AllBodySurgery.com
Right side chest pain?
I had my gallbladder removed (Band-aid surgery) last Friday. Prior to that I was having random bouts of intense nausea and excruciating pain in my upper right quadrant. Hida Scan showed ejection fraction of 5%. Surgery seemed to go well. I went home the same day and back to work Tuesday. Starting yesterday though, I have pain on the right side of my chest. Not my abdomen where it hurt before but higher up. I thought it might still be some of the gas they used but it seems to be getting worse. Burping actually makes it hurt worse for a few seconds. Deep breaths also are painful. I still have some gallbladder symptoms; pain between shoulder blades, a bit of nausea, etc. but I expected that until I am fully healed from the surgery. I am 28 years old, female, and in otherwise good health. One last thing maybe worth mentioning, I was up coughing all night last night but had no previous cold symptoms. Could all this be related to the surgery or do I maybe have something viral going on as well? Any thoughts are appreciated.
Public Comments
- any fever? shortness of breath? pain with cough or bloody sputum? id suspect some sort of lung involvement. why not call your doc and pass on your symptoms? i see many people that have various complications from laproscopic surgery ranging from knicked organs to pneumonia complications. (im a nurse)
- I would recommend contacting your surgeon, primary care doctor, or insurance company nurse help line and ask the question in person or over the phone.
- The symptoms you describe are those of pleuritic chest pain. It is possible that you may have some irritation of your diaphragm related to the laparoscopic procedure and in that case things should inprove over the next several days. That could explain your symptoms. A viral URI could also explain them but you deny any cold symptoms. If things continue to worsen or you are becoming ill you should see your doctor or return to the emergency room. Things to look out for include fever, abdominal pain, abdominal distention, jaundice etc... Any of those symptoms could indicate a complication of the procedure, although they are rare. Good luck.
- If your sympotoms are bothering you, call your surgeon's office and at the very least speak with his RN. This will get you some answers and ease your mind.......it's just a phone call!!! LIST OF POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS or LIFE AFTER GALLBLADDER SURGERY Abdominal pain, nausea, gas, bloating, and diarrhea are common following surgery. Postcholecystectomy syndrome (after gallbladder removal syndrome) may include all of the above symptoms plus indigestion, nausea, vomiting and constant pain in the upper right abdomen. Sound familiar? You're right -- gallbladder attack symptoms. Up to 40% of people who undergo gallbladder surgery will experience these symptoms for months or years after surgery. How is this possible? You no longer have a gallbladder and that was the problem, right? Look to the whole biliary tract. Now that the gallbladder is no longer present to act as a reservoir for bile, the common bile duct may expand as the bile backs up in the bile duct between the sphincter or muscular opening at the small intestine and the liver from which it flows. If it drips constantly into the small intestine this can cause problems of a different kind. However, this syndrome with accompanying pain appears to have the flow of bile obstructed by either a narrowing of the sphincter or a malfunction of the sphincter.(1) "Functional biliary pain in the absence of gallstone disease is a definite entity and a challenge for clinicians." which is to say that at this point in time, they don't really know what to do with gallbladder problems that aren't related to gallstones (2) and "Often, following cholecystectomy, biliary pain does not resolve..." (2) which means after gallbladder surgery you may just be stuck with the pain.
