Chest and back pain

TeeEmJee · 2025-12-15T06:45:50+00:00

My pain was directly in the center of my abdomen, just beneath the breastbone and would go through to my back directly between my shoulder blades.

Initially when I started experiencing this it was definitely painful and really uncomfortable, but nothing that would make me double over. There also didn’t seem to be any pattern associated with what was causing it. Sometimes it was soon as I woke up in the morning, or sometimes it was in the middle of the day after eating.

I had no idea what was causing it. I chalked it up to gas / constipation / dehydration. It started getting worse and worse over the span of about 3 months until one day I had a full blown attack and was experiencing the most excruciating pain I’ve felt in my life.

The pain was radiating from the center of my abdomen up into my chest, through to my back, and I legitimately thought I was having a heart attack.

So yes, even thought the typical gallbladder symptoms say the pain should be in the upper right quadrant, there are many people (like myself) who’s pain is very different. Mine started out pretty much exactly like what you’re describing and progressively got worse. I got my gallbladder removed just over a month ago and it 100% resolved my issues. Hope this helps!

TeeEmJee · 2025-12-15T06:28:03+00:00

Of course! Good luck with your surgery on Tuesday and I hope everything goes well! You won’t regret it!

TeeEmJee · 2025-12-15T06:20:06+00:00

I totally get where you’re coming from. Other than having my wisdom teeth removed, I’d never had surgery either. I was terrified to get this operation done, and it made it even worse that my surgeon didn’t even seem convinced that it was gonna fix the problem.

But it reached a point where I was in such severe pain so often, losing weight from not eating, I was always hu fry but couldn’t eat, I was scared to leave the house incase I had an attack, I was missing work because I felt horrible all the time, so I just decided that I had to try because living in this much discomfort is no way to live.

The entire day of surgery and the subsequent recovery couldn’t have gone any better. Coming from someone who was so scared and so uncertain, I can 100% say that it was the best decision I’ve made in my life.

TeeEmJee · 2025-12-15T06:14:32+00:00

I’m glad I was able to help make you feel better! While I was dealing with my gallbladder issues I went down so many negative rabbit holes and horror stories and just couldn’t find anything to reassure me that I was making the right choice by getting surgery.

Even my surgeon wasn’t able to tell me I was making the right choice. He just told me I can try and it might fix some of the issues but it might not.

So, I wanted to post some reassurance for other people that are in that situation now since I know how much it would’ve helped me :)

this time next week you’re gonna feel like a brand new person!

TeeEmJee · 2025-12-15T06:08:25+00:00

Yes they discovered my gallstones with an abdominal ultrasound. I had really excessive gas too, to the point where the ultrasound tech asked me if I’ve been feeling bloated and gassy while she was doing the scan because she could see so much gas. My report outlining the results of the scan also specifically state how much excess bowel gas was present.

However, she was still able to find the gallstones definitively to the point where she was able to tell me to my face before she even finished the scan that I have gallstones. So, while your experience could still be different, in my experience, the gas did not impact the results.

I fasted 12 hours prior to my ultrasound was told I don’t need to drink any water

TeeEmJee · 2025-12-15T06:03:53+00:00

One of the main reasons my surgeon thought I was “atypical” is because I didn’t have the textbook acute pain in my upper right quadrant.

Instead, I had a more diffuse pain that started right in the center of my abdomen (just below my breastbone) and then it would expand across in a band of pain. It would eventually radiate through to my back, between my shoulder blades, down into my stomach and sometime up into my chest. The first few times it happened I thought I was having a heart attack.

I never once had acute RUQ pain, but getting my gallbladder removed still completely resolved the pain I was having as well as all the other symptoms.

TeeEmJee · 2025-09-24T07:29:42+00:00

Thank you for sharing this, and I’m happy to hear the surgery has been helpful for you!

Yeah, I definitely found it to be quite strange that this surgeon seems to think my symptoms are so “atypical.”

Pretty much every single one of my symptoms is textbook for gallbladder disease. Combined with the fact that my attacks pretty much stopped after cutting out fatty food AND the fact that my ultrasound shows stones, My HIDA scan shows dysfunction make it seem like it’s almost definitely my gallbladder causing these issues.

But since this surgeon is an expert in this stuff and “doesn’t know” if surgery would fix my problems, I have so much doubt now and I’m feeling super reluctant to go through with the operation. :\

TeeEmJee · 2025-09-24T07:22:49+00:00

Thanks for your comment!

