weird back pain associated with gallbladder issues?? anyone?

I thought I would post here to see if anyone else has experienced this before.  I have had a pain in the mid to upper right quadrant of my back, right below my scapula since the beginning of September.  The pain feels like it has a center and radiates out from that spot.  It has not moved or evolved much since then and has been constant.  Sometimes it feels like it is burning and it can feel better or worse although I haven't pin pointed what triggers it other than wearing a bra.  My bra strap goes across it and I honestly cannot wear a regular bra as it just hurts too much and have been living in a sports bra for the last month.  The pain feels almost burny/itchy at the surface at times like a cut that is healing but is also deeper than the surface.  It is also easily the size of my hand or larger.

So what have I done about it so far?  Well, I first thought it was related to some renos that we did in Aug so was prescribing 'time' and stretching to take care of it thinking it was a pinched nerve or muscle pain.  When I realized it hadn't resolved and that it had been more than a month (in Nov) then I started going for massage therapy.  She honestly couldn't even begin to find the center of the pain until the 3rd visit and even then it was like 'yeah, I think that is it'.  You know sometimes they prod you so much that everything hurts?  My next step was to go to my chiropractor thinking that one of my ribs was out of place and pinching something.  4 visits in and no relief.  in fact, it is burning more and is non stop.  obviously we have aggravated something but what?  he said my lat is very tight and is working on that but still no relief.  I am going to see my gp on Friday to get this looked at as my chiro mentioned gallbladder and when I googled it, apparently pain on the right side is one of those hidden symptoms of gallbladder issues.  My antennae went up knowing that gallbladders issues are common after RNY. 

Sorry for the long winded email here but am wondering if anyone else has had anything similar and what was it?  I have no other gallbladder symptoms that I am aware of.  I want to be sure to bring up any possibility for him to check out. 

 

thanks!

Stephanie

Well this is timely.

I just had my gallbladder out on Oct 29th. Here's what I experienced. thanksgiving i kept waking up with this pressure in my chest, like someone was sitting on it. Of course my brother in law said it was a precurser to a heart attack, thanks Frank. so he had me all worried. then one evening out of now where comes is mind blowing pain in my back, like someone hit me with a hammer, i could barely breath, and it was dead centre of my back, radiating outward, lasted for about 20 minutes and then bam, gone just as fast. WTF was that????? that continued for a few days, finally i decided to go to emerg and find out what the heck was going on. Of course when i told them about the chest pain they threw me into ekg etc. They took a blood test and low and behold something in there told them it wasn't a heart attack but gallbladder. Said i was half way to pancreitis.

alof of tests later and i was scheduled for surgery. lickety split, all done. but yes the back pain was there. But not constant like you are talking about. But it affects some people differently.

I would go to family doc and ask for the blood test that will show the little suckers in the blood that say it's gallbladder. Of course i had to get a referral to a specialist but that took all of 2 days. They were so fast about it. Just don't let it linger cause while I was waiting i got more attacks.

they told me to avoid ALL fats to help with the symptoms.

hope that helps.

j

Thanks!  I am happy that you were able to get your issue resolved and that it wasn't a heart attack.  I am definitely following up on this - I have read enough times on this board that you should not ignore pain of any kind. 

Steph

I don't have an answer but I can offer hugs and well wishes! Hope you feel better soon!!

thanks!  I appreciate it. 

I felt a lot of back pain with my gall bladder attacks, but it was very severe. Like labour pain severe. What you describe sound like what I feel with a pinched nerve.

I was thinking pinched nerve but massage therapy and chiro have not touched it which I find strange.  any other time I have had an issue it resolved with either time or chiro.  I must say, I don't envy you that type of pain though.  It just sounds excruciating and I have no plans to experience birthing pains again :)

 

steph

I had back pain with my attacks but nothing like you describe.  Mine were sudden and extremely painful to the point of vomitting from pain. They would last up to 4 hours at most and then disappear.  I'd definitely get it checked out as there are so many ways to check for stones these days.

Gallbladder pain is typically a fast onset of very severe pain that can last long periods of time but generally it does subside as the stone moves. Chronic pain like what you are describing is not typical of gallbladder pain. I've been having mid back pain with my gallbladder attacks which is also not typical. It is more usual to have the chest/abdominal pain someone else was describing. Ultrasound does show that I have a gallstone but I don't need surgery just yet. Going to your GP is a good idea and likely if you have an ultrasound it can rule out gallstones because hey you never know, the body is a funny thing and it might show what is causing the pain.

Imagine that:)  My gp is really good and works out of the same hospital as my surgeon so he is very aware of the whole gastric bypass side effect thing so I think that he will get to the bottom of this.

 

Steph