I went to the surgeon today and he said the Hida Scan showed that there may be a stone blocking the bile duct.

I have to have a special kind of MRI tomorrow morning to see exactly what is there.

Then if there's a stone there, I will have to have a GI surgeon go in through the esophagus and down to the bile duct to remove the stone(s).

Then I have to wait 3-5 days for things to settle down and have the other surgeon do the regular gallbladder removal.

Thankfully, he gave me something different to help with the pain. He himself had GB surgery in January and he knows the whole story now!

Experience is the best teacher, right!!?

So, has anyone else had this done?

My husbands cousin had her gallbladder out and sure enough a stone was not removed from the bile duct.It caused her to remain in the hopital for over a month.She turned yellow on us!

Sounds like you are in good hands there kiddo!

Glad he is helping you with that pain,it can be a really bad one.Hope you feel better real soon.

My mom had her gallbladder out a few years ago and they did an ERCsomething(or maybe it's ESPN ). They used it to check that the bile duct was clear.

They didn't find a stone, in her case, but she says that she was put out for the procedure and maybe she had a scratchy throat, after. I'm not sure that helps, exactly.

quote:

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Originally posted by trueblue:

[i]My mom had her gallbladder out a few years ago and they did an ERCsomething(or maybe it's ESPN ). They used it to check that the bile duct was clear.

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In my case, we already know that something is blocking the duct. We're doing the MRI to see exactly what, then the ERCP to go in and get it(them).

Joy....

Thanks 3Great and Hiker...my buddies! Oh and good ole trueblue, my pal!

Been thinking about you a lot...sorry to hear about your dilema. Let's hope there isn't a stuck stone and you can have the gb out soon.

As you know already, i can relate to you...i went to the doctor today about my gallbladder pain..

He said its deff. the GB and i may have to change my meds...which i dont want to because the rocefin is working good. i was pleading with him to take the GB out because i dont need it anyway LOL..

im crazy right? he said it is possibly GB disease since i started with pain within only 16 days of treatment..i dont want surgery but if its going to help me stay on rocefin sign me up! hehe

well just wanted to let ya know what going on with my GB...sorry to hear about your GB problems, its a real pain in the side huh? im glad i have percosets easily available to me. everything i eat i have pain.

Im going for my ultrasound tomorrow morning, so i'll post back lettin ya know whats up wit me...and keep letting me know whats going on with you okay?

quote:

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Originally posted by Lymetoo:
In my case, we already know that something is blocking the duct. We're doing the MRI to see exactly what, then the ERCP to go in and get it(them).

Joy....

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I'm envisioning you going, tomorrow, and they find whatever they thought they saw is gone and or moved someplace, like out of your body for instance.

Good luck for the least complicated result that's possible.

it's paisley here. had to change because lost my password.

sorry to here about the GB complications. what a pain in the rear. so many layers to this disease. if it is not one thing, it's another with us. i will be sending you prayers and hoping you get some resolution to this problem.

what are the symptoms of GB problems now that I am on rocephin? i have started to have heat burn, but I don't know if this is associated with constipation due to some pain meds I have been taking recently.

The doctors thought I had a cyst or growth on my bile duct. I was poked, prodded, x-rayed, MRId, CT scanned and I don't remember what else. They told me they thought I might have a stone in my bile duct. Ruled that out then told me I might have cancer of the bile duct and it scared the crap out of me. BUT in the end they decided it was probably a congenital malformation of the common bile duct.

A few months later they performed surgery to remove my rotten gallbladder and guess what? The 'congenital malformation' had miraculously disappeared. I've had so many things come and go, disappear and resolve that I just have to suspect lyme in some way. How? I really don't know but there's no other explanation for all of these crazy things that have come and gone without reason.

Korinne...ask your dr for Levsin. It's supposed to relax the bile duct ... keep the spasms down. I just started on it, thought it helped some today.

Paisley...watch out for the heartburn. It's been one of my first indications that my GB is not happy.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lymetoo:
Dang it all! I was hoping to get this GB out by next week. Well, I'm still holding out hope for that, but there's a little hitch.

I went to the surgeon today and he said the Hida Scan showed that there may be a stone blocking the bile duct.

I have to have a special kind of MRI tomorrow morning to see exactly what is there.

Then if there's a stone there, I will have to have a GI surgeon go in through the esophagus and down to the bile duct to remove the stone(s).

Then I have to wait 3-5 days for things to settle down and have the other surgeon do the regular gallbladder removal.

Thankfully, he gave me something different to help with the pain. He himself had GB surgery in January and he knows the whole story now!

Experience is the best teacher, right!!?

So, has anyone else had this done?