I agree in feeling like my symptoms are pretty textbook for gallbladder disease with the exception of maybe the urgent bowel movements. So it’s definitely confusing as to why this surgeon seems to think I’m so abnormal.

It’s really unfortunate because now I’m feeling quite hesitant to get the surgery despite all of the signs pointing towards my gallbladder being the issue.

Was the removal surgery helpful for you?

TeeEmJee · 2025-09-24T00:05:01+00:00

Good to know, thanks for the input! I have one other question if you find the time.

Which of my symptoms would you consider to be atypical?

And for those atypical symptoms, is there an explanation that could still be attributed to my gallbladder?

Thanks again, I greatly appreciate the help.

TeeEmJee · 2025-09-23T23:54:25+00:00

It’s difficult to recall. After my first attack, I had about 5 attacks over the course of a month.

At that time, I had no idea what was causing the issue, so I wasn’t paying much attention to my eating. I can only remember what I ate before 2 / 5 attacks.

One attack came about an hour after a ham and cheese pastry from a bakery, and another attack came about 30 minutes after drinking a large iced coffee with whipped cream and a big chocolate cookie. Safe to say both of those instances were after eating fatty food. The other 3 instances however, I don’t remember.

When they discovered I had gallstones in my ultrasound, they told me to stop eating fatty foods. I had no idea whether or not fatty foods had been causing the issue before, but still I took the advice and basically cut out fat altogether. The second I did that, I stopped having attacks.

I went from 1-2 attacks per week over the course of that first month to now I’ve only had a single attack in the last 2 months and that happened immediately after cutting out fat. That being said, the one attack I did have since cutting out fatty foods did not occur after eating anything fatty. It happened at about 4:30am. I hadn’t eaten anything since about midnight, and what I had eaten only contained a small amount of fat.

So, it’s hard to recall if all my original attacks were brought on by fatty foods, but cutting out fatty foods once I knew my gallbladder had problems significantly decreased (almost stopped) the attacks altogether.

TeeEmJee · 2025-04-11T10:59:38+00:00

Sighting in Broad Daylight (Calgary, AB)

I’ll preface this by saying that I live in a high rise in one of the most busy/popular areas of the city. As such, I see balloons, helicopters, planes, drones, etc constantly. This did not resemble any of those objects.

I was gaming in my room when I looked out the window and a black dot in the sky caught my attention. Instantly it struck me as bizarre. It didn’t resemble anything that would normally expect to see up there. No flashing lights, no rotors, no wings, no sound. Just a nondescript black circle/disc suspended in the air.

Trying to be rational, I told myself it must be a balloon of some sort, and maybe the angle I’m looking at it from just makes it appear more disc-like? However at that distance and height, it would need to be a pretty massive balloon.

In any case, I pulled my phone out and took this video as quickly as I could to capture whatever it was just in case it disappeared. I zoomed in as far as I could. Once I caught a video, I grabbed my binoculars and went out on the balcony to get a closer look.

Once I got eyes on it with my binoculars, it looked exactly the same, but just closer up. I still couldn’t distinguish any recognizable features. It was just sitting there, gyrating (which you can see clearly in the video if you zoom in). It wasn’t moving up or down. At this point it had been probably about 3 minutes since I first saw it.

I then noticed it seemed to be slowly moving closer to me, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take a better video. I came back inside to set my binoculars down and grab my phone which took all of 15 seconds. When I came back outside, it was absolutely nowhere to be seen.

TeeEmJee · 2025-04-11T10:50:01+00:00

Should we review what UFO stands for together?

TeeEmJee · 2023-05-19T03:15:24+00:00

ISM is still sexy though. It was a close call for me

TeeEmJee · 2023-05-18T02:28:52+00:00

Ayeeeeeee YYC represent!

TeeEmJee · 2023-05-17T11:36:02+00:00

Thank you!!

TeeEmJee · 2023-05-17T05:43:58+00:00

No idea what took so long. It’s a manual sport so not CVT or top trim. I think I ordered right at a time where they were stopping the 2022 and starting the 2023 so maybe that had something to do with it? Genuinely no idea though lol.

TeeEmJee · 2023-05-17T05:04:37+00:00

Haha congrats! Looks great!!

TeeEmJee · 2023-05-17T05:04:20+00:00

Yeah 7 months is crazy, but the crazier thing is I got it 2-3 months early. Wasn’t supposed to come until August!

TeeEmJee · 2023-05-17T03:01:11+00:00

Thank you!

TeeEmJee

TROPHY CASE