much better now that I am not eating them.  Popcorn (an all time fav of mine) and Hot Dogs..  lol go fig..  thanks for responding