Gallstones can be life threatening. I didnt have insurance and they removed mine anyway. Thats one of the worst pains in the world. So id get insurance if you can and see if you can have it removed.

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I see fallen angels
When i try to go to sleep
And their always watching
Silently preparing
What they'll do to me.

Yeah. It worries me that I'm told I can't without insurance, because I really, really cannot afford it right now, but the actual risk if I do get an infection or it ruptures or anything isn't good.

When and if I'm able to find another job or get mine back, I'll get insurance again, but it looks like that could be a while with this town. A year ago, I fucking had insurance. Ha.

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^{ah vloe ju, ju vloe meh, we ah happeh fah-mi-leh!}

the gall bladder is normally called on when you need to break down fatty foods - when my mom had gallstones the doctors told her to eat no fats (or as little as possible) but she still had problems... so it was removed, but she did have complications with it, since it went undetected for so long the stones escaped and blocked her pancreatic duct which causes pancrititus <sp>

But i am sure there are alternates for gallbladder removal now - like ultrasonic stone destruction, but i am not sure if you need to talk to a specialist / consultant about that

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$>Select * From Customers Where Clue > 0
$>0 rows returned

I had gallstone attacks. Mine slowed down tremendously before they were able to accurately diagnose them, but I know how bad they hurt. Though I didn't know exactly what caused it, I did figure out on my own that eating foods with fat did not make me feel good, and cutting back on those helped tremendously. Good luck with that dear! I hope you start feeling better!

The hospital you went to said they wouldn't do anything until damage was caused? That's ridiculous. Those need to be taken care of ASAP. If they wait for damage to occur, things would end up twenty times worse than they are now. Is there another hospital you can go to the Emergency Room at? I know my city had like.. 5 hospitals, and where I lived before which was much more suburban, still had two, and one was often much more thorough than the other when it came to treatment without insurance. Also, most hospitals will work out a payment plan if you can't afford to pay the whole thing at once, so don't think that you don't have any options. The billing department at most hospitals is usually very understanding, especially with the state the economy is in right now. If you chose not to see a different doctor right away, your best bet is to avoid all fats, as the gallbladder is what is used to process fats. Also, I'd try experimenting with the different over the counter pain medications as some work better for different kinds of pains. Some suggestions are Motrin, tylenol, and aleive. They all have different kinds of pain killers which react to different kinds of pains. Good luck!

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Ah, pillow gun. Where danger and comfort meet. Two hundred thread count, meet two hundred dead count.

Hogwarts Live!

Sorry to hear about your pains! I've heard its really painful, hope you get it sorted out soon

I know someone who had the same pains, and they destroyed the stone with ultrasonic waves or something.

Good luck!

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PRINTS!

I've been experiencing symptoms of "attacks" for the last 6 months.

They couldn't diagnose me properly, and I have a family history of gallbladder problems, so I told them to take it out even though they couldn't find anything wrong with it, hoping that was the cause for my pain.
Luckily, they were able to take it out through the laprocopy procedure, and I have 4 scars on my stomach now. The unfortunate part was my gallbladder wasn't causing me pain...it was something else and the doctor's still don't know what's going on.

As for dealing with pain when the attacks happen, I'm currently taking Tridural (Tramadol). It's stronger than morphine and it's a slow release pill, so it helps moderate pain over time, instead of lasting for about 3-4 hours like morphine, the Tridural (Tramadol) can last for over 15 hours. Your family doctor should be able to give you a sample pack for no charge (however things may be different in the US compared to Canada's health system).

Other medications you could try are Tylenol 3's, Percoset, Toradol, and other prescribed narcotics. Most of the medications are very strong and can have some nasty side effects. I found out I'm allergic to Percoset and get hives all over my body, so it was a trial and error for me to see which medication worked best. Some narcotics can cause hallucinations, lack of appetite, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, headaches, etc. So far Morphine and the Tridural (Tramadol) work best.

I found that the over the counter medications weren't strong enough to deal with pain attacks.

If you have a family doctor, it'd be best to discuss further options as for having surgery, since people in the ER tend to write off serious situations more often than a family doctor would.

Best of Luck Josie! I'll be keeping you in my thoughts

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ChaseThisLight

not good, and doctors dont know shit mostly. I have had weirdness and had ultrasounds n xrays for a similar thing, we are unsure they say. Doctor's are silly. Get well soon! ;]

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i've had kidney stones but not gallstones. i'm sorry for your pain. i also dont have insurance. so im freaking scared of getting another stone, and freak out everytime i get pains in that general area. i hope everything gets better soon