| Product: |
Gall Stones |
| Date: |
15/01/09 (472 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: None!!!!
Disadvantages: Pain, pain and more pain
After having an emergency trip to hospital a week before christmas with gall stones, i thought it only fair to share the symptoms and my experience with everyone else out there that gets this pain and honestly believes they are dying!
~~How it started~~
I'd had a few emergency dr visits in the nights where i'd woken up in so much pain that i couldn't stand up straight and their diagnosis? Kidney infections followed by a course of antibiotics. I mentioned this to my doctor on a random check up i had and she immediately suspected gall stones and ordered an ultrasound to find out if this was the case. Why couldn't the emergency drs have picked this up on one of the many occasions i went?
~~Diagnosis~~
I was sent for the ultrasound that found i had lots of little gall stones that were moving around everytime they tried to digest something fatty or any meat i'd eaten. Gall stones are formed from either cholesterol, calcium or excess bilirubin. I still don't know which mine are as the doctors still haven't received my report back (yes, almost a month later). My symptoms included severe abdominal pain, being violently sick, sweating loads and being extremely restless. I don't know if this covers every symptom but it definitely covers what i had!
~~Treatment~~
I was admitted as an emergency case just before Christmas after being in severe pain and being violently sick for three days. After a shot of morphine (traditional tablets do not work, no matter how strong a dr tells you they are!) and being placed on a drip, i felt miraculously better. I was left floating about wards for 4 days, nil by mouth and getting more annoyed by the minute! Nurses ignored you, drs told you nonsense and i'll end my rant on the NHS there.
Finally they sent me for an MRCP scan as my liver results were coming back abnormal. These came back and they gave the go ahead to have my gall bladder out. I went off for keyhole surgery which was a success. However, a few hours later i was rushed back in with internal bleeding (they'll never admit it was their fault but they screwed up, ignored me on the ward and lost my notes so they had no idea what was happening).
I'm now minus a gallbladder, a large open scar to go along with the keyhole scars and get this, still in pain!
~~Overall~~
Gallstones really make you feel like you're having a heart attack and that you're going to die. I don't eat a particularly fatty diet but i did eat a lot of meat when i was breastfeeding as i had to eliminate milk and soya from my diet. I truly believe that the calcium supplements i was given had something to do with my gallstones and the drs won't deny it.
If you suspect them, go to your dr straight away with the symptoms as it can only get worse! It can lead to complications inluding pancreatitis and believe me when i say it's not pleasant!
One thing i was never told was that i could still get the symptoms even if i had the operation and i'm experiencing that this week (yet another NHS screw up). I still can't eat meat and at the moment, four weeks on, i can only eat soup!
One piece of advice, go private if you can afford to pay! The NHS screwed up so many times i can't begin to tell you about them all and i'll never forget my time in hospital.
I know this has turned out to be more of a rant, but gall stones aren't funny and noone will ever appreciate the pain you go through until they have to do it themselves. Having gone through gall stones and a natural childbirth, i'd say the gall stones are a million times more painful!
Summary: Very painful that has a long recovery period, or it does in my experience!
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Last comments:
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- 25/01/09 I find your article a little frustrating, in that you describe many of the aspects of gallstones from a personal point of view very well, yet you attack the NHS and blame it somehow for all your problems. As a doctor working in the NHS, I can assure you that its not fun. Up until 2 months ago, I was on a general surgery rotation dealing with people with gallstones on an almost daily basis, so feel I have a good alternative viewpoint.
Let me take each of your points attacking the NHS in turn. Initial failure to recognise the condition - well, this is difficult. The symptoms between gallstones (generally cholecystitis) and pyelonephritis can be similar, although I would hope that your 'night dr' did at least dip your urine before prescribing antibiotics. If not then you have a point, if so, it is possible that you had both gallstones and a kidney infection. In addition, someone coming in for the third time in a row tends to ring alarm bells with a doctor - either they are bonkers or there is a genuine problem that needs thinking about it a different way. Also you may have finally come out with the more typical clinical signs of biliary colic which are not always initially evident.
You still haven't received a report regarding what forms your gallstones because it is totally irrelevant. The NHS has limited funds, and does try to prioritise things that will make a clinical difference. Regardless of what has formed your stones, the treatment remains the same - surgical. So really a report on what has formed your stones is for interest.
With out knowing your case fully it is difficult to see why you were left floating about the wards for 4 days. However, it is unusual for surgeons to perform 'hot' cholecystectomies which is where we remove a gallbladder at the actual time it is inflamed. More often it is best to let it all settle and do it a later date.
Post operative bleeding is a known complication and one you will have been consented for. The risks of this are greater with keyhole surgery by the nature of the fact its harder to see. It is difficult to spot initially post-op as the majority of patients complain of large amounts of pain, so if you feel the pain was greater than you'd of expected, then look at it from our side - everyone says that. Loss of your notes is unlikely to have affected your care terribly much, its just annoying.
The calcium supplements could well of contributed (we won't deny it because while unlikely it is possible), but they could well of done a whole lot more good than you appreciate. Gallstones are unfortunately just one of those things people get - particularly women of childbearing age. Blaming it ALL on calcium supplements is a little far fetched.
As for you still being in pain - I do feel sorry for you in that respect. Honestly, gallstones are horrendous and I do understand the levels of pain are unbearable. But please, please, don't take it out on us - we do our best in a difficult situation. "Go private" you say - well, you can't get emergency private surgery. And regardless, the same surgeons who perform NHS operations perform private operations, the only difference is you might get a nicer bed and choice of food and the operation a little sooner. So, before attacking the poor old NHS just think about what it did for you. It DID diagnose your problem, it DID give you pain relief, it DID perform an operation to resolve the problem, and despite post operative bleeding, it DIDN'T let you die. It saved your life. Be grateful, not vengeful. |
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- 23/01/09 Get well soon. Gall stones can be an absolute excrutiating pain. |
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- 17/01/09 Hope you get better soon. I've had similar experiences with the NHS so feel for you there. |
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