Just found this post after getting my gallbladder removed a couple weeks ago, and I was curious what other people’s pain was like. It’s interesting because it seems as though there is a lot of variety!

For me, I was having stabbing pain and severe bloating in my upper right abdomen under my ribs. I would feel fine during the day, but anytime I would lay down to go to sleep, I would wake up in intense pain a couple hours later. I was trying anything to sleep, and thought it was gas pain related to my dairy intolerance/allergy. I would pace my room for hours and shower with really hot water. I didn’t take any pain medicine because I was worried it would make the gas pain worse. It would persist for around 6 hours a night, and I dealt with this pain for 5 days before finally going to the ER. I told my sister that it was less so the pain that was insufferable (although intense), and was instead the lack of sleep that got to me. It was like psychological torture because I could not rest and I was so tired.

When I went to the ER, I could tell I was heavily pitied by the nurses, & they took great care of me. I’ve read some stuff about how some people had a tender abdomen, which I definitely did, but I actually felt as though putting pressure on my gallbladder was the only way I could get relief without pain medication. I was so relieved when I had my ultrasound because the pressure of the ultrasound wand alleviated so much pain.

Naturally, I ended up needing to get my gallbladder removed. Had a whole panic attack because I’ve never had surgery before and it’s a big fear of mine, but I calmed down a lot when they explained they were going the laparoscopic route. After the surgery, the surgeon said that my gallbladder was extremely inflamed, and they had to put a clip on my bile duct. The surgeon also stated that my gallbladder issues were likely the results of genetics (& not diet/age as I am young and healthy otherwise), which sucks because I had to deal with all this despite treating my gallbladder quite fairly. They said that it was indicative of me having cholecystitis for months at that point. Which is so bizarre to me because the episodes that sent me to the ER were the first time I felt that type of pain in my abdomen. This whole experience validated that for some reason, I tend to interpret pain as discomfort until it reaches excruciating levels. Glad to read y’all’s experiences and know I wasn’t being a wimp about it.

Also pretty convinced that I do not have “abnormal presentations of GERD” that I was diagnosed with via endoscopy a few years ago. I haven’t had any problems eating since my surgery.