My sonogram was normal, but I still think my pain is from my gallbladder. What other tests can I have to check my gallbladder?

The sonogram finds almost all gallstones. If these tests are normal, you probably don't have gallstones. Most gallbladder pain comes from gallstones, but a few people have pain without gallstones. In these cases, the gallbladder hurts because it fills and empties poorly or because it contains bile crystals, which partially block the bile passages.

You may have an Upper GI endoscopy with duodenal drainage to check for bile crystals in the gallbladder. You may also have a Nuclear Medicine hepatobiliary scan with gallbladder ejection fraction to check gallbladder filling and emptying.

What is a hepatobiliary scan with gallbladder ejection fraction?

This test shows the liver, main bile passage and gallbladder. The Nuclear Medicine technician first injects a small amount of radioactive dye into a vein. The dye collects in the liver, then travels through the bile passages to the gallbladder and small intestine. Dye should collect in the gallbladder. If it does not, the gallbladder is blocked. Gallbladder surgery will help.

If the gallbladder fills with radioactive dye, the technician gives a Kinevac injection to squeeze the gallbladder [which then produces tons of nausea]. A scanner measures the radioactivity leaving the gallbladder. This shows how well the gallbladder empties. A gallbladder that empties poorly can cause pain. Gallbladder surgery may help.

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I haven't heard back from the doctor yet with test results, which I spose means whatever is going on isn't life-threatening, but I'd like to know if I need surgery or what. During my test, the ol gall bladder did take a rather long time to fill up.

Tags: gall

The shot of dye traveled from the vein in my wrist to my liver in two heart beats. Thump thump. Thump thump.

I lay on the metal table and looked up at the screen, where my liver was represented by hundreds of tiny moving dots. It looked bigger than I expected, but they are known to be large.

The machine above me, filled with geiger counters, detected the presence of radiation in my body.

I watched the dots. They moved like a hand-drawn cartoon of a liver-shaped swarm of fireflies. The dye began to move down into my gall bladder, my duodenum, my small intestine. It drew the outline of my guts on the screen. A nebula of stars, shaped like organs, on a black sky.

One hour passed. The doctor passed something from the IV into my body: a synthetic hormone which mimics a signal from the pancreas. Within thirty seconds I was nauseous. Within three minutes my stomach was doing backflips. He stopped the drip and told me I'd get better in a couple minutes. Sure enough, I did. Mostly.

We waited for my gall bladder to drain. It looked like a little golf ball above my intestine. My liver was dark again -- having expunged the dye. I stared at the screen, only twenty minutes left. It didn't change much. It began to look like a drawing of a woman in a dress, maybe standing at a butter churn, with my gall bladder as the scarf on her head.

When it was over, I put my shoes and sweater back on. I went to the car and drank water, then drove to the store to buy muffins and orange juice. I wondered if later on my body will produce anything that glows in the dark.

Tags: gall

You guys I want to be all excited about the house and everything but really all I can think about is how I am still sick, how I have barely eaten anything since Monday, how I am going to the doctor in 20 minutes. I am just worried about what could be wrong with me. I hope it's just a faulty gall bladder and a bit of stomach flu on top of that. And not anything worse.

I can't wait for this pain in my ribs to finally stop. I don't even like wearing a bra anymore -- the underwire feels like it's cutting into me.

Tags: gall

I felt so sick this afternoon, so after finishing a couple big tasks, I left at three and headed home on the 3:45 ferry.

Brian picked me up. He brought me green tea in a travel mug.

I lay in bed as soon as I got home. Slept for a while, then woke up just after six and lay there feeling sicker and sicker. Just awful stomach pains and cramps. I also had a low fever.

As an aside, I am pretty sure I have gallstones and need gall bladder surgery. So I wondered if this was the big one, if my appointment for march 11 would just not be in time and we would have to go to the ER tonight.

It went on and on. I hadn't eaten anything since noon, about eight hours earlier. I took a shower and washed my hair. Finally I sighed and told Brian maybe we should just go to the hospital.

Then, after brushing my teeth, I got that special feeling you get when you know you're going to barf. And I did. A lot. Violently. It was of course wretched. I kneeled there spitting into the toilet for a while, looking down at the mostly digested contents of my lunch.

I am never ever going to that deli on Yale again, btw.

I cleaned myself up and told Brian I was going to chill and see if this was what I needed, if it was just "mild" food poisoning. He went to the store and got me some ginger tea. I talked to my friend Sean on the phone (he had his gall bladder out recently).

Anyway, I still feel a little bad, but nothing like how I felt before. I can still feel the gall bladder twinging just below my right ribcage. I sorta dread the fact that I'll have to be operated on for that. But not tonight. We're buying a house tomorrow. I can't be in the hospital tomorrow.

Tags: gall