---

Hi Lymetoo,

I also had my pancreatic duct blocked. I ended up with pancreatitis, and leisons on my liver!

I was ambulanced out of my ex pcp office.
I kept calling her, and telling her how bad I was feeling. She kept saying it's the flu!

After a week, I called the office again, and I drove myself in. She took one look at me, and had me ambulanced out!

I was in the hospital for three weeks and two days! Hooked up to i.v. feedings, had to have blood, and sugar levels were all over the place!

The e.r. didn't know what was wrong with me, so they gave me morphine. It was the worse thing they could've done!

Hard drugs like that can cause the pancreatitis to get worse.

I turned yellow, but once they put me through all sorts of test and realized what it was... they took me off the morphine right away!

My situation got to the point that my daughter told the surgeon, if you have to take out my mother's pancreas...I want her shipped to Boston!

My daughter is a nurse, and she thought that I was not going to make it at one point!

I finally got to go home...when I showed them that I could eat some solid food.
I forced part of a sandwich down, only because I wanted out of there fast!

I did have to wait weeks before my gallbladder came out. The surgeon kept me on a bland diet till all leisons were gone from my liver. I had so many cat scans, that I'm surprised I didn't glow in the dark from all the radioactive dye! lol

He did ask me if my llmd thought that this could've been from the lyme. Llmd said they'll never know for sure.

I'm not a doctor either, and I hope I'm not scaring you, but just want you to continue seeing your doc...he does sound like he knows what he's doing.

My thoughts and prayers are with you!
Please let us know how you make out!
lymeloco

Thats funny because heartburn/indigestion was my first symptom then i had the pain in my right upper quadren! lol

Well yea. im just hoping i dont have to change meds... Is heartburn an indication of GB disease or not nessicarily?

Just wondering!

TTYL

It amazes me how differently they do things now. In 1980 I had pancreatitis from gravel sized stones blocking my bile ducts..man was I ever sick. They removed the gall bladder and the gravel at the same time. I felt so good afterwards...like a different person.

I often wonder if the Lyme caused my gall bladder problems...since I got Lyme in 1972. Guess I will never know.

Please take care..and please do not eat sausage after you have it out for awhile....It hurt me like heck...LOL

I woke up in really bad pain this morning. Could barely get out of bed to get my medicine. Scared the fool out of me.

Got the MRI done EARLY this morning.

Korinne...Heartburn can have many causes...Gallbladder problems could be the cause.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lymetoo:
No, lymeloco, you didn't scare me....yet! If I can get in to get the first procedure done ASAP, I'll be really happy.

I woke up in really bad pain this morning. Could barely get out of bed to get my medicine. Scared the fool out of me.

Got the MRI done EARLY this morning.

Korinne...Heartburn can have [b]many causes...Gallbladder problems could be the cause.

[/B]

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Lymetoo,
Both my daughters had their gallbladders out.
One just had her sout a month ago.

Both our doing great!

As far as I know, they don't have lyme!

They experienced g.e.r.d., and the oldest got real sick after going out with her girlfriends for a couple of drinks!

It seems to run in families. My sister, mother, two nieces have had there's out also!

Before my lyme diagnosis. I had trouble with burning on my tongue, but never heartburn like my daughters.

I had a fundoplication years back...only to find out that it was an unnecessary operation. It seems I had some mild esophagitis.

I've had more tests, procedures, doctors than you can imagine. Since diagnosis, and being on meds... I haven't had any problems.
I hope I didn't just jinx myself!

Are you still getting fluids in? Force it done if you have to.

I had difficulty eating and drinking because I was herxing also.
We don't think the tetracycline was the culprit. The surgeon said the same thing.

I think the problems had been present for a long time, and the herx brought out the symptoms more...kinda like icing on the cake...not as tasty though.

You'll do fine! It's surprising how much better you feel after. Both daughters can eat and drink whatever they want!

So hang in there! Keep us posted... o.k.?

Well i got my ultrasound done today ofcorse...

While she was doing my ultrasound she knew i was very medical literate and she knew i knew what i was looking at HAHA
So she saw something in my ultrasound, she had 3 other tech's come in to look at it to make sure they saw what she did, and they did.

She even brought the pictures to the doctor to see what he might think...weird.

Well it looked like it was either a sludge or gravel at the bottom of my gallbladder. They said that my doctors office should be getting a report within 48 hours...

So i guess its a waiting game, but i didnt see any big stones or anything but that doesnt mean i dont have anything, im thinking it more likely gravel causing the problem...

Just wanted to update! thanks for caring hehe

Cigi just had this done 2 weeks ago. She'll be interested to discuss this with you.

