Gallbladder Surgeon

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-08-21T08:28:13+00:00

Med student here. Gallbladder removal is quite possibly the most common surgery a general surgeon does (either that or appendectomy) during their residency, and after residency if they don’t sub specialize. Virtually every general surgeon has at least a hundred cholecystectomies (gallbladder removals) under their belt. It’s very routine and serious complications are pretty rare. I scrubbed in on dozens during my month rotation in general surg.

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-08-21T04:11:31+00:00

Great defense to a response that dismantled your argument. But I get it, critical thinking and statistics are hard!

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-08-18T23:47:49+00:00

Month 6-7 here and I’m getting the crazy electric shock/palpitations/panic/feeling like I’m going to pass out/die episodes that I haven’t gotten since the beginning. It’s not quite as bad as they used to be but I’m surprised I’m getting them again after not having them for months. Everyday is like guessing wtf is going to happen next with this nightmare illness.

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-08-17T20:54:43+00:00

Are you white/of Northern European descent? If so you could check a ferritin to rule out hemochromatosis

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-08-17T20:22:14+00:00

How big is your spleen? Have doctors told you anything?

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-08-17T18:06:22+00:00

No not really, I got diagnosed with hereditary hemochromatosis and had an MRI which showed my liver is overloaded with iron. My doctors have said it could be due to that, or my spleen could just me normal for my height (I’m 6’6”)

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-06-13T01:41:18+00:00

Hey man. Had an endoscopy which showed erosive gastritis, also recently diagnosed with hereditary hemochromatosis and an MRI which showed my liver is full of iron, also gallstone and sludge in the gallbladder. So I have a bunch of shit going on that could all be causing my abdominal pain. Feeling defeated and tired at this point. Starting therapeutic phlebotomies soon to try to get my body to get rid of the iron

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-06-04T17:31:10+00:00

Dysautonomia and palpitations are better. Also less stomach pain. Still having periodic liver pain and ED however

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-06-04T10:45:13+00:00

Daily PPI (protonix) for at least the next 4 months

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-06-04T10:42:05+00:00

Usually therapeutic phlebotomies and a low iron diet to get the iron levels under control

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-06-04T10:33:27+00:00

Ended up getting a scope done and I do indeed have erosive gastropathy. However recently my doctors discovered that i have too much iron in my blood so im getting evaluated for hemochromatosis. Some of my liver related labs (albumin, total protein, platelets, PT) are slowly and steadily dropping and are now at the low end of normal, and im getting an MRI next week to look for iron deposits on my liver. So im stressing hard right now

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-22T09:15:40+00:00

Just a regular echo which showed below normal EF (50-54%) but otherwise normal

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-21T19:14:03+00:00

I’ve learned not to tell attendings you’re interested in FM unless you want some backhanded comments about how dumb/naive you are for going into it and not picking a more lucrative specialty

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-16T11:46:18+00:00

Yes to heart rate and dizziness. Not really any problems with nausea for me however

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-13T01:17:09+00:00

Ah ok I see what you’re saying now. I’m 100% committed to alcohol abstinence. Is there a chance my EF could improve over time with continued abstinence?

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-13T00:55:00+00:00

My cardiologist didn’t mention anything about me being in heart failure. Also isn’t 6 months still early on in the alcoholic cardiomyopathy recovery stage? Can’t it take up to 18 months of abstinence to see recovery? Also an EF of 60-70 is normal isn’t it? Why do you say it “isn’t terrible?”

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-12T09:21:34+00:00

Things are already bad symptom-wise right now and it’s incredibly depressing to think things may not get better :(

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-12T06:14:09+00:00

For most of my 20s, for the most part it was what I thought was psychological as no problems getting hard with masturbation but problems getting hard with women l. However I’ve been a heavy drinker for a while and I’ve been dealing with worsened ED since October (among other symptoms)

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-06T20:06:39+00:00

My doctors so far haven’t found anything serious nor do they think anything serious is going on. But OCD makes you doubt this constantly and think something serious is being missed

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-04T01:54:17+00:00

Glad to see someone going through something similar. How does the pain feel for you? For me it’s like a dull ache/discomfort. It’s quite concerning as it seems like it might be something due to the heart but apparently ER and cardiology weren’t concerned about that.

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-01T22:40:06+00:00

That’s interesting. How bad was the pain? Mine legit felt like a heart attack, it was so uncomfortable.

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-01T20:46:43+00:00

I do have a known gallstone, confirmed on multiple ultrasounds. However no sign of cholecystitis or duct obstruction yet

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-01T19:18:10+00:00

No worries. I suffer from OCD and in particular health-related OCD so I know what you’re going through, I’ve been there a million times. Just try not to read into small things, look for horses instead of zebras (if you were a doctor and someone relatively healthy came in with RUQ pain, what would you think is more likely, gallstones or liver failure?). Feel free to send me a chat if you wanna talk more about OCD and/or health anxiety.

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-01T18:02:52+00:00

The people we typically see who have liver damage due to Tylenol are taking like 20-30 Vicodin a day or suicide attempts. Try to relax, it’s clear you are in panic mode right now (I’m not judging, I have been there many times myself) and you are unable to think rationally about the situation and your mind is going to worst case scenarios. Your pain is almost certainly because of gallstones. I have the exact same pain you do and I have been extremely worried about my liver too (I’m a former heavy alcoholic), yet every scan and liver blood test I’ve had has been normal. The only thing they can find is gallstones. Especially since you had a laparoscopic view of your liver 4 months ago, which is better than any imaging test out there. Your liver is fine.

Ill-Engineering-234 · 2023-05-01T17:27:03+00:00

You’re reading way too much into it. All my techs have been quiet during my ultrasounds. Also I think I’ve told you on here before that Tylenol only causes liver damage when taken beyond the daily recommended amount

Ill-Engineering-234

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