For months, maybe even years, I have been dealing with stomach pain. Over the past 9 months, this pain (that usually comes at night) has kept me awake for hours and had me considereing a trip to the ER. It begins as a burning sensation in the middle of my stomach and then works its way to the right side. From there it feels like something is swollen right under my ribcage. It’s very painful to push on.
So in October of 2022, I went into an urgent care and they sent me for tests to check my gallbladder. They didn’t run blood tests, which I’m finding out they often do, and sent me for an ultrasound. I was told the ultrasound showed I had gallstones. I went to see a GI specialist who wouldn’t even look at my ultrasound and said they wanted me to go in for an upper GI scope to check for an ulcer. Being she made this recommendation without even consulting my ultrasound, I wasn’t too confident with her diagnosis.
So I let it be for a few months still experiencing pain about once or twice a month until it became a weekly occurance. I found a new GI doctor who again, didn’t really look at my ultrasound but sent me to a surgeon. The surgeon was the first person, after 9 months, to explain I had a “moderate” amount of gallstones and recommended surgery.
So that’s where we are now. After all this nonsense, and not really wanting to take out any more body parts, I’m still a bit skeptical about whether this has been what has been causing the pain. But I don’t go to get an colonoscopy until september and no one is suggesting it could be anything else but maybe an ulcer and it is not an ulcer. Not the way it behaves. While I agree there is stomach pain that could well be ulcer, (or the start of one) that doesn’t explain the right side upper stomach pain that is accompanied by swelling. It’s the swelling that confuses me and no one has explained if this is normal with gallbladder issues.
Anyway, I’ve been trying to be really careful with what I eat. Trying to cut out extra fat and eating smaller meals. I haven’t had an attack for about a week and a half and my surgery is now 4 days away. I’m really hoping I’m making the right decision and that this is will solve the problems I have been dealing with and put me on the road to recovery and away from these concerning late night attacks.
I’ll check back in after the surgery with my thoughts on both it, recovery as well as how my body is adapting to this missing organ and what steps I’ve been taking to readjust my lifestyle to my new GI tract.
I also started working with a nutritionist to get my other GI issues under control and maybe even help with this menopausal weight gain.
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