Your ever-optimistic posts and support keep me hanging on with a smile.

We'll picture your tutu under the surg gown. Won't someone be surprised!

Lymester

The gall bladder stores and released bile into the billiary tree...a series of canals that end up in the small intestine...This same tree has branches that begin at the pancreas...

So, think of gall bladder on the right...pancreas on the left...both releasing their goodies into the top limbs of the billiary tree, ending in one opening in the small intestine.

If the billiary tree is clogged up with sludge or small stones, it's simpler and less invasive to go through the mouth with an endoscope to the opening in the small intestine.

There they clip open the sphincter to the base of the trunk of the billiary tree to allow what amounts to a teeny tiny miniature back hoe to enter the tree.

It can then remove what has built up in the tree, like sludge or stones.

If the billiary tree becomes sludged and or filled with stones from the gall bladder it can also back up like the plumbing in your house and damage the pancreas...

Hence the development of the ERCP...the snazy little procedure that I just described above.

It's an outpatient procedure and was essentially a no brainer for me...they give you night night IV meds, perform the ERCP, wake you up, and you go home...

Follow up blood work is necessary to see if the ERCP has opened up the billiary tree.

My gall bladder was emergency surgery...followed by an ERCP a week later. My liver function tests were still horrible after the gall bladder was removed, so the billiary tree needed roto rootering too.

If the ERCP solves your problem, that's terrific! Avoiding the gall bladder surgery is a plus....
If you still need it tho', let us know kiddo. You'll get lots of support!

Oh yeah...I almost forgot....good for you to get some real pain relief meds! This kind of pain is agonizing....Mine put me in shock...they couldn't get an IV started because of it, and I was begging for relief...

So, I'm waiting for a call from the surgeon's office. The nurse mentioned next Thursday as a possible surgery date. Fine with me, but I'd hoped for earlier than that.

Korinne....that gravel can be worse than larger stones, because it can get stuck in the ducts. Hopefully, you can get this taken care of without surgery.

But I'm with you, if you'd rather just get the thing yanked out. I now with I'd done it a long time ago!

Breathwork....thanks for the info! I hope they can get this done before anything really bad happens!

Lymester....hmmm... I'll have to see if they have bigger gowns to accomodate my pink tutus!!

Well got a call from the docs office today, and i have bad news lol

I have either sludge or small stones in my gallbladder and the lyme center wants me to consult with a surgeon to see if they think it should be taken out or not...

Guess im going to have to do that huh...well im still having pain so maybe i should deff. get surgery because i dont want to have to deal with more pain on top of the pain i already have...

Just wanted to give ya all an update...

quote:

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Originally posted by Lymetoo:
Well, I have good news! The MRI showed that the bile duct was clear. Makes me wonder why the hida scan showed a problem with "emptying" into the small intestine....??

So, I'm waiting for a call from the surgeon's office. The nurse mentioned next Thursday as a possible surgery date. Fine with me, but I'd hoped for earlier than that.

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Kori ~ I hope everything works out alright.

I'll hug the two of you when it won't hurt so much. k?

(edited because my fingers lost their mind)

This time it is YELLING do it now!!!!

Thanks, trueblue!

Good luck - God bless,
Cigi

I told them everything I could think of regarding my medical history. They're going to give me abx IV [zithromax, I think] so I may wake up in herx h***!!

That gallbladder of yours probably would have given out later on anyway, even with oral abx. I suspect mine has been clogged by 4 1/2 yrs of abx! No IV, but plenty of orals.

Feel free to email me. I'd kinda like to chat with you.

I'm pretty new to this board and just reading about all the gallbladder problems/removals that people have as a result of Lyme. It makes sense as all these antibiotics are so hard on the system.

I was wondering if anyone was familiar or had ever done any sort of liver/gallbladder flush. I've done several and they really help get out stones and clear out a bunch of liver sludge/accumulated toxins.

The one flush that I do (or did before I got Lyme) is not as successful and taxing on the system if you are sick, but I did find another 5 day cleanse that is gentle and has all natural (but powerful)herbal ingredients. I just did it a couple of months ago and got out some stones, chaff, and sludge. And I got some color in my cheeks and felt a little better and actually lost a few of the 50 pounds of weight I gained with this Lyme.

Anyway, if anyone's interested I got it from American Botanical Pharmacy at herbdoc.com. Dr. Schulze (he's quite gregarious and kind of put me off at first before I tried his products and they worked for me) is the guy behind this. He's a PhD not a medical doc.

The other one I did that only lasts about a day but more hard core is just done with epsom salt, olive oil, and grapefruit juice.

I just wanted to mention these in case it might help anyone.

Cheers,

Alison