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Gall Stones

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lady-janine | 09:04 Thu 26th Sep 2013 | Health & Fitness
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would someone please tell me what kind of operation or treatment is generally used for the treatment of gall stones?

thank you.
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Depends:

If you only get occasional attacks of pain.....then no operative procedure is needed.

If you have daily problems or it is affecting the quality of your life, then:

Removal of gall bladder (cholecystectomy) either by keyhole surgery or open operation.

Endoscopic retrograde removal of stone if there is just one.

That's it in a nutshell.
I had my gallbladder removed laproscopically (sp?) during day surgery.

When I had my scan and they showed up I was already suffering a lot and when my GP rang to confirm the scan result (on my Birthday too!) she told me to look out for dark urine and paler poo which I was already having, along with the pain.

A few days later I got acute cholecystitis wen it got inflamed/infected, thought it was food poisoning initially I was so ill. Ended up in emergency surgery ward and there was talk of putting me on the emergency waiting list though they then discharged me after nearly a week to be called back for an elective one. It took from November to March and I suffered a lot in that time and understand the lady in the ward with me who refused to leave unless they took hers out.

They surgery was fine, in and out in a day. Very sore, moreso when moving about, but had my mum up to look after me. I was a bit overly optimistic about my recovery time and needed her for longer than I thought I would and did need the 2 weeks off work they recommended.

I'm not a generally well person though and had been quite ill beforehand with it though and they said it had split and was going septic when they took it out. I'm sure people who replied to my posts saying they recovered much quicker.

Word to the wise - find a taxi driver who understands enough English to get "avoid speedbumps" when coming home from hospital! :)

In the interim though - avoid fat and large meals.
There are plenty of questions I asked too if you can find them - would have been under Jenna though before I changed my name when Ed did them so still on my profile. Quite a few others on here have had them.

I know someone who had one really bad attack of pain then hasn't had one since. Another friend went private and had hers out very quickly so worth considering if there is any delay, you are suffering and have the money - wish I'd had that as a possibility.

I was more delayed as I had to go through various hoops with pre-op as they thought I may have an allergy to latex and had to be referred to immunology (I didn't) and had lots of questions asked relating to my rheumatoid arthritis for surgery reasons, if my neck was affected etc...

I found diclofenac was one of the few things that touched the pain. Worth carrying some around if you have bad attacks. I also had codeine phosphate from the hospital.

Sqad, if you are still about, out of interest, why did I go really yellow right before my op?
\\\\Sqad, if you are still about, out of interest, why did I go really yellow right before my op?\\\\

A guess......because a gall stone was blocking your common bile duct.
Sqad, if you are still about, out of interest, why did I go really yellow right before my op?
----------------------------
Audition for the Simpsons?

Sorry, couldn't resist, it's a standing joke in work.



I'll get me coat.......
;-)
That happened to me Eve (Stone stuck in the bile duct) I was in hospital 3 weeks. Mainly my fault, I'm very claustrophobic, so didn't want the procedure to remove it (can't remember what it was called) so the had to give me a general to remove it. Took ages to arrange because they had to move the apparatus to the operating theatre. Well that's what they told me.
Ahh, thank you. Might explain ending in up in A&E in lots of pain and on a drip with an infection a few days before then!

I remember my mum saying she did a double take when she came up the day before when she saw me!

Ha Chilldoubt :)

I know someone who has gallstones but is scared of having the anaesthetic to have the operation, even though they can go private. I'm lucky in that I wasn't bothered about the op, was just desperate to get the damn things out. There were about 30 I think they said, lots of smaller ones. I asked if I could see one but they said that it wasn't allowed now as an infection risk or something, but when I got up I found one in my bed. It had quite sharp bits so made sense why they hurt so much.
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thank you all for your replies. i am to understand what has happened to my sil. she was in hospital for nearly weeks - mainly because she refused to go home and then travel back into hospital. after the operation she said it was the most thing that had ever happened to her. but now at home she refuses, or is unable to do anything. sits in a chair in the nightclothes she came home in, refuses to have a wash, will not eat or drink. now says she cannot remember anything but asks about things that are due to happen in the next couple of weeks. i don't think she had a GA.

i'm just trying to find out if this reaction is normal.
\\ she said it was the most thing that had ever happened to her. but now at home she refuses, or is unable to do anything. sits in a chair in the nightclothes she came home in, refuses to have a wash, will not eat or drink. now says she cannot remember anything but asks about things that are due to happen in the next couple of weeks.\\

It is extremely unlikely that her symptoms as described above, have anything to do with her gall bladder procedure............if that is what she had.
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hi sqad - we were told by hospital that the pain she was experiencing was due to gall stones and they have now been dispersed.

if this op is not the cause of her behaviour, please have you any suggestions?
How long was she in hospital and how long has she been out?
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she was in hospital nearly three weeks and has been out 3 days. she was in one hospital for op and then moved to another one for physio. to make sure she could walk and manage stairs.
I can understand not wanting to leave hospital, the pain can be horrendous and when mine got infected it was horrible. As I said, one of the ladies I was in with refused to leave and waited for an empty slot to come up on emergency surgery and had hers done away, waited up to a couple of weeks from what I remember.

3 days isn't very long. When did she have the op and was it laproscopic or full open surgery (the latter being a much bigger deal and longer recovery). I had to get up and out but one of my surgical wounds broke open got infected so I had to get to have it seen to then followed up. It was hard getting about as I was very tender and it was slow going for a bit.

I wasn't allowed to shower or bath for a few days with the dressings until I got waterproof ones on the infected one but had to have at least a wash though that's just the way I am.

About the other stuff, I don't know, it does sound strange! Could she have been in for something she didn't want you knowing about? I'd be worrying about a further infection (has she been going to the loo at all?) - could someone call her GP and see if they could come out to see her or ring the hospital? I had elective day surgery but was given a number to call if there were any problems.
Another thought, how old is she and how is her mental stage generally, before this happened?
\\\f this op is not the cause of her behaviour, please have you any suggestions?\\\

Nope.....sorry.

But your GP might.
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eve- she is md-80s. no other health problems, she can walk, go up and down stairs, see to read and watch tele, etc. however she is rather lazy. she already has a carer who cames in every morning to see if there is anything she wants and gets her breakfast. she also has a cleaner who gets her nch on the days she is in or else she gets it delivered from the cafe next door. although her garden is very small and mostly paved she has a gardener who comes round "and keeps it tidy dear" ie . he sweeps the paving slabs. we hnge her bed and do all the washing and ironing and shopping. when i once said she could do more for herself she said "yes i could but i'm not going to". that's when i stopped cleaning, doing the garden and taking down meals. but this last behaviour is worrying oh (her brother) as it is even more extreme.

as i didn't know anything about gall stones i thought it best to ask. thank you very mch for the info you have given me.
I'd get a GP out or ring the hospital if you are worried, especially after having surgery at her age.

Could it be something like a UTI, that can cause confusion in the elderly but given recent surgery there could be different possibilities. Have her wounds been checked in case any signs of infection there? If she hasn't been going to the loo and being able to pass urine I'd enquire much more urgently.
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no problems win the loo or passing urine as far as i can make out. have been in touch with her gp. we called him before she went into hospital as she said the pain was only part of getting old. she usually puts everything down to that regardless of what her friends who are older tell her.
LJ - if it's any comfort at all, when my 90-year-old mum was in hospital and underwent an emergencyy procedure, she came out thoroughly disorientated - they said it was the medication/anaesthesia. She was back to normal in a couple of weeks.

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