just wondering how long roughly did it take to get your appointment with a surgeon, what category were you and how long did it take to have the surgery.
Its been confirmed that i have gallstones. Ive received a letter from the hospital outpatients stating im a category 2 patient who requires a semi-urgent appointment. Im having an attack once every week to week and a half. Was in ED the beginning of the month and the Dr said he was going to email outpatients to get them to change me to a category 1. Then another dr at ed i saw on sunday night told me there is no such thing as cat 1.
Also what did you use to manage your pain yourself at home. At first i was told to take Ibuprofen and buscopan but that isnt really working anymore and have been told to take panadine forte (which i cant take having to take care of the kids as it just makes me sleep)
i know to cut out fats from my diet (which im doing) but im sick of the same boring things so can anyone suggest something different that wont trigger an attack. Each time i have an attack i get told something else i cant eat. Im at the stage where i think its going to be safer to live off water!!
Initially I was assessed as semi urgent, but after 2 ER admissions within a week, they bumped me to the urgent list and I had my surgery about 10 days later (urgent elective being a slower list than urgent non-elective, if that makes sense). It helped that the surgical registrar that did the rounds that morning had seen me the previous time so moved it along a bit quicker.
There are some tips on how to strip the fat out of your diet in this thread.
I mostly had attacks at night, i would take panadeine forte, maxolon (to stop vomiting up the meds) and buscopan when I felt it come on, I found sitting up right and sipping a hot drink (like black tea) helped a little, but in the end they were so bad I just woke DH up and had him take me to the ER every time. Basically they would give me morphine and DH had to organise time off work the next morning to look after our youngest. It was inconvenient but it was just the way it was for a while. My GP told me that the more often you go to the ER it increases your chances of getting surgery sooner, and it worked (eventually) for me. Try to focus on the fact that it's not forever, it will pass and you'll eventually feel better.
yup - the more you present to ED the quicker you get bumped up the list. There is such a thing as a Cat 1 and if the doctor doesn't know that then s/he is a twit.
Buscopam, voltaren and stemetil worked for me. At work we routinely give tramadol as well. Just keep going back to the hossy for better pain relief and to reassess you.
Oh, I also found that pressure on my epigastric region made things worse for me
thanks ladies. I ended up back in ED that night with my 3rd attack for this month and 2nd for the week. Dr there advised me to see GP and get him to write to outpatients to try and hurry things along. Of to see him on monday.
They gave me morphine on monday which agreed with me alot better then the panadine forte.
It took them 6 months to take my gallbladder out. Like you, I was presenting to the ED at least on a weekly basis... I would have to wait out the 4hrs after they gave me a pethadine or morphine shot but somedays they would get bad results back in my bloods (from my liver) which meant I had to stay in the hospital for around 3 days at a time. I was physically & emotionally a wreck, and I also had a 3yr old and a newborn at home at the time... thankfully my ENTIRE family rallied around to support us which made things a little easier but even with all those visits, it was only after 6 months that I was bumped up the list. It was such a dreadful wait. I had lost loads and loads of weight and looked terribly unhealthy for it... I was in constant pain and it wasn't only fats that brought attacks on for me... toward the end, even stress brought on an attack that had me in hospital for 3 days.
I definitely hope & pray that you don't get stuck in a similar situation to mine. Ask to speak to the surgeon and plead with him/her to do it asap... in the end that was the only thing that worked for me.
The only other thing I used to do when I was having an attach was go into the shower and leave the water running onto my back and stomach, just to try and calm the muscles around that area. Even now I remember that as one of the worst times in my life health wise - so you have my sympathies.
gall bladder questions
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